Regarding Tuesdays Post

Sometimes it seems quite pointless and other times exciting. Fulfillment? I don't know, maybe. Does that matter though?

This was not in response to my blog. This was in response to another area of my life. I love writing and is often my release. The above sentence was my frustration that my true skills and enjoyment of applying what I have are not being used to the fullest or at all.


and now a quick written poem...

Breath out all your troubles
Flow with the new wave
Breath in your fulfilled life now

--Will

Belief is not a Trend

But the trouble with deep belief is that it costs something. And there is something inside me, some selfish beast of a subtle thing that doesn't like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them. It is so, so cumbersome to believe anything. And it isn't cool. I mean it's cool in a "Reality Bites", "Welcome to Sarajevo", Amnesty International sense, but that is only as good as dreadlocks. Chicks dig it to a point, but you can't be all about it; you also have to want a big house and expensive clothes because in the end, we like Ethan Hawke even though we don't know what he believes. Even our beliefs have become trend statements. We don't even believe things because we believe them anymore. We only believe things because they are cool things to believe.

Donald Miller--"Blue Like Jazz"

Link of the Day

TerraCycle

One in Love through God

When we all reach that perfection of love which is the contemplation of God in His glory, our inalienable personalities, while remaining eternally distinct, will nevertheless combine into One so that each of us will find himself in all the others, and God will be the life and reality of all.

T. Merton

Deeply this is Me

Well, well seems I have been slacking lately with my blog. I, like everyone else, have been busy. Sometimes it seems quite pointless and other times exciting. Fulfillment? I don't know, maybe. Does that matter though? Deeply this is me:

I like to read
I am imaginative
I am not detail oriented
I am abstract
I am always in deep thought
I am relational
I like sports
I am academic
I am philosophic
I care
I love
I hurt
I cry
I like music
I like NPR
I strive for justice
I am faith driven
I get angry
I laugh
I value friends more than gold
I constantly search
I dig deep
I am a motivator
I am a speaker
I want to go back to college again
I am Will

Love My Peeps

Love you my fellow Blog Readers. I had a crazy bad day, but for some reason I kept smiling. Now I must pass it on to you. :)

Painfully Me

Ever feel like you are in the middle of a Hurricane? You see the way out yet don't take the first step. Because of fear? Because of regret? Because this hurricane may not last long? Tug-of-war with my head, heart and soul. Pulling me back and forth. I say this is not me, this is not what I am supposed to do. Give me back my true happiness, my true drive. Amen

Community i.e. Friendship

I know the past week has been exhausting and frustrating for myself and many others around me but we made it through. The great thing about being in a community and more importantly having friendship is the fact that you don't have to go it alone. There is no neighborhood, business, team, or church that is void of conflict or frustration. But the great thing is we are not alone and we CHOOSE to be in this community together. That says a lot about our integrity, perseverance, understanding, love and grace.

Many run away from community because of the conflicts. They run to their own island, their own world or to the next community in search of a place that is conflict and frustration free. To them I say "good luck and God Speed." A community is a living breathing body, a heart that beats as one. Just as the human body can heal itself so too can the body of community. We need each other; we want to hug, smile, explore, transform, cry and laugh together. If I have two gold coins I want to give one away; if I have a wound I want someone to help me heal. Without community this is impossible. I pray we all value our little community we are involved in and view it with the sacredness it deserves.

The Balance within the Balance

Why is it we all have an inherent need for justice? Somebody wrongs us we want justice. People being oppressed and monks killed in Burma, we want justice. African Americans being oppressed in America we want justice. I think you get the point. But why do we strive for justice? Why do we strive for right or good? And just as important why, if we all strive for right and good, are we failing so miserably?

First and foremost, I believe the call for justice and good is indicative of our connection with God. God is the ultimate justice, the ultimate good. Through that relationship, whether you believe in God or not, justice and good transcend into us. Without this relationship and left up to our own devices I think we wouldn't care for justice. We would saturate ourselves with our own needs and not the needs of others. Justice is counter to our own self preservation or own self needs. So in a sense we could say justice is divine.

So that brings us to our balance within the balance of justice. We can say justice is a balance between right and wrong. But with in this balance is the balance between self and justice. If we all desire justice why don't we live in a just world?. Sure we pray for those in Burma and we applaud the acts of Martin Luther King but is that enough to bring our desire of justice to fruition? The obvious answer is no and the reason is because we are not directly impacted i.e. self. We are 50% just. When it impacts us we demand justice; we scream it from the rooftops. But when it has a minimal impact on us we post links to our blogs, bring it up in small talk, and read the headlines.

I am not suggesting you fly to Burma and link arms with the monks. What I am suggesting is take up justice, void of self interest, in your own sphere of life. Don't talk about justice, write about justice, or read about justice..you need to be justice.

To close this out my belief is that we will never obtain perfect justice here on earth. Ultimate right and ultimate good are words we can only imagine, a vision we see in the mist. But the fact that we see into the mist says something in itself. It speaks of the divine, the goodness, and the connection we have to God whether we believe or not.

November Rain

This is one of my favorite Guns and Roses Songs, besides of course "Welcome to the Jungle". Can you tell I was rocking out to GnR on the way to work today?

Frankie Lee

The moral of the song
Is simply that one should never be
Where ones does not belong
So when you see your neighbor carryin' somethin'
Help him with his load
And don't go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road.

--Bob Dylan

Falling Red Change

let Your fountain of rain,
soak the red and orange tree leaves
Light reveals the change

--Will (In response to Psalm 36:9)


Had a break in the day so I did some much needed writing. A couple revisions taken before this and I am not so sure it is done, maybe I should just leave it alone.

Camden 28

Watched this documentary last night and it was pretty good. Civil Disobedience at it's finest.

Experience

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Prayer is a Relationship

The seeker seemed perplexed. "A state of prayer?"

"Thats right. Being in a state of prayer involves living in such a manner that regardless of what we might be doing, we're always praying."

"Yes, but what do you mean by that; how do I get that?" said the Seeker.

Father Laurence continued, "The question is, what does this involve?" The Seeker remained silent, waiting for Father's answer.

"Well, for starters, wouldn't it seem to require that we strive to become conscious of being in God's presence, because prayer is above all a relationship? And this has nothing to do with feelings -- it's a question of awareness, something that's present regardless of what we're feeling. But it would also seem to require more than that. We could imagine, for example, how the 'Evil One' could be aware of being in the presence of God, yet we'd hardly say that he was living in a state of prayer. What makes all the difference, I believe, is the intention to please God. In addition to the consciousness of being in God's presence, were we to have the constant willingness always and everywhere to do what is pleasing to God, then such an attitude would constitute a state of prayerfulness."............

Father Laurence..."For example a doctor performing surgery is hardly able to give his attention directly to God. He's totally immersed in what he's doing. Yet if he's developed the habit of being conscious of being in the presence of God and has the intention of praising God, his surgery is indeed a prayer, and when he's finished with the surgery his mind will go back naturally to thoughts of God"

The Monks of New Skete


I strive for this although it seems to work when I read, spend time with people, help others, cook, write and various other things. It doesn't really work when I am driving in traffic as I cuss and moan. Maybe it does and God understands I am not a perfect being and enjoys my nuances. Prayer is NOT a bedtime wish list or a cry for help every once in a while. Prayer is a REAL and CONSTANT relationship with God. Thoughts to ponder, see what happens.

Play Like a Champion Today

Perspective

From Gary Varvel's Blog

Wow its almost Friday

I have been busy my friends, real busy. So I will post some of my thoughts this week:

1. Will Bill O'Reilly ever stop crying about the media. I am not left or right but moderate. My dad thought I was going left on him. Nope just getting tired of everyone talking about nothing. Why not do something. Weird rant I know.

2. What is happening in Burma is humanity at its worst. Harmless people being dictated by a military government. Killing Monks, God Bless their Souls and may Peace be with them.

3. Read this article and it made me sick.

4. If you never know what the dark is how do you appreciate the light, if you never have a rainy day how do you enjoy the sun?

Mercy

The eyes of the saint make all beauty holy and the hands of the saint consecrate everything they touch to the glory of God, and the saint is never offended by anything and judge's no man's sin because he does not know sin. He knows the mercy of God. He knows that his own mission on earth is to bring that mercy to all men.

T. Merton

Strive for This.