Letely, EKS has been apparently getting bored playing in her room and when she does she will walk into the living room, hands in her pockets, and just stand there as if to say: “So, uhh, what do you guys want to do?”
It’s amazing.
Posts Tagged: life
20
Dec 09
Life & Lemons
The idea that you can make lemonade when life hands you lemons is total bullshit.
In order to make lemonade, life has to also hand you water and hopefully sugar or some other kind of sweetener. And some kind of container to put it all in. You can’t just make lemonade out of lemons only.
And furthermore, what’s so bad about lemons? Why do you have to improvise at all? You’ve got lemons. Be happy with them. They are fruit.
Also. I need to clear something up.
A few days ago I wrote a post about bricks and hearts and people dying and sadness and all that. My friend Lauren disagreed and reminded me about the mercy of God on his kids, and how, essentially, he won’t let you drag around a sack of bricks forever, constantly tugging at your heartstrings and bumming you out.
I think you’re right Lauren. I shouldn’t let things bum me out, especially before anything happens. Especially when I can’t really do anything about it anyway.
Life is good, and I love every single second of it.
And I am not complaining.
Life didn’t hand me lemons, it handed me glory.
2
Oct 09
Things are good.
Micaiah and I rearranged our bedroom yesterday in such a way that everything feels new in our house. The light is different, the feel is fresh. It’s really weird that we’ve had our bed on the same wall for three years and it just seemed like the only way to set it up. But now we’ve moved it to another wall and it feels like an entirely new house. Strange.
I like it though. It feels good.
Why does it feel good to have feelings of newness and new stuff?
Why is it so natural to get bored with the same stuff over time and inevitably want newness around you?
Regardless, it seems as though it is impossible to escape. No matter how much you want everything to remain the same, and enjoy everything to the same level that you did when you first got it, or just never get tired of anything or want anything new, you do. You will.
So the trick is to figure out new ways to look at the same old crap. Move your bed and suddenly you just moved into a new house. Use a different coffee mug. Rearrange your fridge. Wear a different hat. If you can get re-excited about the old stuff you once loved, to the point that it has unlimited potential to bring you satisfaction, you will never have to spend your money on anything new again (almost).
You have a limited amount of money, and you will never have any more than what you have at that moment, but you waste your money on bullshit and you never do anything that you really want to do.
Do the things that you like to do. Enjoy your life and the shit that you already have. Forget about the name brand clothes, the name brand food, and the name brand appliances. Life is enjoyed and experienced to the fullest through actions. So instead of buying stuff, do stuff.
When you are old are you going to tell your grandkids that you used to own a cashmere sweater, or that you’ve been to Iceland?
22
Jul 09
Beloved, These Are Perilous Times
Listening to Derek Webb again lately, although I still do not have his newest tunes. I am rocking She Must And Shall Go Free like it was brand new.
He breaks me heart sometimes with his cutting voice. He just sounds like he is telling the truth, he is very open and readable.
Anyway, he (and Jesus) inspire me to do more, be better, live fuller, and change myself.
I have never read anything by John Piper, mostly because his writing is way inaccessible for me. I generally like Don Millers casual style more, but regardless, I know what Piper stands on and I agree with him (as far as I know). He is all about the thing called Christian Hedonism, which sounds bad, but I rather disagree. It’s the idea that we can best glorify God by being fully happy in our everyday lives and experiences. He is most happy when we are truly happy. It makes sense too, especially if you have kids.
So with that in mind I am happy to say that for the last several years I have organized my life in an effort to be extremely happy with where I am and what I am doing. I’ll not waste my time being discontented with this difficult world.
So what do I do?
I drive with the windows down
I sing, I jump, I laugh
I travel
I photograph
I love my wife
I love my kid
I wear Chacos
I sit on the porch
I do all these things on purpose. I don’t accidentally find myself traveling somewhere awesome and think “Hey, this is great, who would have thought?” I know it will be good, I know I will like it, so I do it.
So here are my two questions:
1. What do you want to do?
2. Why aren’t you doing it more?
The first question is very important, because you have to evaluate what you really want most, but the second question is the most crucial, because a lot of people probably know what they want to do, but most people never do any of it. I would bet that the answer to the second question, for most people, is money.
Well guess what.
You are never going to have enough money. No one ever has enough money, so just enjoy your life and forget about being on a tight budget. Have you ever gone hungry before? Ever died of starvation? No. You haven’t. And you’re not going to.