Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Muted....




One of my favorite places on earth

The above picture is for the thematic theme 172-Muted at Written Inc. This picture as muted you might be thinking? Well it's not just about the picture, but more about the place. This is one of those places that as soon as you're there, it wakes up a different part of your heart. The tress reaching up to form a hall, making you feel as if you're in one of the scenes from the Lord of the Rings. It has an ageless, timeless feel to it. When you're there, the whole world seems to be muted; silence settling over the world like a thick blanket and suddenly you are sheltered from the world of chaos and noise. At least for a little while.You can walk the paths and feel so small again, knowing that God, who created such beauty and majesty, is also holding your heart in His hands. I love being able to take time from "life" and to get away. To take time to slow down and hear myself think every once in awahile. To have the world muted.
   
Two more photos that I thought of when I though of 'muted'.




The first is in Boston on a cold, cloudy day. The second is of the sun over a Peruvian landscape.



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

On a Journey

We're all searching. We're all trying to get somewhere.
Is life more about the journey, or more about the destination? Or maybe a little of both? This journey that we call life is always moving, never slowing, never stopping. We're constanly climbing hills, descending stairs to climb back into the sunlight once again.

So what's my point? I forget that life is happening NOW. I always think that I'll start truly living life once I get that job, once I start traveling, once I get married, once I- the list could go on forever. I'm constantly looking to the future waiting for a day that may never come around. I forget that life is now, life is living in those inbetween moments.

I'm a reader. I love reading. Blogs, stories, novels, biographies, anything. Except maybe historical fiction... Anyway, I come across incredible writers that can bring to life thoughts that you never dreamed were possible. But I never stop to think that they all started with just a pen in their hand, facing the same blank screen that I stare at, waiting for words to come. I think that maybe when I could write like them, then life will really start. When I finally become somebody, life will then be the adventure that we all wait for. I don't think that Jesus only meant life to be lived AFTER we get a degree. After we get a pay raise. After....No, He's given us a new life. To be lived. Now.

We're all striving to BE someone. To meet goals, expectations and dreams. I feel like maybe we're really missing what life's all about. Life is made up of a thousand steps, all carrying us onto to our final destination. We forget that life is living in those little moments that we think don't really really matter: Doing the dishes, washing the laundry, driving to the store. They may not be the adventure that we always thought that life would be, but they all add up to something so beautiful and so moving that it could only be called a journey. I don't want to get to the end of my journey and realize that most of it has passes me by while I waited for "life" to start.

"We plan our lives in long, unbroken stretches that intersect our dreams the way highways connect the city dots on a road map. But in the end we learn that life is lived in the side road, alleys and detours."
Miles To Go by Richard Paul Evans

Let's stop dreaming about when life will start, and let's actually start living it.

"Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still."
C.S. Lewis

Friday, November 4, 2011

Here's to Everything We're Not...

I've been thinking about this subject alot lately.... Have you ever felt like everything you are simply isn't enough? I have....

As kids, we're told "To be yourself". Our parents have no doubtedly told us multiple times.
"Mom, what if the kids don't like me?"
"They'll love you, just be yourself."
Or maybe the conversation took a different tone as you got older.
"I'm nervous about this interview! What if I don't get the job?"
"You'll be fine. Just be yourself."
But we were never prepared when the world would tell us that 'being ourself' was not enough....

We encounter this message everywhere we go today. Magazines on the latest wrinkle cream, diet, fad, fashion and sports team. Because the laugh lines, those few extra pounds, your out of style clothes and the team you cheer for is just simply not enough....This is the stuff we encounter everyday. Even when we deny it's effects on us, we aren't realizing the damage it's slowly doing.
    Comparison....It's a deadly game that leaves it's unwilling participants with bruised and bleeding hearts. We have all felt it's side effects: I'm not pretty enough, smart enough, cool enough, rich enough-the list could go on and on and on. The world is looking for something more, something better. I find myself getting caught up in the cycle and soon I feel as if I'm drowning. Like I'm in a maze and every corner I turn I'm faced with a mirror showing me everything that I'm not.
   
So as Christians, where does this leave us? I could spew out verse after verse about how we're supposed to be comfortable Christians and not care. But it really comes down to this isn't our home. We're like aliens. Landing on a different planet as a stop on our way home. And aliens never really fit in anyway. We don't need to be enough for this world. Because we're enough for Jesus and He's more than enough for us. Let's stop trying to be someone we're not. I'm tired of not being good enough....There is no simple answer to this. I wish there was. But in life, simple answers are rare. But there's one that drowns out every other: Jesus. :)

And you know that maze? Well God's ready to pull us out as soon as we say the word.

What do you think? What is everything that you're not?