Is
Hard
Beautiful
Time
Consuming
Totally
Worth
It.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
His Princess - Letters From Your King; A Letter to Myself.
My all time favorite devotional is one called "His Princess, Letters from Your King". It is a book of letters written to someone, from the perspective of God to His Daughter, His Princess. I have been having a hard time as of late, on ALL fronts, and for whatever reason - crazy as it might seem, I just decided to write myself a letter, and this is what came out. Sometimes, God shows up in crazy ways. Hey (God), thanks for that.
...
Dear Sara,
You are having a hard time right now, I know. It's going to be ok. Remember what you wrote at the beginning of June, in that blog you write? No, well let me remind you:
"We are facing times that might not be easy, that might be hard for us to face, and that might at times seem unbearable. Through it all it might seem ugly and to some like complete devastation. But what I try to remember every day is not the green fields or the summer sunsets of yesterday, but the new growth that will bust its way through the dirt completely unexpected, beautiful and completely nourished. Then, before you know it life and growth will be so abundant that people will not even remember the fire that almost consumed them. "
Do not let yourself be consumed by the fire - hang in there. In the thick of the dust, of the ash, of every moment that seems like weight of the world my crumble down upon you, hold on. Hold on to Me. I am fighting for you. I am here with you. Always.... Every. Single. Second.
Take down your wall. I know it is hard to hurt, to be fragile. But I have made you complete and whole, lacking nothing. You might think you are broken, incapable, and alone - but you are not. I am with you, to the very end of the age. Move forward, break your walls down, do what you find impossible- it's possible. You are strong, you are courageous, you are Mine.
There are going to be hard days head, there are going to be moments of celebration, of pain, of emmence joy - you can make it through. Sara, with Me - you can conquer this fire. You will break through the ash, and I know with full certainty that something magnificant will come of it. Just wait. Be still, and know that I am fighting for you, with you, right beside you.
Love,
Your Maker.
...
Dear Sara,
You are having a hard time right now, I know. It's going to be ok. Remember what you wrote at the beginning of June, in that blog you write? No, well let me remind you:
"We are facing times that might not be easy, that might be hard for us to face, and that might at times seem unbearable. Through it all it might seem ugly and to some like complete devastation. But what I try to remember every day is not the green fields or the summer sunsets of yesterday, but the new growth that will bust its way through the dirt completely unexpected, beautiful and completely nourished. Then, before you know it life and growth will be so abundant that people will not even remember the fire that almost consumed them. "
Do not let yourself be consumed by the fire - hang in there. In the thick of the dust, of the ash, of every moment that seems like weight of the world my crumble down upon you, hold on. Hold on to Me. I am fighting for you. I am here with you. Always.... Every. Single. Second.
Take down your wall. I know it is hard to hurt, to be fragile. But I have made you complete and whole, lacking nothing. You might think you are broken, incapable, and alone - but you are not. I am with you, to the very end of the age. Move forward, break your walls down, do what you find impossible- it's possible. You are strong, you are courageous, you are Mine.
There are going to be hard days head, there are going to be moments of celebration, of pain, of emmence joy - you can make it through. Sara, with Me - you can conquer this fire. You will break through the ash, and I know with full certainty that something magnificant will come of it. Just wait. Be still, and know that I am fighting for you, with you, right beside you.
Love,
Your Maker.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Help, A Renewed Opportunity to Love Blindly.
It has been a long summer, but it sure flew by.
Well I have officially been out of touch for months, yes month(S). Sorry about that. I forgot to have a blog, you actually have to take the time to jot things down - whoops. So on the time went, flying by ya know, without a single a, e, i, o or thumb click of the space bar. So right now, 940PM on a Wednesday night, we meet again. Hello :)
So, I just got home from seeing The Help, and boy let me tell you it was so incredibly amazing, it touched my heart in a way that no movie has since The Blind Side, or maybe Crash - or even August Rush. So, needless to say my heart is just overflowing with thoughts - a ton of which are on the marvelous and heart breaking adventure that I just took in the theater across the street.
The Help was undoubtedly one of the best movies I have ever seen and I would recommend that just as my lovely friend said only moments ago "that anyone with a pulse should see this movie". I am filled to the brim with thoughts right now and I guess this is where I am going to sort them out- and I will try not to preface along the way.
Oh - and before I continue please read the storyline for the movie:
Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families.
Here we go...
My first thought after the lights brightened up in the theater was a thought that pained my gut. I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness, there are members of own family, who still believe that all people are not equal." My next thought was even worse, "...and rarely do I have the courage to do anything about it." This is a problem.
You know, most of the time I would just sit back and say, "I am so glad we have moved past a time when the color of your skin determined your worth." Or even when I did get all fired up about something that someone close to me would remark over, having to do with someone of a different race, I would calm myself down or be be calmed down by saying or hearing "Well they are just from a different generation", "It was a different time back then Sara", "They are just too old to change their ways and thoughts", "It is just different in the South, people just view things different".
But now here I am tonight, and I just find myself with an achy heart. Because while we no longer live in a society of announced segregation we still fall into the traps of silent separations. People's worth is still being defined every day, and not usually by the heart they have or the soul within.
Everyone has an opinion.
People are judged everyday on who they 'are' ...
White. Gay. Straight. Married. Divorced. Black. Nerd. Athletic. Homeless. Hispanic. Rich. Asian. Fat. Short. Single. Woman.
I too feel it.
Obviously some of the items from the list above have weighed more heavily than others, both in past and present culture, but nevertheless at the core the narrow-mindedness lives on.
We might have come along way - I too celebrated the day Obama became the President, what a day in History, what a day for those wonderful women who used to be the help, what a day for us all - or at least it should have been.
You know, it might not any longer be about the allowance of shared water fountains, but it is still there, and in more ways than just 'Black and White'. We can look at the past and say "Oh look at how far we have come" but we are just moving the focus, and like I said everyone has an opinion.
So I sit here tonight in my blue chair feeling weary, because I cannot write an end to this story. I cannot find resolution for the judgements that happen everyday, to you, to me, and so many others. It stinks really. Will there every be a time where someones worth will not be determined by the color of their skin, the mate they choose, how handsome a face they have, or the size of their waistline? As the years go on will our focus continue to shift, at the time better for one, but ultimately not better for all?
I just don't know.
But I do know one thing, Jesus was blind. Not in the sense that His contacts were old, but on how He loved. Not to say that Jesus did not see, be that He did. Jesus chose to see with His heart and not His eyes; He chose to love unconditionally. Jesus was blind to color, blind to race, blind to gender, blind to preference, blind to looks - and through that blindness He loved; He saw the heart and souls of people - and to Him that is what mattered.
You might not be religious, or even a Christian, but confident I say this, and as boldly to myself:
Learn to love blindly.
Learn to love with your heart and not your eyes, learn to love others as you love yourself, and learn be courageous to change if you are not these things already.
Only then will we see a difference.
I love movies like The Help. Its movies like this that stir things wildly in our hearts, serving as a reminder to the mistakes of our past, opening our eyes the the present, and giving us a renewed opportunity to shape the future.
Well I have officially been out of touch for months, yes month(S). Sorry about that. I forgot to have a blog, you actually have to take the time to jot things down - whoops. So on the time went, flying by ya know, without a single a, e, i, o or thumb click of the space bar. So right now, 940PM on a Wednesday night, we meet again. Hello :)
So, I just got home from seeing The Help, and boy let me tell you it was so incredibly amazing, it touched my heart in a way that no movie has since The Blind Side, or maybe Crash - or even August Rush. So, needless to say my heart is just overflowing with thoughts - a ton of which are on the marvelous and heart breaking adventure that I just took in the theater across the street.
The Help was undoubtedly one of the best movies I have ever seen and I would recommend that just as my lovely friend said only moments ago "that anyone with a pulse should see this movie". I am filled to the brim with thoughts right now and I guess this is where I am going to sort them out- and I will try not to preface along the way.
Oh - and before I continue please read the storyline for the movie:
Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families.
Here we go...
My first thought after the lights brightened up in the theater was a thought that pained my gut. I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness, there are members of own family, who still believe that all people are not equal." My next thought was even worse, "...and rarely do I have the courage to do anything about it." This is a problem.
You know, most of the time I would just sit back and say, "I am so glad we have moved past a time when the color of your skin determined your worth." Or even when I did get all fired up about something that someone close to me would remark over, having to do with someone of a different race, I would calm myself down or be be calmed down by saying or hearing "Well they are just from a different generation", "It was a different time back then Sara", "They are just too old to change their ways and thoughts", "It is just different in the South, people just view things different".
But now here I am tonight, and I just find myself with an achy heart. Because while we no longer live in a society of announced segregation we still fall into the traps of silent separations. People's worth is still being defined every day, and not usually by the heart they have or the soul within.
Everyone has an opinion.
People are judged everyday on who they 'are' ...
White. Gay. Straight. Married. Divorced. Black. Nerd. Athletic. Homeless. Hispanic. Rich. Asian. Fat. Short. Single. Woman.
I too feel it.
Obviously some of the items from the list above have weighed more heavily than others, both in past and present culture, but nevertheless at the core the narrow-mindedness lives on.
We might have come along way - I too celebrated the day Obama became the President, what a day in History, what a day for those wonderful women who used to be the help, what a day for us all - or at least it should have been.
You know, it might not any longer be about the allowance of shared water fountains, but it is still there, and in more ways than just 'Black and White'. We can look at the past and say "Oh look at how far we have come" but we are just moving the focus, and like I said everyone has an opinion.
So I sit here tonight in my blue chair feeling weary, because I cannot write an end to this story. I cannot find resolution for the judgements that happen everyday, to you, to me, and so many others. It stinks really. Will there every be a time where someones worth will not be determined by the color of their skin, the mate they choose, how handsome a face they have, or the size of their waistline? As the years go on will our focus continue to shift, at the time better for one, but ultimately not better for all?
I just don't know.
But I do know one thing, Jesus was blind. Not in the sense that His contacts were old, but on how He loved. Not to say that Jesus did not see, be that He did. Jesus chose to see with His heart and not His eyes; He chose to love unconditionally. Jesus was blind to color, blind to race, blind to gender, blind to preference, blind to looks - and through that blindness He loved; He saw the heart and souls of people - and to Him that is what mattered.
You might not be religious, or even a Christian, but confident I say this, and as boldly to myself:
Learn to love blindly.
Learn to love with your heart and not your eyes, learn to love others as you love yourself, and learn be courageous to change if you are not these things already.
Only then will we see a difference.
I love movies like The Help. Its movies like this that stir things wildly in our hearts, serving as a reminder to the mistakes of our past, opening our eyes the the present, and giving us a renewed opportunity to shape the future.
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