suspended from the heights of happiness

I wanted to update my status online so I put the first thing that came to mind. Where it says Katie is... I put suspended from the heights of happiness. At first, I thought well what does that mean? Then I thought, who cares? It sounds cool. However, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then all of a sudden I realized that I truly am suspended from the heights of happiness. God has suspended us all from heaven down to earth. We have a direct line from heaven straight to earth through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We aren't from here. We are aliens here. We are on loan from heaven to earth. We are like coast guards suspended from a helicopter cable who are to reach down into the depths of the turbulent and ferocious oceans and pluck souls out of the grips of death. Our cable will never give way and will always be strong enough to hold us and anyone we are willing to save. So as long as we are hanging around here, stuck between heaven and earth, we might as well steal a few over to the victory side. Christians are all stuck between heaven and earth. No, I don't mean purgatory. I mean "we are in the world but we are not of the world." "We are not to live as the world lives for we are children of God who are dearly loved. What does this mean to me? It means I don't fear the storms that claim the lives of others. My Heavenly Father proved that he could make the waves subside, even in his earthly body. I am suspended from the heights of happiness and the Holy Spirit, which lives in me is the umbilical cord which feeds that happiness through me. I am to love others we the same love which I have been shown and to forgive others with the same forgiveness with which my sins have been blotted out. Is this an easy task? Hell no! Sounds easy on paper, but the devil knows just how to distract you from your mission. It's scary out there. There is wind, waves, rain, hell, sleet, snow, lightning, and a million other hazards and perils out there. Be brave, but never hesitate to send out an S.O.S. to God.

mud and ants on the trail to any place beautiful

After a good run on a beautiful day, I decided to take a long cool down walk. Amazing discoveries awaited me. I found myself seeing things in places I had been a thousand times and failed to notice. I explored new trails which I had been only by and had never myself traversed. So I found turtles, and wonderful hills overlooking trees, and bridges and water. What did I gain along the way? I got mud on my shoes and ants crawling on my legs. Still, despite the mud and the ants, I wouldn't have missed the things I found.

God is taking care of me despite the mud and the ants along my trail. How do I know? Because a dear man has my name written in his Bible so he can remember to pray for me every now and then. Who knows how many secret guardian angels we all have in the world? Maybe there is always someone out there who is thinking of us and praying strength into our lives when we are no longer strong enough to ask for it. It is probably these miracles that give us the perseverance to trudge through the mud and brush away the ants in order to see all the beauty in the world.

It really is true what Tom Hanks' character says in Apollo 13: "You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home."

There are angels among us.

motivational appearances

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about motivations and appearances. I think we all tend to do things we know we can get away with. For instance, even if the motivation for our actions isn’t necessarily on the up and up, we don’t concern ourselves with that as long as we can get it to appear harmless. I recognize this as one of my weaknesses. I do this in incredibly small matters—things that even if you knew my motivations you wouldn’t fault me considerably for them. However, you aren’t my judge. God is. Lately, I’ve been thinking that if the motivation isn’t good and pure then it must be negative. If nothing else, it doesn’t originate with God so therefore it must be something worthy of changing. Recognizing this, I need to endeavor to stop doing things for which I question my motivation even for a second. It’s simple really: are you making this change in your life for the attention it will bring you from the outside world? Or are you making this change in order to better yourself and bring yourself closer to God? I want to endeavor to be who I appear to be. I don’t want to be worse than what I appear; I want to be even better than what I appear. I want the things that I do to build others up rather than tear them down. I’d rather be the butt or your joke than make you the butt of mine. Imagine how we could change the world with that attitude. My grandmother personified the sawdust versus plank in your eye parable not along ago with my dad. She told him that her New Year’s resolution was that we should all learn to be nicer to each other. My dad chuckled and said, “yeah and it should start with you.” She said, “well you need to do your part.” You cannot expect of others what you do not do for them. This being the case, I want to be the person that if others emulated me, I would want to hang out with them.

labyrinth

I went for a walk around campus just the other day to give my legs a rest from running. I hoped as always to find something worthy of writing about. There were beautiful birds, a golf course, a mud puddle called the lagoon, and plenty of traffic pollution. More than that, I discovered the labyrinth for the first time ever. I had seen it a million times but never walked it. It’s like a maze but it is so low to the ground you can remove yourself from it any time you so desire. At any rate, the object is to walk through it and clear your mind and let your heart turn to God in prayer. Personally, I have trouble emptying my mind enough to let my heart talk to God while I feel like an idiot walking through a maze I can easily step out of. However, maybe knowing how practical I am God decided to use this to his advantage. As I walked through my mini maze I couldn’t help but reach down and cast out the debris, including candy wrappers and small tree limbs. As I did this, I began thinking of how this is much like life. There are always little obstacles, small obstructions to our progress. However, just as these things didn’t mean I was on the wrong path in the labyrinth or that I wouldn’t reach my destination, they don’t mean that in real life. Sure, they were a bit of a pain to remove from my path and slowed my progress a bit, but that’s really all they have the power to do. In life, take the time to remove obstacles from your path and do not concern yourself with whether or not you are running the course on par with those around you. We all encounter obstacles of varying magnitudes and at different times in our paths. You might be struggling with something in your that your best friend does not have to deal with. However, that is not to say, that she will not be struggling with something much more severe down the road. Do a good job evaluating and removing your obstacles, and glean from them every good life lesson you can. Then, you will be well equipped to help your friend remove the obstacles from her path when the time comes. I do believe I was put here to help everyone that I can with whatever small wisdom God chooses to impart to me. What greater blessing can you hope to encounter than easing the force of life’s burdens upon another?

failing into the good life

Don’t do something just because you don’t know what else to do-because you don’t have something better to replace it with. Don’t be trapped by this world’s definition of success. However, if what you want is in accordance with that definition so much the better for you. On the other hand, if you must, fail your way into happiness. Fail by this world’s standards all you like. Just never fail by God’s and you are a success, and if there be naught but nickels in your checking account, you will still be a person of great worth. You will not be famous or highly respected by your peers but you will respect yourself and be highly favored by God. The simple life of the poor man will not guarantee you a spot in heaven, that’s true, but if you work it right and be determined to be worth more than you are valued at by loving God and man with all your heart, wanting no more than you have, then your blood pressure will be as low as your net worth. Do this and you will not be respected by many but you will be truly loved by a few. You will not have a casual passing impact upon dozens but will have a lasting impact upon a few.

woolen sheep eyes

I need to write; I need to do it always. Three things I need to always do. I need to always run. I need to always write. And I need to always pray. It is these things that make for a sane, healthy life for me. It’s different for everyone I suppose, but somehow, I think prayer should make all our lists. I guess some people need to always draw, play ball, life weights, meditate, take a walk, do yoga, or whatever. Those are things that take care of the side of us that belongs to this earth, but we will never be okay (forget stable) unless we learn to maintain the side of ourselves that does not belong to this earth. The skeptic will tell you that’s all nonsense and that what I’m about to say is coincidence. All I know is that whenever I fail to talk to God, to read his words, to write them again as I understand them, everything in my life falls spectacularly apart. There is no balance and happiness and purity flee the scene like a thief in the night. Walking with God is the only thing in life I always feel good about. It’s the only time I feel like I’m learning and growing, bettering myself and discovering the things I was meant to know. Also, walking with God is the only I find solace and self-esteem. The longer I’m away from Him, the less I like me. Because what I begin to see is His light being replaced by the darkness of this world and its UGLY! Given all this, why do we ever stray and turn away? We do it because the devil is a charmer and a liar, continuously pulling the wool over our eyes. How ironic! We are God’s sheep, yet we allow the devil to pull the wool over our eyes.