That breaking moment in the midst of your day? Can I pour something healing and wonderful down over it?

It’s called your Second Day and my beautifully hearted friend Jessi taught me about it.

At the very moment when you are just about to give out but your day calls for you to give more, make a shift. Start your Second Day.

Apply it this way: Back up a few minutes. I shoot for 30. Or 60 on a really, really everything is right in the world day.

Split your back up time in half. First, do some things that bring you peace and prepare you for what is next. I try to do as many as I can of those everyday things that suck life and marrow out of me if they are left undone. You know the drill. Dishes. Tidying. Clean off the desktop. Write that email. Do whatever it is you do with that pesky spreadsheet (I don’t know because I am one of those weirdo right brained people). What you want is to trick your mind into thinking that things are fresh instead of mind tired and frizzled hair feeling. Just trust me.

Now. For the second half. Do something that is only life giving. Maybe you read. Maybe you write. Maybe you pray. Maybe you draw. Maybe you walk. Maybe you listen to music or nothing at all. Maybe you’re an extrovert and you do extroverty things (I wouldn’t know because I’m one of those stubborn introverted types). Whatever your thing is that makes you feel full and alive and at rest. Do that thing that speaks to your heart.

And then? Then you start your Second Day.

Shifting like this has brought some kind of fierce refreshing into my day. Oh, there are days where I just put my head down and steamroll through. That’s ok, too. There’s victory there. But the days when I get to walk through my little Second Day rhythm are becoming quite the treasure.

Will you try it? And will you come back here and share about it? I’d love to know.

Lord?

Today done flat wore me out. My hair is going every which direction and my words aren’t good anymore and every response I’m making is clipped with frustration. Because where am I in the midst of this? Of the powdered sugar caked on the counter. Of the popcorn covering the kitchen floor. Of the papers strewn about the dining room. Of the Zaxby’s drink from two days ago that’s still sitting on that table in the den. (Thank you for Zaxby’s, Lord. You know I love it.) Of deadlines unmet and receipts unreconciled. I don’t even know if I have clean underwear for tomorrow. And there’s that book, magazine, whatever that I’ve been wanting to read for days. I think it has jelly on the cover.

I’m thirsty, ever so thirsty, for refreshing. And this stony heart, the one that I was born with? It keeps telling me that I’ll quench my thirst reading just a few blogs or in five minutes checking my email or two minutes more on facebook. If I can just sit down.

But there’s only One who ever broke stony rocks and made water come spilling and trickling out. And that is You. If it’s not You then I’ll just be parched.

And so I will wash the powdered sugar off of the counter because it’s work you’ve given me to do. And I will answer that 7 plus 7 is 14 even though I do NOT want to. I will do that paperwork that has been waiting for three weeks. I’ll even do the laundry.

And I will look for you. In every single thing I do, I’ll look for you. And I’ll do it because you gave it to me not because I have to be good. If this is the work you’ve given me then You are in it. And I’ll believe that even though it is work, because You are in it then even this stuff of my hands can be refreshing. If I don’t give in, then you’ve promised I’ll reap. I’ll reap and I’m believing that it will be margin. It will be refreshing gifts from You to my heart, things that give me life.

Amen and Amen.

Whatever your 3 pm looks like, maybe you have a verse or encouraging truth that you turn to. Would you share? I’d love it if we lifted each other up.

Last week I sat drinking unsweetened iced tea (dumb diet) across the table from a lovely heart who has more life experience than I do.

This change I am seeking is going to require all of my thinking parts.

I want to delight. I want to cherish. I want to pour out love, love, love.

Homework time is a major battlefield. I feel tired. I’ve been up for years, it feels like. I’ve been in the physical world of a four year old. I feel not enough. And I’m just done.

But it’s a gift that I am able to be here in this moment. And it’s the sweet pulp of our day together.

And so as my words poured out over unsweetened tea and devilishly tempting coffee smells. I said it.

What is my part in redeeming this time?

The simple answer that came back was fresh air to my not good enough, work harder heart.

What would make me look forward to it?

And that very afternoon, we positioned ourselves right under the window where the absolute best afternoon light splashes in. It’s the kind of light that makes you want to do something fancy and important.

And we spoke God’s Word over and before that time.

And there was soft music. A bit of Sandra McCracken is always a good thing. Or the Wailing Jennys can make romance out of first grade spelling words.

Today? I think we will selfishly pilfer every camellia off the bushes just around the corner so that we can have a table full for tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday are always hardest. The best part is that the quince is about to bloom and I cannot wait to look through wiry, white bloomed branches at third grade math.

There is peace in this time now and I am feeling less and less the pull to rush out of it (sometimes). Sometimes it is still hard and groan filled but we will do it anyway.

I was stuck in unlocking the mystery when all I needed was just to bring the sweet gifts to the table.

This isn’t about perfection. I’m trying to keep lofty expectations at bay. This is just about being present. Being Present. It might be grumbly on their part or mine. It might mean doing math that I needed a tutor for. It might mean digging in and pushing through and it might not feel delightful right this very minute. It might mean that I have to stop the whirlwind of a to do list that I was never going to finish in the first place. But they are worth it and I want them to know it. It’s a tiny portion of my day that I can stop and let be redeemed.

Are you on this journey, too? I’d love it you’d share.

Here’s what has changed: my heart.

I started 2011 with the gusto to take more risks. Grow my business. See just how much energy I could eek out of my life and into my little plant of a thing.

Here’s what I’ve learned: I am an artist. Not a businessperson.

Sometimes you have to be both. But sometimes you don’t.

Beautiful things have grown in me as I stretched to the far end of my boundary lines. I wouldn’t trade the things that have been added.

But a calling came stronger than the stretching.

Do you know what love is?

Love is releasing a perfectly good thing because it isn’t the best thing.

handmade recess (the shop, the shows) is a perfectly good thing. I am good at it, thankful for where it has gone this year.

But it is not the best thing.

Right now the best thing for me is to serve my family in love.

Right now the best thing for me is to turn in to the beautiful gift of my marriage. Please do not worry. We are better than ever. I just won’t take it for granted.

Right now the best thing for me is to lay a groundwork of grace and love in my children’s hearts so that they will never-not ever-doubt that they are loved and Loved.

Truth? It’s easier for me to focus on my gifts used in my business. Those made things? They do what I want them to. I feel more capable with them.

I don’t feel at all equipped for this season our family is in. We’ve entered the heart boundaries part of parenting and even though I’m not always physically worn out, my heart is heavy, heavy, heavy with these choices. It’s going to take all of my energy, this transforming. I don’t carry all the weight. I AM does. But, still, I must keep my focus.

There is laughter running through my mind right now as I imagine my husband reading this post. I’ve used 342 words to say this:

I am almost completely giving up handmade recess.

You can find my products at this amazing store in Atlanta, Georgia. And. I might have a little holiday shop if I feel like there is room come Christmas. I’ll still be pursuing my artistry. I’m just letting go of the burden of the business stuff. It was stealing too much of my heart.

This space? Will go on. It’s one of my favorite things that handmade recess has given me. Pursuing writing years after I studied it, packed it away, has brought me so much joy.

I’m not sure what to expect in this space, except that I l will live my life and then I will write and then I will post it here. Not the other way around. I said it last week: it’s my heart that this be a place where your failure-feeling is checked, where you find a kindred spirit, where you feel encouraged to always choose what is best no matter how afraid you are. And. Where you glory in the fact that you are clay.

And? Just one caveat: please know that this is my choice. It may not be yours. If you work out of the home (I still do…just differently), if you work away from home, if you stay at home, if you stand on your head 15 times a day? I think you are awesome. Ok?