So much of the world today tries to tell people that in order to be heard, they have to scream or shout at the top of their voices.
And it gets rather noisy, don’t you think? Shrill voices, loud machinery, and sometimes you just want people to use their ‘inside voices’ or to just crawl into a shell and disappear.
I sometimes feel like was created to be a busy person. I can’t seem to sit still. I like doing things and being productive and running around. And I really do believe that these are wonderful things about myself. I love to see a project beautifully completed. That sense of expectation and anticipation for new projects – absolutely love it. But the busy-ness and the noise… they tend to make it hard for me to hear the Voice of the One who gives me abundant life and peace in the midst of my crazy, hectic life.
A number of years ago, I began to learn that I needed to stop comparing myself to everyone else. I began to realize that I had been made precisely the way I had been intended. And the glory and peace and rest that came with that – even though I was still busy – was profound. Originally, the ‘tagline’ for this website was supposed to be “Life Instructions for the ‘rest’ of us” – but that wasn’t really what I wanted to talk about.Because life is about so much more than simply resting. Yes, rest is important, and it’s something I’m still struggling to learn. But other things began to take life. I was involved in a small group in our community that changed me fundamentally from the inside out. My friend, Chris, is an incredibly gifted musician (you can hear him here). And he became a mentor for me in chasing dreams and breathing life into people. I had always loved to encourage others and drive them ever increasingly towards their dreams…
But now, I could do it with my own dream – writing and publishing.
You see, I can remember my first ‘creative project’ in elementary school (I actually still own it) – called Murder on the 500 – which was a murder-mystery short-story. I wrote, illustrated and bound the entire thing by myself. My entire youth, I wrote and wrote and wrote – poetry, prose, journals, music. I’ve always wanted to write, to make publications, to create in this wonderful way. It was as if words were an extra pair of hands with which I could embrace the world that I had fallen in love with.
And yes, I have fallen so desperately in love with this amazing world that I am living in.
And part of that has to do with my deeply spiritual journey of the last three decades. I’ve fallen in love with a Creator who *wants* to talk to me. Who delights in revealing truth and beauty and peace and delight – in all the most wonderful and miraculous ways. I’m learning more and more that a life of gratitude, encouragement and compassion are at the heart of seeing the world transformed. I want to see people’s dreams and deepest heart’s desires fulfilled.
And I’ve learned that my most profound and intimate moments are those in which I don’t shout. In those moments where I am most in tune with the world, my heart and my God, a whisper is more than enough. And I’ve also learned that if I listen to the whispers presented to me in my world, I tend to make those tiny little decisions of character-building that inevitably make the larger decisions so much easier.
Together, we can explore what it looks like to listen to the whispers in our own lives. The places where we focus on those things that breathe life-enriching, life-sustaining vibrancy back into us. The place where an absence of conflict becomes a blessing of wholeness and peace.
Here are some descriptions of the sections:
~Breathe: Sometimes we need to breathe deeply of our own lives in order to slow down and recover. When we breathe, we allow ourselves to stop and restore a healthy pace of life.
~Dream: We need to remember to dream big dreams, to live our lives in and from abundance. We never give up, we never give in, and we always reach for the impossible.
~Reveal: We are never without an opportunity for a new, fresh revelation of those things that we most need to hear. Whether it is revealed in a dream, a sacred text, or a common daily occurrence, it’s important to be able to listen to what is waiting to be revealed.
~Imagine: We all need to tell our own stories. Someone – Mark Twain possibly? – said “write what you know.” And we desperately need to know our own stories. And while we’re trying to learn them, we may as well share them, in creative and imaginative ways. Each of the posts is grounded in memory, but stylized in order to explore the deeper things of my own life.
I want to hear from you – and I want to inspire you to dream. If I can convince even one of you that you are worthy of your dreams – then I’ve succeeded in every goal that I’ve set for myself.
Welcome to the journey, it’s lovely to have you here!
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