My Best Thinking...

Where do you do your "best thinking"?

As a mom of six kids, it can be difficult for me to complete a thought, at least a thought that makes sense.

The other day I had to plan a sample lesson and I was stuck at the beginning. I could not wrap my mind around the whole thing. It was like I had thoughts floating around in some colored water but I could not get it to "gel" into something that made sense.

Then...then I took a shower. That is one of the few places I am alone. There was white noise and I wasn't bombarded with constant whining needs and wants and stuff. In the shower while I washed my hair the idea came together. After getting dressed, I sat down on my bed (no one knew I was out of the shower so I was still alone) and started writing. I wasn't quite finished when little people came in, but I had enough of an outline that the idea stayed it's pretty shape instead of melting into a puddle.

When I was in seminary, I remember talking to a class mate about the fact that my best ideas came to me while I was in the shower but I often "lost" them before I sat down to write. (Talk about brain drain!) He said he had the same issue (and he had no kids to blame distract him. :O ). He told me that he kept dry erase markers in the shower and would jot down ideas on the shower walls. I've never tried it but it sounds like a good solution. (Should I have a disclaimer here that I do not endorse that as I do not know if they would fully wash off of grout, tile, or other shower surfaces?)

Anyway, the white noise and solitude of the shower helps me to think but it's the regular noise and action of my life that gives me the ideas and inspiration and passion to do most everything I do. It's a balance.

Delicate may not be the best word to describe it, but it is complicated.

The complications in life make it interesting but I do not always respond gracefully to them. I put myself in time-out yesterday. Actually, I stormed upstairs to wallow. In the quiet (I was alone which shows how unpleasant I was to be around, not one person wanted my company enough to follow me) I heard that still small voice that sent me to my Bible and Luke 12:22+. "Do not worry." That is the whole point of the passage. God has you covered. God has us covered.

The complications, the "what ifs?", the "what will go wrong nexts?" are going to happen whether I worry about them or not. What I do with the complications I can control. I can use them to grow and learn or I can simmer and fester. One is productive and allows creativity, one gets smelly and rancid.

My best thinking sometimes blooms in the quiet, but the seeds are planted and grow in the complications. When I do not worry, I can fully "see" and experience and live fully. I can do my best thinking.

Do not worry.

-Peace