So many times, we're told that we are the writers of our future, but after some reflection... I think we're most likely...not. Oh, we like to imagine we have a little control - What shall I eat? what shall I wear? and even... Who shall I marry? But then, realization dawns - a foggy sunrise. We cannot control whether our very next breath will arrive. It is automatic, and we were not given the keys to that ignition. So I think... in the big picture, our imagined control is just to placate us. However, it can be very freeing to realize you are a character in the story, and not the author. It is especially encouraging when you summarily realize, that your particular author is a best-seller, and clearly, already has the plot all figured out! Thank you for joining me on my 28 day birthday month celebration. It has been a challenge, but also a unique experience, and I'm pleased with myself for completing it. Thank you also for all your kind words and encouragement...they have made it all feel extra special. 🙂
Tag Archives: birthdaymonth
Self-Helpless
I am the opposite of "self-help" - I am here to say that you cannot do it on your own. You are not strong enough, or powerful enough, or even really smart enough. Not you. Not in your own human-ness. So I wonder why - there are so many self-help books that essentially repeat the same mantra. You. You. You. When it's never been you it's always been WHO. Who do you put your trust in? From where do you get your inner power? If it's you, then, oh dear, how fallible. If it's Darkness, then oh my, how temporary. But- if it's the Light of the world, then Oh yes, how powerful.
Direct My Path
We wander through the woods of our lives, tripping, winding, pulling away branches, and getting caught in the brambles. It is a long road. A rough road. And then, a clearing up ahead. We breathe the sweet nectar of the open field, feel the sunshine, and cooling breeze. It feels like heaven. But the dark woods draw us back, and soon we find ourselves, tangled, tired, and bruised. All the while, the Lord goes before us, clearing the path, absorbing the blows, and wishing we would only take His hand, so He could lead us to the next clearing, and the path of His design. Even so, He walks ahead. Never forsaking us and our chosen pathway. Even when He knows His is easier, He allows us to choose. And then He clears the way. Happy Birthday to me, and my dear friend Olivia, and all the other souls who celebrate their arrival on this earth today. We made it. Keep walking the path, the destination is more beautiful than we can possibly imagine.
New Life
At first glance, you would not consider furniture as an item needing rescue. But it is. They do. Cooped up, buried under garbage and piles of paper and humidity - A table, a chair, sits - waiting to be remembered to be cared for - to be clean. It is made from material that was once alive - and after being plucked from purgatory, and given a new home, it almost audibly sighs with relief and gratitude for the gift of new life. Useful, Hopeful, and Wanted, but most of all, Restored, in every sense of the word.
Dinosaur
Dino-saur. Dino-Roar. Why do we obsess over that which scares us? To regain power? Control? "We never had control." But! We always have the power. Fear is what we allow it to be. Whether it's the dark, or spiders, or a large, scaly lizard that ROARS. Dedicated to my first best friend and cousin, who shares my love of Dinosaurs, and so many childhood memories, and whose birthday is today. Happy Birthday, Lauren!
A Great Man
Which is better? Or should I say - Which is worse? To befriend a great man, and un-appreciate his greatness - OR To meet your hero... and see him fall - unceremoniously - off his pedestal? Both are shameful, I suppose - We are all human - Great & Good & Weak & Bad. If only the scales would balance - and we could recognize the difference immediately... what a great deal of misplaced affection we would avoid.
Location, Location, Location
Where we are born is not who we are But it shapes who we become. Whether we embrace or attempt to escape - there is no undoing the circumstance of birth. We are plopped on this earth, exactly where we are supposed to land - in order for us to become, who we are meant to be. The reality of location and the fantasy of aspiration.
The Very Last Piece
What will you give Him? What is the thing you love most in this world? What is the object, the person, the corporation, the "thing?" That thing, that MacGuffin, that is the last thing you have to lay down. It should be the first, but, it is usually the last. Why that thing, you ask? Because it is the last, the very last barrier between your heart and His. What has He ever given you, you ask? He has given you Everything - He has given you Jesus. He has given you Himself. The least we can do in return - the very least, is give Him all of us....every last morsel. Even that bit we've been holding back, saying - "Yes - you can have it all... except "This."" "This"... is exactly the last of the currency. But fear not, for the rate of exchange is priceless. You give Him the very last piece of your human heart, and He gives you Eternity.
Why Do We Write?
Why do take up our proverbial pen and write? Why do we take the time and make the effort to share our thoughts and feelings and lessons learned? Perhaps for the same reasons that generations before us did. We are compelled. Words spill out of us and onto the page, liquid puddles of letters that become words that turn into sentences that form complex thoughts and emotions, that leap from the page and into the mind of our reader who is perhaps contemporary, perhaps generations ahead of us, but who all say, "I understand what you mean." Writing is a form of time travel. A message from one kindred spirit to another. Between the lines we say, "I've been here before, just as you are here now. I survived, and so shall you." And our recipient, who may not yet even be born, closes their eyes and sighs, reassured that life will go on. And that, I think, is why we write.
Ashley Raymer-Brown 