Amazed

Recently, someone took notice of how awed I am by the simple things in the days. I was talking about this with a friend of mine the other day and we sort of agreed that life is too hard not to allow ourselves to be amazed by the simple things in life.

The other day I heard a thunderstorm approaching, so I went and sat on our front steps to watch it roll in. And you know what? I was amazed! :) It was beautiful and it rained so hard as you can see.

Then I was reminded of a quote by Brennan Manning which I have quoted before, but it remains one of my favorites:

"By and large, our world has lost its sense of wonder. We have grown up. We no longer catch our breath at the sight of a rainbow or the scent of a rose, as we once did. We have grown bigger and everything else smaller, less impressive. We get blase and worldly wise and sophisticated. We no longer run our fingers through water, no longer shout at the stars or make faces at the moon. Water is H2O, the stars have been classified, and the moon is not made of green cheese. Thanks to satellite TV and jet planes, we can visit places available in the past only to a Columbus, a Balboa, and other daring explorers...We get so preoccupied with ourselves, the words we speak, the plans and projects we conceive that we become immune to the glory of creation. We barely notice the cloud passing over the moon or the dewdrops clinging to the rose leaves. The ice on the pond comes and goes...God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us."
-Ragamuffin Gospel

May I never lose my sense of wonder.

Dreams

I devoured a book over the last couple days. It is yet another in the several I have read by Sheila Walsh. The woman seems to just know me and speaks into my life through her writing. And her books seem to get into my hands at just the right time.

This one is no exception.
And since I can't post pics of our trip, I'm going to share some thoughts.

"God has a Dream for your Life" is the title of this latest treat. It talks about dreams that have been lost and how to keep on dreaming. And through it I have discovered that "dreams" are a tricky concept. I have dreams for my life.

Some of which have been abandoned.
Like wanting to be a butterfly when I grow up.
Some of which have yet to be.
Like wanting to speak fluent Swahili, French, and Arabic.
And some of which I am uncertain of what to do with.
Like wanting to be a wife and mom.

But then there are God's dreams for my life. This is where is gets a little hairy. God places in me dreams and desires. And I believe that He does work through those. But they are not promises. And that's where it gets hazy. But then there are dreams that are promises.

Such as growing to be more like Him.
Such as having a deeper relationship with Him.
Such as one day being with Him.

But what about these dreams that I have which aren't promised. Do you continue to hold out hope? Do you abandon them, which in turn avoids disappointment and allows for the element of surprise? I'm still not too sure on that one. I guess God speaks to individual hearts and into specific situations.

But here are a few nuggets from Sheila that I have really been chewing on:

"When a dream dies, we can fix our gaze solely on what lies behind in the dust or, with God's help, we can turn around and dream a new dream."

"What takes us by surprise is when we believe something will really work this time. We invest ourselves body and soul. When the rug is all of a sudden pulled out from underneath us like a tablecloth trick, it's very difficult to recover. Part of our upset is that it didn't work, and part of it is anger at ourselves for being foolish enough to believe it would."

"The temptation has no power in itself. Satan looks at us and he knows who we are. He can't make us do anything, but he banks on the fact that we might not know that. Or at least, perhaps we've forgotten."

"When all your dreams have been crushed and your heart is broken, you stand in the perfect place for resurrection."

"[Jesus] prayed that we would carry His dream. And what was that dream? That we would love one another and that through our love other people would know that God is alive and well. Then people would believe that Jesus had been sent from God to save the world."