psalm

Here is some great poetry......

(this was taken by my house in nashville with my iphone and it wasn't retouched or nothin'!)

"praise the Lord, o my soul.  

o Lord my God, you are very great; 

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.  

He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; 

He stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of His upper chambers on their waters.  

He makes the clouds His chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.  

He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire his servants.  

He set the earth on its foundations; 

it can never be moved.  you covered it with the deep as with a garment; 

the waters stood above the mountains.  

but as your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took flight; 

they flowed over the mountains.  they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.  

You set a boundary they cannot cross; 

never again will they cover the earth.  

He makes springs pour water into the ravines; 

it flows between the  mountains. 

 they give water to all the beasts of the field; 

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.  

the birds of the air nest by the waters; 

they sing among the branches.  

He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; 

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His work...."

psalm 104:1-13

candle.

11/19/2009

right now I am enjoying my room for the first time.  i am not sleeping in it.  i am not cleaning it.  i am not looking for clothes to wear.  i am not even trying to decorate it.  no… i am simply on my bed and enjoying the candles that light up my room only enough that I am able to see the figures that stand around them…. 

the music drifts in from my ipod that is playing in the living room right around the corner. most of the house right now is filled with the flickering light of candles. why are candles so amazing?!  they are one of the most simplest things in life and yet with even one candle lit in a dark room, immediately hope bursts forth.

as i look around my room i notice the beauty of each artifact, (others may call clutter), on my fireplace and dresser drawer.  with the candles lit you can see each item for the beauty of what it is.  candles create shadows which then creates definition and i am seeing that right now. with a light bulb, you can definitely see things better but everything becomes one dimensional or flat.  i rather see things in 3d.  not to say i won’t ever use a light bulb, cause i will.  i just hope that i will use my candles more..... 

their stillness stills me.  their simplicity calms me.  their beauty inspires me.   they have also wooed me into my room to just simply be and for that i am thankful.  i am hoping to do this more…..

Writing Pangs

I am sitting here in my office at work. The computer screen that lights up my face, stands against a one-sided mirror. It is very entertaining watching people come in and out from their luxurious spa services. Every human gravitates to the mirror and it is very entertaining watching each person examine their newly pampered selves....


I am grateful for this time to write. It gets very quiet here when the employees are doing their jobs well and the guests are tucked away in their beautifying chambers of relaxation.


It's quiet now. So I will write. Why not?



I actually don't know what to write about but I cannot just sit here mindless.....



Here is something I have been thinking: I feel like the older I get the younger I feel and the more confindent I am but also knowing that I still have so much more to learn!!!



Get it?? haha!
How can I make exactly what I'm saying a little more profound?......ummm.....
maybe......

well, here are two words:

1.) humilty

2.) LIVING

...realizing life is meant to be lived....with the pain, the heartaches (and oh boy they hurt, but the way God heals in His timing is beautiful...no really it is...after the fact of course...), with laughter (not taking myself too seriously. why am so hard on myself when my Savior is not even that hard on me??...actually He's not hard on me at all!), with the liberty to explore and create (to walk into the things that are embedded in my heart to do and trust that my Lord will pave the path He desires for me to walk down as I do just that), with faith like a child (to know I am human and to know I am created in the image of the God of the Universe....there should be security in that alone.)

In the words I once heard my very good friend use, "I desire to dance my way through life!"

And that I shall:) If we live one life, there should be no reason at all not to dance! Dance so hard that even when you fall, the pain you feel is way more bareable than the pain you are experiencing from laughing so hard.....

I have heard this scripture more than you know but I know for a fact it's true..."The joy of the Lord is our strength."

Life is my dance and laughing is my Lord........

ok then:)

frayed sleeve.

Character: 

-the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing...

-moral or ethical quality...

-qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity

 it's his frayed sleeve that strikes me in this photo.  the first word that popped into my head was, character.  this photo rests in a book, also a blog, by the name of, The Sartorialst.  maybe you have heard of it....supposedly it is one of the most popular blogs today!

i understand why.  it is a book/blog about fashion but more so about people.  a person's style can say so much about themselves and scott schuman creates an exceptional way of doing just that! 

listen to me! i sound like i am writing a critique on the guy! 

so.......

back to this precious photo. i like it.  i like it because it shows character.  not only in the suit but also the character of this man who gracefully wears it.  it states in the short article that this "good lookin" suit was worn by this man's father.  i think it says something of this man to wear his father's old suit.  it also says something of his father.  we may never know their story or what took place when his father wore it and what has and will take place when he wears it but what we do know by looking at it is.....

character.  

One man's heart.

This is my all time favorite photo! Taken by my grandfather, my mother's father, with probably a simple camera.

Laying here, on the dock, is my mom when she was 4 and her mother. I never met my grandmother but we share the same name and I am sure some other character traits that stream through our blood.

Some Whitaker family history:

Georgia ran away from home when she was 18 along with her sister who was 16. Their father married a woman who carried around with her the wicked-stepmother-syndrome. I guess the best thing to do was run. Georgia really had no where to go so of course she met a man, Furman, aka my grandfather, and married him. So, Furman found a woman who was beautiful and needy and Georgia found a man that longed for beauty in his bachelor lived life. Furman was a sailor and yes, he carried around with him a "sailor" mouth and was drunk often. No one in the Whitaker family had a good relationship with him, even his very own wife. Whether they married for true love or not, we will never know, but God's grace is more than enough through every life story and because of His grace in the Whitaker family, my mother was brought into this world.

Their family was dysfunctional, as all of our own, but I believe this photo captures the life and grace that was woven into my mother's childhood. My mother has received a lot of pain and hurt from her family but she has also received quite a lot of memories that make her smile every time she shares them to me and my brother. She grew up on the water, always wet, eating grapes on the beach, running around with her aunt's ten children, and then again hearing her father yell out at her profanities while adjusting the sail on the sailboat. She laughs at that now.

.......And back to this glorious photo. I believe creativity expresses the grace of God. My grandfather was rough and touch and did not love my mother and her family very well but he had a beautiful side to him. His eye for beauty is evident in this photo along with the many other photos I have seen of his. His actions did not show his hidden love for his family but look at this photo on this page......his love is seen right here......

.......his heart through the eye of the camera.....I just don't think he was brave enough to show it any other way.

Whole Foods.

Whole Foods.  Listening to Pandora Radio.  Coffee sitting next to my computer.  On the second floor looking out of the giant glass windows.  

I see a gentleman wearing the famous YMCA t-shirt....oh! and there is another one!  Although, this YMCA shirt is a tan color rather than the stark white.  One man is crossing the street pushing the grocery cart that he was chasing after earlier when putting groceries away into his silver SUV.  A couple crosses the street, holding hands and laughing while a woman with long stringy auburn color hair is talking on the phone following the couple's happy trail.  

Every now and then I see the sun reflected off the blimp that is floating over the Titan's game.  It reminds me of an anchored sailboat the way it gently sways back and forth.  

The wind is the blimp's ocean.

There is a live band competing with the music playing through my headphones.  I don't know how much I can take of that.  

I look over to my left at the empty kitchen.  As I look through the glass doors, pass the long wooden tables and their barren chairs, I see 4 hand-prints stuck to the glass wall.  Three little girls run around and are fascinated with the jukebox that stands to my right.  One of the girls, probably about 3 feet tall, wears a pink, yellow, and green striped skirt that hangs down to the middle of her shins.  Black tights fill the gap between her black sneakers and her ankles.  Her blonde hair is cut in a bob and her bangs cover exactly half of her pale velvet forehead.  She trips behind me and whines for a little bit as she tries to keep up with her family's long strides. 

 Between greeting my curly headed roommate, flipping through the pages of The Sartolrialist, (thank you to my dear brother for this birthday gift), talking about The Sartolrialist and the crazy and also inspiring fashion photographed in this book about people, saying goodbye to my curly headed friend, answering a phone call from my blonde headed friend.....the day became night. 

My computer is running out of energy and like a negligent parent, I forgot it's one source of fuel. 

Goodbye until next time....