Middle

Over and over again, whenever I have tried to land on something to explain my life, I have come up with the very prominent thought that I am in the middle.  At least lately.  In the next breath I say, 'In the middle of what?'  If I try to pinpoint it and come up with something, I am only slightly successful.  I can think of elements of my life that are in progress, but it goes beyond that this week. 


There's a very different vibe going on when God is the Author and you really, for a lot of days and weeks and hours, relinquish the beginning and the end and stay present.  This week I have remembered again that I believe that God is in my heartbeat and my breath and my words.  When you mean it and don't just say you believe it, and the minute to minute continues to feel like middle ground, things change.  It's kind of thrilling...all avenues open when that kind of thinking is paramount.  This is where I see God's sense of humor, the importance of people, that the world is beautiful, etc. etc. 

But it's also very uncomfortable. 

Yes

Today is another day for putting up pictures and letting them say the words instead. 

Context, Brilliance, and Humility

I used to skip the forewords in books but now I don't.  I think I am learning the patience for the process in general in life, and it includes reading the very beginning of a book.   This morning, coffee in hand, and blissful silence all around me before a day in middle school, I was struck by the first sentence in the foreword of Mere Christianity. 

"This is a book that begs to be seen in its historical context, as a bold act of storytelling and healing in a world gone mad."

My Common Business

Throughout life, I have always felt best when I have a desk in my home that sits in front of a window.  There is something holy for me about sitting down in front of a view to sit and think and write.  It is where I feel most like the self that I am, and where I love to meet with God.   

Once in college, an ed professor I had gave our class 'The Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence.  It's short and beautiful and inspiring.  Brother Lawrence was a monk in Paris in the 1600s who believed that every common thing can be done to express love for God.  He washed dishes and felt God's presence there while he worked.  He says that meeting with God is simple and men make it difficult.        

A Collection of Mismatched Thoughts

Earlier today I posted some pictures of words that have inspired me.  I chose them because it felt like I was living them, or learning something about them.  There are some seasons in life when all avenues are open to learning and things just come to people very quickly and assuredly, I think.  I've been experiencing life like that, and it's sweet.   I'm going to make a list of thoughts on my mind.  There is no theme here.  I just have a lot of thoughts rattling around in me.  Lists always help. Here, today, the list is about LIFE. 

Quotes in Pictures that Make Sense to Me - Part II

It feels like it's about time for more quote pictures.  Words artistically written are the best!  I believe in these things. And they feel true about life.   

 

 

Astonishingly Beautiful, Frequently Thrilling

Lately I've been thinking about the attitude that Midwesterners have about the quality of life they project.  I'm talking about those moments when people respond to a question about how things are going by saying, 'Can't complain.'  What they really mean is 'I'm doing well' but they can't SAY it.  Or they don't allow such great heights to get to them.  Usually I imagine that older men say this when they are sitting around at a general store playing checkers...except where would that be these days? 

In the past, I've found myself amused and exasperated by it.  This week I found myself guilty of it.

I haven't come to a very brilliant discovery about anything, but I am going to choose to express the affirmative words when someone asks about my life.  I'm going to quit aligning my daily thoughts with the 'so so'.  I think in life that so much of what we express about ourselves anyway really has to come from thoughtful awareness of our own internal pace.  

When people don't live in the 'Can't complain' genre of thinking, they show that they are alive.