Something greater

When our days are cloudy and our nights are gray
when we search and stumble for a place to stay
a place to rest our weary heads
when we have no sheets on our dusty beds

When the nights drag on
and the days never end
when you feel like you can never see
the finish line around the bend
when the wind is cold
and the rain is hard
and the grass looks greener in your neighbor's yard

Remind yourself that YOU were made for so much more
for something greater
for a path much straighter
than the crooked lives we seem to lead.
Next time you find yourself on your knees beginning to plead
for help
just turn your face
look toward grace
and God will meet you there.

You won't relent

There's this beautiful song called "You won't relent" that I wanted to share with ya'll. Here are some lyrics from the song:

You won't relent untill you have it all
My heart is yours

I set you as a seal upon my heart
as a seal upon my arm
for there is love that is as strong as death
Jealousy as demanding as the grave
and many waters cannot quench this love

Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one

I just love how this song so delicately and truthfully displays the all-consuming love that we can have for Christ and how God feels so passionate about us. He will not relent. He won't ever give up on us. And he wants to be that powerful fire in our hearts, a power that fueled by love that is stronger than death, because Christ did overcome the grave.

And that same love that God has for us, for our hearts, is what can shape and mend and move our lives.

2 Corinthians 5: 14 says: For Christ's love compel's us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

Here's a link to the song on Youtube. You should definitely check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UQxp0YhRuM

Sit

By the fire
we will sit.
Perched by the hearth
with love in our hearts.
We will sit through storms of snow
and rains and sleet,
through spring and fall,
hardwood floors,
bare feet.
We will sit with our children
their curly locks shining in the sunlight.
We will sit with our mothers,
refusing to fight,
and with our fathers,
smiling tight.
We will sit and sit
and sit some more,
all the while wondering

what everyone else is running so fast for.

Tightrope walkers

(images of Phillippe Petit printed in 1974, google images)


My immediate happiness hinges on your potential to smile
and boy, do you grin.
Ear to ear.
I'm ecstatic.
Praying that the silent static between the lines
connecting our lives
is a hopeful
solid
beginning.
A beautiful foundation.
Shining glory gives us blessing
and in our hearts love begins her nesting.
Don't let me down this time,
I pray as I'm walking on the line,
the tightrope that streches in between
today and 1974
and ties me to the balancing pole above Manhattan.
But I take on the feat
and do so with courage
and trusting that even if I fall
you will be waiting to pull me to my feet.

The Heart of Life

There is literally almost nothing better than waking up with a slight smile on your face and when you stumble into the bathroom instead of that sleep-eyed barely awake figure you see yourself- smile and all- staring back with a twinkle in your eyes. No matter where your day turns after that, you can be reminded by how simply happy you felt earlier that morning, and then all will be ok.

I also awoke with John Mayer in my head singing "I know the heart of life is good, I know it's good!". Such a great song!

And if you think about it, what is at the center of the heart of life? Our creator, the God of the universe, and all the goodness that he has created.

When we place our faith in Christ, God gives us the Holy Spirit, a beautiful, wonderful and powerful gift that rests in our hearts.

And the "fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22,23). And who doesn't want love and joy and peace and goodness?

For humanity

In his essay Self Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:

"I will stand here for humanity,
and though I would make it kind,
I would make it true.

Let us affront and reprimand the smooth mediocrity
an squalid contentment of the times,
and hurl in the face of custom,
and trade, and office,
the fact which is the upshot of all history,

that there is a great responsible Thinker and Actor moving
wherever moves a man;
that a true man belongs to no other time or place,
but is the center of things."

What an encouraging profession of who we are and what we can be! Will you just take this as words, or take it to hear and soul an stand for humanity in truth ? Will you avoid mediocrity and realize your potential as a Thinker and Actor ? It is a great calling, but yet for a greater cause.

Golden flowers

Distance is the enemy, but time is on our side.
Let respect be the groom, wed to truth the bride.
Unknown is the future; forgotten is the past,
and old memories are covered with sticky selectivity.
I grow doubtful of rationality and proceed with timidity.
Fast, grace flies by; forgiveness thrown to the wind.
Hope resides in silver clouds above and love remains the final dividend.
Reflected in my thoughts are images of yours,
but still they vary,
flee or tarry,
serenity or war?
Sensibility screams loud, but my heart beats faster.
Although I fear earthquakes and disaster,
trust will slowly come to pass and lie to rest
among golden flowers.

Be free

If you could be anywhere else doing anything else right now, where and what would it be?

Not that I am not perfectly content now, rather I am. Sitting at my desk bending and forming my brain for tomorrow's exam, I am content. And happy. Today was an excellent day. And though the sun has set hours ago, I still feel its light in my body, its warmth in my heart.

But, though I try to concentrate on my studies, on what is social stratification and inequality and all the facets that explain why these injustices exist, my mind is elsewhere. My mind is restless.

Right now I wish so badly to be curled up in a hammock with a warm, somewhat scartchy blanket around my shoulders and watching the sun set over a purple horizon as the waves lap on the shore and seagulls float over head. I yearn for the shore, for the freedom that exists within your soul as you stand at the edge of the water and peer with gently eyes toward the never ending horizon.

Gosh, these thoughts make me miss Long Beach Island so bad. And freedom.... but I am free. So why don't I feel so? Why do books and timelines and work and relationships hold me captive? Why do I let them?

The good news, I don't have to.
And neither do you.

Allow yourself to be free.
Allow yourself to fly.

There's nothing holding us back but our own two feet. :)