places & spaces & steps to help you start somewhere

Here’s a list of places & spaces & steps to help you start fresh. I sprinkled quotes for perspective too. Take what you’d like, friend.

IN YOUR HOME. Make your bed. Do one load of laundry from beginning to end. I dare you! Clear the counter top. Put away clean dishes. Do a quick tidy or pick one spot to clear the clutter.

“Sometimes the most holy thing we can do is to be still. To sit down & twirl the fork and eat the pasta we’re given.” Erin Loechner, Chasing Slow

IN YOUR HEALTH. Make a menu for healthy eating. Try a fab 4 smoothie.Clean out your pantry or fridge & move healthier items to the front. Pick a plan. Any plan. Try a new fitness program. Take inventory of your rest or make getting more sleep a priority.

The same creator who made our bodies to tick, to function, to be strong, & to think also made food to repair, rejuvenate, & restore us. | Rebekah Lyons, Rhythms of Renewal

IN YOUR FAITH. Read the Word. Start a new journaling practice. Write down 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

The biggest decision you & I face today may not be what we will do next, but whom we will trust. | Ruth Chou Simons

IN YOUR ATTITUDE. Incorporate gratitude in your morning. “ Give thanks in all circumstances…” Get outside & go for a walk. Turn your worries or frustrations or questions into prayers. Our circumstances don’t change on a dime, but the way we see them can shift us completely.

See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness & streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

IN YOUR MINDSET. Meditate on Psalm 119:10 & break the cycle.

Somewhere deep in our hearts we already know that success, fame, influence, power, & money do not give us the inner joy & peace we crave. | Henri Nouwen, The Selfless Way of Christ

IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS. Encourage a friend or plan ahead for quality time.

“We were together, I forget the rest.” | Walt Whitman

IN YOUR WORK. Set aside 30 minutes & be ruthless with your task list.

It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God — but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, & holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people — & this is not learned in five minutes. | Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

IN YOUR RECREATION. Plan something life-giving, refreshing, & fun. Something you’ll look forward to!

For just one second, look at your life & see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, & you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life. | Lev Grossman, The Magicians.

IN YOUR SCHEDULE. Grab your planner & offer all the things up to the Lord. Maybe it’s time to pick a new bed time or change up your morning routine. Is your plate too full? Prune your schedule. Plan a day of rest.

We plant, trusting God for growth. We act in faith, trusting God for the outcome. We build, trusting God to fill. We offer, trusting God with the response. | Emily P Freeman, Simply Tuesday

ON BLAH DAYS. Write down the moments in your day that seem most mundane. Create a reminder for those moments. Making the bed again? Pray for rest & energy for the day. In that moment, you’re no longer thinking about how you feel, but creating space to overcome it.

I saw the film. I lived the book. I got the haircut. That’s all it took. But now I know it’s going to take, a little more now I’m awake. | Belle & Sebastian, “I Took a Long Hard Look”

IN YOUR FINANCES. Give a little until you can give a lot. Start saving. Consider the 4 necessities: food, utilities, shelter, transportation. Make a new budget every month. Try an online budget tool. Learn about these 15 practical budgeting tips.

“God, teach me what it means to forgo the riches of this life. Change me. I am spent.” | Erin Loechner, Chasing Slow