Genesis 12:11-16
Abram was 75+ when he convinced his wife, Sarai, to lie and say she was his sister. He declared her too beautiful, he was firmly convinced that men would kill him because of her...to him it was obvious.
Now I know they lived a lot longer then, but somehow today that thought caught me. He was still madly in love with his wife, still captivated by her beauty...and it had to have been built on so much more than her looks by this point; they'd built a life together, had hardships, disappointments, joys, they'd left all they'd known, were headed into the sunset so-to-speak, yet were still young, still so much more than meets the eye...and he was convinced other men, kings even, would kill to have her...that's how he saw her...she was a beautiful woman...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Lists...expanded
I swung by my friend's blog and found a list there waiting for me. Sometimes you are surprised by the little known facts...sometimes not, sometimes you just revisit good memories.
So here you go--
Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How many have you done?
Also, I put an * by the ones that I plan to do, or plan to do again...
Add one or two original ones at the bottom... :)
(108-110 were expanded on by a friend and I'm capturing them here.)
1. Started your own blog. *
2. Slept under the stars *
3. Played in a band (& I signed for one...)
4. Visited Hawaii *
5. Watched a meteor shower *
6. Given more than you can afford to charity *
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain *
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo (not counting in the car, in the shower, or other solitary places...like in front of others....well, then no.... ;>)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris*
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea* (well I have watched a lighting storm on the beach of a sea, but that isn't quite the same.)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child*
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty*
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France *
20. Slept on an train
21. Had a pillow fight *
22. Hitch hiked (I wasn't picked up.)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (I've walked in one...)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice*
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset *
31. Hit a Home run
32. Been on a cruise (HATED it...save your money, go on a real trip...trust me, you'll be happier and have better memories, the only redeeming part was I was with my family.)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person*
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community*
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied *
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person**
39. Gone rock climbing (I've climbed over rocks, and climbed up them, but not in the fashion that is meant by the term 'rock climbing'...lol)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David***
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant*
44. Visited Africa* (if only for the gorillas)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. **
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted *
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person*
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris *
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain ***
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater. *
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China***
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class***
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen *
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching**
63. Got flowers for no reason. ***
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma*
65. Gone sky diving (possibly a *)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp**
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.***
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt *
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades**
75. Been fired from a job (not fired, just asked to leave when I wouldn't toss my moral code out a window)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London*
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. (a la Chevy Chase...would love to go back and see it for real, do the hike and the glass walkway....sigh) **
80. Published a book****
81. Visited the Vatican*
82. Bought a brand new car (possibly a *)
83. Walked in Jerusalem.***
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible*******
86. Visited the White House*
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (it felt like it at the time, but all I really did was prevent big injuries...)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous*
92. Joined a book club *
93. Lost a loved one (well you don't plan to do this one, it happens, so this one by default will occur again, just a matter of when...)
94. Had a baby**(not yet, but I have faith and hope)
95. Seen the Alamo in person*
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone *
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy. ***
101: Attacked by Gypsies, tramps, or thieves
102: Been in a plane crash while a man confessed his sins across the aisle from you :)
103: Heard a gorilla laugh. *
104: Written something original (a poem, a song, a story, a devotional, a speech)*
105: Been so slappy happy tired you laugh for 15 minutes at something as innocuous as a Wal-Mart...or being lost. *
106: Been lost in the beauty of the world. ***
107: Danced in the rain ***
108: Slept in a Romanian Barn
109: Sat in the chair and held the pen that Milton used for Paradise Lost
110: Married the best man in the world (yes, I know it is a matter of opinion :) * (Cedar--sigh)
---->>Tag your it.... :P
So here you go--
Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How many have you done?
Also, I put an * by the ones that I plan to do, or plan to do again...
Add one or two original ones at the bottom... :)
(108-110 were expanded on by a friend and I'm capturing them here.)
1. Started your own blog. *
2. Slept under the stars *
3. Played in a band (& I signed for one...)
4. Visited Hawaii *
5. Watched a meteor shower *
6. Given more than you can afford to charity *
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain *
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo (not counting in the car, in the shower, or other solitary places...like in front of others....well, then no.... ;>)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris*
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea* (well I have watched a lighting storm on the beach of a sea, but that isn't quite the same.)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child*
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty*
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France *
20. Slept on an train
21. Had a pillow fight *
22. Hitch hiked (I wasn't picked up.)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (I've walked in one...)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice*
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset *
31. Hit a Home run
32. Been on a cruise (HATED it...save your money, go on a real trip...trust me, you'll be happier and have better memories, the only redeeming part was I was with my family.)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person*
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community*
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied *
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person**
39. Gone rock climbing (I've climbed over rocks, and climbed up them, but not in the fashion that is meant by the term 'rock climbing'...lol)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David***
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant*
44. Visited Africa* (if only for the gorillas)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. **
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted *
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person*
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris *
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain ***
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater. *
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China***
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class***
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen *
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching**
63. Got flowers for no reason. ***
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma*
65. Gone sky diving (possibly a *)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp**
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.***
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt *
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades**
75. Been fired from a job (not fired, just asked to leave when I wouldn't toss my moral code out a window)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London*
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. (a la Chevy Chase...would love to go back and see it for real, do the hike and the glass walkway....sigh) **
80. Published a book****
81. Visited the Vatican*
82. Bought a brand new car (possibly a *)
83. Walked in Jerusalem.***
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible*******
86. Visited the White House*
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (it felt like it at the time, but all I really did was prevent big injuries...)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous*
92. Joined a book club *
93. Lost a loved one (well you don't plan to do this one, it happens, so this one by default will occur again, just a matter of when...)
94. Had a baby**(not yet, but I have faith and hope)
95. Seen the Alamo in person*
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone *
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy. ***
101: Attacked by Gypsies, tramps, or thieves
102: Been in a plane crash while a man confessed his sins across the aisle from you :)
103: Heard a gorilla laugh. *
104: Written something original (a poem, a song, a story, a devotional, a speech)*
105: Been so slappy happy tired you laugh for 15 minutes at something as innocuous as a Wal-Mart...or being lost. *
106: Been lost in the beauty of the world. ***
107: Danced in the rain ***
108: Slept in a Romanian Barn
109: Sat in the chair and held the pen that Milton used for Paradise Lost
110: Married the best man in the world (yes, I know it is a matter of opinion :) * (Cedar--sigh)
---->>Tag your it.... :P
Woah...
Woah...
I just have to take the moment and say how radical life changes can be. How they seem to surprise us, jump out from behind the bushes...catch us off guard from time to time.
I recently received a job promotion, at a company I've only worked at for 8 months. And I was flattered and stunned and happy, but this was not my woah...for you see there is also the intrepediation of doing good, the unknown of what will come and what I'll be doing, and also the good-byes to the teams I've worked with for 8 months...the ones I've just begun to settle into...
The raise they offered was also stunning...it is my first real raise instead of the five cents here, the quarter if you were really good that has been all I've known thus far. I can't really wrap my head around this one either. So this is not my woah....I am humbled and grateful, and yet, still I cannot fathom anything more than the day to day survival that has been my current path since...ok well since I realized growing up meant having to pay for things too...lots, and lots of things...and yes, Mom, money does NOT grow on trees, I'm sorry I rolled my eyes at you.
No, the Woah happens when I looked back at last year in comparison to this moment. But it wasn't like I had a grand plan, to review my life, the course. No, when the thought first came into my head it was admidst something simple. I was really in the middle of a conversation with one of my best friend's a few hours after I found all this out. I was in the middle of a sentence, trying to really let it seep into my head...
a promotion
this economy
a promotion
for me
a promotion
because...
I earned it
how
eight months
I still don't really understand it all
many worthy people
a promotion
my promotion
two weeks
new stuff to do
two weeks
new boss
because there's a promotion
and I was chosen..
.....
and so on...as you can see my thought process wasn't high or lofty, it was staggering and choppy. And I was moderately successful at turning this choppy looping pattern into non-repetitive sentences and discoursing with my friend. So, there I was, mid-sentence, mid-thought when I was jolted by this juxtaposition.
Last year, on this exact day:
I was surviving on credit cards
I had topped out at yet another company that treated people horribly
where outside of work you might have thought your boss was a nice person
...until you had to work for them
you had to FORCE yourself to clock it
to endure the 9 hours, and somehow even the 1 hour lunch didn't count as being off...
I was working retail, so I had no set schedule, no weekends, no holidays
I was searching for a job, but prospects were rare and remote
I was completely hands tied, barely getting by
I'd finally had to admit to myself that I was sick, really sick like as in I can no longer deny it I have to find a doctor sick....
to find out I had an eye virus that may make me blind...come back in a month after you swallow some cough syrup...we'll know more then...
struggling with my circumstances...
not to mention a host of other complications and heart aches that were happening...
My mind reeled...tail spin, head rush...WOAH...
And here I am today...in such a drastically different place my logical mind insists that more time should have passed...incredibly it can't be just a year...and yet there's one thing I wanted to share with everyone, one emotion that supercedes the Woah...and all the rest....
I am incredibly happy to DECLARE that how I got from there to here, well, it wasn't a magic formula, it wasn't some philosophy that could align to a self-help book for the masses that fades faster than the latest diet fad...it is not something I can take credit for. Yes, you read that right...I cannot take credit.
I recognize my part in the pieces, the segmented journey that can be plotted on a time line, with the line stemming down to list a place on the overall map. I recognize I did work hard when I got to the new job, so I am not trying to dimminish that. But really, the whole, the grandness of it...not, me.
God.
He alone wrought the changes in such a fashion, orchestrated the symphonic whole that can lead you like a beautiful melody from there to here. If I close my eyes and concentrate on the sound, I can hear it whisper back to me on the wind, tieing the fragments together and playing a part in the grander theme. I hear the down beat of grace, I hear the lilting playfulness of this chord, and differentiate the instruments that played in sync to reverberate as one. Woah.
I know I have many friends who are struggling with their circumstances, with a job loss, with a disappointed dream, broken moments...to you I would sit down, look into your eyes, give you a hug, and gently speak to you. Oh, I know, I have been there. I remember, the hardship, the despair, the shortness of breath as cynical reality fought to overpower any idea of hope...or freedom...and that I'm sorry you are there. Then I would pause...for however long the moment demanded and gently speak again with the quiet confidence and assurance to remind you that you have an awesome God, so powerful, so BIG...and He knows too...not just knows where you are now, but He knows where you'll be later...and He knows how to get from there to here, and from here to there. He will not loose you along the way, trust in Him to get you there, trust in Him for the journey, keep up the faith. Keep the faith that life and this moment aren't so much about what you can make happen, what you can contrive, what you are capable of...life is often finding yourself in the dance, whether there is rain or bright crystalline sunshine and realizing the partner you are paired with is God, and that all He asks is for you to trust in Him and respond to Him. Let Him lead. Find the joy in the journey. And when the music stops, and you find yourself there, here, and there's that head rush, that woah...smile and give thanks for the dance and then prepare to dance again. The next song is about to play...
Thank you God, thank you for the dance~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)