the whole thing.

Where do things come from? Clothes, shoes, water bottles, crafting supplies, etc. Who made it? Where do they live? Are they happy making whatever they are making?

I'm always struck by the phrase "Live worldly but buy locally" because I don't understand it. Its great to support locally but what about our shoes that are made overseas? What about the people employed to produce my shoes.

These people make shoes for a living, who may have no chance to go to college and get an education. Are these people happy doing what they are doing? Do they know anything different?

What are their dreams? Their hopes? What does God have in store for them?

How do I appreciate what they do for me? Am I supposed to thank God for providing me with shoes, do I thank God for providing them with work, or do I go without those shoes because they are not providing the best working conditions possible for workers?

I know I am fortunate, "wealthy", and in midst of opportunities that many people only dream about. This brings me to the other quote which has convicted me ever since I saw it on a friends facebook info.

"I believe that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that they do not know the poor."
[Shane Claiborne]

My scattered questioning here leads me to believe that I just really need experience, knowledge, wisdom.

I need to see.
I need to feel.

I need to stop being persuaded by the media, the blogs, the documentaries of other people and be the person who goes, who opens her eyes, who asks questions, who takes the clothes off her own back to share with those less fortunate then her.

The true thing is that I think they have a hope a dream, a passion, a faith that I crave, I desire, I want.
They might consider me the less fortunate one. The one consumed by pride, consumed by materialism, by worldly things.

I'm praying that God will show me the opportunity.

I need to get out of my bubble and break down these filters I have on the world.
My filter is only letting in chosen sun rays and I want to see the whole sunrise, north to south and east to west.

The Way I See It #299

"There is a subtle difference between a mission and a promise. A mission is something you strive to accomplish - apromise is something you are compelled to keep. One is individual, the other is shared. When a mission and a promise are one and the same...that's when mountains are moved and races are won."

[Hala Moddelmog]
President and CEO
Susan G. Komen for the Cure

straight and narrow.

my thoughts. my prayers. my dreams. my future. my life without relying on God.

my thoughts. my prayers. my dreams. my future. my life when relying on God.

straight and narrow.

cold tangerines

Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

This woman has one heck of an insight on life. Her stories, her thoughts, her struggles, all seem to fall into place with me.

It is strange to hear myself say "me too" every time I turn the page. Usually I'm saying, "I wish" or "Never have I ever."

In reading this book I have deepened my respect for the concept of "shalom". I have a friend who just tattooed this on her wrist, and when she was telling me about Shalom...I was reading shauna's chapter.

The idea of Shalom gives me goosebumps; its incredible how prominent shalom has become in my prayers, my thoughts, and my cravings for a faith that dives deeper and spreads wider ever since reading that chapter.

"There is a way of living, a way of harmonizing and hitting a balance point, a converging of a thousand balance points and voices, layering together, twisting together, and their are moments when it all clicks into place just for a split second - God and marriage and forgiveness and something deep inside us that feels like peace - and that is the place I am trying to get to. I have glimpses every once in a while of this achingly beautiful way of living that comes when the plates stop spinning and the masks fall off and the apologies come from the deepest places and so do the prayers, and I am fighting, elbowing to make more of that in my life." [shauna niequist]


more reflections to come. for now it's back to the books and the studying (yes, over spring break).