So Where Do I Go From Here?

November 6, 2013 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

{reflections on Allume, MomCon, and 31 Days}

It was the most jam-packed, kid-juggling, carry-on hauling, coffee-chugging month of the year. Seriously, December’s going to have nothing on October. At least we’ll all be in the same state the whole month.

In the 31 days of October, I wrote 31 posts about embracing the idea of Living Local. Confession: eight of those days were spent pretty far from my local.

I went with my amazing leadership team for my local MOPS group to MomCon 2013 in Kansas City from October 17-20. Then I turned right around and repacked my suitcase and headed up I-85 to spend four days in a hotel with women I only know online. From October 24-27 I attended the Allume Conference.

But just prior to my leaving for two back-to-back weekends without my family, my husband flew to Philadelphia to spend a week at a national conference for CDFI companies. (Don’t know what that is? Read this post.)

And while all this was going on, we found ourselves heavily involved in the production of The Masquerade, a walk-through drama, that took place at our church last week and involved very late nights and a lot of bacon. (We were going for realism in the morning scene.)

I don’t tell you all this to make myself sound like superwoman because I most definitely am not. I tell you this because I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons in the last month about my honest capacity as a

….wife.

….mother.

….writer.

….servant.

My resounding takeaway from all that I’ve experienced sitting at the feet of amazing Christian women and sitting on my own bathroom floor streaming tears?

I have to create more space in my life.

I need space to listen.

I need space to create.

I need space to enjoy.

When I am running from one good thing to the next I’m getting filled, but I’m maxing out my capacity to use that good to encourage others.

And that’s what I most want to do. I want to encourage moms to believe what they do matters. I want to encourage women to believe they are enough because Jesus believed them to be so. I want to encourage girls to evade the trap of comparison that will rob life of its joy.

I want to be right here at this time and in this space for a purpose that is greater than me. I want to love my neighbor despite the dirty laundry and social divide.

I believe these two things are what God is calling me to beyond my first call as wife and mother. So over the next several weeks, I’ll be wrapping a few projects and turning my focus toward this.

It’s something I tried to do over the summer when I wrote about my search for margin, but it wasn’t time. I still had commitments that I wanted to honor and that God is blessing.

But, now, I’m turning a corner.

I might be pretty quiet in this space from time to time while I finish some other work I’ve started, but it’s a rest that is long overdue.

If you’d like to leave me a comment and tell me what’s filled you beyond capacity, I’d love to know I’m not the only one learning to stand strong and say “no.”

For a list of influencers who’ve impacted my life in the past month click here.

reflections · writing

My Favorites from Allume and MomCon 2013

November 6, 2013 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

Sarah Markley helped me find my voice.

Sarah Mae challenged me to seek God’s face and be honest about capacity.

The Nester and her husband shared practical advice and the importance of purpose.

Emily Freeman (sister of the Nester) told me that God has a time ready for me to read her book.

Lisa Jo Baker reminded me that I don’t have to be “just a mom.”

Ann Voskamp showed me what it looks like to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit.

Jennie Allen made me want to jump and down and holler “Amen!”

Jen Hatmaker ruined my life in the best of ways. Safe and happy isn’t always the answer.

Beth Moore just shone the joy of Jesus.

Shauna Niequest was honest and captivating and made me stop thinking “must be nice.”

But the women who really loved on me and are helping me learn focus are my blogging sisters and MOPS team who shared a hotel room, meals, sweet tea, strong coffee, airplane reads, and late nights with me during the past month. Thank you sweet friends. I’m afraid to list you all for fear I’d leave someone out!

31 Days of Living Local

Reflections on Living Local {31 Days: Day 31}

October 31, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

This very well might be my Christmas card this year.
If you’d like to win a free session with MB Shaw photography, click right over here.

I wrote this series during what might have just been the most chaotic, grace-filled 31 days of my life. It’s taken my 31 days to realize how much I love my home and my community and my people.

31 days to realize that I started this series because I thought it would drive traffic to my blog, but in effect it really only drove me to this blog, each and everyday in an effort to make something out of times there was invariably nothing.

31 days to believing that I am a writer and not the host of things I keep pretending to be.

31 days to recognizing that my heart is here, for this community and my backyard and these people who make up my everyday ordinary.

31 days to discovering that the biggest differences I want to make in this world are the smallest occurrences: the hot meal, the baby holding, the laundry washing, the grace-giving.

Because I am learning that in living local, I am making big impacts on a small scale.

You can, too. If you’re overwhelmed by all the offerings and needs and projects swirling around your world, I encourage you to step back and take some time to just ponder where you are when you feel most passionate.

Ironically, I had to get away to see how much I want to serve just right here.

Living Local can be about more than just supporting small businesses and farm-to-table movements. When you’re truly living local, you’ve found your sweet spot, like Sarah Mae told me last week.

You’re living and serving right where you belong.

A Series by Lindsey P. Brackett

And that sweet button? That was made by my friend Andi. She gives great hugs, wonderful tutorials, and has her own etsy shop where she makes jewelry and other fun items like amazing all-natural chapstick. Check her out here or here if you’re a home educator.

31 Days of Living Local · joshua

Because They ACE It Everyday {31 Days: Day 30}

October 30, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

I realized after yesterday’s post that people sometimes wonder what he does now. Well, I’ll tell you because it’s pretty amazing.

When Habersham Bank was closed by the FDIC in February 2011 (the weekend Amelia turned one and I turned thirty-one and our life turned upside down), we didn’t know what to expect for his future. He knew and liked banking, so that was the route he pursued for another job, and in early summer he landed, along with many of his colleagues, at Hamilton State Bank.

He really liked it there and was able to take on some projects he really enjoyed, such as working with vendors and suppliers. I love to hear him tell this story of his favorite day at this job. Hamilton had just acquired another community bank that had been closed by the FDIC and he was helping with the transition and found out that their coffee service had been cancelled when the bank underwent budget cuts trying to survive. So he called his vendor and had coffee delivered that day. It was one of those ordinary acts that bless others immensely. All day, he fielded thank you calls from those employees. He kept saying, “All I did was order them coffee!”

But for us Hamilton was just a bridge between then and now. In January 2012 he was asked to interview for a position with a small, non-profit loan company in Cleveland. Today he serves as their Chief Financial Officer and works alongside his former boss from Habersham Bank. He’s come full circle in the most miraculous of ways.

You see, his dream has always been to own his own small business. In working with ACE, he spends everyday helping others achieve this dream. ACE is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) which means they make it possible for small business owners to develop and grow businesses that support and sustain local communities.

Local communities.

Which means when I get all on my platform about loving our neighbors and ministering to those who are here in our backyard, he looks at me and says, “What do you think I do all day?”

He’s an integral part of running a small business that funds other small businesses that hire employees that put income right back into the hands of those in our community.

This explains it so much better than I could…

//player.vimeo.com/video/59760957

I’ve spent thirty days writing about living local.

But today I’m realizing that it’s not just a project or a mission; it’s a choice and a lifestyle that sustains a community into the next generation.

So, that’s what he does now. He helps entrepreneurs build their local communities.

He helps make dreams come true.

31 Days of Living Local

What Does It Really Mean to be Local? {31 Days; Day 29}

October 29, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

Originally printed in the The Northeast Georgian on October 4, 2013.

Around here (and really everywhere in the South) folks want to know if you’re “local.” Did you grow up here? Are you from here? These are questions I’m frequently asked. Then, when I share, that in fact, I am not born and bred Habersham, the incredulous, “Then how did you get here?” is next.

The short answer is simple. My husband took a job in 2005 with Habersham Bank. So we moved from Adairsville, where we’d landed after four years of college in nearby Rome, to here. I started teaching, we had more babies, and this became home.

But the long answer is so much more. The complex, not quite so simple answer, is this is where I knew I belonged. That feeling of contentment among these hills and streams was fostered in my childhood and blossomed into reality as a young adult.

I grew up just a few miles down highway 17 in Elberton, but my childhood is filled with memories of these mountains. We camped at Andrew’s Cove and hiked Brasstown Bald and my father and grandfather had a secret camping spot called “The Walnut Tree” that women and girls were admitted to by invitation only. I spent summers in the valley between Helen and Hiawassee and tubed the Chattahoochee in an old tractor tire that was better than any pink plastic tube.

Later as a college student, I served two summers with Georgia Mountain ResortMinistries in Helen and worked part-time at Unicoi State Park. My paying job was to lead hikes and make crafts and welcome campers. But it was so much more than that; my job was to make this local attraction feel like home to anyone. My job was to help others see the majesty in these mountains and trails and waterfalls. My job was to live like a local and love this place like it was my home.

So when I came back with my own family, I easily felt I belonged among these landmarks and in this location. But it’s taken me a little while to own that word for myself.

Local.

Lately, I’ve been exploring the idea of what it means to “live local” in anticipation of a series I’m writing on my blog this fall. What does that really mean after all? Is being local more than just putting my money where my mouth is? Is it more than just enjoying the parks and playgrounds and libraries that are perks of my local tax dollars? I think so. I think when I choose to live local, it means I’m embracing where I live and proudly calling it home.

So when people ask me if I’m local, I guess the true answer is yes. My heart has always been most at home here among the history and geography of a place that is not my birthright. Perhaps that’s because this is the home that’s chosen me.

Join me tomorrow for an honest reflection on what I’ve learned this month about embracing my local and making a difference in this place, for such a time as this.

Did you enter the photography giveaway? Click here to read about the incredible local photographer who blesses my family and enter to win a Spring Session!

For all my posts in this 31 Days series on Living Local click here.