Photo courtesy Nicolas Huk
In 2012, about 100 blog posts ago, I set up a little blog called Permission to be Real.
It was born out of unexpected inner conflict when my youngest started kindergarten.
When I dropped him off for school the first day, I thought I might cry. Lots of my friends had cried. However, I’d dropped off my two older boys for kindergarten in previous years and did not cry. At all.
I thought it might be different with my youngest.
After I got him settled in his classroom, I returned to my car, slammed the door and for one second there was utter, blissful silence. Then suddenly, almost as an involuntary reflex, Händel’s Hallelujah Chorus rang out inside my mind!
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
It was as if an imaginary symphony had been invited to the first day of school, and I was the soloist. Hallelujah! The words and music just kept going in my head.
I laughed, but I also felt a little ashamed at that kind of maternal reflex.
My friends had shed actual tears, and I’d been driving away pumping my fist into the air singing the Hallelujah Chorus.
I didn’t want to fake sadness. I was glad for the changing of seasons and the new schedule. I wanted permission to say it out loud. So I got permission from myself, and gave the name to my blog thinking maybe someone else needed permission to be real too.
Just as needs and schedules change when kids go to school, my writing schedule and needs have also changed since then. So I’ve been working on something that makes it easier (and prettier!) to blog and share. Namely, a NEW WEBISTE! (Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!)
I’ve renamed the blog Rest & Relief for Ragged Souls because life leaves me feeling a little ragged a lot of the time. I don’t have a lot of expertise in “10 ways to improve anything” or “15 hacks to make life easier,” but I am certain of this: Jesus Christ gives rest and relief for ragged souls.
Sometimes rest is a change of mind. Sometimes relief feels like a laugh. Sometimes both come from taking a fresh look at a familiar Bible story.
However it comes, it comes from Jesus, and it is my pleasure to write about it.
So I’m announcing a move, from that corner of the internet to this one. If you’re already subscribed here, you will still receive these posts in your inbox.
If you would like to receive these posts in your email inbox, please fill out that little form in the right sidebar and click “Sign up!” You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription, and after you do…Voila! A little rest and relief in your inbox!
Thank you, friends, for reading and encouraging. You multiply my joy!
Oh, I love it! I need to get with it and finish mine. 🙂
Glad you’re started. Sometimes that’s the hardest part 🙂