Dinner & a lecture, lunch & a chat

Monday night I went with a friend to a "dinner club." Over the past few years, she has been involved in this ladies' dinner club hosted by Linda Warner of Circle Christian School/Ministries. Basically, once a month you meet to eat a catered dinner and then Linda speaks. Often there's a skit, music, occasionally singing.

So when M said she had an empty spot at her table, I went. Linda Warner will be speaking at our ladies' retreat in January so this was a good chance to hear her. She's been speaking about our hearts, having just finished a series on our hearts and God, now moving to our heart for our family. I think she's a good speaker though I didn't quite follow the development of the lesson. (Sorry, the teacher and curriculum instructor in me is always evaluating). For me, the most important point she made was the instruction to get a picture of the woman we want to be--in 20 years, in 50 years, at our funeral--and then start to make decisions that will get us there. The vision-casting language gets a bad rap from the overuse of business-lingo but when we consider what attributes we want to have in our life and compare it with where we are, we begin to see where we fall short. Having that picture in mind is helpful in curbing our tongue, changing our tone, prioritizing our time, attending to our responsibilities, and all of our other disciplines.

This fits with a thought I had after lunch with the Diva and Brooklyn a few months ago and since the Diva came for lunch again today I thought I would give her her credit now. ;) She's real good at checking on us, asking us where we're at, how healthy are we, scale of one to ten. When she asked me, I looked at her cock-eyed and said, insightfully, "I dunno." Because truthfully, I don't spend time thinking about how I am. There may be some benefit to that (I'm not in my head too much) but also some detriment (I'm not self-reflective enough). If I'm not checking my emotional and spiritual health, I could be miles into a rut or way out of my devotional walk, before I notice it--usually because it's adversely affecting my relationships. And if I'm not checking myself against my picture, how will I know if I'm working towards it or moving farther away.

And then doing it. Linda's other main point was our responsibility for our thoughts and our hearts, not our husband's or our children's. Because God is writing their story just like he's writing ours.