"Overcoming odds:" it is what we humans do best. Are some difficult situations meant to be seen as otherwise? Before you find me odd to assert the preposterous, allow an explanation…
The day’s schedule has been plotted. Your mind has fully wrapped around the intensity of the scope before you. However, yes, this is also indeed the day your tooth brush breaks, the keys are locked inside, the coffee spills right before that meeting, and the neighbor’s ferret empties your garbage bin into the hedges.
Come what may, we push through the day, gratefully absorbing any sympathy or commiseration offered by apparent fellow Murphy adherents. But perhaps your day is like mine today…The pressure of a new job, home, time zone, and association is rivaled only by random changes to your schedule. I, however, would like to propose that these changes are really “random acts of kindess:” an otherwise missed moment to pause. Suffering aside, would you have really stopped in your busy day to slow down? Would you have taken the time to sit quietly, if it were not for the traffic? Would you have ever changed your clothes had it not been for that Cheese Whiz episode? (Nevermind that last question…But I yet hopefully think you get the point.)
Often it would seem, we turn our actual opportunities into a disaster by merely our perspective. And my guess is, a “disaster” was the last thing needed for your day. But was it really that? Before you tell me that I have no knowledge of how bad it can get, allow me to mention the occasions were upon I have experienced a need for flexibility. Actually, I decided I will not mention these as they include excessive self-incriminations that might falsely lead someone to doubt my complete sanity. Let’s just say that yesterday I lost my keys inside my vehicle for ten minutes, with my boss’ wife waiting as passenger and today after a paper-jam wrought morning doing design work for a hotel, I was rather suddenly caring for a sick friend in her home.
So I submit to you to view your day as full of opportunities not be missed, instead of dreadful interruptions of gargantuan proportion. After all, they can only be changed by you. Have a wonderful day!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Staging Around
Just a little of what I'm up to these days...
Some staging at a newly renovated hotel where I am working interior design!
Photographs by James Staddon at http://www.lenspiration.com/
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Passionately Grateful
Hi. Can I be randomly passionate for a moment?
I serve the most amazing and real Savior. One Who is so impossible that He is. Its like He's unfathomable loving while He breaks my heart, while He holds me together and asks me to fall apart. As I let go, I fall up. As I look up, I can't fall down.
Then there's this dream job: the one where you sit in coffee shops designing houses, calling people to tell them your opinion they wanted to hear, all while drinking coffee, and browsing Pinterest and shopping home decor. I have no complaints, until Starbucks closes. I get to laugh, dream, draw, scheme, build, talk, paint, stare, and soak in the love of my life: God's gift of design and color.
Did I mention that there are people who encourage me? Lots of them. I have so many little sisters to call and I always think it couldn't be possible to adore them more than I do. Then there's my mommies: all of them. Then there's the bro-guys who call to tell me about their girl so I can plot true love with them or revamp their wardrobe. I've only got two dads though...The best, real one and the old, crazy one. Then there's those few special girlfriends who hold me up, wink across the room, and know some pretty crazy secrets. How could I get so lucky to own so much in people stock?
So that's all. Just had to say that because, gratefulness is the most peaceful perspective in the face of everything. What's making you passionately grateful today?
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Testing in Progess. Die Later.
Time has passed. I have been completely here and yet a hundred miles away. Last night I think I told a friend that over the past couple weeks I "have been put through a paper shredder twice, but somehow my eyes were found and filled with hot peppers, and then I was made flesh and feeling again just so I could feel a load of bricks crush me. Then I was the target for the shooting range, kept alive long enough to see that my family and a few close friends are also dying nicely, followed by slow resucitation so I could be drowned and resucitated again just so that..." Yeah. You get the idea. Hopefully, the concept that "life's been a wringer lately" is coming across to you, and not that you gather that I was up far too late allowing sadistic and creepy verbage to be published via text message.
No. I am not a teenager and I'm not being dramatic. This is called "real life" and there is some for everyone. There's that real friend who is dying, parents getting cancer, to do much to do and absolute boredom, devastating personal illness, loved ones running away or going to jail, jobs lost, tension where it cuts most, youth left behind, sundry auto collisions, brick walls where you need a down comforter, multiple rejections, and others being too amazing for their own good. There is also unrequited love, unwanted love, a complete lack of love, and an overwhelming need for love. Yes, FYI, I distinctly know what I'm talking about and it's real life...
So here we are. What to do? All I know to do is whatever is before you: keep giving care to others without self-serving motive, gratefully see what remains, keep keeping on, despite the twisted, uneven odds. Look upward and recognize the best was never meant to be here on earth. Take your test, pass with honors, and go to Heaven. Don't forget to read the Guidebook. You don't even have to be smart...Just empty, ready to do what the Book says. Time to read up? (P.S. First thing to be grateful for today? Apparently, this test called Real Life, is open Book.)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A Couple Weeks Ago...
It is the night my father sits at his place at the head as I set dinner on the table. Hot whisps of steam rise from the loaded tray as I slide the cover off a sharp blade and make the first slice. It's all so weird and completely normal. Tonight we eat pretty silently, but between my sister and I we exchange secret glances and quiet gestures. So I asked the question.
"What did the Doctor tell you, Dad? What's happening?"
He slowly unfolds a complicated looking paper with typeface and handwriting I don't recognize. He keeps glancing at me and his eyes are red-rimmed, just a little. Then I already know what he's going to say. My stomach tightens and I set my fork down beside my half-eaten food.
"It's carcogenic cancer. They say it's probably in my lymph too, spreading who knows where. I have another appointment tomorrow at 2:30."
I reach for the paper after he reads a few lines and passes it my way, still glancing at me with that odd expression. I quickly begin scanning it, pausing and reading aloud at anything that sounds positive.
"The intercranial scan is normal. The lungs are clear. The..." My voice trails off as I smile at him while mom makes positive comments about the people she worked with in the cancer ward a while back, how the cheerful, hopeful people make it out alive and well. I keep my head from face-palming into my hand as dad grumbles something about just hoping he can die well.
We gather around him and pray. More upbeat, hopeful, honest, heartfelt prayers hadn't been made before that crowd showed how its done. Then I run to the restroom and kneel over the toilet, waiting for my dinner to exit. My heart feels odd: so acute in horror, yet peaceful in knowing the truth that God's plan is so much bigger, so much better, and so unfathomable. He wants glory. He wants worship and praise. He wants all of my heart to break into His big, kind hands.
That was the family dinner I'll remember for a long time. And now I wait for the beautiful unknown to become an interesting tomorrow.
"What did the Doctor tell you, Dad? What's happening?"
He slowly unfolds a complicated looking paper with typeface and handwriting I don't recognize. He keeps glancing at me and his eyes are red-rimmed, just a little. Then I already know what he's going to say. My stomach tightens and I set my fork down beside my half-eaten food.
"It's carcogenic cancer. They say it's probably in my lymph too, spreading who knows where. I have another appointment tomorrow at 2:30."
I reach for the paper after he reads a few lines and passes it my way, still glancing at me with that odd expression. I quickly begin scanning it, pausing and reading aloud at anything that sounds positive.
"The intercranial scan is normal. The lungs are clear. The..." My voice trails off as I smile at him while mom makes positive comments about the people she worked with in the cancer ward a while back, how the cheerful, hopeful people make it out alive and well. I keep my head from face-palming into my hand as dad grumbles something about just hoping he can die well.
We gather around him and pray. More upbeat, hopeful, honest, heartfelt prayers hadn't been made before that crowd showed how its done. Then I run to the restroom and kneel over the toilet, waiting for my dinner to exit. My heart feels odd: so acute in horror, yet peaceful in knowing the truth that God's plan is so much bigger, so much better, and so unfathomable. He wants glory. He wants worship and praise. He wants all of my heart to break into His big, kind hands.
That was the family dinner I'll remember for a long time. And now I wait for the beautiful unknown to become an interesting tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Not Enough to Know
Crown me the Queen of Awkward. But, overall, it was profitable. On the wall of the men’s restroom this sign was posted. “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise.” spoken by Charles Spurgeon. It got me thinking as I snuck out unseen. I hope.
It reminded me of another day when my brother and I were running errands or eating or something…
“Joie, I know why people are always calling you and telling you their deeds of misconduct.” My brother elbowed me with a nod of wisdom.
“Why? I thought it was because they know I’m trustworthy and won’t tell you all about it.” I teasingly shot back.
“Ha ha. Actually, its cause you make them feel bad when they’ve been bad without being mean. So people feel like they’ve gotten a spanking and can move on ‘til the next time they need some candy reproof. And that’s why you’re a regular old confessional booth.”
I sighed. I wanted it to be because people know I love them and am always there for them no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Then I started thinking about everyone, including myself. Little children feel better emotionally after a correction, and even from childhood we want justice. People turn themselves in to face sentencing because of the pressure of guilt.
Once you know you’re naughty its never enough to say aloud, “I’m naughty.” You have to do something about it. So often it is just enough satisfying relief to admit wrong or wrong-doing, without making it right as the next step. Its like we’re crying out inside, “Somebody please tell me I’ve been bad so I can feel better!” Then the “stuffing of the reminders” and the “trying to move on” follow up in quick order.
Wait. “So I can feel better?” How empty and selfish. That’s not making anything right. That is just the act of saying, “I just want to get past my hurt feelings and forget about what I did.” Where’s the justice for you in that? No wonder you still feel bad: that’s trying two wrongs to make a right. Call me and I may make you feel a little punishment, but that’s not what you need, either.
You, my friend, need some action. It is called “restitution” or “compensation.” When you’ve been wronged, you feel that something’s been taken away and you want it back or at least replaced, right? Well, the people you’ve wronged are in that boat waiting for you to make it right. You know that…And they are the ones who need to hear from you. Your guilt won’t go away until that’s done.
So, yes, call me. But please don’t just say “I’m naughty.” Become not naughty. Quit stuffing and move past wrong-doing and conviction into the world of freedom. Yes, it is miserably hard when you do it, and right before you do it you may think it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done. And trust me, it is. But in exchange you get the best thing you’ve ever had: peace.
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13
But ultimately, we’ve all wronged God in rejecting His offer of loving emancipation from our own wrong-doing. Oddly enough, He’s offered to take that achy guilt that you can’t place a finger on, in exchange for a freedom forever from the ultimate punishment of Hell. The guilt we live in and can’t trace is what we bear today for breaking the basic laws like don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t lust. Our sense of justice wants us to get in trouble for it and God stands the judge in the courtroom ready to mete out the proper sentence prescribed: Hell. Yet for His own selfless reasons, He’s also offering to cover the penalty for you: and most people skip that and say, “Death, please.” Yes, you’re right. That sounds like a pretty dumb choice. So make it right. Take the gift, be grateful forever, and move on to your better future in real freedom.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:15-21
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Colossians 1:13-14
If we could grasp what He’s giving, we would never do wrong again. To begin with, don’t spit in God’s face with rejecting such a generous offer.
P.S. Even if you’ve taken this free gift and have been rescued, your sense of justice inside will be violated again if you aren’t admitting when you’re naughty and making it right—with your actions every day!
It reminded me of another day when my brother and I were running errands or eating or something…
“Joie, I know why people are always calling you and telling you their deeds of misconduct.” My brother elbowed me with a nod of wisdom.
“Why? I thought it was because they know I’m trustworthy and won’t tell you all about it.” I teasingly shot back.
“Ha ha. Actually, its cause you make them feel bad when they’ve been bad without being mean. So people feel like they’ve gotten a spanking and can move on ‘til the next time they need some candy reproof. And that’s why you’re a regular old confessional booth.”
I sighed. I wanted it to be because people know I love them and am always there for them no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Then I started thinking about everyone, including myself. Little children feel better emotionally after a correction, and even from childhood we want justice. People turn themselves in to face sentencing because of the pressure of guilt.
Once you know you’re naughty its never enough to say aloud, “I’m naughty.” You have to do something about it. So often it is just enough satisfying relief to admit wrong or wrong-doing, without making it right as the next step. Its like we’re crying out inside, “Somebody please tell me I’ve been bad so I can feel better!” Then the “stuffing of the reminders” and the “trying to move on” follow up in quick order.
Wait. “So I can feel better?” How empty and selfish. That’s not making anything right. That is just the act of saying, “I just want to get past my hurt feelings and forget about what I did.” Where’s the justice for you in that? No wonder you still feel bad: that’s trying two wrongs to make a right. Call me and I may make you feel a little punishment, but that’s not what you need, either.
You, my friend, need some action. It is called “restitution” or “compensation.” When you’ve been wronged, you feel that something’s been taken away and you want it back or at least replaced, right? Well, the people you’ve wronged are in that boat waiting for you to make it right. You know that…And they are the ones who need to hear from you. Your guilt won’t go away until that’s done.
So, yes, call me. But please don’t just say “I’m naughty.” Become not naughty. Quit stuffing and move past wrong-doing and conviction into the world of freedom. Yes, it is miserably hard when you do it, and right before you do it you may think it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done. And trust me, it is. But in exchange you get the best thing you’ve ever had: peace.
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13
But ultimately, we’ve all wronged God in rejecting His offer of loving emancipation from our own wrong-doing. Oddly enough, He’s offered to take that achy guilt that you can’t place a finger on, in exchange for a freedom forever from the ultimate punishment of Hell. The guilt we live in and can’t trace is what we bear today for breaking the basic laws like don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t lust. Our sense of justice wants us to get in trouble for it and God stands the judge in the courtroom ready to mete out the proper sentence prescribed: Hell. Yet for His own selfless reasons, He’s also offering to cover the penalty for you: and most people skip that and say, “Death, please.” Yes, you’re right. That sounds like a pretty dumb choice. So make it right. Take the gift, be grateful forever, and move on to your better future in real freedom.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:15-21
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Colossians 1:13-14
If we could grasp what He’s giving, we would never do wrong again. To begin with, don’t spit in God’s face with rejecting such a generous offer.
P.S. Even if you’ve taken this free gift and have been rescued, your sense of justice inside will be violated again if you aren’t admitting when you’re naughty and making it right—with your actions every day!
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