"You can motivate by fear. And you can motivate by reward. But both of these methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation." -- Homer Rice.

Where to?

Yearn to trot around the globe? See the world? Man, have I've got news for you!

The world is small and easily traveled far and wide in comparison to Life. There are so many more places to go, so many more things to be and so many more chances to do it all. I was telling God how much I wanted to travel the world when He informed me that there were more places to go with my Life than there would ever be by plane or car or boat.

When you think about it, it's true.

Life can take you many places, not limited to geographical regions, unconstrained by time zones and differences, free from linear forms of travel from one destination to the next. In Life, we can be at a crossroad and a dead end at once; and in the same moment we can plunge into failure and then leap to success. The best part is that these Life travels don't cost us anything but the faith to take a risk. We don't have to fumble with tickets or luggage or wait on planes to arrive or ferries to leave. We come and go when and where we choose at our choosing. Emphasis on 'choosing.' Choice is our only vehicle. It runs on Faith, and the Hope of success.

So, where to next?

Life is HUGE

The truth is, most people simply can't handle how HUGE life is. So they get into trouble and create problems that force them into situations and decide things for them. They crave constraints because they're frightened of freedom.

Gift of Love

Oh, how He Loves us, indeed.

Every morning the sun shines for me.

And every night the moon rises to bathe my face in its silver light.

Every star awaits my wish, as a memento of my dreams.

Every bird sings to my heart's melody.

Every river flows and rushes to meet me.

Every flower beams at me to feed my eyes' delight.

Every wave crosses the sand to sit at my feet.

Every tree bends its branches to shelter my head.

Every cloud gloats on high to watch over me.

Mountains stand tall to guard my comings and goings.

Valleys bend low to make way for me.

The wind carries the sound of my voice far and wide.

The rains wash the world clean about me.

Each new day brings all of these things and sets them before me as a gift.

They are gifts from Him because of His love, and may I never forget it.

Dandelions

Northern CA, en route to Vancovcer B.C.

At the end of the Summer, my sisters and I took a roadtrip up the West Coast to Vancouver, B.C. This pic was somewhere between Weed, CA (fitting) and Shasta, I think. The dandelions there were huge! And my hair very closely resembled the flower, which inspired this picture. It took a lot of huffing and puffing to get that one little floret you see on the left to dislodge itself from the flower-head. Which was quite odd. I'll come back to this point.

Dandelions are actually quite fascinating in ways other than their easily airborne florets. After a bit of research (a very small bit, and heavily influenced by wikipedia) I uncovered some remarkable facts about dandelions and some uncanny similarities between them and...Christians.

No, I am not saying Christians are weeds. I'm not saying that at all. Just bear with me a moment and lend me your imagination.

Dandelions are in fact 'beneficial weeds' with purposes which we have recently forgotten. And what is a flowering weed but a wildflower that has never been domesticated? They are beneficial in the fact that their tap roots loosen up hard soil, bring nutrients within reach to other shallow-rooted plants; and they have nutritious value and several medical (holistic) uses.


Now, Christians are frequently regarded with the same enthusiasm as we often show weeds in our gardens. We have great purpose, but few of us serve it and less and less of the crowds we hang with remember it. The Love of God is supposed to shine through us and soften the hardened hearts of sinners. We are supposed to nourish and enrich the lives of those around us with the fruits of the spirit. We are supposed to go into all the world and basically make it better. We are supposed to show the Love that will mend broken hearts, provide the aid and Word of God to build better lives for others and use our faith to believe for the things that will change the world.


But... like the dandelion in the picture, sometimes we get stuck. Sometimes we stay clumped together on one flower-head and never take flight on the wind to root and flower elsewhere. Sometimes life has to seriously huff and puff (or someone has to kick us) to make us go and be what we're supposed to be; do what we're supposed to do; leave our comfort zones.

And this is why people think we're useless like weeds.

So... Let's get out there and show them what we're good for, eh?

Picture by Arina Borodina

Unveiled

Sand Creek Canyon - Death Valley '10

2 Corinthians 3

¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect^a]">[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

This picture was taken on one of our hikes through Sand Creek Canyon. That crag was about thirty feet high, and it took quite a lot of maneuvering to scale the shale rock that crumbles beneath your feet. The wind picks up sharply at odd intervals and this was pretty much the only one out of about fifteen pictures where the veil was fully picked up by the wind.

So, I was looking for a scripture having to do with a veil--and there were a lot of Old Testament mentions of a purple veil, but this New Testament verse stuck with me more than those others.

When we give our lives to Jesus, he removes the veil from our faces so that we can reflect His glory. We know that we are made in his image, but we only truly being to resemble Him when we surrender ourselves to Him so that He can free us from the bondage of this world. But the freedom we seek, that compels us to turn to Him, is found only with the Spirit. It's "where the Spirit of the Lord is," so we must go with the Spirit to maintain our freedom.

In other words, we can't just turn to Him, and then go our own way later because we fall right back into the chains we left. If we are to live to His glory and honor Him with our lives, then we must remain with Him and allow Him to transform us. It is a huge privilege to be chosen to reflect the glory of God Almighty. Look around you and you will see His glory, and imagine if our lives reflect even a fraction of that.

Lend me your imagination as I describe the canyon we visited for this picture.

The walls and crags on both side of the narrow path jutted out of the ground at incredible angles.

The slopes looked as though they might topple over and collapse at any moment yet they stood silently still. Years ago some catastrophic quake must have rocked the earth and violently shifted these crags, but now they rest. Upon closer examination, the walls of stone are found to be thousands and hundreds of thousands of layers of shale. You can peel away the cliffs one layer at a time, and crumble the thin slivers of stone in your palm. Each layer bore a different shade and pattern of stone, delicate on its own, but massive and strong when compressed together.

When the bright sunlight hits these walls, the reflection is almost blinding. How great is our God to shape the walls of these canyons and shift them as he pleases, then stabilize them impossibly to allow us the pleasure of viewing them? How great is our God to leave such masterpieces in nature to show us His glory? How great is our God to allow us to reflect this same glory in our own lives? How can we portray the slightest measure of the majesty of these mountains and cliffs in ourselves?

It is simple. Through His love.
God does not love the mountains and hills or any part of nature like He loves us.

His love waits for us for ages and ages until the day we finally turn to Him and allow Him to make a masterpiece of our lives. And the masterpiece He will work out of us will be more magnificent than any geological phenomenon--greater than any of nature's best. It has to be, because He made us to be like Him. He will make our lives so wonderful as to be worthy of bearing His name and reflecting His glory. And then He will make us greater still.

How about that? Can you even imagine? Just try. :)

Open Heart

San Juan Capistrano '10

Galatians 5

¹⁴ The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

That seems simple enough. Most of us can even claim to be adhering to that simple little rule. The only problem that some of us are having is that we don't always like ourselves all that much. Simply projecting the amount of love one has for their own self onto others is not the fulfillment of this task. We often bear down too hard on ourselves under the guise of seeking to improve ourselves.

Love, in every instance, is an ongoing act. Its not a mental state, it is a continuous action. Most of us are familiar with the Greek word agapaō, meaning love.
ἀγαπάω

But it is helpful to know some of the alternate meanings and translations to shed more light on this otherwise ambiguous word. These days we ascribe so much to that little four letter word; we would do better to know the parameters that this particular verse infers.

In reference to people, this word incorporates the following meanings: to welcome, to be fond of, and to love dearly; to wish well to, to regard the welfare of and to be full of good will and exhibit the same. In reference to things, it incorporates these meanings: to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing.

Take care to carefully consider the other entries we've discovered in regards to the meaning of love. ( but note the bold print, as this is our ultimate goal and an effective goal for keeping the entire law and inheriting eternal life through Christ Jesus.)

Now, I will open my heart to you. The lack of love shown to one's self is indeed connected to the amount of self-confidence one has--but it is not the effect, it is the cause. How we perceive ourselves is a direct result of how much we love and value our selves.

If I for whatever reason am unhappy with some aspect of myself, I take it out on me by looking down on me. Remember, how we view ourselves is how we project ourselves to the rest of the world too. So if I think little of me, others will likely think less of me and treat me accordingly. As a result, I am likely to hold a grudge against others for treating me in a manner that fits perfectly with how I perceive and portray myself, yet is grossly incongruous with how I want to be treated.

Now how can I fix this equation?

How I love and see me = How you see and treat me = How I treat you

If we start at the beginning, no clear action can be taken. (I can write myself cute little notes and put on rosy glasses, but it won't change a thing.) I can't change the middle section either. (I can't control you, and can hardly influence your thoughts without actions.) I can, however, actively work to change the latter part. If I treat others kindly, despite how disjointed their reciprocation may be, I know within myself that I am performing a task that is difficult, yet is required of me. Thus, I create a sense of duty which I in turn interpret as responsible self-improvement. Self-improvement is what I was going for in the long run anyway, so that in turn makes me happy with myself. I think better of myself, and as I continue in this manner I learn to love myself at last.

So, now we come back to our ultimate goal: loving others like ourselves! Now it actually means something. If we open our hearts to others, and treat them well because we aim to love them--we set ourselves up to love ourselves.

And we're so gullible, we'll often fall for anything. ;)

Photo by Arina B
Lexicon