It’s our third Friday with a journaling prompt for your weekend ahead, and we hope you are enjoying these.  Are you finding time during your weekend to quiet the noise and step away for some time to write in a journal?  We sure hope so! 

I’m working on a really fun and new idea that will tie to this and I’m hoping to share more details on that this summer… so stay tuned.

In the meantime, this weekend we are expected to have up to 6 FEET of snow!  Really??? Is that a thing?  They say it could be the worst storm in over 20 years, and as we are somewhat new transplants to Colorado, we are very curios how this is going to go.  We stocked up at the grocery store, cancelled a sleepover for Isabella, and we’re all settled in for a long weekend full of TV,  art and card games.  (Anyone else love Phase 10?)  We’re also praying for everyones safety and that we don’t have to experience any power outages like Texas went through. 

I want you to know I’ve been very intentional about each week’s journaling prompt and I went to bed Wednesday night thinking about what question I wanted to share with you.   What’s crazy is, I woke up Thursday morning with exactly what it was!  I wasn’t even fully awake and I felt like the Lord put it so clearly on my mind, I groggily reached for my phone to write it down.  I don’t normally have things like this happen, so I know it’s an important question to share with you this week.

This journaling prompt is something I struggle with, and maybe this is a way to help all of us who may have a hard time in this area.  This weeks “Friday Journaling Prompt” is:

What’s something you hold “close to your chest,”  that you may need to let go of or talk to someone else about?

I think this idiom “close to your chest” comes from a card game term.  You hold your cards close to your chest, so no one sees them.  But it’s now become a definition of people who don’t really reveal themselves to others or are cautious and don’t confide in others.  I would say that I do have a hard time with this.  I’m more of an “I’m FINE” person and I don’t really open up and share things very easily.  Growing up it was probably because my dad had a very serious medical issue (He had a brain tumor, which I talk about in my book) and most of the time we had to be “fine” because there were bigger things going on.  Then as I got older, I realized girls don’t keep your secrets well, and if I shared things with one friend it seemed to “get around…” to others.  So I learned to keep things in.  Now as a women in my 50’s I think those notions have been engraved in my mind, perpetuated by other losses and disappointments, and they’ve definitely shaped how I’ve interacted with others over the years.  Anyone else have trouble in this are?

Maybe it boils down to fear of rejection or loss, and I’m learning to let the Lord heal, comfort and guide me through this.  It’s probably why I woke up with this so vividly on my mind; since I had prayed for the Holy Spirit to show me what to talk about with you all the night before!

One of the ways I’m learning to change and heal is by writing things down.  I’ve kept a “diary” of sorts my whole life, so I guess it’s part of who I am and how I share things.  As a little girl I had a diary with a rainbow on it, and it even had a lock and key.  When we moved to this new home last summer, I found all my journals and it was so fun to look through them.  I think it may be part of the reason I talk so much about writing your story down…

We know it’s important not to keep things bottled up inside, for health reasons among others, and if you don’t feel you can share your inner most thoughts with those around you, then share them in your journal.  I’ve recently told my girls when I pass away they are welcome to read all my journals!  It’s part of who I am and I’m ok with them knowing everything.  They probably know everything already though… they are the smartest girls!  I feel blessed that I have actually been able to be open with them as they’ve grown up.  It was always important to me as a mother to make sure they knew they could talk to me about ANYTHING, and I’m sure they could tell you that our “car talks” have been epic over the years!  hahaha  Let’s just say… No topic has been avoided.  

It’s mostly the friend thing I’m still working on, and maybe you are too?  We’ll talk more about this in the Friday Journaling Prompts, I’m sure…

I’d like to leave you with two things to think about today:

1. I don’t know if you saw my “Love, Tuesday” post this week, but I shared this verse and I think it bears reminding our hearts here today as well:  2 Corinthians 12:9 say this:  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  

The truth is, we will always have areas of weakness and we may hold onto things and have a hard time sharing them with others. BUT GOD! His grace IS sufficient for all of our weaknesses and we CAN boast in the power of Jesus Christ that makes everything work out for GOOD!  It’s what’s able to get us up in the morning, bring peace throughout our day, and lets us rest our heads on our pillow at night friends!  He is the one we can ALWAYS share our inner most thoughts with.  Writing things down is so therapeutic and it is very helpful, but don’t ever forget to bring them to the Lord in prayer. That will always be your first line of defense.  And pray for godly friends to come into your life, that you can trust with your inner thoughts and share in each others lives.  They are out there.  I’ve met some very special people that I do trust and share my “cards” with, and I’m so thankful the Lord brought them into my life, because I prayed long and hard for them!  So maybe in your journaling time, you can lift up a prayer for that too.

2. I learned something funny about the tree in the photo above…

It’s a beautiful tree with a bench all the way around it, a water fountain in front of it and a weathered sign nailed to it. It’s next to our favorite spot for lunch on Lake Como.  We’ve seen this tree every year for the last 11 years, and over the span of those years we’ve seen people sitting around it talking, laughing and sometimes even shouting at each other.  Most of the time it’s a few older Italian men, talking it up.  One summer one of the old guys asked me if I knew what the tree was called.  (sorry in advance for the swear word…) 

He told me it’s called the “Bullshit” tree.  No lie!

This Italian man said it was because the guys who sit there talk to each other about everything.  I imagine they talk about their jobs, their wives, their thoughts on life… and it’s probably a way for them to let go and not “hold their cards” so close to their chest.  What a great way to spend your afternoon on the lakeshore in Italy, right?

So, who wants to meet me under the bullshit tree and let go of a few of our cards??

I’m hoping that happens this summer…

But for now, I’d love for you to take some time this weekend to get out your journal, or even a piece of paper, and write down your thoughts on my question. You’re welcome to email me or comment here if you’d like. I know I referenced a Bible verse and a swear word pretty close together, so you don’t have to email me about that. I’m confident we all have some of that “tree” in us and talking it out between friends, writing in our journals to express our feelings AND asking the Lord to help us let it go are all good things.

Stay warm and have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs,

Laura McCollough

P.S.  I’m doing another “Saturday Stroll” this weekend on my @artandfaithcreative IG!  It’s going to be a beautiful video focused right here at this lunch spot on Lake Como.  Both photo’s in this post are from this place, and I’ll be sharing a whole bunch of photos in video form from this same location, so come on over and check it out.