Thought for The Day - Break

The beginning of "Linen, Remains Calm" 30 x 40 oils

Not as in a loss or dropping a precious crystal vase, but "break" as in stopping the swirl around you for a brief second. Stopping the flow of life, in all it's wonder. The madness and chaos, the joy and adventure of it all. Just to breathe and absorb it all. And it is an A-L-L. It is large and expansive. If one could imagine trying to expand one's recognition of what's happening around you.

You are connected to the internet at the moment. So are millions - no billions of people all over the world. You are in a location where access is possible, whether you are walking along the street, sitting in a car, at home or in Starbucks. You are surrounded by humanity, God's representation of himself in it's myriad expressions. And everything is connected. Each molecule, atom, brick, electrical outlet and fiber of hair. The air, the sky, water, even the sweat on your palms and the oil in yours skin bonds with every other molecule in the A-L-L.

Drink it in.

Pause for a brief moment





The wonder of it all

And yes, you will feel alone, disconnected, out of sorts and out of touch. You have moments when it seems no one wants to know you or feel your presence and yet, in the sea of humanity, in that same breath, that very second, billions of "disconnected" people feel the same way.

We are wonderfully damaged and healing and and communicating beings! We are connected in ways that defy logic and as it should be.

Break

A moment to reflect, grab your corner of the global/universal view.

Now let it go

The world and all of creation continues to spin along as it always has...

Thought for The Day - Speak

Declare it! With bull horn or a loud voice! Urgency and insistent, let it be known! Because it's in your heart and the abundance is too much to hold in.

For so long, I thought declaration (preaching, teaching and counseling) and creativity (writing, drawing and painting) ran on two different paths and somehow I was trying to run the different paths, but one at a time. Recently, I came to accept that the two aren't parallel or separate, but because they reside in me, they are one in the same. The need to share my life is the same need to be creative. To speak originates from the same vein as writing and painting. And it all declares a reservoir that runs beneath. That source isn't a trickle and is larger than any ocean. It's beginning is unknown and it's end is the same!

Thought for The Day - ...Processing...

Trillions of particles floating colliding, bouncing off one another, every fraction of a second...

This light,

This life,

Flowing fluidly,

A stream of reasoning,

Emotions

And consciousness.

What is perceived

Is a fraction of

What is...

Progressing across this expanse of space, each step a lesson in diligence. Persistence keeps me going as I cross unfamiliar territories. Lessons learned, more information communicated than my conscious can recall, I am lost, but continue on the path I'm choosing. Recalculating each step, wind blowing across my face, eyes in a semi-permanent squint shading my view from the intense sun.

This is my journey, my progress, my life. I travel across space and time, light surrounding me nearly every step of the way. And in the distance, there is a twist, a twirling of life. Unexpected, it promises life will no longer be the same.

...merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream!

Thought for The Day - Changes

Phoenix 18 x 24 pastels

How much of our updating, revamping, swapping out the old for the new, is external? How often do we 'change' and oh so fundamentally remain the same? If the constant changes in life leave us unchanged, then what does that say about our character? Is it a solid iron being incapable of changing?

We sit in a seat on our patio, watching the trees bud, the breeze moving the branches and twigs. The buds become leaves, green and full and the temperature warms up and the sun hangs in the sky longer, until we see shelter from it all. But soon the wind changes and the leaves as well; they become brown, orange and red and fall, leaving the trees bare once again. But in all the changes for the tree, it has grown; it's gained more branches, veins and it's trunk, thicker. Even if you trim the tree, it continues to grow fuller...funny how that happens.

Difficulty, hardship, struggle, even tragic loss has an effect on each of us. A person cannot remain innocent and unfettered by this world. Some say we should not operate from our 'ego,' instead from our heart and soul. But our ego serves to protect us, albeit, 'over-compensate,' at times. And yet, in the final analysis, we will have lived life as best we could, some epic fails and moments of pure ecstasy. And if remain open to the many lessons and experience life brings, we are as fluid as mercury and solid as an iron statue.

Peace

Be.

Thought for The Day - The Joy of Christ

This season, Christians celebrate the "baby Jesus." Well babies don't remain that way for long! I remember, as a child, getting caught up in the excitement of this time of the year and as a child, I was caught up in the excitement of receiving toys as well the story of how Jesus appeared on the scene. Growing up in a traditional Baptist church, I heard the stories of God's promise of a savior and how he came to sacrifice his life. But it was as a young adult, that I fully learned that Jesus didn't just "happen."

You see, this plan is so huge, that our normal view of 'time' and 'timing' has to take a backseat. God's perspective about sending a savior was carefully planned and interwoven into the very fabric of man's freewill. Some like to think that God, as a sovereign being forces people do his will. No, He's so intelligent and insightful, he can allow you to be a free-thinking, active participant in his plan and yet carry out his plan with that free-will. His plan from the beginning was to allow us to exercise our free-will, even to our detriment, but to provide a bridge back to him. That bridge, that connection is Jesus. His life was lived to be not only an example, but to prove God's power over sin; He could not be a victim of it, as we are, but he could be among us, like us and yet without the errors of sin.

For the sake of children, the story of the "baby Jesus," one who is recognized as innocent and small and fragile, is a precious concept. But just as the baby grew, so must our understanding of the child who would one day receive the title of Christ, the promised messiah. He is more than savior, He is Lord, the anointed one, the King. And please believe, with all my writing, all the images rendered, he is interwoven into every word and every color. I am, because He IS.

A Blessed Christ-mass to you today!

Thought for The Day - Across

A Seed 8 x 11 Pastel

Took a road trip this weekend, a six hour overnight stay to Missouri to see my son. Now growing up, this was the extent of my yearly vacation trips when my parents piled up the car, visiting relatives in Kansas City, MO. But as a father of my own children, we took trips to Virginia for four years, taking my daughter back and forth to school. I fell in love with the mountains and the elevations. The roads seemed smoother - they actually are - and with the grand view as the car climbed a hill or you reached the top and looked down over the valley: SPECTACULAR! But Illinois is relatively flat and depending on what's on your mind, your thoughts become flat and monotonous as well. Missouri can be a bit scenic with it's elevations but for the most part, it's flat as well. Boring, right?

Where I am in at the moment, the life of my family and factors beyond my ability to describe, the scenery seemed exhilarating! The road is very familiar, traveled since I could remember and I could probably do it with my eyes closed. But it wasn't nostalgia, recalling road trips counting horses seen along the way. And it wasn't counting the number of signs for Merramec Caverns, either. No, it was SEEING ACROSS...

The sky, spread from where I sat, behind, before and on every side.
The lives of families and individuals in homes on the road side, connected to families, farms and apartment buildings I would never see from the roadside.
Truckers on long and short hauls, earning a living and a hundred thousand decisions made every fraction of a second.
Retired couples driving down the road, a life full of children in their rearview, parents on the other side and relatives on their road ahead.
Restaurants and diners, workers cooking, cleaning and serving hundreds in their lifetime and never realizing who they are sharing love with a plate of eggs, bacon and pancakes.
Water, mixed with concrete mix, becoming solid, hard and supporting millions of tires and lives for countless years.
Moisture, frozen and appearing white and grey and black on the road and hillside...

Across sky, land and lives, a connection exists, so integrated and complex whether one person or molecule should 'disappear,' not one second or emotion is lost. Everything remains intact no matter how many of us come and go.

We never really leave 'this place;' we are intimately connected to one another, whether we live in love or hate. For there exists a bond to all that only appears when we decide to open our eyes.