Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Peace in the Process
    • Bringing Home More Than Groceries
  • Contact

In The Middle

February 3, 2016 by Kristin Leave a Comment

You know sometimes you hear an idea that just makes sense and gets you excited about participating? Well, that’s how I was when my blogging friend Britta LaFont told me about her Meet Me In The Middle Project. I like it so much, it’s going to be the theme of my posts on Wednesdays for the next seven weeks — that’s starting next Wednesday with Ash Wednesday and continue through the Lenten season. 

I invited Britta to come share about the project here, so that’s what today’s post is. There’s absolutely no pressure for you to participate in this project, but if you want to, I’d love for you to link up both here and at her place. And, even if you aren’t joining in The Meet Me In The Middle Project, you’re always welcome to link up here for #ThreeWordWednesday, and nothing that that changes. Honestly, I’m excited to have a focus for the coming weeks, especially throughout Lent. 

So, welcome, Britta, and I hope the rest of you get as excited as I am. 

_______________

I remember walking up the stairs and seeing her at the computer, out of the corner of my eye. She was muttering to herself and shaking her head.

“What’s wrong, Sweetie?”

“Mom, I just want to hurry up and get all my work done, so I can have some fun,” fumed my homeschooling sixth grader.

Everyone likes to have fun, but my child always loved school too. What had happened? Instantly, I knew where she learned that way of thinking and it stopped me in my tracks.

I was the one always rushing, Let’s get our reading done, so we can have recess. Let’s try to finish early, so we can meet our friends at the park. Let’s hurry up and do our work, so we can bake.

I turned around and went downstairs. I repented of my haste. I explained to her that most of life is work and if we can’t see any value in it, we are missing our calling to honor the Lord in all we do.

Col 323-24
Do you ever find yourself rushing ahead, wanting to get to the next place, to move straight from Before to After without spending time in the middle? That day on the stairs, I realized that I was constantly chasing the “After” and missing the Middle. And it got me thinking…

Most of us dread the workout, but want to look great in our jeans. We don’t enjoy cleaning, but we love the shiny, sweet-smelling endpoint. We don’t like waiting, We want results, and we want them fast. We don’t want to wait for anything.

What if…we realized that most of life is lived in the Middle? That most of life is work, sweat, and tears?

What if…we saw a Before & After and did not covet the result, but admired the effort exerted?

What if…we acknowledged that every “Big Reveal” pales in comparison to the biggest reveal of them all — the Resurrection?

— The Meet Me In the Middle Project, A Lenten Curation

YOUR INVITATION!

Won’t you join me in celebrating the middle places that we sometimes miss, because we want so badly to get to the After? It’s a small commitment, but I think it could be really fun! We are calling it a Lenten Curation of Before & After pictures. We want to repurpose those Before & Afters and show how they point to the gospel.

WILL YOU MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE?

1. Create a before/after collage
2. Post it (on a blog or Pinterest or Instagram)
3. Tell how the story of the pics is a gospel story (can be a few sentences)
4. Hashtag #Meetmeinthemiddleproj
5. Link up Wednesdays Feb10-Mar23 (You CAN link up with the permalink from the Pin or the Instagram post!)

Sign up! Then link up at meetmeinthemiddleproject.com. In all, it is just seven before/after collages! Easy peasy! Here are some examples:

A furniture refinishing Before & After can remind us that Jesus promises to complete the work He began in us (Phil 1:6, ESV).

furniture Instagram

A garden Before & After reminds us that The Holy Spirit is an imperishable seed placed in us, that we will yield fruit even if our hearts look like fallow ground now (1 Peter 1:23, ESV).

Garden Before and After

The Before & After graphic design creation below is from a tutorial, where you can learn, step by step, how to create a tachometer that begins as a simple line. The website responsible for the images generously shares expert knowledge, offering FREE tutorials, using FREE (professional quality) vector graphics software. The everyday kindnesses represented in this Before & After remind me of how Jesus lived and taught, “Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them” (Luke 6:31, VOICE).

Before&After Tachometer Tutorial

We start next week. Link up first here, at Three Word Wednesday. Then hop over to the Meet Me in the Middle Project and join us there!

_____________________


Britta LaFont is a sojourner. She was a military kid and is a military wife. She lives in the hot, hot desert of Arizona far, far away from her New Orleans family. She gratefully homeschools two of her most favorite people on the planet: 12-year-old Gracie and 10-year-old Josh. Britta and her husband Scott recently celebrated their 21st anniversary and foresee a happy ending to this military life in the very near future. Find her online at her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

_______________

152 Insights to My Soul

An InLinkz Link-up

Want more insights? “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family” is available on Amazon. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, peek into my life on Instagram, follow 152 Insights at Bloglovin’, or subscribe to receive “Insights in Your Inbox.”

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: guest post, Meet Me In The Middle, Three Word Wednesday

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let’s Connect

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Me

Telling stories is my therapy and I love sharing them with friends on my porch.

The main characters in my stories are my entrepreneur husband, our high school girl who never forgets, our middle school boy who has no fear, and our joy-filled first-grade girl. As we live out our stories, we seek God as the author of them all.

Learn more about my story here.

Subscribe for Updates

Recent Posts

  • How to host a party
  • All the places she’ll go
  • Cruising for Spring Break
  • How to take care of yourself
  • How to recreate favorite foods

Join the Conversation

Join the Conversation

On Instagram

@racershoops camp was so fun for Rachel and a few @racershoops camp was so fun for Rachel and a few of her friends! Despite all the basketball she has consumed as a spectator, I didn’t know how Rachel was going to feel about playing basketball. 

Spoiler: She enjoyed it, learned to grab rebounds, scored on the 10-foot goal, and turned extra cartwheels to celebrate. 

Big brother gets his turn next week. We love our Racers and are grateful to have these opportunities. 

#84daysofsummer #basketballcamp #basketball #RacerNation #WeAreRacers #momlife #thirdchild #summerisbest #girlmom
🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness 🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness has walked beside me / The winter storms made way for spring / In every season, from where I'm standing / I see the evidence of Your goodness / All over my life … 🎶 @joshbaldwin in “Evidence”

I love summer. But my summer has started off busy: appointments, book edits deadline, establish new habits with the kids at home. All that’s necessary and good, it just cuts into my down time beside the pool. 

Today we have two open gyms for our basketball players, my book study with a few friends, a new weekly high school girls’ book study at our house, and a monthly dad-son character study. 

I long for a little more white space on the calendar, but I also wouldn’t change a thing because the kids are only 16, 13, and 7 once. This summer will only be this summer once. And I’ve already learned time flies with big kids. 

So here we are finding out footing, singing praises with church friends on our porch, grilling delicious chicken, and squeezing in the wide-open spaces when we can. This is evidence of the good stuff. 

#84daysofsummer #poolpeople #momlife #momconfessions #faithlife #livingfaithfully #favoritethings #choosingJOY #countryliving #reallife #PorchStories
The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat ha The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat has become a favorite tradition to kick off summer! The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed one another. 

#familyreunion #lakelife #kentuckylake #kylake #getoutside #familytime #memorialday #memorialdayweekend #favoritethings #84daysofsummer #summerisbest #choosingJOY
Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ #TeamTaylor #girl Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ 

#TeamTaylor #girlmom #boymom #momlife #reallife #summerisbest #siblinglove #countryliving #poolpeople #getoutside
First of all, who else has read this book? The plo First of all, who else has read this book? The plot was promising as a thriller and the setting really worked. There were some good twists, and then there were ridiculous twists. I skimmed the end only because I wanted it to make sense. And it didn’t. It was too weird for me. 

But this made me wonder: how do we know if a book is going to be weird, contain elements we don’t like, or go places that don’t make sense? I don’t like to read much about a book before I read the book. Usually, I do a better job of picking books for myself. 

#KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #donotrecommend #bookofthemonth @bookofthemonth
I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant we I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant weather, a mixture of productivity and rest, and had plenty of wide-open space to enjoy our property and each other. 

#weekending #TeamTaylor #poolpeople #countryliving #favoritethings #choosingJOY #maydays
And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watch And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watching them both play. 

#soccermom #weekending #springtime #momlife #girlmom #boymom
On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a book, but I didn’t know what I wanted to read. Whenever I have indecision about books, picking up a thriller usually helps because of the story’s pace. 

“The Only Survivors” worked well because there was a lot happening! Lots of creepy, mysterious moments. Only so many people could be guilty of infiltrating a small group who had lots of secrets! 

I loved the timeline of this one. The back story about an accident was told in seven one-hour segments. The present mystery was told in seven days. 

#KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #latergram #bookofthemonth @bookofthemonth #poolpeople #mothersday
Y’all we are very ready for summer. ☀️ And Y’all we are very ready for summer. ☀️ 

And when I say summer, I mean we are ready to shake up the routine, mentally regroup, turn off the alarms, establish some new habits, soak in the sun, and catch up with friends we’ve been crossing paths with too quickly. 

I want to savor the #84daysofsummer and I want to embrace this new season. And it’s almost time. Three more days of school. (Deep breaths.) 

Meanwhile, I’m going to keep collecting the moments — the hard, hurried, happy, and heartfelt. The seasons do change, but this is the life we are living. 

“The moments you collect may not be loud or flashy. They might be quiet or covered or a far-off view you were lucky to catch. But this I know to be true: A moment savored says to your soul, ‘You have lived something beautiful.’ And it keeps you buoyed. It sustains you when you’re running empty. It lifts you up and carries you forward.” — Joanna Gaines in @magnolia summer 2023 journal issue no. 27 

#momlife #reallife #momconfessions #livingfaithfully #summerisbest #teenagedriver #choosingJOY
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Favorites

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Kristin Hill Taylor | Design by Traci Michele | Development by MRM