Ginger Ciminello > Live

Friday Finds: Fuel for the Weekend

May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Book Finds

 

 

 

Dear, dear [FRIENDS]…

“I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The small ness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively.”

(2 Corinthians 6:11, MSG)

“Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.” -Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Here’s to a weekend filled with stories to tell, moments shared, and adventures to be had!

Following,
Ginger

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Spending

January 16, 2012 by 4 Comments

“How we live our days is… how we live our lives.” – Annie Dillard

“It occurs to me it is not so much the aim of the devil to lure me with evil as it is to preoccupy me with the meaningless.” -Don Miller

WHAT YOU DO TODAY
Jesse Watson, a local pastor and friend, posted this thought today on his Facebook account: What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

It’s amazing how one small sentence can pack such a powerful punch.  It’s left me thinking all morning… how am I spending my time?  Am I getting the best return on God’s investment?  The challenge that I’m taking this week: count your hours like you are counting calories.

I’m working on a personal fitness goal so I count my calories every day.  I don’t want to be oblivious to what I’m eating – every bite matters.  I’m hoping to apply the same dedication to my days.  I don’t want to be a time waster. I want to go so far as to make a pie chart and see where those 15-18 hours go each day.  Care to join me this week?

“Teach us how short our lives really are so that we may be wise.”  Psalm 90:12, NCV

Learning to live out His story,
Ginger

Filed Under: Living His Story Tagged With: ,

Living History Challenge

January 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

MAKE A BUCKET LIST
I understand the reasoning behind titling your dream list with the word “bucket“ – but I also have quite the aversion to it.  And no, it’s not because it references dying, but because “bucket” is an ugly word.  I don’t want to have to keep writing or saying that word when speaking of my innermost hopes and dreams.  So my list is actually called “THE LIST.”  It’s pretty self-explanatory.

I love hearing when others achieve their goals and cross items off of their list.  It’s challenging and, oftentimes, inspiring.  Watching as friends and family chase their dreams, take on the remarkable, and learn life-altering truths has only fueled my own hopes.

GOALS vs. DREAMS
Last week we spent a lot of time talking about expressing our goals and making them happen.  Goals are good.  They are a great way to remain motivated and forward thinking.  Goals keep me away from the TV and out accomplishing.  But dreams require more than just an errand or a little extra effort.  My dreams are the things I whisper in prayer, share carefully, and cultivate in the back of my mind.  In order to make my dream list, the item must require more than I have within me to achieve on most days.  Dreams, at least for me, tend to motivate my everyday thinking and living.  They keep me living wide-awake and looking for opportunity.

TAKE THE CHALLENGE
I would encourage you to think about your own list… be it bucket, goals, dreams, or just “The List”.  Keep adding, keep the list handy, and dream bigger than what you could ask for or imagine.  The satisfaction of crossing off completed missions is enjoyable, but it’s the process, the journey, that makes for the actual living.  Mt. Kilimanjaro… one day you and I WILL meet!

“Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”  2 Samuel 7:3

Living out His story,
Ginger

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Thursday Tip: Make a list…

August 18, 2011 by 4 Comments

This Thursday Tip is also in response to V’s question about practical advice in preparing for a future spouse is going provide us with a few choices.

Make that two choices…

1. Spend your time hunting for Prince Charming.

OR…

Making a list. from Ginger Ciminello on Vimeo.

2. Live your life and become the heroine of your story!

I would caution you against clinging to a list of your perfect idea of “the one.”  The One has given you a life to live and love to give right here, right now.

Following,

Ginger

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Dear Jordan.

June 29, 2011 by 7 Comments

A two week series on learning from the past and looking to the future…

Dear 22-year-old Jordan,

Well, you did it. You moved across the country and you’re scared to death because it’s pretty much permanent. Until the next thing comes up, that is. I know you’re thinking that you will do this for a few years and then you can get up and leave, but I encourage you to stick around. Good things are going to happen, once you get past all the rough patches.

You are smart and independent and have such an empathetic heart, but it’s that soft heart that has gotten the best of you recently. It is going to ache more than ever this year.

You have recently come out of a very messy relationship, if you can even call it that. You have just jumped into one that you think is better and is rooted in God. But Jordan, it’s not. I know you think it is but you are trying to hold onto anything that feels right at this moment. It is just not worth it.

I am reading back on your journals and you are hurting so bad. You are being treated so badly and you don’t even recognize it. You’re a tried and true “fixer”. When someone who is less fortunate than you comes along, and usually it is in the form of some guy, you want to take them in and fix them. They are hurtful, conniving, deceitful, malicious and do not see you for who you really are. They come from broken pasts that they have yet to come to terms with and they look at you, who seemingly has it all together, to take care of them. I want you so bad to realize how much time you are wasting. You just can’t fix them at the cost of yourself.

So this new guy? Do not ditch your girlfriends to spend time with him. Do not answer every phone call or text message for the attention. And do not think that he’s as good as it gets. Because he’s not. Please trust that God has someone great for you, because He does. I am living it. I encourage you to write out a list of what you want in the man you’ll marry. This list will be transforming in more ways than one and you’ll see just how wrong this guy is for you.

Sometimes I get really sad for you. You are trying to that void of loneliness that was emptied when you moved to a new place. You do deserve better, but it’s going to take you another year to realize it. I wish it would happen sooner, but it will just have to come in time. You are going to look back on this time in your life and be so thankful for where you’ll end up.

If I can ask you anything, Jordan, will you please live the life you were born to deserve?

Hang out with your girlfriends every time they call.

Move into a different apartment because the one you’re in has very shady management. Once you do, spend more alone time in that place and soak it all in.

Go to that church you went to last Christmas and call it home.

The next few years are going to be some of the hardest in your life, but it will all turn out great. I promise. Hold onto that truth.

I love who you are going to become,
Your almost-26-year-old self

Jordan is a born ‘n raised Texan writing her way through a life out West. A God-loving newlywed, Jordan writes about her journey on her blog, Wide Open Spaces.

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