The Scratches That Made Me

You buy things and you keep them clean. You take care of them. Keep them in a special pocket. Away from keys and coins. Away from other things that should be kept clean and taken care of as well. Then they get scratched. And scratched again. And again. And again. And again. Soon, you don't care about them anymore. You don't keep them in a special pocket. You throw them in the bag with everything else. They've surpassed their form and become nothing but function. People are like that. You meet them and keep them clean. In a special pocket. And then you start to scratch them. Not on purpose. Sometimes you just drop them by accident or forget which pocket they're in. But after the first scratch, it's all downhill from there. You see past their form. They become function. They are a purpose. Only their essence remains.

You are what you think.

“If you believe, you will receive…’ (Matthew 21:22, NIV)

I love this verse, it is so simple and yet, perhaps, the most difficult to follow. The power of life and death is in the tongue and what is on the tongue, is always in the heart.

The people who always seem to more happy, more upbeat and more fulfilled with their lives are the people who have a good sound mind and who are always thinking about and dwelling on the more positive things. They choose, with their own free wills, to dwell on things with a light and fresh attitude, knowing full well that life isn’t always what we thought and that sometimes there are going to come times where attitude has an input, the most important input.

Have you ever spent an hour with a person who isn’t fulfilled, who is always pessimistic and depressed all the time. People who have negative attitudes towards anybody and anything, and are choosing to think and dwell on the negative side of life. I can admit that sometimes I look in the mirror and this person is me. Sometimes it is easier to moan and complain. And sometimes, I just feel like being a little black thunder cloud who came to rain on the parade- because sometimes it takes too much effort to stand up, fix my hair, change my attitude and walk with a different pair of glasses on, choosing to see the good in the worse.

Granted, this cursed and fallen world in which we live in has a mixture of both life and death residing in it. Jesus himself said that we would all have various trials and tribulations that we would go through from time to time. Storm clouds are apart of this life, and no one will get by not having to drive in the rain at some point or another.

But maybe a good life starts in our head, just like a bad… and with the renewing of your mind..I want to be the person who can always find the good in a situation. Looking at the good in life wasn’t something that was taught very well as I was growing up, I am not turning this into a ‘woe is me, my childhood my childhood‘, but more to recognize a pattern and find the courage to chart a new course for myself. I was to see that although I am a million miles away on an adventure that doesn’t quiet look how I expected it too, some good has to come from this. I will learn a lot about myself and the back bone that I was given. I want to return home the same but different. I want to be positive and always smiling. I want to be healthy (after just having ate my body weight in mint choc chip ice-cream) and have a shine that comes from the inside- to realise that there are no excuses, just the ones that you make for yourself.


So. here’s to the silver lining, sunny side up, blogs, a good cup of coffee, Freedom, laughter, post cards, ice-cream, skype.

Here’s to triumphs and lessons, good times and bad, to the things you cant change and to the thing you wouldn’t if you could. Here’s to living this precious life well, with grace dignity and gumption!!

Proverbs 23:7 teaches, “For as a [wo]man things within their heart, so is [s]he”… and Proverbs is never wrong!

hmmmm

Dad: So, what are you doing tomorrow night?

Son: Oh, you know, a usual Saturday night... Pizza, beer, and strippers.

Dad: Okay, can you just pick one of those, because all of those are unhealthy.

--N Train

I love this city..

the difference a day makes.

An anniversary can be sweet or solemn, but either way, it is only the echo, not the cry. I have found America to be a country united, and less; more fearful and more secure, more serious and more devoted to American Idol. It is like looking at your childhood baby pictures. You know exactly who it is: every feature is both different and the same, despite new expressions, and furrows and knowledge.

To say that America, and Australia just the same, have changed feels like a reward to the enemy, but to deny it risks losing the knowledge for which we paid a terrible price—knowledge about who we become under pressure, in public and private. People talked about living on a higher plane, with an intensity of fear and faith and gratitude, when it was easy to salute and hard to sleep and nothing was bland or phony. But it is impossible to live in this place forever; it is like the day you graduated high school, a first kiss or when a family member dies- days of power and insight that grab you for a moment and, when they let you go, leave marks on your skin

But what marks can we see now? I read a quote by George Bush who said great good may come from the evil that struck, but you need a long lens to bring that hope into focus. We resist the idea that we have changed because so much of the change of the past years feels like damage. Lives have been lost or broken. We talk about the need to balance freedom and security, but both have shriveled in the heat of the threat.

On September 10th there were 19 people planted in a country, poised to kill as many a possible, people who thought they were safe. From the next day forward, the world thought otherwise. Sales in gas-marks, blankets, batteries and bottled water rose. People began to take notice of the colour of another's skin more closely. So as we all try to move as though nothing has fundamentally been lost, America still drives down the street in their petrol-guzzling cars but now doesn't think twice if there is a security check point. There are arguments over victim payouts. Debates over memorial monuments. Look around any city when a plane flies low, and you can see people pivot to the landmarks. The Empire State, the Golden Gate—is it still there?

Because Sept. 11 is still one of a kind, people can make it what they want. Some says it has made us more aware of the need to be both humble and generous at home and abroad. Others are glad we now honor our soldiers and suspect our allies and can finally agree that some values are not just a matter of opinion. Whatever other wars that Australia follows America into, there will never be another war like this, this is one that we have fought alone. Privately. Defending our daily habits and confidence and freedom against enemies who would destroy them and using as a weapon the skills we have built by doing so. We know more now. Now, If only we can remember that we do.

This post is dedicated to the 2993 people who lost their lives 8years ago today.

what I learnt today

1.That sometimes it pays to take the advice of the people around you.

2.Running away is never the best option.

3. Standing up takes courage

4.Talking things out works.

5. Being an adult isnt easy (or sometimes fun)

6. All things work together for those who love the Lord.

Dont be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against;
not with; the wind.'

And kites are graceful, confident and when they are flying;
people stop and notice that about them.

here's to coming home a kite.

So, 51 days. OR 1 month, 20 days.