Anne Marie Miller

Author: Anne Marie Miller

  • attempts at simple – tip 2 – confess & unsubscribe

    first: the confession

    i have a prescription. i take it every night with my sleeping pill. the instructions? take daily for stress. yup. and guess what the first question my doctor always asks me when i visit…“how’s your stress level?”

    to be honest, i am not doing very well with this whole “simplification” process. granted, i have cut out a few things. but after a routine doctor’s appointment yesterday (for an asthma check up), my respiratory therapist flips through some stuff and gets concerned that my resting heart rate is never, ever below 80. it usually is in the 90-100 range. and when i exercise, a good five minutes in and i’m already hitting 180-190. i joke it’s easier for me to do cardio that way. he gives me a dirty look.

    if you know me personally, you know i can be pretty intense. hyper-esque? tightly wound? i’m not really sure how to describe me. “cracked out” was the term i used yesterday when i was talking with our worship pastor, danny. to quote him on part of our conversation, “oh i get it – i thought you might be burning out because of this big book project on burn-out…writing a book definitely does not fit under ‘simplification.’”

    yeeeeah.

    so, i will be doing more pruning…and not putting so much pressure on this book thing.

    ======

    second: the tip

    email is my addiction, my weakness, and my biggest enemy. it’s the first thing i check when i wake up and usually the last thing i check before i go to bed. i have it on my phone too, just in case i am more than four feet away from a computer at anytime.

    lately, i’ve noticed what i will call an email explosion in my inbox. lots of questions, comments, book stuff, thoughts, and things i really need to respond to. to help navigate through all the email i have done one thing that has helped a ton…

    UNSUBSCRIBE.

    goodbye pottery barn, ikea, white fence, west elm, overnight prints, feedblitz, blockbuster, etc., etc., etc. anytime i get a promotional email now, i unsubscribe. it has helped some. if i can’t live without it, i subscribe under another email account i have just for that purpose.

    however…or should i say…HOWEVER…i am still finding myself overwhelmed. fifty-some-odd emails a day (and please, if one of them is yours, do not feel guilty!) and i am having a very difficult time finding the time necessary to respond.

    i used to think pastors who had assistants email for them was really dumb. now i give them the biggest props for being able to let go…i would totally dig an email assistant to help me organize and reply to the ones who maybe didn’t necessarily need a personal response.

    but oh, therein lies the dilemma. i pride myself on the personal response.

    oh, there’s my problem.

    hmm. your turn to give me some advice…

  • and this is why i ask…

    the reason i asked about the “30 days to live” is because my friends over at lifechurch.tv are starting a very compelling and original series this coming weekend with that title. i love lifechurch, and since chris works saturday nights (when i’m usually home writing or cleaning or something) recently i’ve been watching their service at 7 pm via the internet campus.

    anyway, what makes this series so compelling? every week, they sit down with people who have very limited time left on earth…people who actually know that they may just have 30 days to live. wow. wow.

    you can check out the website for the series here. i know i’ll be tuning in at 7 pm on saturday (and i’m usually in the channel 1 “guest lobby” for a few minutes beforehand.) i’d love it if you’d join me!

    thank you all for your very thought-provoking responses. and man, are they all over the place. if you haven’t had a chance to read through them, check them out.

    as someone who regularly struggles with fear and “what ifs,” just the concept behind this series has caused me to really think through why i worry so much….and wonder where my boldness has gone. it doesn’t cause me to live in regret, but i guess tune in a little more to what is going on around me now, in the day-to-day…and how the day-to-day is part of a really long time we’ll just call eternity.

  • 30 days…

    what would you do…

    if you had only thirty days to live?

  • potluck (sans intelligent lights)

    in a few minutes, i will be heading out to trek about an hour on the other side of the dallas-fort worth metroplex to visit my pastor friend and his family at their church. it’s a small church, numbering probably close to 50 or 75, if memory serves me correctly. he will be filling in for their pastor, and i’m very excited to hear him speak.

    i’m even more excited to give them a check for about $250 and another $100 in gift cards that you have so generously donated (i learned the wife is having some dental work done so this couldn’t be a better time!)

    this church has no lighting rig, no HD cameras, no mediashout or professional band. they’re having a good ol’ potluck lunch after the service. talk about bringing me back to the days of my childhood.

    i’m excited for this change of pace. i’m excited to go to a small town church with small town people. i need some diversity in my church-going life.

    have you ever thought about visiting a church that is polar-opposite (methodologically, not doctrinally) than yours? maybe you should…

  • dead bodies

    from reuters.com

    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A woman in Mexico City kept the body of her dead husband by her bedside for a year until neighbors, disturbed by the smell, called the police.

    Police broke down Mercedes Velarde’s door on Tuesday and found the putrefied body of her husband Edmundo on the floor of her bedroom.

    Authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating Velarde’s claim her husband died of natural causes. They believe the man, in his early 60s, had mental problems that may have been linked to his death.

    Local media reported that Velarde’s son regularly helped remove worms infesting his father’s body.

    Police could not confirm the reports but said her two adult children knew their mother was keeping the body.

    The family is being examined by a psychiatrist. After an autopsy, the family could face criminal charges or be sent to a psychiatric hospital.

    Authorities said hiding a dead person, even a family member, is a crime.

    “Yes, these people have psychological problems, (but) they hid a corpse. Even if it is a family member, they committed a crime,” Veronica Sanchez at the Mexico City attorney general’s office told Reuters.

    how many things do we hang on to instead of properly burying them? i know for me, past relationships and mistakes easily haunt me. living and replaying moments i regret over and over again in my head do nothing but bring me down and take my eyes of the present.

    this is a really gross story, but so applicable to almost every area of our lives…don’t you think?

  • my office

    my office is next to andrew’s.

    and we overhear each others’ phone conversations. a lot.

    just right now:

    phone ring.

    “hello?”

    long pause.

    “no, i think it’s your saturated fats.”

    statements like this are bloggable simply because of their randomness.

    i pray to the lord up above he never blogs any random statements coming out of my office.

  • pre-sleep-journal-words

    tonight, i scribbled with red ink, on grey paper, in a sacred black journal, certain misconceptions i have allowed myself to believe. certain questions i have. a list of things confessing, repenting, and seeking wisdom.

    one question in particular ended up being surrounded by many question marks…many question marks completed by big, dark, heavy dots on the bottom, as i filled in each circle thoughtfully until my pen nearly made a hole in the page.

    what is the sacrifice YOU require of me, opposed to what man requires????


    i can’t wait for the answer.

  • dreams (part 1 of 2)

    my google homepage has widgets.

    one of these widgets produces random quotes.

    one of these random quotes said this:

    There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream – whatever that dream might be. ~Pearl S. Buck – US author, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize Laureate

    so tell us, has your heart ever been broken by a dream dismissed?

  • attempts at simple – tip 1 – focus

    as i am simplifying my commitments, i thought i’d share some insights i am learning along the way…a weekly installment maybe?

    to update to my previous post on all the crazy things i was allowing to dominate my schedule, many of those things have been eliminated. the action i’d like to talk about today is focus.

    for me, earlier this year i had no focus. anything that would cross my path that seemed remotely interesting i’d say yes to and slowly but surely my schedule and sanity started getting eaten away. i was working full time, doing freelance web design, graphic design, writing movie reviews, doing a little bit of radio, consulting with a few churches about identity and branding, reviewing books, and prepping for the announcement of mad church disease. PHEW. i saw all these things as good, i mean, i was helping other churches, and even getting to write some. however, just because they fell in line with my passions (the church and writing) didn’t mean they were the right things for me.

    so, these are the things i’ve decided to focus on personally:

    *my job – it’s both provision and where i can do ministry

    *writing – not just anything, but working on mad church disease, exploring another book option, and select articles dealing with sexual and emotional purity. blogging too. i love you guys. :)

    *speaking – to support the topics i am writing about and be able to interact with people who read my stuff

    *freelance – i have limited it to three clients with whom i already work. no more, no less. boundaries and schedules with all three.

    *people – with the writing and speaking and blogging comes opportunities to meet people, hang out, get coffee or lunch and chat about stuff. this is one of my favorite parts. we get to share what god is doing in our lives and learn!

    so, if some opportunity comes along and doesn’t fit inside those categories, no will typically be the answer. and as time progresses, it is easier to say no. practice with me though, it’s also easier doing it together!

    no.
    no.
    no.
    no.
    no.