A Mini Manifesto
A few things I love and believe in this season of my life.
This past week my friend Jen posted a chat question on her substack. She asked if we had a manifesto of any kind for work, family, life. She had recently updated the about page of her substack with manifesto style statements of I love…I believe…I promise... It reminded me of the manifesto at the end of Magnolia Journal1, my fav magazine. Theirs is all I believe statements covering work, family life, home, friendship, the world and more. I enjoy it a lot but wasn’t sure it exactly represented my family priorities the way theirs very much defines their business life. So I worked up my own for our family a several years ago. Which moved around my desk piles for a few years until I decided I needed to do something logical with it. Which is code for I lost it forever. I probably decided to reprint it somewhere I will never look or file it somewhere I forgot or frankly tossed it because I was in a mood.
So I thought I would put a little thought today into responding to Jen’s prompts with a few I love and I believe statements of my own. While the magnolia version is all “I believe” statements I like that Jen’s starts with “I love” statements because I think often what we love gets to the heart of what we believe. If they conflict we probably aren’t being honest about one of them.
I’m not going to make any I promise statements today but maybe a future post.
I love…
Warm breezes off the lake, dangling my feet in the water, floating on a raft and letting the quiet of the moment take me away.
Coffee with friends, deep conversations only, contemplating life, choices, understanding the world, challenging each other, encouraging each other, questioning things and finding answers.
Meeting new people, learning about other cultures, seeing new places, having new experiences. The world is so big and full of so much color, it is hard stay in my own space. I want to be out exploring it all.
Home and family, playing games, talking, traditions. I love it when it is messy and hard, and when it is fun, safe and refreshing. And the thing about family is it is always a little of both.
Beauty. This one has surprised me because I have never thought of myself as artistic or creative but as my definition of both has expanded over the years I have learned to admit and embrace the fact that I love beauty.
I believe…
In the power of rest, quiet and meditation in nature to bring me energy, focus and connection with God2.
I believe we were created to be in relationships and learning to connect with others and foster those relationships is worth our time.
I believe God is present in every culture and they each have something to teach us about who He is, how He loves us and what He is calling us to. I believe we are all image bearers of Christ and thus caring for all God’s people is important.
I believe in the beauty of God’s creation, the plants, the animals and the people, and in looking for that beauty in all circumstances and in all places. I believe that beauty fills us with joy and peace in our daily lives and fills us with hope on our darker days.
Do you have a manifesto? Have you named what you love and believe in a way that allows you to make decisions about how you live your life?
Holy Week!
This weekend my husband and daughter are part of a reading during our Saturday night vigil service. If you aren’t Anglican or some other tradition that does a Saturday Vigil then, first off, know they are awesome. The Saturday Vigil leads us out of lent and into Easter, a season of feasting. Our service starts with a series of readings that take us through the Old testament. The readings are all performed in some dramatic way.
Their reading from Ezekiel is going to be done like an old time radio drama with John and Riss doing the Foley sounds. The reading is one that has become special to me over the last few years. In Ezekiel 37 the Lord brings Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones and says to him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” and Ezekiel replied, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” The Lord then proceeds to bring the dry bones to life starting simply with the rattling of the bones. He then brings them together adding tendons and flesh until finally the Lord breathes breath into them and they begin to walk around. The whole thing is symbolic of God’s ability to bring the scattered and lost nation of Israel back to life, back to God. But it isn’t just for them, it is for all of us. And so I have started praying that God rattle dry bones for people in my life who are lost. And some days even for myself, rattle my bones Lord, breathe life in me. Because some days I feel lost as well. It gives me Hope.
https://wp.magnolia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/kindnesscampaign.pdf?_gl=1*8o1u0d*_gcl_au*NTQ1MzA1ODYwLjE3NDQ5OTExNDg.
This is a link to a PDF of their manifesto. Interestingly the only one I could find online even though it is printed every month in the magazine.
I was thinking about putting in there that I love God and then thought about what my I believe statement is regarding that love. The answer was immediately the Nicene Creed which we recite at church every Sunday. And it got me thinking about how it is a Christian manifesto of sorts. So putting a manifesto into your manifesto seems redundant.
Random: Years ago I took a class on the apostles creed and the leader talking about creeds said the first creed was simply, “Jesus is Lord” which would have been understood in the first century from the perspective of people who understand and live out their cultural definition of “Lord” on a daily basis. As we get further away from the first century and our culture and definitions change the more words we need to explain who Jesus is and what we believe about God. Your biblical history lesson of the day…
"And so I have started praying that God rattle dry bones for people in my life who are lost. And some days even for myself, rattle my bones Lord, breathe life in me. Because some days I feel lost as well. It gives me Hope." YES!!! i love this.