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God Our Father

My dad calls me darling. His dad called me darling. When I walk into my parent's house, he always says, “Hi, Darling.” When we experience God as our Father, we experience Him intimately. We experience what it is like to be known and to be loved, to be cared for and...

Life Hack: Timers

By Kirstin Ricketts

Home Sweet Home, The Blog

Does your home turn into a madhouse between the hours of 4 and 6 pm? When my kids were little, I heard some people refer to it as the witching hour, but for those of you who have small kids, I'm just saying this has not improved for us as the kids have gotten older. I...

One Box at a Time

By Melissa Cheatham

Faith Matters, The Blog

A few Christmases ago, my husband bought me a beautiful light green leather planner. I love paper and all paper products, so he usually gifts me something in that direction. This planner though was an August - December calendar with pages of large boxes to write your...

You Could Be In For The Ride Of Your Life

By Kirstin Ricketts

Faith Matters, The Blog

We took our kids to an amusement park and when they looked down from the gondola, they were captivated by the area where you can put in a quarter and drive a remote control boat. You know the type, built in the ’80s...the water is murky and dirty, the boats are...

Follow Him Home

By Kirstin Ricketts

Faith Matters, Home Sweet Home, The Blog

My grandfather had a way with animals, especially birds. My grandparents lived on an island in Southern Florida and my grandfather loved to fish. When we would return home in the afternoon with a catch, he would clean the fish on the dock. I can still smell the...

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There is a closeness we can have with God. Maybe this will help you picture how that was meant to be.⠀
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My dad calls me darling. When I walk into my parent's house, he always says, “Hi, Darling.” When we experience God as our Father, we experience Him intimately. We experience what it is like to be known and to be loved, to be cared for and about. What if we approached our God with the expectation that He would greet us with, “Hi, Darling,” and as we poured our hearts out to Him, His response would be, “I know.”⠀
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As a father looks with loving eyes upon his child, so our God looks with kind eyes upon us. He is patiently desiring us to glance up at Him so He can lovingly connect with our gaze. Just as the eyes of a father search the whole crowd to find his child, so our God searches and looks for us. He longs for us to look to Him in our pain, joy, and everything in between.⠀
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When we experience God as our Father, we will come to know the ultimate acceptance that says, “Come home. I love you no matter what you do.” As a father opens his arms to his child, so our God always desires for us to come back with eyes that are for us, no matter what we have said or done. We experience His patience and His love and His full acceptance as only a child can know. As a loving father watches their child ride their bike and topple over, when we fall our God reaches down, dusts us off and says, “Let’s give this another go,” revealing His trajectory pointing you forward once again. ⠀
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God calls Himself Father; it’s not on accident. God calls Himself Father because He allows us to know Him in a way that is gentle, yet strong; caring, yet desiring us to rise up to who we can be in Him; wanting nothing from us, but everything for us...that we would look to Him when we need help and when our hearts are heavy, so He can gently guide us as a loving father would...that when we experience our greatest joys, we would look to Him and see the glimmer in His eye saying, “Yes, my child, that’s the way.” And that we would live every day in His care, that He could feed and clothe us in His kindness, that we would depend on Him and live dependent on His great, great love.⠀
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HLLF, Kirstin

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Hey, we just celebrated one year at Hold Loosely Live Freely! 🎉 Here are a few fun facts that you may not know about us. - Last year 67,000 pages were viewed on holdlooselylivefreely.com! Thanks readers! - We both graduated from the University of Nebraska, but didn't meet until years later! - Our enneagram types are 8 and 2. Can you guess who is the 8 and who is the 2? - Both of our husbands bought us 18-month planners on sale not noticing they included 6 months we already over, we suppose, both are optimists thinking that the planner was not half empty but in fact half full. 😉 - We are following the same bible reading plan. You can check it out at http://www.brookside.net/messages-resources/365-reading-plan/ if you want to join us! - We love to run with you in the race of life and cheer you on! Let us know what you would like to read about!

Check out our bio page at http://holdlooselylivefreely.com/this-is-us/ more info about who we are and why we started Hold Loosely Live Freely!

Thanks for following with us!
HLLF - Kirstin and Melissa
#oneyearanniversary #brookside #universityofnebraska #huskers #hllf #enneagram #enneagram2 #enneagram8 #hllf #holdlooselylivefreely #kirstinricketts #melissacheatham

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Does your home turn into a madhouse between the hours of 4 and 6 pm? When my kids were little, I heard some people refer to it as the witching hour, but for those of you who have small kids, I'm just saying this has not improved for us as the kids have gotten older. I don't know what happens in my children's bodies, but everyone has the most important story of their lives to tell, wants to play with us all at once, and dinner...yes, that needs to happen too. ⠀
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Last month I went to a Policy Circle meeting with my cousin, and at the event, a literal timer was passed around so each person had time to speak on the topic. The timers balanced the conversation, giving those who usually wouldn't say anything the floor while allowing others who fight for the floor a time when they knew they could talk. ⠀
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It was orderly and proper, and if 1% of that order could rub off on my household, it would be a win, so I ordered some simple timers ranging in length of time...the kind with actual sand that falls out. It has been working so well. At dinner, we are using the one-minute timer, and even my husband is talking about his day for one minute. The kids are hearing more from him and listening to each other. My youngest, who has to fight for the floor, will go and get to the timer, and even if he gives it to his brother first, he knows his time is coming. ⠀
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We are also using the timers for play. When my husband gets home, each of the kids fight for his attention. We use a two-minute timer for each of them to play with him right when he gets home. My daughter brings her volleyball, my boys bring a baseball or football, or their latest Lego train and although it sounds silly, they rotate in as it is their turn and that little of piece of time seems to matter. We are fighting for the moments and for us, they only happen if we can make it sustainable. Timers are setting boundaries and within the boundaries are pieces of time the kids can claim as theirs. ⠀
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This idea is working for us. I hope it might work for you too as you choose the big rocks which can get lost in the shuffle if we don’t fight for them. ⠀ ⠀
HLLF, Kirstin

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A few Christmases ago, my husband bought me a beautiful light green leather planner. I love paper and all paper products, so he usually gifts me something in that direction. This planner though was an August – December calendar with pages of large boxes to write your to-do’s on Monday through Sunday. But, if you’re following the timeline here, 1/3 of the days in this planner had already passed. I didn’t ask him, but I think his gift might have also been 30% off. What a deal!⠀
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I was reading my Bible one morning with the planner next to me, and I decided to write a verse that captured my attention in that day’s box. I wrote my thoughts about it, one thing I was praying for, and the day was full, not of to-do’s but of a quick personal note. ⠀
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The next day I returned and did the same thing, and by the end of the week, I had five great verses, five thoughts and five prayers which I had laid out, thought about and grew from. And the best part, it helped me grow closer to God. ⠀
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It’s my favorite planner ever. ⠀
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For many people, reading the Bible is daunting! At times I have also felt the same. But what if you took one verse and placed it in one rectangle? With one thought? ⠀
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I would argue if you wanted to be a runner, going out and running 10 miles on your first attempt would likely lead to failure. Possibly feelings of “I really can’t do this!” The same is true of reading the Bible. If you start out trying to understand too big of chunks, it can quickly become overwhelming. ⠀
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But what runners say about running, and I would argue is also true about reading the Bible is if you start small, you will crave more. The key is simply starting. ⠀
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Start one box at a time, set aside 5-10 minutes a day, and give yourself the time to read a few verses and process your thoughts. ⠀
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This year Kirstin and I are reading the 365 reading plan Brookside church has shared. We would love for you to follow along with us! Check out my full post for info or go to http://www.brookside.net/messages-resources/365-reading-plan/⠀
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This year, start a simple habit. Engage in something that’s going to make a significant difference in your life. HLLF - Melissa

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