Chaos Theory

/ hlmiller2014 / 6 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Is a little chaos actually good for us?
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After reading today’s prompt, that scene from Jurassic Park when Dr. Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) explains chaos theory by using a drop of water, popped into my head.

According to Science Insights, “Chaos theory is the idea that some systems follow precise rules yet remain impossible to predict. Not because they’re random, but because tiny differences in starting conditions snowball into wildly different outcomes over time.” Weather patterns, population growth, and even your heartbeat are examples of chaotic systems that follow precise rules yet are impossible to predict long-term.

“Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” Meteorologist Edward Lorenz, posed this question in a famous speech in 1972. It is now referred to as the “Butterfly Effect.” “In sensitive systems, causes too small to notice can produce effects too large to ignore.” Maybe that’s why all of those time-traveling movies warn us never to change anything in the past?

How does God fit into all of this chaos? Isn’t He a God of order? Genesis 1:1-2 explains how God created life out of a formless and empty void (chaos). 1 Corinthians 14:33 says that “God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” However, his creation is filled with unpredictability. Consider the uniqueness of each snowflake, the variability of the flow of water, an unpredicted change in the weather. God is sovereign and omnipotent, but He also loves us so much that He allowed us to have free will. Our free will is the chaos that introduces unpredictability. Does that mean that God doesn’t know what will happen from day to day? Of course not! God is omniscient and knows our every thought before we think it (Psalm 139). He already knows how our choices will affect our daily lives and His grand plan. He is there to guide us, if we ask.

Ok, I took quite a detour from the original writing prompt. Is a little chaos actually good for us? Yes, I believe so. Life would be so boring if every day followed the same pattern. It’s the unpredictability that keeps us on our toes and makes things interesting! I am confident that God is in control, even in the chaos.

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Counting our Individual Steps

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Daily writing prompt
Hit 5,000 steps today and drop your achievement here — we’re cheering you on!
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Today’s prompt reminds me of Ryan Hamilton’s recent comedy special, “This Just Hit Me.” He has a bit where he talks about what historians will think when they uncover evidence of our civilization. “What happened to these people? They just stopped. We’re not sure. They kind of slowly coalesced into a gel and that was it for them. We have evidence that they were actually counting their individual steps, one at a time. That’s how little they were moving. They were trying to get to 10,000 for some reason. We don’t know why.”

It’s funny, because it’s true! Why do we feel the need to count our steps, and why is the goal 10,000 steps per day? Over the years, I’ve worn Fitbits, a health ring, and used Google Fit to track my steps. When I was on my feet all day long as a teacher, I would regularly get 12,000-15,000 steps per day. I didn’t feel healthy…I was exhausted and I got plantar fasciitis! When I worked from home to write a book, I’d be lucky to get 5,000 steps per day. I think the goal should be to move our bodies more, in whatever way is fun for you. Take a walk or hike, do some chores, do some sit-ups/push-ups/squats…whatever brings you joy and makes you feel better.

I don’t mean to disparage today’s writing prompt. I applaud WordPress for mixing things up lately and providing some fresh new prompts. It’s motivating to celebrate those goals that you achieve, especially when they take a lot of discipline and effort. However, I balk at the notion that everyone has to move their bodies the same way to be acknowledged.

It’s a windy day today. Maybe I’ll fly a kite or get in the pool and ride on a raft across the water as the wind propels me! My grandkids are coming over tomorrow. I’m sure I will have fun moving my body as I play with them! 🙂 No need to wear my step counters. I will just have fun!

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What a Year by Eli Gable

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I recently posted that true joy does not depend on circumstances. Today, I realized that depression can also be independent of circumstances. Sure, it can be triggered by those unexpected events that irritate you like a pebble in your shoe. But, other times it can just creep up on you like a weighted blanket of doom.

Today, I was so excited to prepare for my daughter and son-in-law’s visit tomorrow. I’ve been cleaning like a whirlwind spinning around the house! But as the hours ticked by, I began to feel a heaviness. I couldn’t put my finger on the cause of it. I have every reason to be overjoyed, so why am I feeling so sad? Then, this song popped up on my Spotify smart shuffle and I laughed out loud at the lyrics! This artist has captured exactly what it feels like sometimes as we live for God. Jesus never promised us a pain-free life. In fact, He said that in this world we would have trouble. BUT, we can take heart because Jesus has already overcome the world! (John 16:33)

Oh, what a year, what a time
I made it, I survived
I’m walking with a limp, oh God
I’m seeing You with two black eyes
A thorn in my side
But hey, I’m alive (I’m alive)
Oh, what a year, what a time
I made it, I survived
I’m walking with a limp, oh God
I’m seeing You with two black eyes
A thorn in my side
But hey, I’m alive (I’m alive)
Oh, what a yеar, what a time

Mostly Foods

/ hlmiller2014 / 1 Comment
Daily writing prompt
What do you love now, that you hated when you were younger?
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My family is from the Midwest. We lived on casseroles and simple meals with meat and potatoes. So, it wasn’t that I hated certain foods, but I had just never tried them. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I had to expand my palate to eat healthier. Here are some foods that I learned to love later in life:

  • Broccoli – I like to eat it raw or cooked. But, my husband just found this great recipe that puts parmesan cheese on top of broccoli and broils it until it is crisp. Oh, so good!
  • Brussel Sprouts – After I got over the smell of it, I like roasted brussel sprouts.
  • Mayonnaise – We grew up eating Miracle Whip, which is gross! I never knew what real mayo was until I was a teenager.
  • Avocado – It took me a long time to try it, because of the color and texture. But, now I love them…especially in guacamole!
  • Mexican Food – I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food. But, I had to learn to eat and enjoy Mexican food when I married into a family who loves it and serves it at every family gathering. Also, we live in a state that borders Mexico, so Mexican food is ubiquitous.
  • Chinese Food – I never tried Chinese food until I was a teenager. It was always a mystery to me, and I assumed I wouldn’t like it because of all the vegetables. But, now I absolutely LOVE it!

Isn’t it funny that when we’re kids, we don’t want to eat or sleep? Your parents are always ordering you to take three more bites before you can leave the table. My mom made me take naps in the afternoon, but I hated it. So, I would just play quietly with my toys in my room. I remember cracking open my door and yelling, “Can I come out yet?” My mom would reply, “Five more minutes!” I think she needed that peaceful quiet time more than I needed a nap. As an adult, I love eating and sleeping! How about you?

Every Good Thing

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WOW! That is the only way I know how to describe this past week. I am so grateful for God’s blessings that He continues to shower on me and on my family!

  • A new baby boy joined our family last Thursday morning! Mom and baby are healthy and doing well. So far, he is very chill unless you try to change his diaper. 🙂 My husband and I got some grandparent snuggle time for a while when he came home from the hospital. Joy abounds!
  • I got to spend some fun, heartwarming and amazing moments with my 2-year-old granddaughter while her mommy and daddy were at the hospital. She kept me in stitches as she remembered funny sayings she had heard and then interjected them into conversations at just the right moment to crack us up! She also amazed me with her courage and skill when I took her to her swim class. My daughter had prepared me by explaining all the skills they had learned and how to do them. But, when the teen swim instructor explained that they were going to simulate a toddler or baby falling into the pool to see if they could pull themselves out on their own, my heart dropped into my stomach! What?! You want me to plunge my sweet grandbaby under water, let go, watch her float up by herself, flip over and kick her legs to the edge of the pool and then pull herself out??? I didn’t want to inflict that trauma on my sweet granddaughter! Then, the reality hit me. If she ever fell into my swimming pool, this practice could save her life! I had to do it. My granddaughter looked at me with her little chin quivering and said, “All done? Towel?” Then, I had to say, “No, sweetie. We have to do one more thing. Look at me, 1-2-3!” I pulled her under the water and let go. She floated to the top, coughing and sputtering. I helped her flip over onto her back. Then, she kicked towards the edge of the pool. I let go about a foot before the edge. She kept going and grabbed onto the ledge and then climbed out on her own! I was so proud of her!!! I kept yelling, “YOU DID IT, ALL BY YOURSELF!” Then, she smiled and said, “I DID IT!” She was so happy, that she climbed back into the pool and said, “One more time.” This little girl continues to inspire and amaze me!
  • My husband and I celebrated our anniversary on Saturday…39 years! We were both so exhausted that we decided to postpone our fancy dinner until next week. Instead, we ate our favorite foods for breakfast and lunch while lying on the couch and watching old movies from the 80’s and 90’s all day long. Some days you just need to rest.
  • Blessing to come: My daughter and son-in-law are flying in from Iowa in two days! They will stay with us for a week to enjoy family and see their new nephew. Can’t wait to hug them!
  • We’re having our family 4th of July BBQ this Saturday! Love spending time with my family! There will be yummy food (including homemade ice cream), awesome people (including a bunch of kids squealing while jumping in the pool), and a birthday celebration for my brother. Even though he is on hospice care, he will try to make it in his wheelchair.

Those are the big events, but God continues to sprinkle little bits of joy in each day as well. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

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Faith Builders!

/ hlmiller2014 / 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s a time you followed your gut and it turned out to be exactly right?
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I’ve learned that when I follow my own gut, I am usually wrong! But, I can say that when I hear God’s voice and believe what He says, miracles happen! I like to call them, “faith builders!”

One of the first and most powerful times that I heard God speaking to me was in a vivid dream. When my children were young, I was taking college classes full-time to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Education. My youngest daughter was four years old. I had a very vivid dream where God told me that I needed to take a break from school and concentrate on taking care of my children. When I woke up, I was crying, my heart was racing, and my stomach was doing somersaults! I knew that I needed to do it. I took a leave of absence from my college program. Three weeks later, my daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia! She had no symptoms until the day before she was diagnosed. Because I listened to the message I received in that dream, I was able to stay with my daughter in the hospital, drive her to chemotherapy treatments, and take care of her. She is now a healthy, happy woman and mother of two miracle babies!

Another night eight years ago, I baked four pies and placed them on the stovetop to cool overnight. We were planning to host my extended family for Thanksgiving the next day. I had a normal dream that night where I had forgotten to give my students an important district assessment. All of a sudden, my dream froze! It was like I was watching a movie and someone had pressed the pause button. I realized then that I was dreaming. I remember thinking, Hey, this is pretty cool. I did give that test to my students, so I don’t need to worry about it! Then, I heard an audible voice in my dream say, YOU NEED TO WAKE UP NOW! The voice was calm and authoritative. So, I opened my eyes and was hit with the stench of smoke! I saw it wafting up the stairs and into our bedroom. I woke up my husband and yelled, “Smoke!” We jumped out of bed and started feeling our way downstairs. We followed the smoke into the kitchen, where my pies were on fire. One of the burners was turned on HIGH. The glass pie plate had exploded from the heat, and the pumpkin filling was burning. My husband scooped the flaming pies into the sink and doused them with water. We opened all of the doors and windows and aired out the house for hours before being able to go back to bed. I don’t even want to imagine what could have happened if I had not woken up from that dream. Our smoke detectors were barely beeping, so low that we couldn’t even hear them. We figured out later that our dog, who loves to jump up on the kitchen counters for food, must have jumped up to get a bite of pie and pushed in the knob of the burner.

A few days ago, God spoke to me again. He answered a prayer even before I was done praying it! My daughter was in labor with her second child. It seemed to be taking forever. Her labor kept stalling, and the baby’s heartbeat would go down with each contraction. I eventually drifted off to sleep while waiting to hear the news of the baby’s birth. I kept tossing and turning, checking my phone for updates throughout the night. Finally, around 3:00 am, I cried out to God! “Lord, all of our family members are praying right now. They sent texts praying for a “safe and speedy delivery.” Why aren’t our prayers working? Why is it taking so long? Is everything ok with Sarah and the baby?” Immediately, even as I was still praying, an image of a baby chick hatching from its egg filled my mind. God said, “Remember how a baby chick has to fight to peck and emerge from its egg? It needs time to develop its strength and then squeeze out of the small opening, which expels any extra fluid out of its lungs. The baby is just taking his own time to develop his strength. Everything will be ok.” Just thirty minutes later, my grandson was born! Praise God! His ways and His timing are always better than ours!

Do you trust your gut instinct? Or, do you trust God’s voice? If you think that God has never spoken to you, try being still in His presence. Ask Him to speak to You. He is always speaking…we just have to listen.

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Enjoy Life One Day at a Time

/ hlmiller2014 / 3 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
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I would pass along the advice my mom gave me: “Live one day at a time.” You can’t change the past, so there is no use dwelling on it. You can’t predict the future, so no need to worry about it. Life is a journey of hills and valleys. Those mountaintop highs energize us and give us motivation to keep going. The valley lows teach us perseverance, faith, and hope. Enjoy each day as it comes. God is with us every step of the way!

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Happiness is not the same as JOY

/ hlmiller2014 / 1 Comment
Daily writing prompt
What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?
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Are you having a good day? It’s Friday, so that automatically puts some pep in your step as you anticipate the weekend. Did someone let you in when you needed to merge onto the freeway? Are you celebrating Father’s Day this Sunday with your kids? How about that perfect cup of coffee you had this morning with just the right amount of cream and sugar? These are all great things that put a smile on our faces. But, what about when you get to work and the boss assigns you a huge project that will require working extra hours? You have to collaborate on the project with a coworker that rubs you the wrong way. Your teenaged daughter calls and says that she just got a flat tire on the freeway and needs your help! Then, you get an unexpected bill in the mail for a medical visit from six months ago. UGH! That feeling of happiness that you felt this morning vanishes like a mist. Happiness is based on circumstances. We get an emotional high when things go our way. But, happiness is fragile and fleeting.

Joy, on the other hand, “is a profound and abiding sense of happiness and contentment that is rooted in spiritual realities rather than temporal circumstances.” Joy anchored in God can co-exist with grief, pain, suffering, and depression. Joy cannot be stolen by difficult circumstances. It is a conscious decision to remember that God is always with you and for you. When times get tough, remember God’s faithfulness, blessings, and answers to prayer. You know that if He did it before, He can and will do it again!

Here are some tips from author Max Lucado to cultivate JOY:

  • Making others happy, brings YOU joy. The more joy you give away, the more joy you receive. Do you remember the smile on your neighbor’s face when you brought them groceries when their bank account was hovering near zero? What about that time that you held the door open for a frazzled mom of three little ones who had her hands full? Or the morning when you let someone cut in front of you in the Starbucks line because they looked like they needed caffeine STAT?
  • Gratitude changes your perspective. Have you ever noticed that when you give thanks for the little things, your eyes open to notice them more often? Suddenly, you’re grabbing your camera to take pictures of the sunrise. You see a beautiful hummingbird hovering over a flower. The giggle of a child tickles your funny bone. You’re thankful for your family that you often take for granted.
  • Record and Reflect. Life is busy. Sometimes we forget all the wonderful things that God has done for us. Our mind is consumed with worry and checking off those tasks from our to-do list. (That’s me!) So, Lucado suggests journaling. What’s that? You’re not a writer, you say? You don’t have to write a novel! Just jot down a few things each day that you’re grateful for as a way to anchor them to your memory. Did you know there’s a connection between physically writing with pen and paper and memory? According to Neuroscience News, handwriting activates multiple brain areas. “This multi-sensory experience (visual, tactile, proprioceptive) produces connectivity patterns in theta and alpha frequency bands linked to attention, memory encoding, and sensory integration. So, the next time you’re feeling blue, you can recall your recorded bits of joy to remind you that life is still good. It’s like having an emergency stash of happiness!

This is a lesson that I am continually learning. Joy is not the same as happiness. I have to keep making that conscious decision to choose joy, day after day, until it becomes a habit. I hope you will too, friends!

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Saying No to Distractions

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Daily writing prompt
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?
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I have an infinite to-do list constantly running in the background of my mind. Sometimes, I write down the tasks that absolutely need to be completed today. It feels good to check things off the list. But invariably, there are things left undone at the end of the day. I struggle with procrastination, so I tried a new strategy. When something popped into my head, I stopped what I was doing and went to complete that task in the moment. My rationale was that I didn’t want to put if off until later, then end up with a mess down the road. That only made things worse! I’d get distracted and forget what I was doing in the first place. You can read about one of those adventures in a previous post, “If You Give an Old Lady a Task.” Then, there are those days when everything seems overwhelming! I just can’t decide where to start, so I don’t start at all. I tell myself that I need to take a break. Then, the break turns into an entire afternoon. There’s nothing worse than realizing that you just wasted half a day doing nothing. You can’t get those hours back.

To answer today’s prompt, I’m not sure what skill would help me stop getting distracted. Organization? Mindfulness? Motivation? Self-control? Some days, I feel invincible! I am on the go from morning ’til night, and I lay my head on the pillow feeling accomplished. But more often than not, I just cannot keep up with everything I want or need to do each day. Maybe I need to give myself permission to do the essential tasks and let the rest go? After all, worrying about unfinished business only adds to the stress.

Do you get sidetracked by distractions? How do you prioritize daily tasks?