Why Is This a "Sitting Room"? Or How This Blog Got Its Name

In the years since I began this blog I have often been asked about how the blog got its name.  Why is it called my "Sitting Room"? 

To answer that question, today I'm reposting a portion of my first blog post.
As you'll see, over the years I have spent a lot of time sitting.  Much of that sitting was not by choice.  In recent years I've been focusing on sitting with a purpose.  And that's what this blog is all about.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus.  Listening for what He has to say to me.  And then sharing that with you.

Here's how it all began, on December 31, 2008:


I've been thinking lately about just how much time I have spent in the last several years just sitting.

It really began several years ago, almost 4 years now, when I broke/shattered my left ankle while out walking the dog. It takes real talent to fall on a flat surface and do that much damage! Several months, 4 surgeries and hours of physical therapy later, I had surgery on my right knee. I guess it was tired from carrying me around for all those months! The result was - you guessed it - more sitting!

After spending the better part of a year just sitting on my backside, eating the yummy food brought in by family and friends, and getting to know the Food Network and the Travel Channel much too well, I had developed a habit - sitting. Unfortunately all that sitting did not result in any profound new thought processes or anything really worthwhile. It mostly resulted in a broader backside and a more-sedentary-than-ever lifestyle. Not good.Since that well-remembered day (March 29, 2005), I have become a professional sitter. I have wasted countless hours just sitting, doing nothing or watching mindless television or all-day news. On a positive note, I have learned to knit.....although only in very recent months. I have read many books, most of them not worth reading.

So, as I enter the blogosphere, it seems appropriate to refer to this as my Sitting Room. There is a notable difference in my sitting, however, as I approach 2009. My sitting has become "on purpose". As I am reading (re-reading actually) "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World", I want to sit at the feet of Jesus....I want my sitting to be an opportunity to hear from Him and then to lead me into a purposeful life. To quote Oswald Chambers, it is my determined purpose to be "my utmost for His highest." And so I sit, listening. And I ponder what I hear. No longer sitting just because it is a habit, but sitting because there is purpose in the sitting and waiting and listening. And then I look forward to getting out of the chair and being obedient to whatever He tells me.


So there you have it.  That's my story. Since that time back in 2008 when I began blogging, I have had yet another ankle surgery, in 2009, to fuse the badly damaged joint after it had collapsed on itself due to "trauma arthritis" (whatever that is!!).  In any event, you may be able to guess the result......more sitting! 

There have been other changes in my life as well.  For one, I have given up knitting.  That's a good thing since I was never very good at it anyway. My mobility has decreased and the amount of time I spend sitting has increased. But one thing has not changed - my commitment to sit purposefully, to listen carefully to what God has to say to me, to be joyfully obedient to what I'm hearing, and to be diligent to share these life lessons with you.

Occasionally I might go "off script" a bit to rant about a pet peeve or to share a funny story about life here in the mountains.  But whether what I write challenges your thinking or encourages you or just makes you smile, I'm glad you're here!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory."  (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV)