The Seeing

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

I have written many posts on this blog about taking risks, exploring unknown places and launching the proverbial boat towards deep waters. And I have meant every word I have written as I feel passionately about not settling for status quo. That being said, I have been thinking a great deal about air travel and the altitudes at which different aircraft fly. And I want to share some thoughts that I have about this in relation to the topic of risk-taking.

Different aircraft are assigned particular altitudes based on a number of factors; direction, distance being flown, and the size of the plane. The ideal altitude for each craft is the one that has them flying most efficiently and thus using less fuel. Passenger jets typically fly between 31,000 and 37,000 feet. Smaller business jets operate up to 45,000 feet. And the Concorde has flown as high as 51,000 impressive feet, a height at which one can often see the curvature of the earth. Air traffic controllers determine when, where, and how high planes will fly based on all of these factors with the goal of getting people where they need to be safely, efficiently and without hurting others in the process.

My point here is that risk for the sake of risk is a life of madness. Risk for the sake of obedience to God is life at it's very best. And risk looks different for each individual. Some will be required, in the tradition of Star Trek, "to boldly go where no man has gone before", to hit the heights of the Concorde. For some, the greatest risk will be to stay the course, cruising at a normal altitude, when running off impulsively is easier. No one can define what is risk for another. Some will see risk and call it irresponsible while others will view a sound decision and say it lacks the vitality of adventure. Only the person taking the next step, in harmony with the heart of God, is capable of making that call. One thing is most certain...we were all created for high adventure, for ardent, technicolor living, and for, as Mark Batterson calls it, "refusing to allow your human responsibilities to get in the way of pursuing the passions God puts in your heart." Technicolor living is the full embrace of your own life, wrapping one arm securely around whatever risks He calls you to take and wrapping the other arm tightly around the beautiful mundaneness of the everyday. The ability to see the heaven and the fire that is right in front of you only happens when you are seeing your life through His eyes. The key is in the seeing.

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Dust Buster

Last night I saw 75-year-old grandma do stand up comedy, a 35-year-old cancer survivor sing opera like an angel and a nine-year-old electric guitar player who made my chin drop. I am NOT a fan of reality television but I caught a few minutes of America's Got Talent last night and I went to bed feeling inspired. The world is full of people who say "you can't" every day. Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Dream Giver, calls these people border bullies. And because most border bullies are well-meaning people who cling faithfully to the obviously attainable, they can be very convincing as they seek to keep dreamers "grounded".

But I love seeing people at least try to go somewhere that others say is impossible. That show may be a vehicle I would not necessarily choose, but I love to see a dreamer step out of the everyday to shoot for an extraordinary moment. I have a teenage son who dreams some pretty big dreams and I am not about to tie his feet to the ground. Someone's son has to grow up to be the rock star...why not mine? The world is full of nay-sayers, and disappointment and circumstances alone will challenge hopes and threaten dreams--why should I stand on my own child's border and ask "why?" when I can shout "why not! "I believe one of my strengths is helping people, my own sons included, to dare to believe they can do whatever they love. There are too many people getting paid to do what they don't love while their passions sit on a shelf and collect dust. And I love to do some dusting and see people really love their lives and pursue their passions!

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Making Room For Creativity-Part 1

In an earlier post I wrote about the importance of making room in your life for your creative gifting(s). Everyone has the ability to create in some form or fashion because we are made in the image of God, the ultimate Creator. But what if you are unsure of your own creative abilities? Maybe you have wished all of your life that you could sing, paint or play an instrument like someone else that you admire. Those are beautiful gifts to be sure, but there is a much broader horizon on the sea of creative talents than just those more recognized abilities. Rather than try to make some exhaustive list of viable creative giftings, let me instead ask you one question. If money, time and circumstances were not obstacles for you, what would you want to do? What is the passion(s) of your heart?

I call this the hot button question and I LOVE to ask people to answer it. Very often the answer to this question will help you to identify your creative gift or at least guide you into an area where you may discover some hidden creativity. Perhaps you have never entertained such a question and you don't have an immediate answer. You are not alone. Many people get so caught up in earning a living that they lose touch with who they really are, what ignites their soul. If that is the case, take some time and let your heart out of it's cage and see where it takes you.

Knowing what you love to do is step one. Making room in your life for it is the next step. Over the next few days I am going to write a series of posts on making room in your life for your creative gifts. I hope you will come back so we can explore it together.

So tell me...what is the passion of your heart??

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Soul Speak

You and I are innately designed to create. All of the beauty that surrounds us, but that we often take for granted was made by the God of the universe who also must create because it is His very nature to do so. And because we are His very image, it is also our nature to create. I have always had a personal theory that the people who are the most frustrated with their lives are so because they are not creating. Creativity comes in a million different packages and when the creative gifts we have been given remain unopened we can be nothing but frustrated and miserable because we are living in opposition to our very nature.

For years I shelved my own gift because I let myself believe there was no room for it in my life. Part of me felt dead and I found myself resenting what I had to do because I let it crowd out what I desired to do. A friend of mine a few years back challenged me to make room in my life for my writing and then guard it. She said that if I would set aside even a small amount of time to begin with, it would make all the difference. And so it has. And I have found myself again. Sue Monk Kidd says that creativity is "a conversation between my soul and me." The heartache comes when you and your soul are not on speaking terms. Have you heard from your soul lately? It is speaking to you if you will make time to listen. And if you are not intentional about it, it will never happen. Go ahead. Get reacquainted. It could very well change the course of your life.

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A Little Inspiration

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
-Jack London

These are pretty big words from someone who was born illegitimate, raised in poverty by a woman his mother gave him to because she didn't want him, worked in a cannery 18 hours a day, became an oyster pirate, worked in a jute mill, a street-railway power plant and then finally landed in prison for vagrancy. But, oh, when he turned his life around, what a writer he became. Words like these from people who overcame adversity and realized their dreams are fuel for my soul. Just thought I would share the love. Have a lovely day!

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Crash & Burn? I Don't Think So!!

I have taken a leave of absence from my favorite news channel.  Or any news channel for that matter.  I have had it with all of the doom and gloom.  I have never been a "stick your head in the sand" kind of girl.  I want to know what is going on and stay informed about what is happening in the world around me, but as of late I am on sabbatical from negative hype and this whole "crash and burn" mentality that is the national media.  

I am in the middle of major life changes...career, church, home...heck we are even changing states. We have chosen the seemingly worst time to change careers, try several new ventures, sell a home and move to a new place.  The media would love us to believe that we should all hunker down and freeze everything.  Just hang on until the better times come.  Bull stuff!!  The people that are succeeding in their businesses right now are the ones who are approaching their clients with a positive attitude, encouraging them in their ventures and helping them believe that all is not bleak.  The economy is a cycle and this is just part of it.  The ups and downs, the ebb and flow...these are systems that are not new and what is currently down WILL go back up.  We have to choose to live, grow, take chances and explore new territory regardless of what we see around us.  Walt Disney created a whole magical world by believing in what he couldn't see with his eyes.  And we can do the same if we will dare to be positive and choose to believe.

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Transformed

, 
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."       Carl Jung

When I was a kid, I had my future all figured out.  I was going to be a world-renowned psychologist with many books to my credit and a full speaking tour.  And I was going to do it alone-just me and God.  Growing up I saw very little that drew me to the idea of marriage.  And yet, when I was nineteen, I met Eddie Taylor and in him I knew I had found my home. One year later I married my best friend and today we celebrate twenty years of profound "heaven on earth".  These two decades have been filled with adventure, excitement, peace, passion, love and a little heartache.  Three sons, six fish, two cats and two dogs later, I wouldn't have my life any other way.  God's love has transformed me and His catalyst has been my husband.  I tell him that he is diet coke and I am mentos and that together we are infinitely better and entirely transformed, reaching heights that alone would be impossible.  I love you, Eddie Taylor!  Happy Anniversary.

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Get Paid For Your Passion

I think I have already mentioned that I have been reading Seth Godin's most recent book, Tribes, and it is really speaking to me where I am.  One sentence in particular grabbed my attention.  Seth says,

 "Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don't need to escape from."  

  Godin asserts that the people who love what they do and are eager to get to work each day are people who are affecting change in their sphere of influence.  'They challenge the status quo and push something forward-something they believe in.  They lead."  Many people get up each day and head to jobs where they are working to help someone else accomplish their hopes/dreams/goals.  How many of us are getting paid to "do" the desire of our own heart?  

One of the things I love to do when I get the opportunity to speak to a group of leaders is encourage them to allow the desires of their heart to be resurrected that they might begin living from the overflow of those dreams and desires.  Most folks are taught to get a good job with great benefits and retirement.  I am telling people to make smart financial decisions but live your dreams.  If you are college age or younger, get in touch with your heart and discover what keeps you up at night, where your passion is.  Then figure out how to get paid to do that.  It may take some time and require paying a few dues, but you really can live, and get paid for, the passion in your heart.  If you are further along in life, but disappointed with where you are, it is NOT too late to get paid for your passion.  You just have to take that first step.

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What's Wrong With the Old Songs?

Have you ever wondered about that verse in the Bible (Ps 33:3) that says to sing a new song to the Lord? Why a new song? What about the old songs? Something wrong with those? (I am laughing right now because as I read what I have written, it sounds like Jerry Seinfeld wrote it-go ahead...read it out loud in his voice...enjoy. Sorry. Tangent.)

I have given this some thought and I think I get it. When you listen to or sing the same songs over and over, you don't even notice what they say anymore...they just become mental wallpaper. Any part of our lives that becomes routine (and I LOVE routine) becomes rote,unnoticable and boring. As creatures of habit we need healthy routines, but as creations of His, we need to move and shift and create and express all of that amazing "Godlikeness" that we possess. We need to break from the routine at times to get a fresh perspective, a second wind, a renewed sense of purpose. I think God is so wildly creative, above and beyond anything that Disney imagineers could even conceive of, and He wants us to be like Him.

Have you ever considered that we were created to live in the wide open? The sky was the limit for the first man and woman and they could dream as far as the eye could see and then some. The heavens are limitless and endless and we were meant for such an existence. The bigness of creation reminds us of the smallness of ourselves. But we make for ourselves small places to spend most of our hours thereby giving ourselves the illusion that we are bigger than we are. Man has built cages for animals, walls for people...we even box ourselves in at work in offices and cubicles. And when we die, we choose another box that is more expensive than your first car. The greater tragedy is that we then begin to see God through the filter of limitation and we forget that He has no boundaries.

That is why God cries out to us to sing a new song...so our hearts will awaken and we can taste and see His goodness. And His bigness. He wants us to throw our arms around the new and the fresh so that we do not become old and stale and unaware of His wondrousness. So sing a new song, drive a new route, eat new and yummy food, smile at a new stranger. Experience God in a new way. The sky is the limit.

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Don't Die WIth This!

In his book, 9 Things You Simply Must Do, Dr. Henry Cloud said this, “One of the worst things you can die with is potential. Die with failures before you die with potential. Potential is something to be realized, not guarded and protected.”

I love that movie, Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah. I love that book of possibilities that she makes because I made one just like it when I was about ten years old. I liked being able to turn the pages and look at pictures of the things I dreamed I could have and be when I grew up. Thirty years later I don’t have everything that I put in that book all those years ago, but I have a lot of it. And tomorrow, I am going to keep working on the rest of it, using up every ounce of potential that I have been given.

I know I talk a great deal about dreams and risk, potential and living “big”. I really believe all this stuff I write. I figure that, like that old song said, if I shoot for the moon and miss, I will land among the stars.

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And the Oscar Goes To.....

Okay, not really an Oscar, but perhaps a small award of some kind for posting twelve whole times this month. This whole "rearranging of my schedule and shuffling of my priorities" thing is paying off. I'm all "woo hoo...I finally have time to write and pursue my passions!" If you find that you do not have time to live from your heart rather than from your to-do-list, I recommend you do some soul-searching and find yourself again. It is a beautiferous discovery! (why, yes, I did just make up a new word). Is there an award for that, too??

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The Impossible

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying”, she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

The Queen’s words to Alice in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass”

It seems to me that many have lost the capacity to believe. Most of those who serve in positions of governmental leadership don’t believe in all that the founding fathers laid down as our very foundation. In our society, we don’t even believe that humans can wait until marriage to be physically intimate; we have reduced the fabric of humanity to the stuff of which animals are made. Our urges control us and therefore we must give our children birth control to take the place of self-control. How have we arrived here? What happened to believing that we can be what we were created to be, the very image of the living God? That now being the fabric of our society, how can we then believe that we are capable of doing anything that does not appear naturally within our reach? Much of what God desires for us is too great, too impossible, and too far-reaching for our natural abilities and so we settle for what is base and minimal because it is all we think we can attain.

In his book, Sex God, Rob Bell says, “If your energies don’t go into a few, select disciplined pursuits that you are passionate about and are willing to give your life to, then they’ll dissipate into all sorts of urges and cravings that won’t even begin to bring the joy that the “one thing” could.” In America, we teach our children to grow up and make a living instead of making a life, to settle instead of search, to passively accept insignificant things rather than passionately pursue the “One Thing”.

We must not allow ourselves to be lulled by such small thinking. We must regularly remind ourselves that those things we allow to be buried deep within us by the cares of this world are the big, impossibilities that God actually wants for us. What about you? Are you believing impossible things? I have a half hour…I think I am going to get started.

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Hope, Nests and Reggae

This time last year I posted a blog about nests. I wrote about my dying mother and the disappointment I was walking through at that time. Today I discovered another nest outside of our kitchen window and I was struck by the timing. I was telling a friend over lunch today that I am finally feeling like myself again and that, although I still have waves of grief wash over me (and I probably always will from time to time), I feel happy again and hopeful. I love life and I always have. Even when the road is difficult, I find this gift of life irresistible and I am profoundly thankful for it. So here I am, a year after the creation of the last nest, watching new life right outside my window. Hopefully these eggs will be left alone (hateful squirrels!) and I will get to see them hatch as my heart begins to feel life again. God has been "incubating" some dreams in a deep place in my heart and I am excited to watch and see what He will do and when He will bring it forth. I know it will be soon because you just know these things.
In two days Eddie and I head to Jamaica for a wedding and as I get to look out at the green blue of the Caribbean with the sound of reggae music in my ears, I will be thanking God for hope and life and new things being birthed in His time.

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For Those Who Dare to Dream...Part 2

If you are contemplating your big dream or maybe just another dream in a succession of “God dreams”, then consider this:

“Your dream lies in the direction of an overwhelming obstacle. If you go toward it today,
you will bring God honor. And you will experience a life marked by miracles as God inter-
venes on your behalf.”

This is an excerpt from Bruce Wilkinson’s book The Dream Giver. If you are considering a big launch in the direction of your dream, I strongly recommend this book to you. I read this little book five years ago at the time of death of one of our big dreams. It was a crucial time as I considered the cost of the launch while I swam about in the deep waters where my boat had sunk. But land was a short swim away and another launch towards another dream was just around the corner. Life is like that if you dare to trust His plan and you believe that your destiny lies in the palm of His hand.
Dwight L. Moody was one of the biggest risk-takers of the nineteenth century and this was written about him by his own son:

It may be safely said that in the beginning of all his greatest and most successful efforts he
stood alone, acting against the advice of those best able, apparently, to judge of the matter-
with the one exception of his most valued human advisor…his wife.

This is not to say that Godly counsel is to be disregarded. On the contrary, you must take such counsel to your place of meeting with God and allow Him to show you truth. But once you have heard from God, my friend, then run towards your dream and trust that He will see you through. There is just nothing like it! On your mark, get set…..GO!!

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For Those Who Dare to Dream...

I must tell you that lately I have been investing much of my private thoughts in the arena of dreams. More specifically, my dreams, but also about this whole process of realizing the big dreams that our big God gives to His children. I have a Bill Johnson quote on my desk that I read every day: “Why would anyone want to get up in the morning and not shape the course of world history?” I love that!! I love it because I know that this happens even when we are obeying God in the seemingly mundane tasks of life. Even there we are changing the course of history through our obedience to Him in the routine moments of our lives.
But there are also seasons of radical obedience, or at least that is how some would see it. You know those times, when God asks you to do something that will cause those around you to scratch their heads and say, “You are going to do what??!” I am sure there must be something wrong with me, but I LOVE the deep waters because it is there that I see God do what He will never do in the safety of ankle-deep. What has always bothered me is the inevitability of being misunderstood by those that you love. This rips me up. It hurts to have friends look at you and call you a flake or ask you when you will ever be really happy and just “stay put”. God has taught me that His pleasure over our acts of obedience way outshines the dark clouds of misunderstanding and that being misunderstood is inevitable when we launch out into deep waters.
So what about your horizon? Any deep waters just up ahead for you? My next blog will give you courage to just launch out!

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Dreams

Have you ever had a dream, a dream you were so consumed by, and yet it seemed more elusive than winning an Oscar? I dream big dreams because I figure, why not? You really only get one chance so you might as well make it count. Henry Ford once said "You can't build a legacy on what you are going to do." Pretty profound in it's simplicity. So, I asked God if this could be the year that I run headlong into my big dream. I want to leave a mark like Oswald Chambers left a mark. I am different today because of the things he wrote....not just inspired or enlightened...different. Will God use you to make generations after you different, more like Him? Lord, let this be the year!

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