O Repetition

Patience.  This is DEFINITELY not a virtue I ever asked for, nor is it one that I have a great handle on.

I am so easily frustrated by having to repeat myself when I'm talking to people.  I get frustrated if they aren't paying attention because they're distracted by their phone with all their other friends, if they just tune me out because they have better things to do, or if they just don't think what I'm saying applies to them so they just check out only to realize later, "O, maybe that was relevant, would you mind repeating that?"

I get so tired of regurgitating the same information, no it hasn't changed since the last time we talked about this; the laws of humanity still apply.  I am just one person with a limited interaction with a small percentage of the world's population.  This tiny slice of humanity has the power to irritate me to the point of major frustration when I feel my time is wasted and not valued.  How much more heavily must this weigh on my Father God when everyone of us (all 7 billion of us!) needs repeated reminders, lessons, and major sit downs????  Huh.  Kinda puts it into perspective.

Don't get me wrong, I love the people in my life, and I CERTAINLY don't have life any more together than the the next person!  Most of the time, I'm not irritated, I don't have to fight for my voice to be heard (thank you women's rights movements!!), and I surely never doubt that as long as I'm attempting to move toward Him, God will ever lose patience repeating Himself to make sure I finally get what He's been trying to teach me for years.

Keep Your Heart Young

Tuesday was the release date for the newest Brandi Carlile album Bear Creek!  I just started listening to it today though as my schedule was a little preoccupied.  Well, that and when I first listen to an album I usually listen on repeat 4-5 times so I can digest it and my dad has been here since Tuesday and I'm pretty sure listening to the same album on repeat is not really his cup of tea :)   So far, I'm only on listen No. 2, but shockingly (can you hear the drip-drop of the sarcasm?) I'm in love so far!  This is one of the songs that initially made me smile because of it's simplicity, yet it is only simplistic on it's surface.  It raises issues of childhood and maintaining innocence and a tender mind/heart throughout one's life instead of allowing our souls, hearts, and minds to become calloused and unfeeling as the world would rather we did. 

"Keep Your Heart Young"

My grandpa gave me a wheat penny and I kept it in my pocket

Had big plans in my backyard to build me a space rocket

Talked to my brother on a fake CB that I made from a tic-tac box

Packed my snowballs nice and tight and in the middle I put rocks

Don't trade in your tic-tac box for a ball on the end of the chain

And don't go spending grandpa's pennies buying into the game

You gotta keep your heart young

Don't go growin' old before your time has come

You can't take back what you have done

You gotta keep your heart young

Dad took the wheels off of my bike and he pushed me down a hill

But speed got the best of me and I took my first spill

That was back when alcohol was only used on cuts

Stung like hell so I shook my leg and mama said it would give me guts

Don't trade in your tic-tac box for a ball on the end of the chain

And don't go spending grandpa's pennies buying into the game

You gotta keep your heart young

Don't go growing old before your time has come

You can't take back what you have done

You gotta keep your heart young

So take a picture of the one you love and put it in a locket

Go dig up your time capsule and the blueprints for your rocket

Keep in touch on a fake CB and that same old tic-tac box

Pack your snowballs a little less tight and in the middle still put rocks

And keep your heart young

Don't go growing old before your time has come

You can't take back what you have done

You gotta keep your heart young

You gotta keep your heart young

Sometimes you don't die quick

Just like you wished you'd done

The love is a loaded gun

You've gotta keep your heart young

You can't take back what you have done

You gotta keep your heart young

Summer Rains and Nights

The Walk:

As I walked out my back door last night to go to work I was overcome by the smell of wet grass and asphalt, smoothly blended with the heavy, amplified aroma of flower blooms.  It's funny how a cold, cloudy day can be changed so quickly by just 15 minutes of rain.  It was the smell of summer.

The Drive:

My mind was still preoccupied with processing the smells from a few minutes prior but I couldn't help but observe with awe the deep pigments and fading light of an almost spent sunset.  Wow.  It was so beautiful.  Who am I to deserve to witness and partake of this beauty? Everyday?

The After:

Pulling back into my parking lot the moon, or rather the obvious lack thereof of a definite "moon" caught my attention.  Sometimes the nature of something shines through even though the face of it is hidden. Like the moon behind a cloud, the bright streams of light break through the patches of open sky giving one glimpses of the bright hope that is beyond and even though you can't see the face of the moon, you know it is there by the beautiful reflected light.

Isn't that what my life is supposed to look like? Like the moon, seeing ME is unnecessary.  My purpose is to reflect the light of my Father's Grace, Mercy, Love, and Hope to the dark world.  That light much more observable if the moon's face isn't distractingly drawing attention to itself.  

Sometimes there are just songs that scream SUMMER!