Sunday Dawn Walk

morning 10/4/09

Today I woke up at 6:22 a.m., and even though I didn’t want to I felt I must take a walk. It was still dark outside. I dressed into the first things I could find, and couldn’t locate my glasses, so I put on my husband’s prescription sunglasses. I looked like a bug creature.

I felt like I should go back to a nearby hillside were I walked earlier this week. I had gone there to see the sunrise then also. I had gone a bit too early, and by the time came for dawn, dense cloud cover blocked a good view. Still, it had been a nice experience. 

This time as I crouched on the dewy hillside overlooking the tree-covered town of Cressona, dotted with lights, I looked up at the stagnant bluish cloud cover again. But interestingly, if I waited about 15 seconds I could sense cloud movement eastward. It made me realize that even when I’m waiting, and it seems nothing is happening, it is. Sometimes I just have to be more perceptive, and patient to notice it. The morning turned beautiful with the new light, and the dark prescription sunglasses intensified the hues, especially the reds, making the scene even more brilliant.

It was an introspective start to me day. Worshipful, pondering, astonishing, and encouraging. Surprises are at every turn.

I changed the header photo on the home page to one from this a.m. Hope you like it.

Just in! Release date- 9/22 for Holy Bible Mosaic

 
Holy Bible: Mosaic (NLT, from Tyndale)
HOLY BIBLE: MOSAIC is a beautiful newly published Bible, unlike any Bible you’ve ever seen…
 
It has gorgeous, inspiring artwork from the 3rd to 21st centuries from every continent across the globe.
It contains poignant, and thought-provoking writings from the 1st to 21st centuries from every continent, and branch of the Church around the world.
 
Both artwork and writings follow the Church calendar throughout the year starting with Advent (Sunday, November 29, 2009).
 It has a Dictionary/Concordance, NLT word study system with Hebrew/ Greek dictionary. A beautiful layout of art with devotional content, companioning online community and content to add to each readers’ experience and and spiritual support, and Greek and Hebrew lexicons.
 
I’m in the loop with HOLY BIBLE: MOSAIC because I contributed a small portion as a writer for this exciting project. And I’ll have some very big news to tell you next week, but I’m sworn to secrecy, for now!
 
You can sign up for exclusive updates, including some big surprises Tyndale has in store, at this link. www.HolyBibleMosaic.com.

Transforming Nebula

The Hubble telescope is operating again, and got gorgeous photos of the Minkowski 2-9, also called, the Butterfly Nebula. Quite gorgeous, right? It fills me with awe.

090909-hubble-ngc6302-02

I thought this was a great symbol of transformation, process, and creation rolled up into an unfathomable, beautiful, and yes, nebulous package. We’re all works in progress. In the past, Hubble never capture this image so well, but through the corrected lens we are able to see the beauty of an organic wonder. I see the parallel for our lives in this. Correcting our perspective, can do wonders for our outlook on our lives, and progress too.

What do you think of this photo?

What transformation do you seek, ultimately?

Leave any comments you’d like.

Quiz/Survey: Can your soul fit into a mailbox?

mailboxWelcome to the most popular survey at this blog!

Can your soul fit into a mailbox? Take this Survey to Find Out!

(Is this is silly question? Yes. Try to have some fun, okay?)

Directions: Answer these simple questions, True or False, add up your score, and I’ll give you some instructions at the end.

1. T or F On cold, windy days, sometimes it feels like the wind goes “right through you”.

2. T or F Cats and dogs bother you when you don’t want them to.

3. T or F The wrong mail has been delivered to your home.

4. T or F This wrong mail to your home stuff has happened more than once.

5. T or F Sometimes you feel lighter in the morning time.

6. T or F After a hair cut, sometimes you miss your hair.

7. T or F You feel like you’d like to “go home” sometimes, even though you might be at your own house when you think that.

8. T or F Babies and crazy people sometimes stare at you…knowingly.

9. T or F Your fear of heights has gotten worse over the years.

10. T or F You don’t wear out shoes like you did ten years ago.

Now, give yourself 5 points for every T, and 10 points for every F. Add them up.

If you scored 50-100, your soul is pretty hard to define, size and shape-wise, but I won’t lie to you, you have one. It might fit into a mailbox.

If you scored over 100, you have a soul, and a mailbox is no place to put it. Use your mailbox for letters, and small packages. Take larger packages directly to the post office, and take your soul and spirit with you.

We may not think about our spirits and souls in an everyday way, but if we hold our breath for 20 minutes, a lot of questions get answered. The life breath goes right out of us. The Greek word for spirit is literally “breath of life.” It seems there are a lot of things that aren’t incredibly easy to define. If we think we can use the Bible as a glossary, we’ll find out, there isn’t a definition of the word “soul,” “spirit,” like there would be in a glossary, which would clean up the confusion, nice and tidy-like. But, most of us realize our life experience isn’t just surface level. Are we simply machines that live a few decades, and then die? That’s the harder thing to believe, especially when we take in Beauty that is all around us.

Things like Beauty, Hope, Love, Innocence, and such, are *Ideals* that point deeper, or further out, than we can clearly perceive, or could ever accurately measure. Knowing God (who is infinite and personal) works the same way. So does a life that includes an acknowledgment of soul and spirit, and a journey toward the heart of God who is “Other,” the Source of Good, and the best of the ideals written on our hearts.

Thanks for playing.

I hope you stay, read some posts or try the other self-tests, and leave comments where you’d like to.

-Lisa

Who do you Love? (this guy's tat proves his love)

Sometimes it’s painfully obvious what a person loves. Take this guy. McDonalds is really important to him. I can’t stress this enough, and by the looks of it, neither can he. The golden arches are embedded on him–for LIFE. How’s that for a Mac Attack? How…er..um..sweet, I guess.

McDees tat

One of the most earth-shattering things I’ve come to comprehend spiritually is that God desires loyalty, and not perfection. For a performance-oriented person like me, this comes as a great relief. I only wish I had known this in my teens and 20s. Now, loyalty doesn’t mean you have to be devoted enough to get a fancy yellow tattoo with clouds and stars on it, but it does mean you’ve decided to hang in close, through thick and thin, for life. Loyalty is actually simple to understand, but it’s rare to find. It is really what we all hope for in true companionship from a spouse or best friend.

What would you have tattooed on you, if anything? (hypothetically)

If you have one, submit your real tattoo photo, or a great idea for one, and maybe I’ll send a nifty goodie your way.

Thanks for stopping by!