lately i have been intrigued by the idea of scars, specifically being scarred by love. we toss the phrase around a lot, and its really interesting to me.

i have to ask what is really being scarred? where are these scars?

scars are generally a physical thing you can see and touch and know that you are healed. is that why love scars and emotional scars take so long to heal? we do not get the mental advantage of seeing the physical repair, of touching the scar and knowing its healed.

some people never seem to recover from their emotional scars and they end up living as a shadow of who they really are because they are afraid they are not recovered.

how can we get ourselves to recover and know that we are healed?

how can we see our scars and know we are restored, we are ok and we can live again?

Labels: emotional, feel, love, recover, recovery, scar, scars, touch

church.

is it a building? is it just a place to go to weekly? is it only a weekly thing? or is it a wednesday thing as well? do i have to wear nice clothes? smile proudly? appear perfect? make sure i am there every week?

or is it an idea? or is the important stuff going on inside the building on sunday? does what's going on during sunday spill over into monday, and continue until saturday? is sunday the time to recharge and get you ready for another week? is sunday the time in a building where you can meet up with others sharing the same path during the week as you are?

it seems like the church has become its own place and of its own importance, and i am talking about the building not the people. the buildings and clothes and appearance of the church seems to be so much more important now than the idea of the church.

to me it seems the church should helping the needy. the church should be in the parts of the city that are hurting. the church should be spreading a message through action, through love, through being there. and maybe if the church was there, then maybe those people who the church is helping would find their way to the building or maybe they would just spread the message themselves...

Labels: action, appearance, buildings, christian, church, cross, faith, hope, ideal, jesus, love, message, sunday

today is a new day. as is tomorrow. grace gives us the opportunity to start over. to move on. to say i messed up but i am forgiven and this act is forgotten. its so much easier to write this than to live it. the thing is that what we do today has impact on tomorrow. starting over today, gives tomorrow a fresh look, a sense of hope and chance that i can do this. asking for help today, admitting mistakes today, coming clean today, forgiving today, whatever it is makes the outlook on tomorrow so much greater than trying to carry the burden of everything that is weighing you down. i know there is a lot of today and tomorrow in this little thought but if you simplify it and understand it hopefully you can realize you can do this.

Labels: alive, forgiveness, fresh start, grace, hope, ideal, life, live, living, love, new, new day, new hope, tomorrow

What If

Such a powerful phrase.

What If... Everyone asks themselves this question. What if I hadn't done this or that. What if I had said something. What if I tried this. What if I cared a little more.

It's really a summary for so many lives. So many of us choose to live the safe route and just ask 'what if'. And this group of us also live in jealousy or wonder of those who choose to answer the what if questions they come up with.

Do you ask yourself this question? I think if we are asking it to often, like on a daily or weekly basis, perhaps we should just one time answer the 'what if' with action. Of course I dont mean finding out what happens if you rob a bank or cheat on someone, but I mean in a way taht can positively impact life. Answering what it would be like to join a small group, to bury the anger towards someone, to finally go home, go to church, forgive, seek help for addictions, etc...

What if you did something and changed your life for the better? What if tomorrow and the next day you could look back and claim this moment as the moment you answered 'what if' with action and you couldn't be happier that you did!

Labels: addiction, church, forgiveness, hope, if, life, life changing, live, love, safe, secure, seek, this is not working, what, what if