Calendar Permissions

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When I started my current job in 2020 I was introduced to the world of Microsoft Outlook for emails and scheduling. It’s like my best friend at work now and is always open on my computer. In Outlook, someone can make you a delegate over their calendar by giving “permissions.”

There are different levels of permission:

  • You can only see the times they are busy, no descriptions
  • You can see the details of their appointments and meetings
  • You can see the details and make changes, invite from their calendar, accept/decline meetings, add or delete items, etc.

I have the highest level of calendar permissions from the faculty I work with – they must trust me and the other admins! With us managing most of their schedule and calendar, they’re more free to do what they are meant to do: care for patients, research, teach medical students/residents, and more.

It seems Holy Spirit wants to be a delegate over my calendar. In the last year or two God revealed to me some selfishness in my heart and attitudes – ugly stuff. I want him to change that in me. One of the ways he’s helping me reframe my thoughts and adjust out of those attitudes is by needing to help my aging parents these last few months. Lots of unplanned trips to hospital, rehab facility, doctors, etc.

Another way He’s teaching me is by giving me the chance now and then to accept and embrace an unexpected opportunity to serve and love someone, often on weekends or days that were going to be free days. My selfish thought is “aw man, I wanted to stay home today and chill or have free time” or other similar whining – you get the idea. Interruptions have never been my favorite – I’m more of a schedule/routine person who likes to know the plan ahead of time, not very spontaneous. But hey, I guess I can learn!

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Lift Your Feet

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Have you noticed at times a specific theme is repeating in your heart and life, a lesson that God is really wanting you to grasp? Or maybe He gives you a word for a time to keep in mind, to motivate and center yourself. Two themes that kept coming to mind for me in the last few years are “Hold loosely the things of this life” and “Lift your feet.” That second one might sound funny so let me describe the imagery that came with the words.

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Got hope?

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I don’t think anyone would argue with me when I say the inhabitants of this world are weary and in need of hope. All throughout the history of mankind it has been that way since the very beginning when people decided to pick their way over God’s way and God let them.

I believe there is still hope to be had. And that’s not just me being optimistic. (although I am pretty optimistic and can be annoyingly so)

Psalms 130: 6 says, “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.” I have long thought that verse meant that the watchmen were tired and eager for their shift to end, so they were watching for the sun to finally peek it’s welcome glowing face over the horizon so they could clock out and go home. Recently I heard another perspective: they watch for the sun to rise because every day the sun rises. They are watching and waiting for it to happen because they know it’s going to happen. They can count on it.

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Hello again

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There’s a season for everything. Sometimes a season reappears but feels new because life circumstances have changed and so have we. I used to blog regularly for years and then about five years ago I just stopped. The inspiration or inclination to write just evaporated.

That desire has resurfaced to share thoughts and life lessons in case it’s helpful or interesting to someone else. My heart’s desire has long been to help people feel less alone. We are not meant to travel alone through life. We are meant to walk together, share and learn from each other, help and love each other.

So, if you have time and want to walk and talk with me a bit, I’d love your company.

Thirst

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I’ve said it before and it will probably always be true: if it weren’t for my husband, my houseplants would be dead. I love plants, or at least I say I do, but I forget to water them. It builds endurance, right? I don’t think they appreciate it. I’m sure you’ve had a plant or flower that was a little neglected and became wilted and drooping over, but once you gave it some water, before long it straightened up and filled out – happy and thriving instead of barely hanging on to its little plant life.

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Dusting off my happiness

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Looking through old posts on this blog, which was started quite a long time ago, is like looking through my parents’ old photo albums when I visit their house. I read stories I wrote about our parenting adventure that I had forgotten, lessons I’ve learned in life and keep relearning. I find memories, some that make me laugh, some that give me a lump in my throat, that have gotten covered up by others falling on top of them in my mind like stacks of papers getting dusty from no one shuffling through them for a while. Sometimes I read what I wrote and think, “Wow, was that me writing that?” I haven’t written for a long time and miss it. It helps me process what I’m feeling, thinking and learning, even though apparently I forget those things before too long.

For reasons I won’t go into detail explaining, the past 9-10 years were peppered with chronic stress and anxiety, which caused some depression, and often numbness. Continue reading →

Have you been there?

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At my job, I wear a lot of hats: greeter, registrar, scheduler, helper, problem solver, team worker, paper shuffler and more. One of the things we do a lot at the front desk of our busy medical office is direct people. Depending on which doctor they are seeing, we direct them to the waiting area they need. We direct people walking in from outside to other offices in the same building. We do that a LOT and I wish we could get a dollar for every time we’ve told someone how to get to Midwest Urology!

It gets hectic sometimes in the hubbub and so once in a while, we get mixed up and accidentally send a patient to the wrong area, then have to run and get them and take them to the right place.

I’ve walked that office a thousand times and it’s all very familiar now. After telling people these things over and over for years I’ve gotten in a routine of what I say to describe how to get to where they need to go.

We had a new worker up front one time who was struggling with giving directions. Continue reading →

The plan is: stop planning

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I should never have prayed that way. You know, there are things you shouldn’t pray for: patience (right now, please), humility (ouchy things ahead!), for your faith to grow (you’ll get chances to trust and jump off of ledges) and more.

Inspired by the verse in Isaiah 43:19 when God says, “For I am about to do something new. See, I’ve already begun! Do you not see it?” I prayed for God to teach me how to live outside my comfort zones and to embrace new things because new means life and growth and health and movement and a promising future.

You may have heard the saying, “If you do things the way you’ve always done, you’ll get the results you’ve always gotten.” Nothing new, nothing gained. There’s nothing wrong with much of what has been but there’s so much more possible! Why stay back if God is promising something ahead?

That Isaiah passage is full of hope, conveying that God has more ideas and plans up His grand godly sleeve and is going to reveal it somehow, is already revealing some of it apparently!

I am no expert at embracing what’s new, and it seems to get more difficult the older I get. Continue reading →

The co-grandma adventure

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IMG_4177I’m a grandma. Yes, I say it proudly. I became one alongside my co-grandma, my son-in-law’s mom, Maureen.

We’ve been friends for a long time, becoming closer once our kids started dating.  In fact, after Kimmi and Nathanael’s first date, Maureen called me at work and when I answered the first thing she said was, “Is this the possible future mother-in-law of my son?” We laughed with hopeful hearts, and then with full-to-bursting hearts, we hugged at their wedding the next year.

We don’t communicate regularly but whenever we get together we have a wonderful time. I love her.

I got a call at work on a Thursday from my sweet first-born girl telling me she would be induced on Saturday. “I’ll be there!” I told her excitedly. Continue reading →

A new way to look at it

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I’m a firstborn, and therefore (like many of us firstborns) mostly compliant, a people pleaser, and a perfectionist. My personality likes rules because they provide structure. Structure makes me feel secure and comfortable.  I was raised in a church-going, Bible-believing family and it was all black and white to me. This is right, that’s wrong. Do what’s right, not what’s wrong. Being a Christian, as I came to understand it, was mostly about this. I wanted to do a really great job of following the rules and living the right way so God (and my parents) would be happy with me. I think I gravitated toward and settled into this mindset in part because of my nature of people pleasing and perfectionism.

I didn’t realize until adulthood, and more and more these last 10 years or so, how my view of a life of faith was incomplete and restrictive, Continue reading →