On the new year, southern sayings, and tweeting God

Happy New Year, y’all. 2019 has arrived.

I remember listening in to an adult conversation years ago and hearing my Uncle Bryon talking about what he thought we’d see in the future.  Back then 2019 sounded quite futuristic to my young ears.  Uncle Bryon used to say that one day the roads would move instead of the cars. He saw us driving our vehicles onto the Interstate and settling in for the ride with nary a glance at the road, you know, kind of how a lot of drivers do with their smart phones.  Insert eye roll. Uncle Bryon left us for heaven and as of today, there are no moving roads that I know of, but who’s to say we’re not close. (If you’re watching/listening Cuzin Jeff—Hi there!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was great! It was also— brace yourselves for transparency— tiring. Can I get an honest witness from anybody here? I love Christmas, the music, the lights, the decorations, the good, the church parties, the family reunions, all of it. I flat out love it, but there’s something positive to be said about getting back in the routine and getting the house back in order and I’m not “skeered” to say it.

By the way, I did take a research note during the holidays. I have a new southern saying that needs documenting. Chances are you’ve been asked or you have asked someone else this question: “D’j’all get enough to eat?” (D’j’all is a combination of the words did and y’all; I’m spelling it d’j’all.) The question is often used by southern women who have prepared a feast to question those who have or are consuming said feast.)

I noticed the Queen of us repeatedly asking people if they got enough to eat, and it reminded me of my late mother-in-law. Lucy said it all the time. It has occurred to me that the women of my generation don’t use that question as often as the southern women who came before us. What do y’all think? I, for once, aim to correct that. We can’t let that sort of thing get away. I’m even having some tea towels made with the saying. They’ll be on my product table during events this year, and in my online store shortly. Another of the towels says, “Give me Jesus time, and no one gets hurt.” It’s indicative of the addiction I’ve developed to spending quality morning time with Jesus before I even think about attacking the to-dos. I’m guessing a lot of y’all can identify with that one.

In other news, I’m using one of my new toys to record this! My man gave me an Osmo Pocket Gimbal. I still need to do some reading up on it. There’s a learning curve to everything, but check this out. It has a tracking feature that follows you. The beloved farmer hit it out of the park with this thing. Oh, and my new air fryer with the rotisserie and dehydrator features. I’ll tell y’all more about that as we go into 2019 and I plan to do some cooking segments with my Osmo Pocket here. We’ll see…

For the record, I did not get the new and improved Big Mouth Billy Bass and I’m okay with that. Did you see that? I’m talking about the return of that plastic motion activated plastic fish of yesteryear that’s mounted on a plaque for easy implementing into your wall décor.  The fish used to merely flap his tail, bob his head, and sing, “Take me to the river…” or some such tune? Not anymore. From what I understand, that company paired up with Alexa, the creator of your personal home assistant. Now, that wily fish pairs with Alexa. The fish can give you those weather reports, read your recipes aloud, or play your music. I read a quote from the president of the company that makes them. He said, “This is not your daddy’s big mouth bass.” Okay. Are y’all still with me? No, I don’t know why. Because they could, I reckon. But it does underscore what I’ve said here before, technology does not always translate to the advancement of the human race.

But, back to the Jesus time towel, that reminded me of a story I wanted to share with y’all…

Two of my younger friends were together when Brittany heard Carrie say something, but she couldn’t make it out. (Not my daughter-in-law Carey, but my friend, Carrie.)

“What’d you say?” Brittany asked.
“Nothing,” Carrie said.

A short while later, it happened again. Brittany heard Carrie speak, but she couldn’t hear what Carrie said. Once again, Carrie said it was nothing.

The third time it happened, Brittany said, “Okay, I know you just said something.”

And that’s when Carrie explained that she was tweeting God. “You know,” Carrie said. “Sometimes you can’t really go into a long prayer, but something or someone crosses your mind and you just toss up a prayer. I call that tweeting God.”

Ok. I get that. I tweet God, too. I just didn’t know to call it that. Maybe you tweet God, too. That’s fine. I mean, it’s better than fine, unless tweeting God is all we do, and then, well, it’s not so good. Let me explain.

Every believer is familiar with the Biblical call to “be still and know that I am God” but it’s not easy to build our lives around regular dedicated stretches of prayer.  Let me rephrase that. It can be downright hard and frustrating to spend quality time praying, at least until the Spirit of God within us begins to teach us how to tarry, and then it’s easy peasy, right?  Wrong!

We can learn and experience the blessing of prayer and it can still be challenging to draw aside when the noisy world is pressing in on all sides and the to-do list is mounting. Or, how about when we feel particularly fallen and unforgiven, despite our whispered pleas for mercy. Anybody else familiar with those times when the heavens seem closed for business and your mind is wandering all over creation, or is it just me? Yeah, I thought so.

The truth is that learning to pray beyond the occasional tweet doesn’t come easy. By tarrying in prayer, we’re saying that this stretch of time the world might consider us as wasting, is anything but squandered minutes and hours we can’t get back. It’s us, acting on our belief that prayer is a lifetime investment that builds and brings dividends, plants, sows, and harvests.

This kind of prayer, this tarrying prayer, will always come with a price. Learning to see the value in what it costs, however, and experiencing the results of slowing ourselves down to listen for God, this will make us seek our prayer closets over and over again. For over the course of countless struggles to corral our thoughts and express our hearts, we finally begin to understand that these times of prayer that might not seem to be changing anything around us the way we hoped, are changing things in us in ways we never dreamed. True transformation is happening in the way we think, the way we live, and the way we love.

In prayer, regular tarrying prayer, we’re living out our belief that life is more than the noise around us. And in reaching beyond the twenty-four seven pull of what we can see, who we are and what we want is being changed by One who is unseen.  Yes, even struggling stumbling prayer.

So, let’s tweet God, it’s a good thing. But, let’s also tarry. “Waste” some time with God today and tomorrow. You’ll never live to regret it.

That’s it for this week folks. If you’re enjoying the All Things Southern website or my podcast, would you be so kind as to give them a nice review and share with your friends and family? Many THX! Remember, you can always hear the audio file of the podcast right here at the bottom of the posts.

Until next time, may the Good Lord bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace. This is Shellie with hugs for all~

Hugs,
Shellie

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