29.4.06

Virgo Horoscope:

"Sometimes you see the world through rose-colored glasses. Sometimes it's through really thick blue ones. Sometimes the world takes on a filmy, distorted quality -- especially when you put on your coke-bottle glasses! Why not try on a few different pairs (the 3-D ones with the white rims always make for good viewing) and compare and contrast the world as you see it through each. Don't forget: It isn't the world that's changing, but your perspective on it!"

Just what we all need to remember, yeah?

tea is served @ 12:12 a. m. --------------------------------------------------------------

15.4.06

[from a daily devotional. Please take the time to read it, it's very inspiring.]

Wednesday, April 12

Imperfect Community Still Works

Read Luke 22:14-15:
“But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

PEOPLE DISAPPOINTED JESUS, BUT HE DIDN’T ABANDON THEM. Most of us remember a time when someone deeply disappointed us. Maybe in your case, your life right now is defined by that hurt- it is all you can think about. Or maybe it was a long time ago, but the pain is still getting the best of you. Whether recently or in the past, whether by a family member or other trusted person, you know very well what hurt and betrayal feel like.

So when someone tells you that the Christian life is missing something without close relationships and that are characterized by trust and vulnerability, you bristle. Maybe other people can find that, but not you. Life’s been one disappointing friendship after another, and while you don’t want to create hurt, you’re not about to be hurt either.

Believe it or not, Jesus understands that feeling. He was committed to relational depth, but people were a disappointment to him. Many of the lessons he tried to teach his disciples got lost. When he asked them to stay with him during his darkest hour, they fell asleep. Consider this: his inner circle deserted him, his most trusted friend denied knowing him, a close follower sold him out, and his enemies ganged up on him and prevailed against him in court… all in one night!

If anybody had a cause to give up on relationships, it was Jesus. But he didn’t. Even knowing what was coming, he still loved people. Aware of their shortcomings, he still got involved with the. When it was revealed to him- in advance- that his “main man” Peter would deny him, he told Peter he would pray for him, and gave him an assignment anyway.

Jesus knew people didn’t have to be perfect to be loved. He knew they could be a blessing to him, even though there were times when they let him down. He could love them as they were even as he sought to help them grow into what they could become. He was willing to take them in their unfinished state and allow them to disappoint him if that was the price of a relationship.

When God calls you to deepen your relational world, he is saying there will be benefit in doing so- but he isn’t saying you won’t get hurt. It’s just that he knows the relational hurt is worth it for what it produces in us. With God as our ultimate source of confidence, even the pain people cause us can be used for our improvement. Those disappointments are part of our learning, just as much as the joys and pleasures that come when relationships work well are God’s blessings.

What difficult relationship do you need to reframe as an opportunity to deepen your trust in God, and stretch into your ability to give unconditional love? Like Jesus praying for Peter with full knowledge of his impending denial, who do you need to pray for even though they’ve hurt you? Community among believers is a good thing, even when it’s not perfect. And that’s a relief- because if we all adopt this as our standard, it means you’ll be welcome when it’s your turn to be imperfect!

tea is served @ 1:53 p. m. --------------------------------------------------------------

10.4.06

My absence is dust
But that's cool

I burned what I thought were crutches
Kicked away all those reasons to not be what I can
Stole my potential from the trophy room
Ran like a bat out of Hell

Forget me and discard my number
It was never used before
Its presence is dust

Dust to dust
Values zipping through this tornado of a life
Forget me and discard my number

It was my voice of reassurance and nothing more
Now it has a higher objective and takes time to capture
It is the dust of Park Forest
A drop of forgetten time
A wish called on by gold
Remembered by Searchers for "Something more"

There is nothing "more" than passion for "something"
Shut the mind and fly fools, what else is left?
Stop saying what you feel
And just do it

Time is my broken watch
I have my hour, 5 minutes and 20 seconds
If you really want it, why would I become an obstacle?

My hands are full, why don't you lighten my load for my 5 mintues?
My mind is in a frenzy, why not squeal over something with me for 20 seconds?
My life is in construction, why don't we build more to it for an hour?

If not, that's cool
There's more to life than sitting with excuses [a.k.a "reasons"]
But not me

tea is served @ 10:14 p. m. --------------------------------------------------------------

9.4.06

Leave the weird ones alone and go for the crazy ones

tea is served @ 12:17 p. m. --------------------------------------------------------------

2.4.06

Requiem or recovery?
Just Think

Philosophy

Behind the information revolution
one should never underestimate the Saving Earth generation

The realm of Peace is growing harder to survive

what if [the] Power to make things better is a mirror?

tea is served @ 7:42 p. m. --------------------------------------------------------------

1.4.06

Bad implications in Tinsletown.

Marriage is not a commodity.

One should not toss it because the happiness seems lost. If there is no wrongful harm, why not try again? Don't follow Hollywood, it's a fake town of plastic smiles and not an elysium for spotlight dependent hearts.

If you, or a little part of you still does, believe, keep trying. Don't condemn yourself to the whispers of "All the things we should have said that we never said. All the things we should have done but we never did." It's hard to make that go away.

Giving things another chance and not looking for a slate is the remedy. But I'm just a hopeless romantic listening to "This woman's work" and fearfully imagining a future of being an example of knowing I had "a lot of strength left."

tea is served @ 10:33 p. m. --------------------------------------------------------------