simply sand?...

"in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth."

have you ever stopped and thought about that one statement? that God painted everything we can see and that we can't see into existence.  He knows the number of hairs on your head and the how many grains of sand are on the beaches.  and yet He isn't a boring God who just likes to count.  

He is a God of creativity beyond the human scope.  our view of what is beautiful - what is creative - is limited to what we can easily understand.  however, God expresses His creativity in ways beyond our ability to comprehend or even see.

think about sand for instance.  sand is itchy dry stuff that gets everywhere.  it is messy and preferable to avoid.  yet God created it.

  please look at the three pictures in the following link(especially the second one):

simply_sand

  

those are grains of sand!  each one completely unique, a minuscule creation.  God's handiwork.  we only lack the ability to see what God has put before us.  if God put such detail into each grain of sand, proving once again that He is the ultimate Creator, then how much more does He care about you?  how much more beautiful and precious are you to Him?

in Heaven we are told that we will walk on streets of gold.  gold will be the dirt beneath our feet.  but is it not amazing that God has already put beauty beneath our feet!  the sand that we consider a nuisance is just another way that God shows His amazing attention to detail, His creative eye, His love for us.  the God of the universe, of the stars and planets and galaxies, the One who is bigger than time, HE created the sand that sticks to the bottom of your feet.

oh how He loves you!

♥

-written 7/29/2011-

..to the dreams that leave...

dreams come out of a dull nowhere,
and take me to a mysterious somewhere.
until i wake up and discover that i am still here,
and the dreams i was dreaming, slowly disappear.......

if only i could convince them to stay,
to make them real somehow, someway.
but instead they nod a curt tally-ho,
i miss them already, wish they didn't have to go.....

goodbye pleasant dreams, please visit again,

i'm still waiting for you re-begin.

maybe next time you will not leave,

but stay with me - one day we'll see....

-written 7/29/2011-

overflow...

"dance like no one is watching, sing like no one is listening"

dance for the Lord until you can no longer stand! shout for the King until you go hoarse!

worship with all your heart until He returns!

 

so what if i am not the best dancer?... David looked idiotic enough dancing in the streets to completely mortify his wife.

so what if i am not the best singer?... does God cares?  God isn't looking for talent, but for honest and humble hearts.  

if my heart is right then my praises are like incense to Him.  that means my insignificant praises make the God of the universe, who is beyond my wildest imagination, bigger than all my dreams, the one who can see all of time, the one who knows all things... SMILE! :)

  

and yet i find it so hard to concentrate on Him.  submitting myself as an offering, giving all i have to glorify His powerful name.  letting my hearts overflow.  not just through dancing and singing.  but in anything and everything that i do.  where is my heart?

   

  if we did not praise Him the rocks will cry out!

...today is today...

do you want to be one-upped by a stone?

does God smile when He looks at my heart?... looks at yours?

-written 7/26/2011-

...sweet baby kisses...

a sweet face full of life and purity.  no worry creased her face in sorrow, no sadness filled her eyes.  her little, round nose sat happily in the middle of her face beneath two large, round, golden eyes that danced in merriness.  those eyes so easily moved to compassion, so easily filled with love, look on - big and beautiful.  above the sweet, small chin smiles little lips of roses, parted ever so slightly revealing a pretty smile of a pure child.  never pulled in sorrow only bright with childish dreams, her lips give sweet baby kisses covered in sticky ice cream.  a turn of that shining head, and the locks of her golden hair dance.  they leap and skip to the tune of the sun and wave at the flower of the summer.  those locks of hair so soft and sweet shine like the rays of the sun bouncing off the clouds into the palm of my hand.  long and silky the waves of hair frame her face in light.  this wonder of nature, this sweet little girl, this fairy of flowers, is the one i call my sister.  she is loving and kind and always here for me, the only sister that i want to call my own.

  

-to my beloved sissy-

-written 12/31/2010- 

two wheels...

dusk creeps in,

porch lights disrupt the coming darkness.

my five dollar pink and white bicycle stands ready, it's training wheels still attached.

daddy is seated on the porch step, screw driver in hand,

loosens the white training wheels.

how can he pick my bike up like that?  

to me it is heavy and hard to move, but to him it is a light thing.

  

with a promise of barbecue, and my daddy's strong arms to trust, i straddle my bicycle - altogether new without my trusty training wheels.

what do i do if i fall?

 

i start with the tires on two round flat weights,

then, matching pink helmet on, i am at one end of the straight sidewalk... a new adventure.

i'm scared to pick both feet up off the ground, daddy will drop me.

but he doesn't, he promises he won't and he doesn't.

i start out slow, slow... speeding up.

don't let go, i don't want to do it by myself! how do i stop?

 

a fall or two, determination, fading light, daddy's strong arms.

and then i stop falling, and i can do it on my own.

no training wheels.

balance.

i don't know if i ever got barbecue, i don't know how many times i fell, i don't even remember if i was actually able to ride on my own very well that night.  but i can ride now.  i don't worry about falling anymore.  i rarely wear a helmet and knee pads.  i can do it on my own now.

i learned how not to fall back then.  and as i grew i taught myself how to do other things.  taught myself how to change gears, how to ride with no hands, how to skid my tires, how to pop my front wheel up... but i never would have been able to learn those things if i hadn't first learned how to balance on two wheels.

two wheels... riding with two wheel

-written 7/20/2011-

God's google

i googled the word "inspiration" today and the first thing to come up was someone trying to sell a software learning program.

  

it caused me to start thinking of how i would change google if i could.

  

googling the word "inspiration" would bring up a link to the Bible and pictures of God's handiwork around us.  Three dimensional images of nature singing the praises of their Creator.  inspirational Bible passages that give Him glory.

imagine typing in the word "love" and instead of a link to "The Love Calculator," one would see the word "GOD" in big letters filling the whole screen.(1John 4:8 "God is love")  at the bottom would be a phone number to call if you wanted to accept Christ into your heart, an example prayer of acceptance, and passages of Scripture.

 

imagine God's google... no fudged, inappropriate, or distracting information.  only truth.

-written 6/29/2011-

...to climb or to jump?...

standing on the edge of a cliff... sunrise... the dawn of something new...

to jump means to fall... is it worth it?
  
the blazing sun peaks its softest edges up above the horizon and lights the pale blue sky with a brilliance of a polished shell on wet sand.  always moving steadily, like a mother stroking her child's hair.  soft and gentle.
  
down... looking down now... into a vast mysterious drop
a veil of misty white sweeps her translucent hair back and forth, blocking the view of the depths.  making judgment hard.  creating confusion with grace.  and yet, as in times before, the mystery and promise of excitement call out in a bubbling song.

brilliant rocks stand proudly on the side of the cliff speak of shining hope and joy, while gloomy stones hide in the shadows whispering doubts and sorrows.
tempting adrenalin sweeps over at the thought of unknowns waiting to be discovered.  fear invades at the idea of hidden dangers.
and all waits.

pain awaits, joy awaits, misunderstanding awaits, happiness awaits, mystery awaits.

  
to jump means to leave behind all reason.
  
reason is the rope, God is the belayer, i am the climber.
to climb means........... what?
  
to climb down is slow and laborious.  it is hard.  but in the end only a few cuts or bruises are the result, at worst.  God's voice, directing and encouraging from the bottom where He can see all, will protect from hurt if heeded.  difficulty will nurture strength.
to jump is easy.  it requires no rope of reason, it is carefree and fun... for a time.  but broken bones and fatal wounds are waiting at the bottom, if the bottom doesn't go on forever.
     
...to climb or to jump?...

to wait means to fall unprepared... the dawn won't wait forever...
-written 6/27/2011-

cheese & growing up

growing up take discipline, wisdom, change, love, hurt, tears, laughter, work, courage.

it is hard.  it means tearing yourself away from all you know and creating a new world for yourself.

 

take a block of cheese for example.  you take a grater and slowly rub the cheese against the sharp holes until little strips of cheese are scraped off.  you rub until your fingers are in danger of being cut and all you have left is a little stub of cheese.  the grated cheese has changed shape and is ready to create something new and different.  To melt and become something original.

your parents are the hand that shreds the cheese.  preparing it for use.  that little stub of leftover cheese is the bond you have with your parents.  the part of you that loves them despite arguments and the need to separate from them.  and finally when the cheese melts together to form something new, that is who you are in the end.

 

perhaps cheese isn't the best illustration of what growing up is like.  but i know this.  it hurts.

it not only hurts because you love your parents... but because they love you despite all the pain you cause.

-written 6/22/2011-