Lesson(s) Learned

If you’ve read the 1990’s Children’s award-winning novel, The Giver , written by Lois Lowry or you’ve taken the time to see the recent theatre-box rendition of it, then you’ll know what I’m talking about when I use the phrase seeing beyond . It’s nothing mystical or oddly-spiritual. It’s simply the ability some (few!) of the characters in the book/movie were born with that enables them to see things other people don’t see. They’re tuned into things like color, for example, when the rest of the world is merely seeing black-and-white. It’s an interesting skill to have, this seeing beyond .   It’s actually quite cool to have an advantage like that over the others. But this ability must be exercised and revealed with caution. For with much privilege comes much responsibility. Just as recently as yesterday, two distinct situations came across the lives of two people that are very dear to me. And they soon, as you can imagine, came to my attention as well. The first situation...

Today, as I drove along my usual winding path (that is the only escape-route out of my apartment complex), I passed several of the same landmarks that I always do. But today was different because God spoke to my heart as I drove. You see, at one point in my journey, I passed by a church on my left side and simultaneously passed a funeral home on my right side. It may be a stretch of your imagination to go here with me; but in my mind and in my car-ride, I felt a tension between life and death in those few moments on the stretch of road winding between the two buildings.  [I would dare say if you were riding shotgun in the passenger’s seat, you may have felt the same thing.] Why? Well, a church building is a symbol of hope and life, amongst others. While a funeral home is nothing short of a symbol of death. (It reminded me of the passage in Deuteronomy 30:15-19, where life and death are sitting in front of God's people as a choice to be made; and God urges them to choose ...

     I've been married nearly two months now (Whew! Where does the time go?!) and have not made the time to post on my blog in what seems like, (in the words, voice, and inflection of the beloved Gru), "Forever!"        Some days, I'm just too busy with finding delight in accomplishing daily chores/tasks and/or crafting, creating, fun times, and memory-making. Other days, I'm honestly just too lazy to capture all of my thoughts, collect them together, and string them into something that makes any semblance of sense to anyone outside of my little mind, self, "kingdom" (a.k.a. my house), and world.     But I've wanted to give some updates and some clarifications on the recent updates in my life for those of you that are naturally curious, personally concerned, or simply lacking better things to read at the moment, so here goes:     As many of you know, I'm now embarking on a new (very unpopular, might I add) journey. I...