Thursday Things #91
Letters, lyrics, books and swallowing neutron stars.
Welcome! Every other Thursday, I share a handful of things I'm loving, reading, watching, listening to or just discovered. In other words . . . what I'd text you about if I had your number or mention if we met up for coffee! I'm so glad you're here. :)
Hey friends. 👋🏻
How are we? First day of June, which feels like Officially Summer . . . but when I look at my calendar, it might as well already be July. June is SLAMMED with so many things and I know the time will fly by, so I’ll just wave hello to you from here and say
To Thursday. To the end of May Madness (less basketball championships and more school/scheduling craziness). To June.
I hope this month will be a quieter one for you, but if we’re in similar boats and your calendar leaves you wondering when exactly you’ll do things like, oh, wash your hair instead of dry shampoo it yet again (me 🙋🏻♀️), here are a few good things to add into the mix of Lots of Things.
Building me to last.
Oooookay. 💛 I heard about sunlit.letters in an email newsletter (Hope Heals) and after poking around, realized I saved one of her posts years ago but never clicked follow. That has been fixed now. ;) Each letter offers a gentle reframe, and while she doesn’t post often, when she does I take note.
P.S. Speaking of Hope Heals, if you have a chronic health issue, read this. It was an encouragement to me and I hope it will be for you, too.
Never Walk Alone.
First of all, her voice. Holy moly.
Second, from the literal first line I found myself thinking “What would I tell my younger self?”
There are practical things—parting your hair down the middle is one trend you might wanna skip, my friend.
There are general things that hold weight—don’t save the candles for a special occasion; today is worth celebrating.
There are answers to things I wondered or worried about—you’ll move to a new state without knowing anyone, and you’ll plant a decade’s worth of roots in a church and city you’ll come to call home. The chronic illness won’t go away, but you’ll fight for hope through the night. This person will walk away, that person will be a sister. You’ll be single, and you’ll have friends that actually “do life together”, turning the cheesy phrase into something beautiful in actuality.
It could go on and on, but if I had to pick just one thing, well, I think Hope nailed it.
All the books, please.
If you’d like a book suggestion or two for the summer, well, I have a few thoughts:
(Here’s a direct link to the post.)
Two other titles I finished this last week:
Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton
Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken by Dr. Henry Cloud
They are, obviously, veryyyyyy different from one another. But I’m glad I read them and think many Thursday Things friends would enjoy one or the other (or both!). If you watched the Harry Potter films, my guess is you’ll find Beyond the Wand to be interesting and entertaining. (I definitely suggest the audiobook! Note: there is some language). Trust is helpful, informative, practical, and one that I checked out from the library but plan to buy for re-reading down the road.
Miracles and breaking hearts.
I’m pretty confident any “intro” would only take away from these words, so I’ll simply link the poem and say yes and amen to choosing tenderness.
Drumstick flowers.
I’m on peony watch at Trader Joe’s, stalking frequently checking the new flower deliveries, but these joyful guys are holding me over. Let it be known, they cost all of $4 and last just shy of a month! Officially, they’re Craspedia. But they’re also known as drumstick or billy button flowers, hence: joyful guys.
I know I’m ridiculous. But seriously, four dollars for something that brings a smile every day for a month? A hands down yes for me and an obvious good thing. Go get you some.
A lock screen.
I kept going back and forth between three designs for the May All The Things digital downloads, so I figured why not let subscribers pick their fave? The handwritten style was the winner in the All The Things IG Story poll (if you’re part of ATT, the print & lock screen landed in your inbox last week!) but several voted for the serif option . . . since the words are from a song in an April Thursday Things, I promised to make that one as a bonus and share it here with everyone. 💛
My prayer is that when you’re struggling to get your hopes up, when it feels risky or even foolish, the first line will be a lighthouse in the metaphorical waves so that you can believe the second.
God has been good.
(And will never be anything less than good. So…)
We are safe to hope.
TO DOWNLOAD:
Hold down on the image above until there's an option to “save photo." If you have an iPhone, go to Settings → Wallpaper → Choose a New Wallpaper → All Photos. Select the image and then shrink it (think: the opposite of zooming in). This will allow the full image to show.
Your turn, friends. Have a good thing to pass along? Would love to hear it! Or if you have any requests for summer-y lock screens, leave them below . . . maybe I’ll whip up a few as a ‘survived June’ treat. :)
Ok. I just finished a book and kept thinking you should read it. It's called If We're Being Honest (Cat Shook) and it's the most delightful thing I've read in a LONG time.
Very diverse topics and quite interesting. Glad to know that Dr. Cloud has a good book out. I'll check it out. Keep up the good work.