Choosing Inspiration

Inspire me….

Maybe it’s her: the way she throws her head back with abandon and laughs from the core of her being.

Or maybe him: the way he gives selflessly over and over again just to help someone in need.

Or maybe her: the way she feels so passionately that it consumes her whole being.

Maybe it’s him: the way he always has a kind word just when you need it.

Or maybe them: the way that they give and give and give again.

Maybe it’s her: the way she isn’t giving up, even when she wants to.

Or maybe it’s him: the way he works so hard and is so much smarter than me.

photo credit: ivoryjohn.com

We can find inspiration when we choose to. It is everywhere, if only we choose to see it. Choosing isn’t always easy. I’m too often quick to see the negative, the messy room, the empty seat at the dinner table, the way that passion consumes beautiful and frightening in the same flame.

Those things are easy to see when we’ve been pressed on, pressed in from every side. But when we choose to look with eyes that are willing to scan and adjust and blur the background so the beauty takes center stage, then we can be inspired.

That is where beauty and inspiration run deep and course through my veins.

That is where the pulsing in my head cannot compete with the pounding of my heart.

Inspiration is everywhere we choose to see it.

And maybe that is what inspires me today.

Maybe it’s me: when I choose to adjust my focus and see clearly.

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and Jennifer Dukes Lee for

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Tied in knots

Words are getting tangled in knots today and I’m stepping on my own feet.

Maybe it’s a good day to just be reminded.

Focus and Light

photo credit: thebettermom.com

Sometimes I have a hard time seeing joy.

I get so busy with the everyday, my gaze low, looking at the dirty socks, the yelling kids, the dirty dishes, the grocery list.

When I look for my joy I look for big grandiose joy: the

“I do”

“It’s a …”

“Welcome to paradise”

moments.

I’m so busy looking for the cherry on top that I miss the whipped cream, hot fudge, and ice cream. All I seem to see is the dirty bowl that I’ll need to wash when the day is done.

Life is more than dirty dishes and cherries.

When I purpose to stop and change my focus, the ordinary becomes clear, and it makes me smile. Sometimes I’m surprised that I can still do that…smile.

Now don’t get me wrong…the yelling, the Lego covered floor, the mound of laundry do not make me smile. I will never be the mom in the paper towel commercial that smiles over the spilled milk.

If I choose, I can smile about the ordinary in my day. Little things that I’ll miss if my view is out of focus. My life is a camera on manual. I have a choice what to focus on and how much light to let in.

Most days my focus is off and my blinds are closed. I forget to let light in as I look past the Legos to the boy creating a masterpiece. I forget that I longed, I cried out for these children only guilty of being children with independent minds. I forget that all these clothes piling up are a blessing because we have them. Too often I forget.

I may never love the laundry or the mess. I may never embrace the hard with a smile on my face. But I can find joy along the way. Joy in the every day. Because it’s there if only I adjust my focus and let the Light in.

Linking up today with Holley Gerth  at

and Jennifer Dukes Lee for

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When It Doesn’t Feel Okay

photo credit: atouchofthesea.blogspot.com

I heard myself screaming; shooting bullets of great precision with my words. Striking hard and fast over and over. My mouth wielded a weapon and it was automatic.

Piercing the flesh of feelings with my steady spray of bullets. No one was safe; too many had ricocheted.

The kickback hit me hard and I stumbled a bit. My falter could have been enough to make me surrender, but surrender was not in my arsenal. Instead I fired aimlessly, everything was a target.

Everything becomes a target when I stand in front of a mirror.

In that moment where my rage overtook my reason, I didn’t feel like everything would be okay. Each word I fired made me think that I deserved two coming back at me. And the enemy made certain I left that battle bloody as well.

After what truly was a few moments, the weapons were dropped and all that was left was the aftermath. Hearts bloodied by words shot rapid fire in anger; wounds that left us stumbling through how to move on. And I still didn’t feel like everything would be okay.

I was hurt, but worse than that, I had been the one to hurt. I was the one who allowed feelings and emotions to rule my actions. Feelings were never meant to take the wheel. They are like the music on the radio, changing the atmosphere, but not the direction. I had allowed them to take over.

Sometimes life feels like it won’t be okay. Sometimes we are the victims and we are too hurt to think about tomorrow. Sometimes we are the perpetrators and we are too guilty to hope for a tomorrow. But there is a promise and it is one word: grace.

I certainly haven’t earned His grace, but it’s the very breath He breathes over my life. My life is filled with weaknesses. Anger, emotions, gossip, envy. They are just the beginning. God never said I would be without weakness. But he did say He is enough.

No matter what happens, you’re going to be okay because His grace is sufficient.

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and Jennifer Dukes Lee for

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Peace Pulses

photo credit: anonymousartofrevolution.com

When I look and the water is swirling around my feet

Creeping up my ankles and licking my calves

I just want to know that you’re in the water with me.

Sometimes the best said words are spoken with hands

And the sweetest sound is a silent smile.

 

When I feel like I’m in up to my elbows

And the dirt and grime of life is so thick I can’t see my own skin

I just want to know that I’m not the only one who gets dirty.

Sometimes the strength to power through comes from seeing another in the trenches

And feeling beautiful beneath the grime.

 

When all I hear is the silent screaming of my own voice

Mocking me with my inadequacies and shortcomings

I just want to know that you hear them too.

Sometimes the faith to believe truth begins with recognizing lies

And hope held tight that I really do matter.

 

When I feel surrounded on all sides like the world is caving in

And the clock clicks a vise tighter around my neck

I just want to know that you’ve felt it too and survived.

Sometimes the will to hold on comes from taking my eyes off myself

And seeing grace grounded deep within.

 

When I cannot understand where to be or where to go

And my fears threaten to run away with my faith

I just want to know that you’ll stay.

Sometimes the choice to believe is more desperation than nobility

And words wrapped in tears are beautiful too.

 

When I need to feel something other than jagged

And I cannot find the truth on my own

I just want to feel you next to me.

Sometimes just being worth the effort encourages

And peace pulses through the dark.

 

Linking up today with Holley Gerth and Jennifer Dukes Lee. Click over for more Coffee for your Heart and Tell His Story!