Forty Plus Miles

          A welcome conversation. A social fulfillment, and there's strength....for a time. A busy area and there is claustrophobia, the same humanity now becomes a burden. This is when I knew I wasn't a people person.           I learned the term years ago: ambivert. It's one who enjoys people and being social, but needs a mental and emotional break sometimes. Speaking to nearly everyone I meet, I once thought myself an extrovert (a people person); then it all changed. It was the death of my mom (who ironically was a big extrovert) that pushed me away from people. Years later it was regularly dealing with people that confirmed it. Something felt off in me and I wondered if something was wrong with me. There was: I needed a recharge internally (something ambiverts need). Ironic how death can reveal this, where the "death" of a preconceived belief gives us clarity and life.           Here and there it would pop u...

         The air is cold and the night blankets the land, save for the tiny lights in the night sky: beautiful stars. In the night as groceries are brought in I pause for a moment, reflecting on such beauty ONLY MOMENTS after Jesus decided to bless my family and I; then there's this.          In the night, where the skies speak of the glory of Jesus and all His amazing creation. In the dark, where here Light shines brightest, and all is calm, all is right. In the cold, where hope warms my very soul and there is joy and peace; there is worship in the night as I lift my hand(s) and simply say, "Thank You Jesus. " in a prayer...in worship in the night.           That was the ultimate blessing, far greater than anything else that could be done. Thank You Jesus, thank You.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoy...

 Going forward in the end; where one starts and another begins again. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

       In the layers there are stories and discoveries hidden to most. In the sections remain unique ways and traits to be uncovered (though some already are). Under the different sides of different degrees there is much meant to be used for a greater good, a Godly good, and here the layers will be what Jesus Himself will use; even through renaissance, complicated, layered people like me.          This is renaissance living, and I know I am not the only one who is this way.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         For years I didn't think much about the stereotypes of my heritage: Scandinavian (mostly). I considered the tenacity of our people, the more reserved side, but not alot. It wasn't until I moved away that I began realizing how different I was from my own upbringing. I am naturally outgoing, talkative, and much more energetic than most of my people. It's not that NONE of them are this way, just that I am much more so than most.            Over the years this has made me wonder about my family. "Are these really my people (since I seemed so different)?", I'd ask, then begin seeing the commonalities I shared and had a resounding yes. Still, I've often wondered what my purpose for being this different is and it's made me feel as though I'm on the outside. Yet, the more I consider it, the more I pray over it, the more I realize it's for good reasons. I can reach people others of my heritage can't, I can connect, and the tenacity ...

         At the transition between years it's easy to be pensive, to ask, "What has been accomplished this year? Am I better off?" and so on. However, as reflection screams at me, I am put to action, NOT JUST reaction, also (there's a difference between the two). Even if it's small steps, it MUST be done, whatever it is that is sought to be changed. This action can EVEN be an internal one.            Whatever you seek to put into action, let it last and be constructive; you got this 'cause God's got you.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

      I am but an ordinary child playing with words, writing with the limited skills I have.        ^This is how often feel when writing (especially when looking at the different types of writing). There is alot to learn yet, and with every way learned I "grow up" in the literary sense. Today I "grew up" again as I began learning a new type of poetry: Villanelle. It's a specific set of lines written in a timing and rhyming scheme, with one or two lined repeating. Once I began working past the technical side of it I actually enjoyed writing it. I am NO expert in this form, but to actually discover I can write something that technical is empowering AND encouraging. As I translate these new gifts and skills to other areas, I just wanna share this transparent story for someone who may need to know they can do difficult things too. Remember, you are NOT the only one struggling, and you are not alone.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has ma...

         Down roads that have been travelled (and ones that haven't) I've journeyed. Some more well known, and others barely known. Down long miles I've driven, called, set my "tools of the trade" in order and faced more unpredictable outcomes than most know. This is the job, to do it and overcome somehow; and on more than one occasion I've went WAY beyond "just getting it done".           I say this NOT to be puffed up with pride, but to give context to how tough these miles and mountains have been. Climbing up yet another "mountain" of a difficult circumstance. Travelling yet another mile to overcome the treacherous way before me; and here I am worn.....so I write. I write to process and make some kind of difference in this world. I write to earn income at a better pace, and in a better way. I write to "pull over" and "park" this car of pace and hardships that have been brutal. There have been good moments, times I...

          See, touch, taste, hear, smell, the gifts before you. These will fade: gifts given that will not last. There is still an "opening" that will take place though, where "presents" of a different kind will be given. Joy. Hope. Grace. Faith. Love. Insight. Understanding....and these are ONLY a few. These are the gifts that last, but will we seek them, will I seek them?           Forgive me Jesus for not wanting the right kinds of "presents" in life. I'm ready for the next "opening", and this time I'm more excited than before.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

          I used to hate the process toward perfecting writing. I never gave much thought to grammar, punctuation, or carving out the right combination of them all; so I stuck to poetry. Poetry isn't easy, but it's easier to write than most types of writing, so I let it keep me.             In the poetry world all was safe, and creativity would flow well; then I realized I could do the same other ways. Enter the rough drafts. The "practice sessions" where everything was being worked to it's best quality....the place where a new breath of sorts was breathed upon it. In the roads that were carved out like some literary miner I found the fun exploration there. Sure, sometimes it can be dull, but in the discipline toward making it work there must be remembered the exploration of what is there in the "digging" toward something great. This is true of ALL of life's endeavors though as well (NOT JUST WRITING).      ...

        Here, there, somewhere; a mind racing toward something. Here, there, somewhere; typing and trying, one.more.time. creativity failing and still there's fighting forward. This is the struggle of a creative, of a need for relief to process life, of a way forward that will change it all.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 What to write, Wednesday, working words weirdly. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         Through the light and the metal, down concrete roads I travel toward child-like. Through the grace of a brighter, more pleasant temperature I awaken, the innocence within me to believe for good, and wonder with it.            Down the surprise of a paid day off, after a busy holiday I make way toward living...not in what I WANT but what I NEED: to be unshackled from the fears and weariness of adult life. Here, through the busy, travelling down some parking lot of a store I ride, ride the back of a four-wheeled cart (as one might a dog sled) to grace and rest in life's simple wonder for a moment, one the tired adult in me needed. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Running in place, adjusting pace, writing to gain clarity, and with it, grace.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Tuesday, after a holiday. Busy again, still, writing again.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Busy, dizzy, this Christmas Day. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Other presents: presence, slowly, completely.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Four... watching, praying, going today.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

           Here. There. Playing and running. Loving every moment, yet envying the endless energy of this little child, your child. It's not bad, just a challenge, dare I say a moment to pray to be your best, give your best...when your fiercely loved child has high energy.             You seek to engage. Drink coffee to be able to do so. Live fully present in the moment (however that looks for you).             When I don't know how, I see it there, in our child: I was not given parenthood if I wasn't able to handle it, even at an older age. When I don't think I can, my possible awakens in each moment spent investing. Here. There. Life happens and I run to get involved, be a dad, refuse to let age keep me back from being "all in". I may not always keep pace fully, but there's always prayer, and always coffee to help with that, and I'll use both. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog...

          A word, a message, and the eager heart listens. A picture, in a moment, one speaking loud, louder still, and the longed for encouragement rises, speaks clearly to the worn and weary within: continue.            A journal, two journals, and the caffeinated fuel to create good change for this little tribe, where a word in a moment (one of many), begins to change to one more: can.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

          Under the gray, where light is emerging...slowly, I am walking. Through the confused atmosphere there is a forward motion; one.step.at.a.time. This is the landscape of a busy start to a busy time of year. Where you walk from a busy week toward a busy holiday season, believing for good of a light that breaks through the gray clouds of worn and tired, under partly cloudy thoughts and emotions toward hope that will not relent; grateful it doesn't.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        Through the wind, walking, praying, with eyes forward, looking in expectation. Through the resistance, the exhaustion, living and writing to be whole again. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

          Somewhere in the silence there's light still, light of a new day where hope is rising for the expectant hearts and minds. Somewhere in the stillness bright skies waken and set sail across our fields of vision, speaking to weary hearts and burdened minds of relief and restoration. Somewhere in the waiting there are great and precious promises of a greater good awaiting us: the weary travellers upon hard roads of living, where the journey feels too much sometimes, yet we carry on with faith.  .          This faith drives us on, a faith where we refuse to stop, lay down, and give up when our redemption is just over the mountains we are climbing here and now. We.will.not.be.defeated. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed...

          First gear and the speed is climbing. Faster. Faster, until you shift into second; soon third, and so on. All is blurry in the dangerous pace and speed limits must be set somehow. This is where we've all been at times in life, desperately clinging to something "manageable" when we all know it's anything but. Speed limits must be set to overcome the furious increased pace of life, otherwise we'll crash.             I am no expert in this, nor do I have all the answers here. In this increasing pace of living however this is something I am learning: be as intentional as possible and pray. Be intentional with your focus.in.EVERY.step. Focus on your precious seconds and look around as you do. In the speed you can miss much, and as you do, pray. Pray for understanding. Pray for focus. Slow down as much as possible, but don't "zone out" staring at the "lines" on the roads of life while merely existing. This is where we crash...

           Round and round we're marching. Day after day, looking upon the fortified walls we seek to break through; the stronghold that stands strong still. Again and again we march while saying nothing....when we could. These are our "Jerichos" within, the places we look upon with longing hearts to defeat and overtake, those places that keep us from true life.              They rise larger than life it seems, appear indestructible, but they aren't. On our own we can do nothing, but IN AND THROUGH Jesus we can do all things.....even see these fortified places within us fall and never rise again. March for six days, then shout on the seventh, sound your ram's horn of victory! Your "marching" will look different than others (and that's okay), but march regardless, do so in Jesus' name and in His presence and power. Make sure you "shout" and call out your victory (sound the horn), shout truth and the very promises of Jesus a...

           I'd like to say that I have an unshakable faith when it comes to possibility of good in our lives... I'd be lying though if I said this, so I will not. However, I am learnING the power of "yet" in life. It's easy to write something difficult off (especially for me), so when we place "yet" in our lives everything changes if we are willing to believe this placement of "yet" in our lives. Everything looks over, YET there is just a little bit more provided for us. It all looks impossible to achieve, YET if we are willing to try with faith steps there is a possibility it can be achieved, overcome, and great success found in it. < These are just a few examples of the power of "yet", one word placed in the "sentences" of our lives that if we are willing to believe it then there is "yet" hope, and with it a greater change in our everyday lives (see what I did there with "yet"?). Sidenote: If any of ...

        When you are a writer and an active parent and/or spouse, working a full or part-time job, it can be easy to lose ideas that come to you. Sometimes they would speak to you as an audiobook would, other times they are just fragments of a complete story or work of writing. This is similar to balloons that we would try to hold on to in life that slip away from us sometimes. We want desperately to treasure and enjoy them making sure we get our investments worth; and this is the same way with these ideas that suddenly seem to appear out of nowhere at times in the creative journey.  If we are focused enough though, quick enough even, and willing to fight for these ideas (whether that fighting be through prayer or some other means), we can hold on to these "balloons" of ideas and make the most of them, often times with great results.            There is blessing at times though even in letting go when it is necessary, and it is here...

           Sometimes life becomes too much for us, and it's okay to struggle with that. Sometimes we wrestle with our capability, and it's okay if achieving certain things in life isn't always easy. Sometimes we may fight the hounds of past failures, current failures, and merely fight to survive this thing called daily living, and it's okay to be human sometimes.             In our "sometimes" we can ALWAYS get back up, break the chains of deep wounds, and start again in hope; in Jesus' name.               Help us to remember there is always new life, hope, salvation and redemption in You Jesus for ALL of our lives; especially our "sometimes". In Your name Jesus we pray.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with s...

          I don't do well with change. I can handle more structured change (ex. dinner plans are made but no place is decided upon), but NO structure is brutal for me; so when everything is suddenly uprooted I wrestle alot.             I have been noticing alot of these moments lately in my life and I don't know what to think of these encounters. Do I just stop planning all together if nothing seems to go smoothly? Do I embrace the changes WHILE planning for adjustments (this is possible)? What exactly does one learn from this?  .           The more I reflect, the more I realize it's where I must remember what cleaning chili out of dishes taught me (see the Chili Lessons post): to plan while leaving room for changes and adjustments. Pivoting (what they call making adjustments to the day to day changes in life) can be difficult, yet I'm learning to do this, along with focusing IN THE MOMENT. Th...

         Through the dirt of a day I'm digging. Through the weight of "soil" I am clawing my way through, prayerfully. Exhausting in every way, still I persist. It must be done, it must be finished somehow, for life keeps going.           Through the pressure to "tunnel" beyond the heaviness of responsibility while not being buried beneath I continue. This is the fight, the moment where there is no laying down and giving up. This is digging through the dark places of much and alot to get to finished. This is persistence, where I'm continuing on (by the grace of God).  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        There are places for pieces, broken and mislabeled. There is purpose for pain, however dark it may appear. There's hope in the hurt, even when the oceans of suffering seem endless...they aren't.           This is not the end, only the beginning toward healing and wholeness again; for even puzzles start as misunderstood pieces, and this is no different. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

            Some may know, but most don't, that one of the biggest (if not the biggest) reason I write is for therapy. It helps me to process life and things I think and encounter. It also helps me to communicate better and empty myself of alot of things that weigh me down so I can live much more free.              I enjoy the wordplay, what can be done with the written language as well as the artistic expression, but overall it's therapy. I sorta hope also though that when I express things it may help others, maybe even encourage others to remind them they are not alone. Writing is some of the best therapy ever, second to prayer time, worship and spending time with Jesus through reading and studying the Bible.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog ...

        A twelve word poem (below) to find a healthy outlet on a busy day. Writing is therapy.                      Six Six times there's writing again,  doubling these dull words,  sharper now. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

          Below is an example of a six word poem where I just needed to have a writing outlet from a busy and tiring day. I've been calling them "numbered poems". On the busiest days where you struggle for any kind of good (like I did today with writing for example), never give up, even if it's only a little at a time.  Literary Warfare    Rhyming,  climbing,  writing,  fighting.  Literary warfare. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

       In the unknown, your unknown, just be willing to step into it; scary or not. In the questions and the self-doubts, make the attempt at something new; it's okay if it isn't perfect. This is the beginning, where you are starting something unlike anyone else has done, listening as you hear the hosts of Heaven, (even Jesus Himself) call you to such a journey as this.         This isn't selfish or exalting yourself, just showing what Jesus can do through a willing soul that listens as He leads; for you weren't meant for ordinary, only to listen treasured Pioneer. Remember, even David only had a sling and some smooth stones against his giant, yet he walked in the power and presence of the LORD. I imagine they all thought that pioneer crazy too.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to s...

              Greater; the value of community and those within it. Greater. Greater than sacrifices that we all must make at times, ones where we're willing to lay aside ourselves to meet needs of our tribes, our "people", our families (however that looks in our lives; for not every family is the same). Greater is the ever increasing value of our treasured loved ones when we continue on to achieve what is needed (and that can be more than just literal things, or the basic necessities).                 As others around us are lifted up, struggles become less to us and there is a greater strength. There are still hardships, the wrestle is real and even fierce at times, yet we are driven to not let our families and friends fall. Sometimes it must be learned (to lay ourselves aside). Sometimes it doesn't come all at once (this selfless way of life). These are real struggles in my life if I'm being transparent; y...

            I don't know everything, nor can I do anything....on my own. Sure, there are skills I have, even abilities that I believe Jesus has given me to use for a greater good.....still (like us all) I struggle.             I struggle to have confidence. I struggle to have a healthy perspective. I struggle to have faith in the good Jesus has for me; yet I'm brave enough to try again, reach out for, and step into areas that terrify me in life. I am bold enough to not settle for the old ways and patterns where I didn't grow as a person, and in following Jesus; so I make the attempt. Often times this courage takes alot to apply to my own life, and many don't know how great a struggle there is to even get there; but I'm brave enough to try and try again a hundred and more times. It's better than the alternative of a mundane and joyless existence.....even if I don't always get it right away.  Sidenote: If any of the wri...

           To take a picture, to capture a moment of importance and value; this is a worthy and beautiful thing. To live in the moment is even better; this is what makes a picture worthwhile.             To take a picture, one that lasts, this is the goal of us all. Some take them, some live them, and we all know how to take a picture; to know when to live it out and to capture it is to truly live and grow as people though.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        Up a mountain, climbing again. Up toward reaching needs, finishing the crazy climbing of a day. Here, remembering one thing on the way up and over: despite the heights and hardships toward the summit there is joy...even up a mountain; if only I'm willing to look despite this climb that feels too much sometimes.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        A busy day...again. a healthy release again, through numbered poems again; like this six word poem below. Six More Six more times,  words toward change.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

          This is the hard day, the busy day. This is where I learn again an old trick better: numbered poems. Basically poems that are literally the number of words it takes to write them, and these can be on any issue, or about anything, they are just written in only a few words. This is one of those numbered days, where in order to find a healthy release when things are relentlessly busy I write in this way. Below will be one such example (a 6 word poem). To Breathe  To breathe, writing again,  for release. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

           "Don't do it. It will never work. You can't overcome this, and you never will. You aren't able to do this. This will always be who you are. You are nothing more than your failures and tragedies." These are little whispers (and unfortunately only a few). There are many, many more. Often times these little whispers can be personalized to each person, though there are universal examples as well that go beyond one or one types of people. These come from the voice of Shame. These little whispers that tend to destroy us..... until we learn to not listen.              I've known them too well most of my life. Like everyone I have made wrong choices, committed my sins even, but there's another side to the shame we encounter in life: it's the side we encounter from others. Before I continue however, I want to make something very clear, this is NOT about calling any one person or people out. This ISN'T about how awful thi...

         When thought about, something becomes clear: it will take some work, unnecessary work to complete the difficult task. It will take up more time on the way toward done that could be used toward the journey as a whole. You'll scrub and rinse and wash furiously to complete it; when there's a better way.           You'll discover it in the moment most likely (even if you're a more detailed and structured person such as I), and here it'll all change for good. Here you’ll try it to transition smoother. Under the water it'll become bombarded where soap and progress join in to complete the other steps and the workload will be taken care of in the process. A waterfall will wash away the stubborn stronghold of dried food down. Here in the soaking it will happen right before your eyes (even in the constant activity) and the "heavy work" needed will no longer be necessary after it all: chili baked into pots and dishes. This is where diligen...

         Slowly along the road, making way down the minutes and hours, down this thing called a day. Slowly at first, then the pace changes as life changes, you adjust your speed as everything quickens with every passing moment.          One mile becomes two even faster as the rate of movement is blurry in the transition. You are shifting gears through the day, trying to match the speed of life and the change in it. You are moving through the moments in the highest gear, and then you find another speed bump. You downshift through speeds to adjust to the abrupt change and you find you must breath slowly, switch your focus, and give your concentration to the new way fast approaching. You correct your approach and in the heavy weight you acknowledge the disarming of it's effects; disarming because you are moving with it rather than against it. You.are.shifting gears.           This is the change, the adjusting in t...

        In a difficult writing session I struggled to write for some reason....and then THIS came about (shown below this). It's a form of poetry called prose poetry, a nonfiction story form also, and it's truly surprising that I was even able to write this. Grateful to Jesus for such an ability given to even write this. Thank You Jesus! Never.give.up.          "Just write something. Tell a story. Use your 'voice'. " , so I do, my poetic voice. So I write something, ignoring the immature side that dares me to write the word 'something' and nothing more. I think about that a second, laugh inside, and actually think that might be kinda funny. Here I am, writing something, telling a story of creating something (writing), and I'm using my poetic 'voice' ; and for my inner child I write one last word: something. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjo...

            To pull over, take the pause needed, then continue on once rest and rearrangement has been established. In those short moments grace and regrouping is embraced and life is found in our ever constant busy of living.              We may wanna "get there" to that goal, that next mile of our journey (and with it this destination we seek), yet while we are going along down life's roads of days we must remember rest. Between the "mile marker moments" where life can change immediately and without warning the "rest stops of life" must be both remembered and used. They may not be our first choice, may not have our wants, but will certainly have our needs; otherwise we're left somewhere along the "shoulder" of life, wondering how to course correct and continue "driving" through our days. 

          A certain toy is found in "timeout", against a rectangle-shaped leg of our kid's chair and I laugh, we laugh, father and son. We begin battles and the armies are in their positions, our little metal and plastic soldiers will fight this day. We narrate stories, give voices to the voiceless, telling our million stories. Toys and plot twists that we change a million times and then some. Different activities and different adventures we embark upon, and here I marvel at his great imagination, enjoying eccentric travels through seven years and our million wild and surprising stories of our son. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

      Today it's been difficult to write anything. I don't know why this is, only that aside from a blog post this morning that was almost effortless it's been a struggle. As I began to let go of the need to push some sorta writing out though and simply listened as Jesus was leading me with what to write (or not) everything was beginning to change. There was no pressure to write (like there was between this morning and now) and a peaceful quiet persistence kept nudging me to write this post; one I believe Jesus is leading me to write; so I'm listening.         Just listen....to the moments around you as you pay attention and follow the leading of Jesus in your life. Just listen....to the freedom to let go of control and allow Heavenly inspiration from the Holy Spirit to flow and speak to you. Just listen....to the present moments and things He (Jesus) wants to show you and invite you into in the here and now. Jeremy Camp puts it this way in his prayer,...

          Under clouds we walk, through dreary valleys and down long paths travelled. It will take us if we let it. It will hold us if we give such permission, this sorrow and unmotivation found in our "cloudy days"; yet from nowhere it would seem a holy stubborn motivation rises, this surprising curiosity from the very heart of God Himself appears and begins it's work in us. This curiosity to find out what's ahead in the following chapters called tomorrow, even in the next "paragraph" of hours on the same "page" of the present day we are walking through, one of "clouds" and struggle.           Under clouds we walk still, through the presence of Jesus leading us, the power of the Holy Spirit working within us as we ask, as we continue on; remembering it will not be cloudy forever, it will not rain forever, and the sun will return once more in our toughest days even.          Help us Jesus in these difficult ...