Kookie Cut-Outs by Rachel Britz

Delivering cookies and good news.

Letter to the Editor

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Last week, after posting a blog update on my writing, I received an email from someone that I admire and deeply respect. In her email she kindly corrected a few grammatical and punctual errors that I had made.

Crap! I’ve been outed.

I don’t know about you, but for me it’s not very easy to accept being wrong. If I’m not correct or don’t have things completely figured out then I feel incompetent. It’s a sickening ride because the feeling of incompetence leads me to believe that I have nothing worthy to offer.

{Blah! Blah! Blah! Boo-hoo & enough about me.}

When I received this email it reminded me of two things:

1. I have a weakness. Don’t we all? God did not make me to be good at everything nor did he create me to care deeply about all things equally. In the case of punctuation and grammar, I do my best. I subscribe to Grammar Girl and read books like Eats, Shoots, & Leaves where author Lynne Truss describes her tribe as sticklers for punctuation.

2. It’s not ALL up to me. This journey of writing a book is not supposed to be completely mine. Sure, right now I’m the one pounding my fingers to the bone. But I’ve learned that in order to finish any good work, I need to first allow God to take the lead. Once I surrender to carrying the load all by myself, He masterfully puts people in my path to help out and join in.

In appreciation of my grammatical deficiency I’ve begun a campaign that I would like to invite you to join in on. It’s a prayer request to begin praying for my future editor. This is not intended to be a joke although I’m giving you permission to laugh (a little).

My prayer is this:

May she be kind yet firm
Inspired with a clear vision
Have smiling eyes of the Irish
Speak truth, hope, and love

 

The Great Cookie Giveaway: Week 4

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We’re counting down the days ’till Christmas, the season of giving. For the next 4 weeks, I am giving away 1 dozen of my specially iced, cut-out cookies.

Entering is easy!
All you have to do is SHARE this blog post with your Facebook friends and family. Viola! Your entered to win these cookies.
Then, if you want to stay in the loop be sure to connect with me by subscribing here. I’m doing some fun things like writing a book and I’d love for you to follow along on this crazy journey. Want to know more about my book? You can read about it here. 
Hurry! A random cookie winner will be selected at 8am on Wednesday.

The Enemy of Thanksgiving

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Earlier this year we had the awesome privilege to take our kids to Disney World. As expected, it was a magical and wonderful time. That is until the unexpected happened. 
It’s dumb really. I’m a little embarrassed by it, but the truth is, I was wounded while at Disney World. That’s right, I have been damaged by Lilo & Stitch. 
In classic Disney fashion each ride has a story to tell. The Lilo & Stitch ride was no different {except for the ity-bity symbol on the ride map indicating, This ride is scary. May not be suitable for young children.}. Honestly though, who would really expect Lilo & Stitch to be inappropriate for a grown adult. Well, after they herded me through a storytelling series of dark chambers, then led me into a gruesome circular room, they strapped and pinned me into a chair, filled the room oxygen-depleating smoke {I’m asthmatic}, and turned the lights off. I was trapped, without air, and stuck in the pitch black of nothingness. You might as well have blasted me to the moon!

Sadly, since that iconic ride last Spring, I find myself worrying more than less. 
But here’s the truth: the older I get, the more I worry. 
Dang it! How does that happen? One day your happily running with scissors without a care in the world, and the next we fear our eyeballs will be gauged out. Blind forever. Why does this happen to us?
What I’ve discovered is that within our worry you will almost always find a wound. Either we’ve felt personal pain in something or shared in someone else’s. Tragedy hits us from all angles. Job loss, sickness, sin, betrayal, and death. The list goes on. 
So here we are, Thanksgiving 2012!
We do this every year. For one day, we desperately try to set aside our bag of worries {those battle wounds} and exchange them for praises.

I was blog surfing the other day and stumbled upon this quote.
“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the 
enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.” Harry Ironside

Who knew that Thanksgiving had an enemy?

Today we will say we are thankful. We will sing our praises in posts. We will bow our heads in gratitude. But tomorrow, what shall we do with those worries? 
God’s word says, “Do not be anxious about anything…” I know what your thinking (I think it every time I worry), it’s easier said than done. Yet, I believe the following verses hold the secret recipe for success to overcoming the grinch of Thanksgiving.
“But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And (then) the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” phil 4:6-7
We will always have troubles and it’s easy to view our circumstances as our hope. If only this…(fill in the blank). But circumstances are shifting sand, always changing, but when we become thankful in the most difficult of circumstances this becomes an act of sacrifice. So then, if we approach God in everything, from a place of total honesty and lay it all at His feet, we are told that He will protect us by guarding our hearts with a covering of peace. 
Now that’s a gift I’ll gladly accept this holiday season. Transcending peace delicately wrapped around my heart and mind.   
  

The Great Cookie Giveaway: Week 3

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We’re counting down the days ’till Christmas, the season of giving. For the next 5 weeks, I am giving away 1 dozen of my specially iced, cut-out cookies.

Entering is easy!

All you have to do is SHARE this blog post with your Facebook friends and family. Viola! Your entered to win these cookies.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Then, if you want to stay in the loop be sure to connect with me over here.
Hurry! A random cookie winner will be selected at 8am on Wednesday.

Be Thou My Vision

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I’ve been keeping a journal for years and years. Long before I ever considered writing a book or started a blog, I wrote in my journal. It’s been therapeutic for me to look back on my journey through the pages of my journal. It reminds me just how far I’ve come, how time and time again God has saved me from the deep waters of sorrow, and page after page I’ve watched him restore and renew me with His great compassion.

My journal is a love story. He loves me, so I write about it. I love Him, so I write about it.

At the end of each journal entry, I typically sign off with the same simple expression.

‘Be Thou My Vision’

I can’t even tell you how it came about. It seems to me that this beloved hymn is one that will not escape me. I sing it around the house, I pray it as I drift off to sleep, and it’s become my favorite ending to each journal posting.

This past week, during an intense day of writing, I came face to face with one of those moments. The one that leaves your jaw on the floor, exclaiming no way!

The story I’m writing is set in Northern Ireland. Since I have yet to physically travel to the country of my ancestors and home of my protagonist, I’ve done my best to immerse myself in the culture. One element that I have attempted to softly infuse into my story, is the spirit of music. On this particular day, my protagonist Honora {pronounced Ah-nora} is going through something really awful. She needed some inspiration so I began researching Irish hymns. Lo-and-behold, to my astonishment Be Thou My Vision is arguably the most famous Irish hymn.

Pretty cool? I know. This beautiful discovery has just been another slight nod, reminding me that I’m on the right path. Here is a modern rendition of the hymn from the popular Irish-Christian band Rend Collective Experiment. Enjoy!