What is your monthly tuck-in practice?

Here we are on the last day of July. How shall we mark it?

Before July turns into August, I am taking a moment to draw a few soulful practices to a close, to tuck July (or any month) into bed so I can welcome the new month rested and aware.

What I am offering you in this writing are not simply organizational skills for a better life, though I do feel they make my life richer. These are practices that help me stay grounded in God Himself and His specific movements and expressions in my life.

We recently stayed the weekend with three of our grandchildren, ages 2, 4 and 8, while their parents were away and were reminded of the sweetness and centering habit of well-established children’s bedtime routines. There were baths, apple slices with storytime, teeth brushing, curtain drawing, white noise, singing and praying all around. There was a sleep sack and Baby Girl for PonyBoy, a star nightlight for Cowboy and a threadbare eagle snap bracelet (yes there is such a thing), Yoto meditation, and braids for Sweet Pea.

The weekend with these Wonders reminded me of my full-time mothering days and any routine that might cue winding down and healthy rest for growing bodies on the go.

And in a way of a much rarer tuck-in service at a fancy hotel meant to cue tender care and a good night’s rest while away from home. Imagine glass water bottles, crisp sheets, and local chocolates on the pillow.

But this is not pampering. This is paying attention beneath the surface of life, below the noise to the hum of life flowing in our veins.

Here are a few tuck-in practices I do to put the work of any month to rest. (See my answers further down.)

1. Flip through my journals and photos and see what stands out or is on repeat. (2-5 mins)

2. Capture the month in a 4-word reflection. (2-5 mins)

3. Type my “Creative Ideas Checklist” (7-10 mins)

4. Notice and name where my creative energy went/is going these days. (2-5 mins)

5. Notice and name what my invitations were/are. (2-5 mins)

This takes anywhere from 20 - 45 minutes depending on the month and how much of it I was noticing and capturing in my journals along the way. (I have one journal for my Ignatian prayer practice and another one for everything else.) If it is captured throughout the month, then most of this just needs gathering and revisiting.

Here is a sample from my reflections today on July:

Rough cut of my Creative Ideas Checklist for the month of July. An idea I adapted from Adam Grant.

1. Journal themes: This month I noticed ideas on mercy, the moon, moving, a few impromptu haikus, planting a wildflower meadow, “I am from” prompt, notes on Theology of the Body.

   Questions I was asking: Who am I serving in this moment/season? How can I re-center God? Why am I fascinated by the moon?

2. 4-word reflection: packing, porosity, discombobulation, Bob. This prompt is from the lovely Sarah Westfall and hones the month into four words that capture the texture of last 30 days.

3. Creative Ideas Checklist - July 2023

   This is an ongoing list I keep of anything from a class or trip I want to take, gift to buy, topic to write about, time with a dear friend or forging a new one, help with a decision to make, new practices, something to tell someone I love, design idea, a community to build or join. At the end of each month, I type all my scribbles into a Word document. Usually no one sees it but me, but because it keeps me following my ert, and it could help you follow yours, here is a peek at my Creative Ideas Checklist for July 2023.

   • write about my porch swing making the move with me to the country

   • hike Silver Falls on the way to Annie’s poetry reading

   • submit writing to Fallow House

   • write about God’s mercy metrics (Mercer’s sermon, Ps 34:4, 37:17, 22. PoP 163)

   • coffee with Becky Davis

   • write about God holding everything together when moving pulls everything apart (Ps 19:7, 33:19, Col 1)

   • create a new “prayer for moving” on Canva

   • paint coffeeshop scene at Mt Angel (abstract of girl w/ white book and orange/nutmeg, cognac scalloped chair backs and evergreen window grid)

   • #4wordreflection: porosity, packing, discombobulation, Bob

   • buy a large original from LP for Ladd Hill

   • new rhythms in Sisters: bike riding, painting, writing, woods/labyrinth walking, trampoline, new church

   • take art class from Kelly Rae, JO

   • watch for registration for Laity Lodge in Jan with Leslie (Oct)

   • go back to Egan Way with small gifts and new address

   • have fun ordering new address labels

   • attend Connections Conference (October 2024?)

   • make paper cup doll with Eliza

   • buy Magnatile road for Owen for his birthday

   • include journaling tips session at Space for God retreat

   • change bathroom lights to globes

   • black cab hardware in: mud/laundry/guest baths/gathering/den/stair nook

   • brass cab hardware in: kitchen/pantry/primary/powder

   • old pine armoire for art supplies (in bedroom?)

   • write about re-centering God (maps, Psalm 53 – God is the one turning us around)

   • check out at Deschutes Library: wildflower prairies and moon

   • express Psalm 23 and Van Gogh in the garden

   • plant a meadow, restore a prairie at Ladd Hill

   • make room for lament/order Terra’s new book

   Typing it out is a way to review and remember what I had hoped or dreamed of doing - projects, writing, work, and important relationships. It is fun to see what I actually did, what was stirring inside me including might have been impulsive, impossible, or for another day and time.

   This is no time for timidity or shame. No ideas are too crazy or “should haves”. I cannot do everything, nor should I just because I can. Still, I am free to dream, challenge, organize, wonder and relish what captures my imagination and get it on the page so I can really look at it from several angles (straight on or side-eye). Even discard if they don’t stick.

   But here’s a sweet surprise. Sometimes I catch a long thread from way back like my delight and curiosity with wildflowers and meadows.

   Typing on the last day of the month is my ideal. But I’ve been practicing this end of the month routine for about 18 months now and sometimes it is a day or two into the next month. Other times its a full month later and I wind up typing two months at once. It still works to show me overarching themes of longing and creativity. This time over a longer stretch of time.

   Grace for all of the ways.

4. My creative energy was going into: packing, moving, and saying goodbyes, making decisions on new build and specific invitations to join and do. This question from my friend and fellow spiritual director, Jenn, is changing my attitude toward myself and what I am actually doing.

5. My invitations were to be: porous, faithful, moon-like, wild-growing, attuned, on a board, in the mountains for the summer, writing with Andy. Thanks to my own spiritual direction, those first five were already in play but were captured on paper with a prompt from my friend and fellow spiritual director, Darcy. “What is God inviting you to be?”.

   Very little of this process is complete. But these practices are keeping me attuned to God’s movement in my life and turning me toward him and his Trinitarian presence a little more all the time.

Goodnight July.

Goodnight books by my bedside.

Goodnight friends with lovely prompts to help me grow.

Goodnight mouse and Egan way house.

Goodnight moon.