Patsy Clairmont - Twirl: A Fresh Spin at Life

Copyright 2013 by Patsy Clairmont

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Unless otherwise cited, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Italics added to Scripture quotations are the authors own emphasis.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013940556

ISBN-13 9780849947636

Printed in the United States of America

13 14 15 16 17 RRD 8 7 6 5 4 3

To the Franklin Campus, who are visionary twirlers: thank you for inspiring me.

contents

I love a good twirl.

Okay, I confess: its been awhile since I have spun in circles like a pinwheel. When I was a kid, after twirling in circles, I would topple to the ground in a heap of giggles and wait for the world to stop tumbling. I felt like I was inside a kaleidoscope on spin cycle. Once my head cleared Id jump back up and do it again.

Today I can simply stand up too quickly and I feel tipsy! Somehow, thats not as much fun. In fact, I take pills for it. But when I think back to my childhood, I thought dizziness was worth a good spin.

If your life is as busy as mine, and I believe it is, then you probably feel like youre in a whirl as you gyrate from one activity to another. And if you are like me, you can get so dizzy that you forget whats important. Its the old tyranny of the urgent. We do what we think we have to, and sometimes in the doing we can ignore what truly matters. I know I can.

I love the word twirl. Its an energy word, one with revolutions that allow us, in a breathtaking swirl, to enter our lives with purpose and joy. But twirl can also be a word that leaves us exhausted and depleted. So you will notice the word being used to pick us up, which is this books intention, and to caution us of the dizziness that takes us down. Like life, which can be good or bad, twirl can be high or low.

Thats not to say there arent seasons where breakneck speed isnt necessary. I recognize hurry-up is part of the human dilemma. But when frenzy becomes a lifestyle and harried becomes our uniform, its time to put on the brakes and reevaluate. Because right after harried comes bitter, sad, and depressed. I have careened around on the back roads of depression, peered over its dangerous ledges, and even parked in its dark caves. I dont recommend the views.

Twirl (this book) is meant to help realign our spin on life so we can proceed with intentionality, remembering in the midst of hardship and responsibility to choose activities that lead to renewal. Our God is a Redeemer and Restorer. And I love that he invites us to be an active participant in this life with Christs leadership, and to learn how to take care of ourselves while contributing to others lives in ways that wont rupture our heart or invade their privacy.

I would love for us to choose a saner path than the one swirling with splintering options. Exhaustion has become societys badge of honorand those who succumb, a driven people. Jesus calls us to be a peculiar people who frequent peace-filled resting places and high towers of refuge. He offers to guide us along a narrow road full of dignity, purpose, gratitude, and rest.

While we are given the opportunity to make healthy choices, we can sometimes feel divided by the pull of too many options and too many voices calling our name. Twirl reminds us of things that matter. These chapters are like Post-It notes for our heart. Some may fit you and some may not, so lean into the ones that do.

Ive been around the block of life so many times, Ive worn out the curbs. Along the way Ive learned, often the hard way, what cheers a heart and what cheats a heart. It is my desire to be a cheerleader in the highest sense. Perhaps, through my experience, I can save you a few hard knocks, and together we can celebrate what matters.

The chapters may seem eclectic, and they are, which tends to be my style anyway; but the book is tied together by the ribbons of what matters. What matters in our lives when all is said and all is sung. I have a sign in my bookcase as a reminder:

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will realize they were the big things.Robert Brault

The topics in this offering go from dance to depression, from daffodils to death, from tree planting to picture taking... maybe I should have had a merry-go-round on the cover instead of a pinwheel. But the pinwheels breath-driven spin puts me in mind of a life filled with the breath of God, turning in such a way that it brings joy and then flutters to a stop. Life can come at us in spasms of extremes, couched in busy, so I just wanted to say to myself and my friends: lets step off the merry-go-round and slow down long enough not to miss what matters.

Understand that going from nine-aught-nothing to absolute stillness can be startling and awkward at best. Those of us who find our value in full-speed-ahead might initially wonder if we are wasting our time, when instead of being activity-bound we are slowing down to meditate, garden, and soak in bubbles up to our earlobes. Trust me, the benefits of our gawky efforts will be worth the peace-giving results. Besides, this isnt a book about stopping, necessarily, but about regaining perspective and not missing out on things that anchor our soul.

Theres something about a sane person who has a pulse on her life, one who is setting healthy limits, who is winsome, enviable, and honorable. So if you need to shift gears to achieve that kind of existence, you may need to give yourself permission to feel different in the process, because new is an adjustment. Whether its a new attitude, new song, new perspective, new centeredness, or a new settledness.

A few years ago an out-of-town friend paid a visit, and after a couple of days she said to me, Theres something different about you. Ive been trying to figure it out. Its like your insides are quieter.

Honestly, that was one of the best compliments Id ever had. I had been through a corridor of what felt like, at the time, exhausting changes. I knew God had done a fresh work in me to tame my frenzy, but it was sweet to have a friend who knew me well recognize it too.

We forget that others feel our insides when we have exchanges with them, which is why they say things to us like, Are you okay? You seem (fill in the blank: preoccupied, angry, sad, etc.). When we step over the line of multitasking to shredding our energies, others can feel our inner exhaustion and they sense the distraction and depletion that comes with weariness.