More than Skin Deep

Beauty is not the symmetry of eyes or a bountiful bosom. 
It is not a size 4 waist with perfect hair.
It is grace.
Comfort.
It is a harboring heart that offers shelter to the worn.
Beauty has eyes that alight with the flame of passion.
Beauty is always thinking of you.
It hides in lips that speak stars to their place just to give you something to wish for.
Beauty transforms the hopeless into heroes and hold hands with justice.
Yet knows when to turn the other cheek.
It calls to the caverns of what already lies tucked inside of you.
It is a dream.
And also reality.
Beauty is not the sum of parts.
It is sacred.
Alive.
Eternal.

Simply and Quietly



I rededicate my life today.  To simplicity.  To remain focused on necessity.  Not allowing my mind to wander to trite objections.   No extravagances here please.  Just a day filled with His presence and a hunger for what He has. 
I wish for a quiet mind, an open heart, a staticless inner dialogue.  I desire for my meditations to be pleasant, constant upon the blessing and the simple complexity of His love that overflows me.  I want His stillness and calm that produces peace and life.   I want my insides to be quiet, so that I may live so loudly for Him.

The Heart of Truth

Recently I heard a story that went a little something like this: 

There was a woman who claimed Christ was her life.  She befriended a little neighbor girl.  The girl was raised in a fatherless home, drenched in poverty, and highly suspicious.  She shares her insights with the woman, asks questions about life, and leans on her in times of need.  The sweet little girl, still only a single digit, goes to the woman one day and said that she had gone to church camp and was a little skeptical of the validity of the stories.  She was really interested to know if the teachers were lying since the accounts seemed so unrealistic.  It wasn't that she was cursing God....she was simply questioning what she didn't understand.  So she was sat down, prayed with, lovingly taught, selflessly embraced through this pivotal moment in her life.  She was scolded, made to feel stupid, and her regular treats from the woman stopped because she was accusing the Bible of being deceptive.

I wish I could say that this story was a fable or something of the like;  just made up to teach a lesson.  But it isn't.  It is reality.  A very sad reality that says our hands are closed and our hearts are prude with injustice and human reasoning.  Because a little girl couldn't grasp the infinite God in one sitting meant that she was to be cut off from all kindness.

 God is God.  He knows His value pretty well.  He also knows the hearts of all of his children.  Do you really think that the little girl's questions were offensive to God?  Was there a moment when, justified by self-righteousness, that this woman thought she was doing God a favor?  Oh, you're welcome God (insert finger into throat now).

The woman was a little girl herself once, with the same sort of questions.  The kind of questions God stirs in the heart of man to begin to draw us closer.   They weren't asked from arrogance or accusations.  And even if they were, God is not afraid of that.  He will never withhold Truth because we didn't ask pretty questions.  Read the Bible and you will see that the moment peoples eyes were opened was in the midst of hard times, hard questions, and hard hearts.  God is the master of breaking down barriers....the same barriers that we sometimes ignorantly put onto someone else's path.

We are never to curse or withhold goodness from ANYONE.  We can justify this at times if people are making bad choices or have turned their backs on God.  We think that the blessings are synonymous with being united with God.  But that is human rationalization.  The best time to lavish goodness on someone is in their state of derision.  It is kindness that will bring people to repentance.  Not the lessons we feel we need to force onto others.  We are not the Holy Spirit, and are majorly overstepping if we find it our duty to convict people.  Our only job is to love God and love people.  If we really love God, we will love the many faces that come our way, even the unpleasant ones. 

To the hard questions we are asked....pray and be seasoned with Grace, remembering that this could be the last time the life-altering questions get asked.  For the slaps we receive along the way....turn the other cheek.  Take away the power of darkness by surrendering instead of allowing someone to take from you.   When you lay down your life for God...for your brothers and sisters....you will truly and sincerely find your own. 

 So please, I beg you to ignore the people who carry God's name in vain.  Those who walk around with their piety and self exultation.  They wouldn't know God's heart it it slapped them in the face.  Attune your ears intently, because He is calling for you.  A God who isn't afraid of ugly....who shows no trepidation towards your wavering heart and hard questions, but a loving and genuine God who wants to share truth and freedom with you, simply because he loves you. 

Coughing Fits and Black Lung

Fall.  Winter.  This time of year is aggravating to me because amidst all of the beauty and nostalgia that blows with the leaves in the wind, I find myself borderline paranoid when I have to be in public.  The masses come and go with their coughing fits and fevers.  The grocery store is not an infirmary people.  Unless you have no one to help care for you when you're sick, than you should be at home resting, not contaminating the rest of civilization with your plague.  Do you really think it's necessary to go buy TV dinners and cigarettes when it sounds like you should be on oxygen and in the hospital?!

I thought it was rudimentary to cover your mouth and nose when necessary, but that practice must be old fashioned.  I went to the store this evening and swear that every person I passed had a massive bout of bronchitis, and I didn't see even one cover their mouth as they coughed.  Gross! 

I keep my immunities up, cut down on the sugar, and stay well rested try to stay well rested, but I cannot control the rudeness of getting hacked on by a perfect stranger in an already bacteria ridden store.  I mean if feces can be found on the handle of a shopping cart in pleasant weather, than what the heck can be found this time of year when the sickness is out of control!?  My mind can't even go there.

I can't take it!  Please please please, if you have a cold, cover your mouths.  If you are feverish, stay home for god's sake.   And if you are coughing up chunks of lung, than wear a freaking mask!

Morning Moments

I cherish the morning moments with my little boys.  Every morning I awaken to River's backwards ways of motivating me to get up.  Today he licked my face as his laugh just echoed throughout the room.  Pure sweetness.  Next, River and I venture down the ill-lit hall to Israel's room, where like me, needs everything short of being dragged from the bed to wake up.  As he slowly comes to life throughout the next hour, Ahmi rouses with a huge smile, wrinkled nose, and squeals of happiness.  I cherish these moments because I can see them in a pure state of innocence.  I see them as they are, and it helps me become a better mother for the day. 
May a good day be ahead of you all!