Snowman Shenanigans

Okay, so here are seven snowman zingers to tickle your winter funny bone:

• How do snowmen travel around?… By icicle!
• What is the favorite Mexican food of snowmen?… Answer: Brrrr-itos.
• What do snowmen eat for breakfast?… Snowflakes!
• What did one snowman say to the other snowman?… Do you smell carrots?
• What do snowmen eat for lunch?… Icebergers!
• Where do snowmen go to dance?… Snowballs!
• How does an Eskimo snowman stick his house together?… With iglooo!
• Click here to enjoy all 58 winter witticisms!

Picture Windows

Don’t you just love WINTER?! ⛄️ Me, not so much. In fact, two years after I originally wrote this blog, my husband and I moved from Pennsylvania to Florida!

But a couple of years ago, I decided to do a different kind of Personal Spiritual Retreat. I usually do a morning mini-retreat at home every month. And once every three months, I do a full-day retreat or an overnight retreat away from home. Occasionally, I even do multi-day retreats.

But that winter, I wanted something different. God created me with a love of nature and the outdoors. And He also created me with a love for learning, thinking, imagining. The longer I live, the more I appreciate and embrace a quirky childlike wonder for God’s created world of infinite possibilities.

So that day, I drove just 10 miles away from where we lived in Pennsylvania at the time, to the Ponderosa Golf Club and Restaurant (not related to the Ponderosa Steakhouse chain).

I’m not a golfer, so I didn’t go there a lot. But I did love the view. Big picture windows frame three sides, overlooking vistas of a well-manicured golf course. A paved path meanders through trees and over gently rolling hillocks. There’s even a pond (okay, a water hazard), and bodies of water always call my name, no matter how small, so that was an added perk that I’d never noticed before!

Snow Show

I decided to go early, eat both breakfast and lunch there, and leave before dinner. (I blessed the waitress with a 50% tip for both meals, to cover my table for all of that time, even though the dining room was never more than 15% full.)

I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with all of the hours. But I’ve done lots of Personal Spiritual Retreats. So I loaded up my computer and a few books. On a whim, I also threw in one of my adult coloring books and colored pencils.

It was a WONDERFUL day!

I prayed for openness to any divine appointments for witnessing or service while I was there, but God obviously wanted to just feed my soul. I’m often focused much more on getting something DONE, than on just enjoying God and the life He provides. But this day, I was totally into that!

Shortly after I arrived, snow started falling. The ground was too warm for the snow to stick, but God gave me a great snow show!

Chocolate Brains

So here’s what I did during my Personal Spiritual Retreat at the Ponderosa Restaurant:

• Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Pathways identifies nine spiritual temperaments. One of my spiritual temperaments is Naturalist, which is why I loved watching nature today. I am also an Intellectual, loving to think about God and imagining His work in my life. Thomas says Intellectuals so much enjoy worshipping God through the mind, it’s like eating chocolate brains! So I pigged out on spiritual theobromine today–look it up!
• From my Bible reading, John 1:16 stood out: “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” God gave me a picture of Jesus dancing like Snoopy, feet blurred by joy! And then I found a picture that really tickled my heart. Click here to see it. That’s how much Jesus enjoys giving me “grace upon grace.”
• From Tony Stoltzfus’ book, Questions for Jesus: “Daddy, what makes you happy with me today? How are you exulting over me?” Daddy told me that He loves it when I am fully me, like today.
• I finished my reading of Leona and Richard Bergstrom’s book, Amazing Grays. This book is powerful Christian inspiration for how to live the last half of life on earth. The applications for my own life were exciting!
• I dreamed how to apply Amazing Grays for my older coaching clients, and how to design a workshop for people who are age 50+. I later ordered a book about senior adult ministry, but decided my calling is probably not that broad. However, I am every excited about the second half of my own life, inspiring and equipping others in their second half.
• The last thing I did before I left the restaurant was to create a colored-pencil drawing of my life with Jesus. It is too personal to share here. But it was great to worship Jesus through art. I’m not an artist at all, so it’s the first time I’ve ever done that!

What Are YOUR Picture Windows and Chocolate Brains?

Maybe picture windows and chocolate brains are not your thing!

Maybe yours are family dinners and chocolate soup kitchens! (feeling uniquely closest to God when enjoying and helping people)

If you’ve ever felt weird or even guilty because doing what other people do to get close to God doesn’t work for you, you’re not alone! Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. God wants us to enjoy Him in ways that are unique to each of us!

Literal winter and spiritual winter are great times to discover fresh ways to connect with Jesus!

Your Personal Spiritual Chocolate!

How do YOU most strongly connect to Jesus? THAT’S your own personal spiritual chocolate!

Gary Thomas identified 9 general ways that Christians relate to God, based on 9 spiritual temperaments. He published His work in the book, Sacred Pathways.

Discover and embrace your own uniquely designed temperament! It will revolutionize your relationship with God!

Enjoy Your Chocolate!

• What did God say to you through this blog?
• Which of the 9 spiritual temperaments best describe you?
• What will you do to ramp-up your uniquely designed spiritual temperament?

I created the infographic below, with Thomas’ 9 spiritual temperaments, and two tips for ramping-up each one.