Looking Up.

"But if you turn off the TV, close the magazines, and look up, you will find a very real world.  A world where we don't always have the right answers, a world where we blunder with awkward pauses and embarrassing slipups, a world where we put on weight and lose our hair and grow old.  In the real world, the daily grind can't be ignored.  You have to tie your shoes and clip your toenails and take out the trash.  Like Russell, the chubby Wilderness Explorer from the movie Up, says, "It might sound boring, but it's the boring stuff I remember the most." :: Veneer p. 92

I like the boring stuff, too.

Because I don't want to live in a counterfeit world - a world where I live outwardly, existing to show others where I've been or what I do, making choices based on how it will appear.  I want to hold moments close to my heart, allowing them to mold me in a sacred space that's mine.  Because it's in that place I am built into the truest form of myself... not for an audience and not for approval, but simply for being me.

We have devalued the work of the inner self, we become unfocused and scattered when attempting towards quietness and reflection. Of course this happens - nothing can compete with the fast pace of internet life and a world demanding attention.
It takes discipline and it takes commitment and it takes space.

Otherwise, it's easy to form a false sense of connection. I want to be present and available for others, be intentional with my friends and love them well.

I want face-to-face and heart-to-heart.
I want one-on-one and life in-person.

I want to live in the complexity and beauty of life in a very real world. And sometimes that means it's just the "boring stuff." But it's in that place where I am challenged to live creatively and allow the boring stuff - daily life - evolve into the extraordinary stuff. As Bonhoeffer puts it: "The better righteousness [that which is extraordinary] of the disciples must have a motive which lies beyond self.  Of course it has to be visible, but they must take care that it does not become visible simply for the sake of becoming visible."

I want to be compelled to be hidden in a God who knows me completely, and makes me visible in living for His Kingdom, not mine. To live a life that points directly to His creation and His mystery... to look up from the things that could distract me in this world towards the only One who gives life to the full.