Sunshine in My Nest

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Meditation is the script that we play over and over inside our heads. Biblical meditation often starts with an acknowledgement of what is, grieves what should be, then moves to rejoicing that what is now isn't what will always be. Laura Wifler's poetry always leaves me with one or all three of those feelings. She has an incredible mental eye for seeing what most of us overlook, both the beauty and the brokenness. Then what her years of practice in Risen Motherhood gave her was the ability to see all those things through the lens of the gospel. I'm excited to chat with Laura today about internal dialogue, poetry, and how it ties into Biblical meditation. 
What have you done to train yourself to see the little things? A lot of your writing deals with joy and grief, or grief moving into promise. I'm always curious how people decide how long to sit in the lament, and when to move into rest in the promise during the messy middle. You've written about other tender things like motherhood and body image. In that it's required you to take an honest look at what you believe.
Have you been able to do that internally, or have you had to trust someone wise to point those out to you?
How have you replaced those lies you were believing about body image, or ultimate black-and-white thinking? \Does poetry help you as you process?
What does it do for your own soul? 
What experiences do you have the most trouble putting into words? 
What do you wish with your work that more people would address in their own thought lives?
What do you hope to press them to change? 
What's something you love so much you could do an ad for it? 
I'm going to link your new book of poetry, "This Side of the Sky," in my show notes. Where can people find you? 

You can find the link to Laura Wifler's book "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You're Only Human⁠" on her Instagram.

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Original Music written and recorded by Jonathan Camenisch
*affiliate links are used when appropriate. Thank you for supporting Sunshine in My Nest

Order Gently Tended and join the Bible study now!
I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Kelly Kapic speak at a conference I was attending a couple of weeks ago. He is a professor of theological studies at Covenant College, where we were staying, and the session was titled "Have I Done Enough?" Led me down a thought bunny trail, because isn't that the question we are all asking ourselves during back-to-school season? Did we read enough hours? Did we soak in enough moments? Did I play with them enough? Have I purchased enough school supplies? I've found the weight of carrying all that is crushing and leads to self-loathing and depression rather than worship. 
What happens as parents when we try to be and do too much? 
Is being limited a sin? 
How do we respond internally when someone reminds us again to "savor all the moments" 
What about the things Christ commanded us to do? What do we do when we realize we can't be fully invested in caring for orphans, feeding all the widows, stewarding the discipleship of our kids, and going into all the world to preach and disciple? 
How do we wrestle with the feelings of incompetence that come when we see another parent doing something we wish we could do or wish we were good at? 

You can find the link to Kelly Kapic's book "⁠⁠You're Only Human" and his website.

You can find Elizabeth writing helpful hints ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on the blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Original Music written and recorded by Jonathan Camenisch
*affiliate links are used when appropriate. Thank you for supporting Sunshine in My Nest

This is the last challenge of the summer, and it may be one of my favorites. Along with it comes an encouragement to carry this challenge into the fall.
We are commanded in the New Testament to meet with other believers because of the way it strengthens and encourages us. My favorite verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, tells us to “Encourage one another and build each other up.”
My family has done this well through books. You can probably tell I love them a lot, but I love them even more when I get to read them with other Christians, especially mom friends. A few years ago I invited friends and strangers into my home to spend 18 months going through the book “Lifegiving Home.”
Sometimes we discussed the book; other times we just shared what we were struggling with and prayed for each other. That year was one of the most spiritually formative and lifegiving phases of my life. I’ve done that again this summer for my son byinviting his friends who enjoy reading to join him at a coffee shop to read the Junior version of “Unbroken.”
I hope this episode about books and reading encourages you. I’ll also link below both Whitney’s book and my book. Both would be amazing places to create if you want to do one of these groups for yourself!

Join the Challenge ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and share with a friend!
My summer has looked nothing like what I expected. I had 5 days of middle school, two days at home, then 5 days at a conference. That was the expected part, what I didn’t expect was to be trusting God into buying a new home on land and nestled in the trees.
 
All the things being placed in my hands are good things, but it’s also forced me to say, “no” to some things too. In our family we have a rule, “You can’t pick up anything, unless you put something down.” If not, then our kids end up paying the price.
 
In this season I need the challenge of “simplicity.” It can be easy to run away with my plans. To try to buy furniture to make it cozy, or plan ahead for what I can’t know about. Just knowing this episode with Jodi was coming has been enough to slow me down and encourage me to snuggle on longer empty days, andwait to buy things after I need them not in anticipation of “maybe” needed them.
 
God keeps replaying to my mind and heart Matthew 6:19-21 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
 
I hope this week if you’re feeling overwhelmed by having picked up too much, you’ll find a thing or two to lay down. Trusting that he’s working in those moments too.

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Original Music written and recorded by Jonathan Camenisch
*affiliate links are used when appropriate. Thank you for supporting Sunshine in My Nest

Join the Challenge ⁠⁠⁠⁠and share with a friend!
My experience with getting later into summer is that the quiet, laziness of the days has finally sunk in. The frantic activity of May has passed and the first of the summer trips are over. Our Summer Faith Challenge is a fun one this week. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure. Either invite someone over for a meal orMake cookie dough and freeze balls of it to have on hand in the freezer.
 
Discipleship is done so well over food. As soon as I start baking my kids gather around to see what’s happening, or as soon as they smell cookies going into the oven, the smell lures them out to talk.
 
We are called to “Go make disciples.” Jesus famously discipled in combination with food. It’s a good recipe for discipleship success! We hear stories of the feeding of five thousand, wedding feasts, and the last supper.
The early church copied that, and we see in Acts 2:42&46 that “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”
 
I think this interview with Sally Clarkson will inspire you in your discipleship goals! Enjoy!