Thoughts – Not Quite Ordinary

Storage

Posted on September 4, 2026September 3, 2026 by Ann B. Hibbard

I have so many thoughts today.

Some of them almost popped into my brain fully fleshed out, which is weird and uncommon. But, they’re there, and I want to type them up before they run away.

Others are not fleshed out — they’re just starters. But they are very promising starters that I feel like I can easily bring to fullness if I can just sit down and start writing.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time for all of them. I can’t write five things at once, and because I have jobs, my unpaid writing time each day is limited. (The mental battle there — convincing myself that it’s okay to devote time to it at all — is a whole other topic!) Does that mean I have to pick and choose? To let some just go?

Well, possibly, yes. But, not automatically. Because I have something in my writing tool box that helps tremendously in times like this. I have storage!

The program I use for writing, Scrivener, lets me organize and store to my heart’s content. I can tap out an idea using as many or as few words as needed, then color-code it and pop it into a folder to let me know everything from the general category of the thought to how well fleshed out it is. I can add notes and keywords to help me search for it later. And I can easily mark it when I’ve revisited it and fleshed it out more.

The same is true for other tool boxes I have built. I have music repositories with notes for use in my role as music minister. I have digital folders on my computer to help me organize various craft patterns. I have dozens of folders in Google Drive and on my computer to organize what I need for my other job. I have tabs in my internet browser. Color-coding, bookmarks, and special project pages in my planner. A journal with various project ideas.

Admittedly, my storage isn’t always the best organized. Sometimes I store things in the wrong tool box. Or I jam something into a generic storage spot that’s not attached to any specific tool box, requiring me to occasionally sift through and sort the ideas stored there. And many times I neglect to store a thought, idea, pattern, song, or whatever, assuring myself that I’ll remember.

This will probably come as a shock to you, but I rarely do remember.

Ultimately, though, the point is to just have a spot to store resources that aren’t regularly needed but still good to have on hand. They don’t have to be as easily accessible in the tool box as your regular tools, but they can be in that nifty compartment that’s a little harder to get to but always nice to have.

As I talk more about tool boxes, you might start to recognize some of your own. That’s kind of the point (and we’ll chat more in the future about how to recognize your existing tool boxes). So, your challenge for the next week is to contemplate your own tool box storage. What do you store for later? What storage method naturally works for you? And now that you’re recognizing your storage, what can you do to make it more effective?

I Don’t Want To

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Ann B. Hibbard

One of my summer goals was to reinstate a habit of writing. Some weeks were good, others not so much. But, I’m seeing progress. I’m also seeing, though, that it’s not always about having time for a habit. Sometimes, it’s about pushing through a bad case of “I don’t want to.” We’ve probably all faced that, in one way or another, in this strange year we’re experiencing. Here are some thoughts that came from an “I don’t want to” day a couple of weeks ago…

Today I have a few minutes to write. Lunch is an easy prep since I’m just warming up soup that’s already in the fridge, celebrating an August day in the 80s (not at all a norm for an Arkansas summer). And I just completed another course to prepare for our official homeschool start in two weeks. Almost to that finish line! So, I have time to sit down and write a few hundred words.

The problem is, I don’t want to. It’s not the out-of-habit issue that leads to staring at a blank screen, although it has been a couple of weeks since I’ve written regularly. It’s just that, emotionally, I don’t want to hash through what’s in my head.

That’s the thing about healthy habits. (And yes, for me, writing is a healthy habit.) A healthy habit — and a healthy lifestyle — insists that we confront our thoughts, emotions, struggles, and successes head-on. We have to think about them. Deal with them. Not just every now and then, but day after day after day without fail.

Even the simplest healthy habit like brushing my teeth daily makes me aware of the health of my teeth. How are they doing? What do I need to do to keep them healthier? Improve their health? Maybe I don’t consciously run through these questions every time, but the evaluation is there.

But some of the healthy habits are more in-your-face than others. Like writing. With writing, I have to process my thoughts. I have no choice. And sometimes I just don’t want to.

A habit, by nature and definition, makes the decision for us. My habit every morning is to get up, put on exercise clothes, work through a weight routine, and then go walking. The decision is made. I don’t make the decision to do all of that every morning. The habit makes the decision for me. If I do not go through that routine, then I’m making the decision not to. And that takes more effort, because then I have to rethink the flow and routine of my morning. So, as much as I do not enjoy setting the alarm early enough to get up and exercise — nor do I like the exercise itself — it’s more of a hassle to have to decide what to do with my messed-up morning. So, I exercise.

As a result, I face the health realities connected to my need for exercise head-on. Day in and day out. My weight. My eating habits. My overall health. All tied to that habit.

The writing habit, in turn, decides for me that I will deal with the cacophony of thoughts in my head. And that’s a good thing. Because when I let them pile up, they wreak havoc. They cause stress and depression. They magnify uncertainty and strengthen confusion. It’s work enough to deal with them on a daily basis. But, when they pile up? It’s downright exhausting! So, I need a habit to decide that I’m going to write, whether I want to or not.

Of course, destructive habits are no different. We have good intentions, but if our habits are unhealthy, they make the decisions for us. And our “want to” struggles to stand against them. It’s not hopeless. We can break destructive habits and build healthy ones with will power. But, if we don’t apply that will power, our habits will win. They will make the decisions.

May we always be aware of our habits. Of our healthy ones and our destructive ones. Of the evaluations they force us to make. Of the power they hold over our lives. Because when it comes down to it, our habits — not our “want tos” — are what truly shape us. What shape do we want?

Faith Nuggets, Thoughts from Scripture

Thus Far & Beyond

Posted on July 1, 2016July 1, 2016 by Ann B. Hibbard

In my personal writing files, I have all sorts of little notes with topics I’d love to write about. I include memory triggers and thoughts, but none of them are fleshed out. Yet, so many times as I sit down to write, I read through the old thoughts intending to utilize them, only to end up writing something new. The new might be inspired by the old, but it’s never quite a fleshing out of those old thoughts.

Eventually, I want to go back and flesh out those old thoughts. But as I sit down today and start from scratch yet again, I’m reminded why it’s so important for me to jot down those thoughts, even if I never use them to create a blog post, article, or even a book chapter (maybe someday!).

Those thoughts are my Ebenezers.

The Bible is replete with remembrances. The Israelites are continually pointed back to their origins and the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even in the New Testament, the majority of Stephen’s sermon as he is on trial before the Jewish leaders recalls the history of Israel (Acts 7). Remembrance of the work of God in this world is critical to our growth. We cannot go forward if we do not build on what brought us here in the first place.

And that is why, in 1 Samuel 7, the prophet Samuel set up a stone and named it Ebenezer. He knew the people needed a tangible reminder of God’s work among them, not only His historical work of their exodus from Egypt and early settlement in the land of promise, but also of His recent work in redeeming them after they had turned from Him yet again.

Scripture is my solid foundation. It is the history that I must know and constantly learn more about in order to grow. But, my Ebenezers are my personal experiences. They are my “thus far the Lord has helped ME” reminders. They are personal.

But I cannot stop there.

“Thus far” indicates that this is not the end. God wants to take me further. Where I have been is critical, for all of my past experiences are critical building blocks of my faith. And I need to remember and revisit those lessons. I need to keep them in my heart and mind and even go back and dust them off and clean them up now and then to make sure those lower blocks are not decaying as I try to build on top of them.

But, if I only reminisce on and flesh out my Ebenezers, then I am effectively preventing any new growth. I’m keeping the lower blocks clean and fresh, but never adding to them. That causes me to transfer my focus to the Ebenezers themselves and away from the Lord who has brought me to each and every point.

So, today, I am enjoying going back and reading through some of those Ebenezers. And, at some point, I’ll probably flesh them out and share them, little by little. But for today, I’m building a new block. I’m setting a new stone. I’m thanking the Lord for His faithfulness to bring me even further, past my last Ebenezer and to my current one.

Thus far the Lord has helped me. And, oh how beautiful to know that He will not stop here!