"Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her."  Luke 10:38-42

This biblical account of Jesus' encounter with Mary and Martha has always touched me.  The problem for me is, I can relate so much more to the sister in the wrong than to the sister in the right.  I am Martha; always so distracted, worried and busy.  I have the hardest time making sitting at Jesus' feet a priority.  And when I do spend time in prayer and in His Word... it is a constant struggle to keep my mind from wandering all over the place. The rare times when I am able to completely focus on Him and let everything else slip away are easily the most peaceful moments on my life.  

I was talking to one of my dearest friends, Erica, on the phone shortly after New Years.  If you were to take me, make me taller and give me curly, red hair...you'd have Erica.  I cannot even describe how much we are alike in pretty much every area other than physical appearance!  That being said, we always have the best conversations.  Virtually our entire friendship has been long distance, so we spend a lot of time talking on the phone and face timing.  On that particular day, we were discussing what our goals for 2015 are. Believe it or not, we had the exact same resolution, (surprise, surprise) to "simplify" our lives.  Some of the tangible ways I want to do that are:

•  Get back to the basics by writing more cards and letters
•  Enjoy the outdoors by going for more walks, bike rides, etc. 
•  Be still by reading more books & learning to crochet
•  Learn to let myself relax and to say no sometimes.  
•  Be less of a people pleaser and more of a God pleaser.  
•  Stop believing that my to-do list is so dang important. #prioritize
•  Enjoy the quiet by not constantly having the t.v. or pandora on
•  Unclutter my home by getting rid of things I don't need
•  Spend a lot less time on my phone
•  Try to single-task instead of multi-task as much as possible
•  Not letting doctors appointments, medications or infertility as a whole rule my life

Most of the things on this list go against my always on-the-go, anxious, perfectionistic tendencies.  But when I fill up my life with so many things that don't really matter, all it does it rob me of the things that do.  I am going to really try to be intentional about simplifying my life and focusing on what what is eternal.  

The past few weeks I have been thinking it would be cool for Erica and I to both have something in our homes to remind us to "simplify."  I have been casually looking for some sort of home decor with this one word on it but have not found anything, so I decided to try and make something!  Every now and then I get it these very DIY, crafty moods.  I went to Hobby Lobby and found some wood that I liked & I had some paint and brushes at home to use.  

I wanted a grayish, blue color so I mixed 2 of the colors I had together and brushed it on the back side first.  I let it dry for about an hour and then painted the front and sides. 

I then got on my computer and opened Microsoft Word.  I typed out the word SIMPLIFY and chose the font I wanted.  I did several different sizes and printed it.  I then cut out the words and found the one that was the right size and taped it on the wood I had painted (once it was dry).  I took a pen and traced the letters, pushing down fairly hard.  

I don't know if you can see it very well, but the letters traced perfectly onto the wood. Easy peasy!  

I found some "paint pens" at Hobby Lobby, which I decided would be much easier to use to fill in the letter than with some paint and a brush.  It worked very well!  When I had it all filled out, I decided it was missing something, so I went and dug out some stencils I had in my craft stuff.  I taped the stencil to the wood and chose another color to paint over the stencil with.  This is the finished product.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out!  

Unfortunately when Erica reads this she will know what part of her birthday present is, but I don't think she'll mind :) If there is a word that means something significant to you this year, I encourage you to make a little plaque for yourself, too!  It is a fun little project and something you can keep forever.  

If anyone reading this struggles with being much more of a Martha than a Mary, I highly recommend the book, "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver.  It is a great book and one that relates the Bible story to our own lives.  I think now is the perfect time for me to read it again!

At the end of the day, I just want The Lord to be able to say about me... "Chelsey has chosen the good part, which will not be taken from her."