The Sacred Nature of Marriage

I went on a marriage enrichment retreat with my husband this weekend. We had a very blessed time. What we heard was not anything new, but we re-learned some lessons we had forgotten. I have a marriage blog and will share more information there at:

www.marriagestoriesbystacy.blogspot.com/

But, for now, I want to share some thoughts here on this blog and in this post.

Marriage is a sacred relationship. It is meant to be set apart, holy, and special.

How many of us would say that about marriage?

Fill in the blank. Marriage is: ______________

Stop. Did you do a backhanded comment or did you turn it to something positive? For example: Did you say something like, marriage is a ride you get stuck on, with ups and downs, and can never get off. That's backhanded. If you did say something like that, how's your marriage?

Marriage is supposed to be sacred. It's us who allows it to become something ugly. Why do we do that? Why do we actively and intentionally choose ugly over sacred?

I was divorced years ago and am now remarried. I know about making marriage something ugly. So, this is me looking in the mirror and not casting stones. Just trying to make you think in a fresh way.

Think today of ways to make your marriage sacred, special, holy, and set apart again. You can reshape your marriage today, if you so choose. Or, think today of how to make it more sacred, holy...

Two bodies join and go from an "I" to an "us"...

You can't get too much more sacred than that.

By Stacy Duplease
of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Huge Favor from My Readers

So I can keep track of who's reading this blog, can you please send me a comment, sign up as a reader, or drop me an email? I would really appreciate it. If you have time, let me know what you like, what you think, and any suggestions. Thanks!

By Stacy Duplease
of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

More?

LET’S FACE IT. LIFE ISN’T what we would expect. It’s harder and more unfair than we can comprehend. We make mistakes, we fail from time to time, and life dishes out some pretty hard lessons for us to learn.


But, it’s more than that.

Don’t we want more?

We just don’t know what that more looks like, do we?

So, are you living your dreams? Have you made goals, achieved them, and made more that you’re working on right now? Or, are you still waiting?

Aren’t we feeling empty inside and wonder if ‘this’ (you fill in the blank) is all there is to life?

Haven’t we taken life for granted and not counted our blessings as we ought?

What about as individuals? Can’t we be better people? More fulfilled?

What about as Christians? Can’t we be closer to God? Can’t we make Him more of a priority in our lives? Can’t we bring Him more glory? Can’t we cooperate with Him a little more?

But, we want more.

There has to be more to life than this. There has to be more.

We have no doubt that there really is more. Have you found out what the ‘more’ is yet?

As a Christian, I can say the answer is more God is the answer. More of Him in our lives brings more happiness, peacefulness, and joy.

But, what about those who aren’t Christian? What is your more? Is it fulfilling?

What is your more? What are you looking for?

By Stacy Duplease
of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Thought for the Day: Journal Your Muse & Inspiration by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy & Publishing by Stacy

Journal Your Muse & Inspiration
Whoever you are, whatever you do, it's critical to hold onto your inspiration whenever it strikes. Cling to it before it's lost or forgotten. Whether it's a memory, a story idea to write, a happy moment, or a life challenge, write it down so that it can always be with you.

Too often, our moments or inspiration are taken for granted. Then, life happens and we go through challenges. If our inspiration or muse is written down, we can hold onto those thoughts and they can offer us strength and persistence.

Don't let a moment pass you by.

Journal whenever your muse inspires you. That's the bottom-line. Journaling captures moments in time that photographs never could.

Inspiration is a moment of clarity. It's a sacred moment of divine clarity. We don't want to forget what comes to mind, what we want to do, or the drive we get from it. Write it down. If you don't, the moment can pass you by and can be lost forever.

Your muse and inspiration appear only when they want and how they want. Grab hold of them while you can and put all of yourself into them. Your life will undoubtedly be changed from the moment. Live it fully. Get it down on paper. Journal it.

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

The Muse of Inspiration: Where Does it Come From? by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Where does your muse and inspiration come from?

People?
Things?
Places?
Books?
Movies?

Does it come from one source or multiple?

What inspires you?

As a writer or artist, this is a very important question to me. I don't know about you.

Please send me a comment or an email.

I will be writing aobut this thought this week.

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

In the Mood: Epic Love Stories and Romance in Books, Movies, and Real Life by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy & Publishing by Stacy

In the Mood
I'm in the mood for love stories and romance in books and movies. Maybe because I'm so in love that it's addicting like a drug--and can't get enough. Or, maybe because I was born that way. Both are true. However, the main reason is because I'm in the process of starting an epic love story with an interesting twist. I've talked about it before and will continue to talk about it quite a bit. So, please bear with me.

Let me first state that love is not easy and a fine/accurate novel or movie always shows how you have to fight for love every day and appreciate it every day. Love is emotional and had ups and downs, in other words. It's how you approach them as a couple that makes love special or not so special. It's holding onto one another through the storms of life that makes the difference. Hence, the more storms there are in a novel or movie, the more I'm sucked into the story. How about you?

I've asked the question over Twitter about favorite love stories in books and movies today and was given a list of many. I do request for ALL of you to send me a list of your favorites. I need inspiration. Please add a comment to this post or send me an email to: storiesbystacy@gmail.com

Titanic
North and South by John Jakes
The Thornbirds
Winds of War
War and Remembrance
Atlas Shrugged
A Prayer for Owen Meany
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Middlemarch
Age of Innocence
Frida
Time Traveler's Wife
Jane Austen books
Anne Taylor books
Bridges of Madison County
Outlander books
Twilight books
Gone With the Wind
Casablanca
A Farewell to Arms
Love in the Time of Cholera

I've read/seen some and haven't seen others and want to check them out.

Is anyone else a romance junkie like me? I watch every romance movie that comes out in the theatres and have for years. Sometimes, the cornier, the better.

America's Archway
My fiction book that I'm starting to write is called (for now) "America's Archway: An Epic Love Story" and it's of The Building of America Series I've started about what it must have been like to build the famous landmarks in the USA, but all will be love stories. I ask the question of, if walls could talk from those landmarks and see what story I come up with from it.

What Real Life Love Stories...
What real life love stories are your favorite? Send them my way, please.

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy & Publishing by Stacy

The Sin of Busyness, Priorities, The Muse, and Other Ramblings (Etc. Etc. Etc.) by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

The Sin of Busyness
Did you know that often times, a busy schedule means that you are afraid to face something in life? Other times, a busy schedule means you're running from something. It also can mean just one thing: You're just busy.
Why is it we are so busy?
Why is it we think our lives have to be full to the max, or we're failing at life?
Why is it we think that busyness gives us self-value and worth? If this was really true, we're pretty shallow people.
Busyness is a tool to avoid something. Are we avoiding truth? From dealing with the past? From dealing with the now? From transforming our lives and our character? From change?
We don't have to be so busy. We do not have to choose to be busy.
What's wrong with enjoying a simple life of the things that really matter?
What's wrong with not having too much stress in our lives?
Just a few questions to ponder.

Priorities
How is it our priorities have become so skewed? Why are our priorities things that should not be priorities and why are the things that should be a priority not one?
Are our priorities on the things that matter or that have great value to us?
Are our priorities long-term and eternally-minded?
Or, are they now-centered and have no lasting value?
When was the last time you examined your priorities?

The Muse and Writing
I find it interesting when and how the Muse strikes. I find it's rarely in the way I expect and it's rarely when I would think.
Right now, I'm being called by the Muse (My God) to write a fiction book and a non-fiction book. My fiction book is an epic love story with a builder of the St. Louis Arch (made-up character/builder) and his woman. My non-fiction book is on Ezekiel 16 and Unfaithfulness to God.

Etc. Etc. Etc.:
Other Ramblings:
I'm sorry I've been a stranger. I think I'm back for two weeks now. Then, I'll be gone a week, back for two, gone again. Married life in Omaha, and away from home, means a busy life. In September, my Mom's visiting and then I'm going back home for the Bronco's opening game. Being in Omaha makes me miss the Rockies and Broncos. Terribly.

How are you?

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Inaction, News, and Vacation by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

The Danger of Inaction:
Life is nothing but a tightrope act of trying to keep balance. It's not just a walk along a tight rope, either. A lot of times, we're blinded (blindfolded), are in a storm (of life), are carrying a heavy load (baggage), and are being told to do it with impossible deadlines. Much is expected of us. I don't know about you, but most days, I have problems walking without tripping over something or tripping, never mind on a tightrope with all those crazy variables. Yet, I'm still expected to do it. How about you?

Consequently, there are times, I'm so overwhelmed that I become inactive. Complacent. Helpless. Depressed. Or whatever else that makes me stop moving.

There is danger in inaction:
We can lose sight of what's important and what matters.
We can lose sight of our dreams.
We can have progress pass us by and leave us in the dust.
We can lose ourselves.

Inaction has many consequences. We need to make sure we pick ourselves up and not fall into this trap.

We need not travel so quickly through life, and be so busy we run into problems. Yet, we also cannot suffer from Inaction Disease. Rather, we need balance. (Christians, see my blog about what it means to be an inactive Christian at: http://www.sacredstoriesbystacy.blogspot.com/ please.)

We can conquer inaction with:
Awareness
Intentional Living
Moving at a decent pace (not too fast and not too slow. Steady.)

News:
I'm getting help from, my kitten, Sinan, so I hope I don't make too many errors as I type this.

I worked some more on getting my house set up this weekend. It's the little stuff now that I need to finish. I absolutely love Omaha. It's a nice place to live. My office is mostly setup (thank to my hubby's help) this weekend. This was a major undertaking from day one of the unpacking. I also got a new desk (a huge wall unit thing), so that meant more work on the office and what a payoff. I'll download pictures of it once I get it set up entirely and with no more clutter (for now, let's be realistic).

My kitten, Sinan, is a lover, a little devil at times, and an all-around blessing. He keeps me in stitches and gives me all sorts of attention. Life is good. He's grown in the last week--up and in length. He's 15.5 weeks old now. I put a picture on this blog of him. Lots more to come.

As far as writing goes... I still have not had too much time to do so. I hope next week, that will change. I'm working several ideas in my mind. One idea includes an epic love story about a builder of the arch (a fictional builder) in St. Louis. Also, I want to do a couple of Bible studies and one on journaling.

Ugh! Kitten almost accidentally deleted this posting.

Vacation:
I'm having my first visitor come into town this week from Denver after I moved from there to Omaha. It's my Dad and I'm quite excited about it. Also, that means I finally have a house big enough to have a guest bedroom and we had the money to get a real bed. No air mattresses anymore for my guests. (Been there. Done that for years.) I'm not bragging about this. (Please, no!) Just counting it as a major blessing.

Consequently, I'll be a stranger again until next Monday. I wanted to let you know.

Perspective by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Perspective changes things.
Have you noticed how much perspective changes things in life--for the better and for the worse?

If you're Christian, check out my http://www.sacredstoriesbystacy.blogspot.com/ post that I will write later today regarding Christian perspective. However, for non-Christians and Christians, please read on and let's think about perspective.

What is perspective?
It's point-of-view or outlook in definition of what I refer to here. Hence, I'm talking about healthy or positive reference--or the opposite: unhealthy and negative point-of-view.

What quotes, sayings, thoughts do you have that bring a healthy perspective and an unhealthy one? How do they bring a better or a worse quality of life for you?

My personal perspectives or axioms are:
Healthy:
1) Aim for a star.
2) Have faith.
3) Make your every today and tomorrow better than your yesterday.
4) Happiness is a choice.
5) Love is a verb. It requires action and intent.
6) Relax.
7) Never be too busy.
8) Love never fails.
9) Keep your priorities straight.
10) Persevere.
11) Life is what you make of it.
12) Live never asked me what I wanted. It isn't fair. However, I will stand strong and keep the faith. I will keep hoping.

Unhealthy:
1) I can't do it.
2) I'm too busy.
3) I messed up too much this time.
4) I'm not worthy.
5) I must try to be perfect.
6) It can't get worse.
7) What if...

Each of the points above can make or break our lives. Their words have the power to change life for the better or making it worse.

What are your perspective checks that offer you perspective and keep things in perspective?

The bottom-line is we are what we think. We need to be forever mindful of both these perspectives. They're life-changing for the good and for the bad and can impact us the rest of our lives.

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Sabotage, Hard Times, Lack of Faith, and Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Sabotage: What is it, why do we do it, and how to overcome it:

I don't know about you, but my life has had a fairly decent share of crisis, difficulties, hard times. We all have. Needless to say, when life goes well, I can't help but brace myself for the next shoe to fall. Something will spoil it. There's always the good with the bad until we die. After all, life has never been fair. So, I do not expect it to be anything different at this stage in the game.

There are times a hard time is something we cannot control. It just happens. We can't do anything about it except go with it and try not to struggle too much and make the situation worse.

However, since my life has seen so many challenges, I think I manufacture them sometimes. I think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think that it will happen anyway, so why not make it happen sooner rather than later. Consequently, I add stresses to my life that don't need to be there. I set unrealistic deadlines. I beat myself up if I don't get things done. I get frustrated when life does not go my way.

At the moment, my life is everything I aimed for it to be. I spent the last 8 years intentionality working to bring my life to this point. Eight long, hard years of hard work and a great deal of mindfulness and intentionality in all I did. Now that I'm here, I keep wondering when something will change my bliss. It always does change. So, why fool myself into thinking this time is different?

What a lie.

Where is my faith?

Bad does not have to happen.

I can choose to focus on the positive and cling to my faith. I can seek to draw nearer to God. It's the most important thing I can do in my life and has eternal implications.

I can choose to allow good to happen and see my hard labor pay off and give God the glory for my good times at the moment.

Life does change on a dime.

However, it does not mean I need to diminish the good. I don't need to sabotage myself. I just need to focus on what is important to me.

Do you sabotage things in your life?

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

Greetings from Stories by Stacy

Hello! It's been a while. Sorry to not be here yesterday and add a posting to this blog. However, I'm here now.

I am mostly settled in my new home in Omaha. It's been fun (not sarcastically speaking, but I'm serious) setting up a new home and combining two households in one. This is the first time my husband and I've been under the same roof. Therefore, it's quite nice. I not only love my husband, but I like him. So, it's been a while in coming but here we are.

Omaha is a great deal better than I anticipated and I had positive thoughts about the place beforehand. It's pretty, green, and hilly. I love the people, the community in which I live, and so on. It's a slower pace than Denver and I definitely love that facet. It's also nice to be near more Christians and patriots. Everyone is friendly and when you let a driver over in front of you, they actually wave and say thank you.

It took us a month to get some of our furniture (and we're still waiting on the last round to come in on Friday). But, the wait was worthwhile. The house is a sacred place and quite peaceful. It's a retreat and that matters more to me than anything else.

We got a kitten named Sinan (pronouced See-naw-n) on Sunday and have been enjoying him very much. He's a huge ham. He has no fear. He's vocal, follows us around, and comes when called. He's a lover and purrs loudly. It looks like I've got a good helper.

I really have not had time to miss Denver yet and I think that's a good thing.

My dad is coming out to visit next week, so I'll be a little out of the loop again. Sorry about that.

It looks like I have four books I'm working on at the moment, as far as writing goes:
1. A book on 1 Corinthians. It's a bible study, devotional, reference, journaling type of book. It's meant to be done individually or in a group. Non-fiction.
2. A book on journaling. I actually call it journalblogging. It's a combination of journaling and blogging where you get thoughts out on paper or in a blog. It forces us to realize that we miss most of life every day because of busyness. We need to slow down and try to process what we experience, think, feel, be intentional about living, plan and seek our goals every day or we miss life. We forget what's important. Non-fiction. It can be done individually or in a group.
3. Zeagar. Fiction. Sci-fi.
4. A book about if walls could talk. It's set in the future and is going to be an epic love story about a construction worker who helped built the arch in St. Louis. The construction worker is purely fiction, but I want to do a series about 'Building America,' and how everyone has a story and these stories build America as well as the hands that build the landmarks. Fiction.

Also, I need to edit and get ready for publication:
1. Cammi's Story
2. Demarcations

How are you? What's new with you? Let me know.

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy

I'm Back

Greetings from Omaha.

I'm back and will start to blog again tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for your patience.

By the way, I have a new kitten. He's an orange tabby, named Sinan (pronounced: See-naw-n). Sinan is a good lion name. He acts like a lion and looks like one in a way. Sinan means spearhead. So, get ready for tales of the adventurous one.

How are you? What's new with you? Drop me a line and let me know.

Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy and Publishing by Stacy