Putting The B in Beauty
Last night, I was reading out of Shane Claiborne’s book ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ and began to take notice of how beauty is found everyone, no matter who they are, what they look like, it doesn’t matter. I dont want to teach the simple lesson of how we shold treat everyone equally. but many of us look past so many people never thinking ‘that person could change my life’ or maybe ‘that person might need some advice today’. The simplest conversations can blossom into somthing greater than your wildest dreams. Recalling so many people I have met over the years, all the conversations at concerts when I was a lot younger, smoking cigarettes late at Denny’s and drinking coffee, going on mission trips and meeting strangers that you have helped in the most glorious and profound way ever, just giving them a hand for just a few days of your time, in all these moments, beauty was truly found and rememberd.
We must remeber these moments, and know that God has placed these moments in our lives for a reason, and we must truly reach out our hand when possible to needs above our own. Make that simple conversation last a lifetime. This is somthing I need to work on in my life right now. The end result is building character, building who you are.
May we all find peace and contentment in who we are and live out life to the fullest .
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Honey, Won’t You Let Me In
February is upon us now and Phil has said six more weeks of winter. Speaking of continuing, another semester has approached and another semester is in the books. Lately, i’ve been on the tactic of finding a “real community”, finding a community that is desireable and that can fit what I feel my life is longing for. I’ve had opportunities to encounter on what could be my “real community” but they either have fizzled out or have not been what I am looking for. We all desire a community to belong to, we all desire to be loved, we all desire to not be left in the alone in the cold. All the times i’ve approached this “real community” it has felt like a cracked door that is then to be frozen and completely shut, not to be opemed ever again. If millions of people can gather at the Presidential Inauguration in the act of a community following one man, they why can’t I gather with others fellowshiping finding the “real community”. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ right?
One problem is that a sense of fear approaches me. I am afraid of what to think about the others I may come across in finding this “real community”. That really shouldn’t be a problem, I should be open and ready. Another reason for not finding the “real community” at the moment is that God might be planting the community for me right now and I might just be waiting to get on board, or maybe I am not ready, and I need to pursue of the plans God has put forth in my path.
For the time being, I must love others. I need to appreciate the people that surround me at this moment, while looking for what I desire in a “real community”-authenticity and true relationships. As I continue on the journey to finding a “real community”, may other real friendships blossom, may God take his hand in guiding this journey not only is life, but the pursuit of something greater, the epicenter, the core of God’s love, into the faith that bounds us together.
As Paul writes in Ephesians 4
“And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
“keep your coat on. the city trembles as you untangle God from cold blood and bruises’
careful hands-sleeping at last
