It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from.
-C.S. Lewis
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat"
-Teddy Roosevelt
i'm a pretty simple guy. not simple minded...uh..mind you, but i just don't demand much. i love people...really love my friends. trying to come out from myself into my self. just learning to navigate life...learning to live, really live. being taught and loved by Jesus. learning more about his heart for me, and for the broken ones of this world. i'm learning about the kingdom, and how opposite it is to all that i've known and seen. practicing letting go, and living free from pretense and reluctance. working on being a better husband and friend to my wife....and in that learning to love and lead and serve and be. breathing deeply in my storm...not yielding to it, but pressing through it...through the darkness until my heart feels the warmth of sunshine on it, and the dawn breaks open before me. i'm weathering the storm, not well at times, but faithfully. knowing there is land ahead and brightness in my future. i'm learning to display the beauty of God on the outside of me. bringing heaven to earth in a real way, that really helps those who are really in need. allowing God to do as he pleases through my life, without me getting in the way as much. learning how to be teachable, and also learning how to teach. being ok with not having everything worked out, and knowing that God's ok with it to. God loves beautiful messes, so i'm well qualified. i guess life is teaching me about living for here and now, today, this moment, and embracing it with all i have.
i can hear the silence crying out for me...
...to come and agree with it.
to bask in it's peace and purpose....
...to be enveloped by it's sustenance,
and raptured by it's beauty.
the fear that constrains us from it's refreshing...
....and the reality we face in it's presence.
the soberness of self, and all it's failures.
...torn from duty and obligation, and thrust into
the vastness of eternity.
never embracing ourselves,
and holding our dreams imprisoned within...
...longing to be beheld and mulled over.
the silence beckons us to come....
without treasure or title...
simply...to stand finite and unafraid,
lost in the wonder of how naked we are,
and with an attentive ear...
awaiting the pleasure of the one
who lives in silence...
the one who speaks
in our absence of distraction.
so come....come and be silent...
....before the majestic one.
-meCheckout what I've BeenUp2!
