Worth the risk to open....

And it has culminated in some intense conversations that were probably long past due for me. On second thought, no not probably....they WERE long past due for me.
I finally opened up the vault and took out some junk and denied realities I had been keeping for years.

And because I have shared them, I no longer have to carry them alone. There are many other things still within me, but for now I am grateful for being able to share a piece of myself with someone who was willing to patiently, and gracefully listen.

A band on the rise....The Civil Wars!

Keep a watch on this duo...Joy Williams and John Paul White of The Civil Wars! www.myspace.com/thecivilwars

Bring on the Wonder, Part 2

Sorry everyone, but I'm still stuck on this whole wonder theme! Many elements of my life have been speaking into this recently, so I'm gonna roll with it and hope it's insightful for you too!

When the world was new to us, wonder filled every moment. Who knew what astonishing revelation might unfold before our wide, child-like eyes. Magic filled each breath. Possibilities hid behind every corner, ready to unleash the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

How sad though that the child-like wonder gets sucked right out of us as adults. We traded in our amazement at the mysteries of God for some cut-and-dried “faith” that’s overly sliced and diced.

I won’t hold myself up as the pinnacle of Christian practice by any means, but the older I get, the more I see God restoring the wonder in my life. Something about maturity in Christ recaptures our childlikeness. Anything is possible! What can He not do? If we’re not tracking with that kind of “inverted maturity,” we instead turn into grizzled and bitter veterans of the spiritual war. I see far too many people on the path to that cold, hard anti-faith.

Bring on the Wonder

Sarah McLachlan does a phenomenal cover of a song, Bring on the Wonder by Susan Enan. The lyrics and the melody remind me of the innocence we have as children that sadly becomes broken and lost as adults. She's singing of happiness and the Wonder, but how that gets repressed as an adult. Perhaps she found again the beauty and wonder she saw in the world when she was a child. To regain that, even for a moment, completely changes your outlook on life. As we grow older there's a tendency to push away the Wonder in the midst of our busy, stressed out lives...believing there's no time for such nonesense. But oh how this song draws me back to the Wonder and awe of a child, especially now that it's almost Christmas! That's truly been my prayer that we never lose the Wonder and when we do that there will always be something/someone to bring it back to us!

Hope you enjoy the song and the lyrics below...Bring on the Wonder! : )



Bring on the Wonder
I can't see the stars anymore living here
Let's go to the hills where the outlines are clear

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

I fell through the cracks at the end of our street
Let's go to the beach,
get the sand through our feet

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long
Bring on the wonder
We got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls for too long

I don't have the time for a drink from the cup
Let's rest for a while 'til our souls catch us up

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long
Bring on the wonder
We got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls, so hang on
Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long.

Hello Morning Glory!

It would be easy to dismiss this film as typical lighthearted Hollywood fluff that carries no real message (other than a 2 hour escape). The interesting thing is that it's really not an escape - we are tossed right into the workaday world of a manic TV producer. Additionally, though it has plenty of light moments, it also carries a bit of depth in breaking down a couple of lead characters.

Rachel McAdams plays Becky Fuller, morning TV show producer. Becky is a cute, driven, frantic, EverReady Bunny ball of energy who watches multiple TV's and carries on multiple conversations, all while texting incessantly. She's hired by Jeff Goldblum in his final attempt at resurrecting ratings for "Daybreak," in last place to "The Today Show."

The story gets interesting when Becky recruits/blackmails news legend Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) to co-anchor the show with Diane Keaton's character. To compare, Keaton's character will kiss a frog or don a pink tutu and has mastered the perpetual smile so necessary for morning TV. Ford's character may not have smiled since 4th grade and views the mission of TV as delivering news and hard stories and information.

The conflict in the story comes from Ford's character (labeled the world's third worst person), whom the world has passed by, and McAdams', who is the eternal optimist. It's pretty obvious they will somehow save each other, but still I found it entertaining to watch the process. Although I'm grateful there was no May-September romance between McAdams and Ford...just creepy that would be!

The film itself, directed by Roger Michell (Venus, Notting Hill) and Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada), does a nice job with insight into those whose personalities are bound tightly to their job. Even though it's not at the level of "Broadcast News," it offers enough depth and comedy to really make this a worthwhile film to see!

Giddy in Him!

Such a beautiful & intimate picture of who we are in Him....

"I am overtaken by a cloud of giddiness. I turn to show Him, holding my art up in front of me, arms outstretched, my toes thump, thump, thumping in excitement to match my racing heart beats. As if He didn’t know, as if He wasn’t there all along, as if He wasn’t the provider, the sustainer, the interpreter, the helper, “the source without a source” (- Thomas Aquinas).

And yet, in this moment, he doesn’t remind me of his involvement. He just enters into my delight. He beholds my art and we share a moment, with my shoulders raised up to my cheeks and my eyes squinting with uncontainable excitement. What was once just an idea in my head has now materialized. I am holding it. And I am, in my own giddy, CHILDLIKE way, telling him thanks." ~ Mandy Steward, Messy Canvas

http://www.messycanvas.com/2010/10/a-childlike-giddiness-saying-thanks/#comments

Marylin Chandler McEntyre in her book Caring For Words in a Culture of Lies http://www.amazon.com/Caring-Culture-Marilyn-Chandler-McEntyre/dp/0802848648 says, “Words are entrusted to us as equipment for our life together, to help us survive, guide, and nourish one another. We need to take the metaphor of nourishment seriously in choosing what we “feed on” in our hearts, and in seeking to make our conversation with each other life-giving.”