Shower Revelations

I write a lot about God’s closeness, his love, and his involvement in our lives.  If someone were to sum this all up into one word, perhaps God’s ‘intimacy’ would be most fitting.  But why focus on such things? Why direct so much of one’s attention to the theme of love when so many other important topics exist?

My answer: dominoes.  (And no, I don’t mean pizza).

I had a revelation several years ago while taking a shower.  I began thinking about many of the common attributes that give life to friendships, such as always talking with one another, not being ashamed or afraid to express one’s self or how one truly feels; there are many incredible factors that play in.  But in my pondering, I came to an inspiring and tear-filled discovery.  I realized that through our many talks, fun discussions, and my sheer enjoyment for spending time with Him, God had become my best friend. 

An incredible aspect to a friendship with God is that He so obviously highlights the gems and beautiful attributes that are within us.  As you take on life together, you not only discover more and more about whom He is, but He constantly reminds and teaches you about your own identity.  You were made in His image, after all.    

You may have noticed in your close friendships that the more time you spend around one another, the more your jokes, lifestyles, and even the way each of you think becomes increasingly similar.  Chances are that you did not befriend one another with these results in mind, but like dominoes, all it took was the initial flick and the repercussions expressed themselves through every other area of your life.  This gives reason to my ample exuberance towards God’s love and our intimacy with Him.  I am not here to guilt-trip you into living, looking, and walking more like Jesus; but rather, to draw you so closely into your Father’s arms, that the only plausible result will be a life transformed by a friendship with the Divine.       

Invitation To Dream

Being guided to the New Song base in Chichigapa, Nicaragua

Where is your life going?

What maps are you using?

Whose advice do you hold onto the strongest?

Are you pursuing dreams? If not, what drives you?

For me, travel always brings these and similar questions to mind – as if to taunt me into dreaming bigger, reevaluating previous choices about my future, or even convincing myself to change life directions all-together.  I love and hate these questions: love, because I believe dreams are meant to be grown, matured and given fresh focus now and again; and hate, because in the midst of travel, there are few places that my thoughts can go besides the seemingly untrustworthy storage capacity of my own memory or, if I am wise enough in the moment, the notes section of my iPhone.  (Because what can someone really accomplish on a crowded eight hour chicken-bus ride when ideas for changing the world come to mind?)

Travel stirs these questions because in stepping away from what I know, I am forced into a place of contemplation and given a broadened view for consideration.  Silence and stillness can be so hard to bear.  Staying in motion has become the ultimate comfort for a large number of people, because whether they like the direction their life is taking or not, they can at least pretend, and in doing so, convince themselves that their busy lives surely must equate to forward progress! But sadly, I believe such movements keep us stagnant.  I am a huge encourager in the pursuit of dreams and the stirring of curiosity and new ideas.  As frightening as curiosity and uncertainty can appear to be, remember that life is not a math test waiting to pass or fail you when formulas and codes are forgotten – dreams are meant to be pursued, and talents exist to be cultivated. 

I do not have any secret formulas or a checklist of “to-do’s” that will bring dreams to life or cause them to grow, but I will write of what I see, and that being a world of inconsistencies that serves as home to a people that seek patterns and trails.  We often long for safe roads and rules that will hold us accountable enough to not fall too far left or right, as if safety were the overarching theme and goal of our universe.  But I would ask that we relearn our childhood curiosity and believe that maturity is found just as much in what we admit to not understand as it is to have an understanding in anything at all. 

Break away from the busyness of life and consider where it is that you desire to go.  Life’s possibilities are endless and your dreams were crafted with purpose by a Divine Visionary that loves to watch His children succeed and grow.  It may begin on scrap paper or a new Microsoft Word document; but the point is found in the process of halting, stepping back, and carefully considering what life you desire to live.  I do not know what you will or will not find – you may even confirm that your life is headed exactly where you have always hoped that it might! But if this blog serves for nothing more, I pray that it inspires you to dream.  

Inherit Genius

Some of life’s greatest teachers, when looked at closely, are no more than situations and individuals who rip their students from the ignorant grounds of the familiar and force them into a pursuit of the undiscovered.  We are creatures of curiosity, but too often our desire to learn is overcome by the deceptive need of having ‘all of the answers’.  Now, I am not concluding that there is anything wrong in having facts and knowledge; but I do believe that when our questions outnumber the answers we can provide, we position ourselves to inherit genius.   

This is one of the many reasons I love travel.

In my travels, I have found that the world is far bigger and smaller than you will ever imagine.  Bigger, because the walls of my boxes never seem to stand against the countless perspectives, traditions, ideas and languages that the world is maturing in without my knowledge and approval; and smaller, because no matter where I go, the same pursuit of meaning, love, friendship and truth show themselves to be clearly universal.  In other words, what is inconceivable and distant in our minds may prove to be closely knit to each of our hearts.

I invite you to be still for a moment and rest in the assurance that having answers and proving points is not the pinnacle of your existence.  Understanding that there are things you do not know can be both a terrifying and freeing realization, but one filled with immeasurable beauty and potential.  Ask questions, search under every rock and take on life from the vantage point of your natural curiosity.  Your talents, personality and dreams are all jam-packed with purpose that is only waiting to be recognized by your own heart.         

Dream and Reminisce

Last night, Joey, James and I experienced an inspiring time of reflection over our week in El Salvador.  One of our first nights in El Tunco, the three of us spent an evening side by side in the sand, each asking God what the next week would hold, and listening for what God might invite us to join Him in doing throughout.  We heard a number of encouraging words that night, but a greater joy came when, at the end of our time in this surf town, we glanced back at these same words, now fulfilled. 

I have found that it can be easy to lose sight of our dreams.  We go through life constantly looking to the future and forget the beauty of where we have grown from, which consequently, can blind our hearts from enjoying the wonder of dreams fulfilled.                    

As the three of us prepare to leave El Tunco and move on into Chiquimula, Guatemala, I would like to invite our readers and followers into a time of reflection – To welcome you into a place of appreciation.  This may begin in reminiscing about old dreams, or cracking open a dust-covered journal to unmask desires long forgotten, or it may take thumbing through old photographs to see how you have grown and matured throughout the years.  The task is simple, but powerful to inspire. 

Remember where it is you have come from.

Recount the dreams that have become realities and use them to re-inspire the ones that you have not yet lived out.

Count your blessings.

Only dwell on hardships for the quickening growth that came from them.

Collect the words that God has spoken throughout your life and allow your heart and mind to dwell in the reality of his faithfulness.  

Your life is so beautiful and precious – take time to remember that today.  

         

Happy New Year

Enthusiasm, regret, inspiring words and comments from those who claim to have no care for the New Year – these are the statuses that flooded my Facebook news-feed this morning.  And I imagine yours was not so different.  To most, the New Year brings on an invitation for new beginnings and an excuse to reminisce in the glories and horrors of the previous twelve months.  Every year the same picture reappears like clockwork: the world sees how it has matured and then aspires and promises to grow and live and learn all the more in the coming year.    

This universal dreaming always excites me.  I would only ask that these dreams do not stop flowing when the holiday lights come down. 

Set goals and stick to them!

Create and meditate in new dreams!

Show the love that you have for those around you!

This is your year to cultivate the countless talents that are within you!

You are destined for greatness and you have been fashioned in and for love – my prayer this morning is that you grow in your belief of these simple words over the next year.  If we truly do live our lives from what we believe, I challenge and invite you see the beauty of the manifestation of the words I am sharing.  Believing God’s goodness and seeing his belief and pleasure in you are life changing realizations.

May 2014 be a season that you will never forget!

Happy New Year!