Learning to Fly
As we walk these halls and sidewalks in our lives, we inevitably lock eyes with other people. Depending on where you come from the length of this entanglement will be different. For example, when eyes meet on the city streets in Calgary they are quickly put away as there seems to be some unwritten rule about having to look down when walking in the city. In a small towns when your eyes meet with someone else’s it usually serves as an invite for a conversation about the weather.
But have you ever in that split second of looking into someone’s eyes gotten lost? Have you ever looked away in fear of the secrets hiding in the back corner of those retinas? I can recall too often then I would like to admit, looking at someone, and seeing the depth of their despair when their eyes scream back at me, “I am worthless…” It’s interesting how eyes can speak without even moving. Perhaps if we dwell on an idea - such as being worthless - long enough, it becomes us.
How often have we as humans, and very much our generation and those seemingly to come (twenty something’s), been convinced that we are worth absolutely nothing? How often have we sat in our beds curled up under a dim light as the words of desperation are spelled out in black pen in our journals? How many times have we woke up in the morning and the first thought that races to the forefront of our minds is why?
I would like to suggest something that will perhaps serve as a reminder to some people, and perhaps all people at some point in their lives: you are worth it. You, the individual reading this blog are worth it. Say it out loud if you need to, you are worth it. You are special. You are so precious and significant and beautiful that nothing compares to the value of you. We as the rest of humanity are honored to know you, as you are the only you that exists. You are capable of more than you know. Believe in yourself, but more importantly believe in Him, your proud Father in Heaven, and what He is willing to do through you. Jump from this cliff that you’ve paced in for so long and fly. Soar to new heights and places you never dreamed existed. Dream. You are worth it. Christ didn’t walk that lonely road with a cross on His back, and endure so much for nothing. He did it with you in mind. Because you are worth it.
Were asked to love one another as we love ourselves, but how can that work if we don’t love ourselves? “If you see yourself has worthless, think of how easy it is to see others as worthless.” It’s all right to love yourself, because you are that special. Don’t fear pride or vanity, but do be aware as it creeps into your peripheral vision. Embrace the glory God has bestowed upon you. Don’t hide from it. I want to see you fly.
Allow your eyes the power to present hope to those that happen to glance their way. Believe in yourself and what He has created. Please, for the sake of this generation and the rest of humanity, don’t rob us of what only you can give us. Just believe in yourself, move toward the edge of the cliff you’ve been isolated on for so long, and soar. You know you want to. Leap.
To My Friend: I Wish You Could See This…
I was cruising the mall today with a friend as we were both deciding to splurge as we head into the new spring fashion season and I was approached by a friend from high school I had not seen in years. And amid the warm remembrance of the old and the exciting expectation for the future the topic of a relationship for my female friend arose. The discussion continued for sometime and during it one line really caught my attention: “All men are *** holes.” I was bit taken back when I first heard it having been isolated in the ‘desert’ that Eston is for the past seemingly six months. But as I pressed her on the idea further, wanting to know the depth of this conviction she did not back down. She truly believed that all men in this whole world had some sort of (slang) characteristic to them. Not feeling at all offended I wondered to myself what could have brought about this belief. Years of hurt and abuse from males? Broken promises, and lies strewn all over a relationship maybe? Deception? It hurt me to see her have this outright unfaithfulness in men, and yet I’m not sure I blamed her. Throughout my culture and my own lifetime I have witnessed many a man who has lost their way on how to treat women and present themselves as honorable. But what baffled me the most was to come back to my home, hear this is going on, and known in my heart that back at my little ‘non-bubble’ in the middle of somewhere, there was a college full of young and older men that would prove her statement false. I want to honor the character of the guys attending the college and how they uphold the value of the women they live everyday with. I want to challenge them not to stop growing in that example, but to let them know they are making a difference one smile at a time. I want to thank the ladies at the college for their constant forgiveness in recognizing that we are not perfect nor will we ever be, yet they still reciprocate that respect back to us. I want to pray for my friend that there will be countless examples of guys that would treat her the way she should be treated. That she would have fathers to nurture her, brothers to protect her, and perhaps in His timing a knight to love her. But I pray that her belief would be broken through living examples, or as she would see it ‘living legends’ such as the guys that attend our small yet oh so invigorating college. Keep growing guys, and know that everyday we have an opportunity to love our sisters and genuinely care for them and in doing that we might even become story book hero’s in some girls lives. Literal living legends, And do it because you know the worth of God’s creation not so you look good. But to my friend: I wish you could see this… it would change your life.
And I fell…
I finally realized it today…I’m in love. It wasn’t until I turned my back on the one I loved that it hit me…’you’re the one for me’. The words still ring loud in my heart, ‘my heart burns for you’, oh what does the word ‘burn’ mean to me! Like a fire cutting through anything it is faced with, ripping to sheds anything bold enough to try and tame its wrath. My heart burns for you. I never want to be apart from you. I want to spend all of eternity with you. I never want to take my eyes off your face, your glorious complexion. I’m lost in your love, your majesty, your splendor, and I have no intention of being found. I can’t help but weep of your glory, your perfection, your love. My heart burns for you. The only thing that can quench this fire is you: the same thing that causes it to intensify. I never want to spend a moment out of your sight, out of your arms reach, out of your whispers touch. I love you. I love you. I mean these words; I love you. Be my everything. Let us walk together, grow together learn together. Father I love you. I love you. You surround me, and hold me closer than I know. Oh how blessed am I to even know you let alone be in this intimate relationship with you. How unworthy am I yet how much more blessed. Lord, I love you. Thank you for your redemption, strength, grace and love. I beg for your mercy, your blessing, your gaze to rest on me. I love you Lord, more than I knew but am just starting to understand. Thank you for choosing me. I love you, and so my life shall sing…
Peeling This Life
Ever just lived out your life and never really realized your in a rut until it was revealed to you. And after realizing your in a rut you get excited/nervous because of the new present realities. You don’t know how to react, you just know that you have to react somehow. I would love to jump out of this rut and move to the future laid clear before me but instead I lay it down. Back at His feet, thankful that he has given me the chance to see what I never believed possible. He is the conductor of my life, the sounds to my song, and the director of this play. He’s in control and that dependence is something I have to be thankful for. It’s like the peeling back of an orange, your reality is all you know until one day the peel gets punctured, and then your left with this brand new reality. You don’t dive in right away but take your time letting your curiosity be checked with caution but in the end you are so thankful for the new reality that has been exposed. Has that happened to you ever? It has me and it can be the most amazing place to be, in His arms watching Him create, alter, and change all because He is in love with us, and we reciprocate that love. All it takes is something so simple as a few words, a certain person to walk into your life, or even a simple gesture of thanksgiving. It could be anything, larger than the idea of new life, or as small as writing a smile on a napkin for a waitress. He’s in charge. I love watching Him drive this life. Be excited about a new and expanded world, but don’t forget to thank Him and lay it back down. I’ll see you below the surface of this figurative fruit.
