Saturday, November 20, 2010

Christmasssss....




Christmas season is upon us! For all those who hate any kind of mention of Christmas before Thanksgiving is over, I do apologize in advance. I just get really excited about this time of year. And come on, who could blame me? The celebration of the birth of our Lord, time with family, cold weather, trees inside houses, baking, lots of music, etc... all of these things are so wonderful; not to mention the Christmas tree lighting that my man took me to last night and that ridiculous holiday parade that went right past my house this morning ;). How could I not start thinking about it, with this town doing everything in its power to get people in the spirit?


One image will remain the most sacred to me during this time of year (and any other time of year, really...but especially now). And that is this:




The metaphorical and sentimental significance of a lamp post have remained in touch with my heart, and I will be on the look out for them as the snow falls and we trudge further along this snowy walk into December.



_sea

Friday, November 5, 2010

That Beautiful Thing

As I sit here and try to come up with the words to dictate my flood of emotions, the only thing that remains clear is a vivid picture of something. For the sake of challenging creativity, I'm not going to tell you what that "something" is. Just picture something beautiful; something so glorious that it makes you sweat with anticipation of seeing and touching it in real life. Something that brings you an ounce of comfort in your times of greatest agony. Picture it. And know that it comes from something much greater than we can create.

Friends, I let some pretty hearty lies get to me today. I've often gotten made fun of for my sometimes "overwhelming positive attitude." But not today. No, today I let myself sink. I wallowed and I cried. I was believing lies of not being good enough, not having the right motivation, not respected, not worthy, not capable, not clean. I walk in the light with these things because I believe that we all struggle with overcoming these lies, and because I want to take the chance to love you by letting you into my life. A few conversations with some people that I love snapped me back into truth, and that's what I want to write about. I want to write about the Godly love that was shown to me through these conversations. I was inspired to picture my "beautiful thing" during these conversations, and it stays with me even after the conversations are long over. It is a stunning view, friends, and one that I cannot compare to much else that I have seen in my lifetime. The truth that love speaks is a sacred heartbeat in this worldly place, and I feel it in my chest. And I write because I want it for you as well, but you must open your heart. You must be vulnerable. You must be willing to ask yourself the hard questions that make your stomach wrench, and then actually be willing to answer them.

There is life in places where we only let ourselves see death. My advice is this: do not put God in a box, and let Him see you- especially in the places of your heart that you want to hide the most.



Search me, O God, and know my heart
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me
and lead me in the way everlasting!
[Psalm 139:23-24]

Monday, November 1, 2010

A precious thought

So it has been a while. And I have always promised myself that I wouldn't be one of those people who starts blogs and then just stops writing due to laziness. But here we are and every day is new :).

I promise, this won't be another one of my long-winded updates. I just have a thought for you.

Last night, my sister and good friend, Katie Barnett, posed the question: "If you truley knew that your heart was a valued treasure of the kingdom, how would you live your life differently?"

Ah. I thought. And at the moment, I became frustrated in that I couldn't think of a specific thing. So we talked it out (over facebook chat, no less), and she brought up some ideas that turned my wheels. But the underlying truth for me is this: we are not our own. We make decisions that effect our lives and others because we are stewards of our bodies while we're on this earth. Whether we are good stewards or not is something that we will be held accountable for later. But let me say this, friends: you, as a soul, are treasured deeply by our Creator. The unmeasurable joy, pain, depth and experience that you endure is close to God's heart, and He feels you. He feels you and every prick that makes your body tingle in this journey that you take, more than any other human being can even come close to understanding.

Tread. And tread knowing that your heart is so preciously cherished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VAkOhXIsI0