Sometimes it is a good idea 

to purchase your dishes 

& decorations at the dollar store

Especially if you are a person

that loves colored glass & breakable items

& if you have little children in your life.

It is my life’s experience that 

there will be occasional breakage. 

This thought somehow leads me 

To think about people & the high 

expectations that we often have of them

& how these unreasonable expectations

can cause us to view people 

As fine china secured high up on a shelf

rather than as touchable 

& loved pieces of breakable art. 

How many times do we expect 

people to be pristine, flawless, untenable perfections

When in reality we are all 

Extraordinarily – ordinary pieces

of homespun & yet lovely,

touchable & thus breakable art?  

Of course there are going to be mishaps 

Of course there is going to be breakage. 

What else can happen?

What other possibility is there?

When lovely but breakable pieces of beauty

Are often times held

in ordinary & sometimes clumsy hands?

I have personally never been a person 

That has a need for fine china in my life

Perhaps it is because I am not someone

Who wants to bring out something 

Only once a year to enjoy it

Maybe it is because 

I want to touch the experiences that I see, 

& know the beauty that lives before me. 

Albeit. Let’s be real. 

Seeing something. 

Touching something,

Holding something,

Loving something can reveal

& can even cause 

some of the cracks & the chips

that will inevitably be a result

Of this well worn love 

of any beloved piece of art in our lives.  

And so it is with people. 

We are all God’s masterpieces

And although HE holds us tenderly;

We are often held in the hands 

of the  awkward & inexperienced 

hands of humanity. 

We will all inevitably experience

Some form of breakage

As we are formed, & loved, 

sometimes held, & other times discarded. 

We will form – Cracks in our exteriors. 

Weakness in our inner parts. 

Breakage & brokenness. 

& YET, I believe 

that, – none of us really desires to be fine china. 

None of us wish to be put on a shelf.  

Never touched. Never truly understood. 

We need to be loved 

We desire to be experienced. 

We want to be known

in our extraordinary-ordinary-ness. 

We hoped to be treasured

In our messiness. In our simplicity 

In our everyday reality. 

In the end. 

If we experience life well enough,

We will discover that there is no such thing 

as fine china or perfect art. 

We are all flawed. We are all imperfect. 

Hopefully, We will all come to the conclusion 

that it is far better to love well that which we love

& love well those that we love. 

In all their imperfections & in all their flaws. 

The chips.  The cracks. The dents. The bumps  ;

than it is to pretend that our fine china has any real value in the needs of our deepest heart ❤️ 

Because herein lies, the truth of this matter:

“The well-worn  treasure of a person’s very soul

is of so much more worth

than un known prize upon the shelf. 

 

There are times in our lives

When we enter into a season 

of change & of growth.

Where our paradigms & life concepts;

Sometimes our entire belief systems

seem to implode from within.

When ideologies that we have held 

so dearly,- begin to crumble.

When they begin a process  

of unravelling in a spiral of change. 

This can be SO very painful

& unnerving. 😳

It feels like a breaking down

of our very soul

An uncomfortable dismantling 

of our ‘all too’ familiar sense of identity. 

This change can feel like our ideas 

of “what we thought we knew to be true”

are questioned.   Because they are. 🧡

THIS is called GROWTH. 

Lean into it. Embrace it. 

Allow it to teach you! ❤️

I talk about skin color
With my grandchildren
It is all very innocent
And speculative.
Is their new baby brother or cousin
Going to be porcelain white
Or caramel brown?

We laugh. We imagine.
One of my granddaughters wants
her baby brother to be just like her.

She is the only brown one.
Like her father.
The rest of her cousins and her siblings
range from very fair to caramel brown.
She is the darkest child in our family.
Like her father.

I personally am jealous.
I am a product of the 60s and the 70s 🌸 In California.
A SOCAL girl reminiscing about the BEACHBOYS,

baby oil & iodine’ 🌻 A very Caucasian Anglo-Saxon
Wannabe copper tone,
brown skinned beauty.

This is all so ironic.
Isn’t it?

In these times when people
are pitted against each other
Over the color of a person’s skin?

Why did we NOT choose
Eye color to fight over?

My eye color is awesome!!
I have bright blue eyes.
I like them. They are worth noting.

But so are my brown eyed grandbaby’s eyes
They are a gorgeous brown
with flecks of yellow.
So beautiful!
Created by an imaginative God
With no end to HIS creativity.
Both of us are unique.

I am in awe, noting that . . .
We are Both SPECIAL.

At this point In my life
I have come to the understanding that,
LIFE is NOT a competition.
It is a GALLERY of beloved ART.

Some of my grand children have asked me
What my favorite color is?

I have always had the same answer.

I am absolutely in LOVE with
ALL of the colors of the rainbow
& with ALL of their variations.
Separate and yet together
In the manner that
a rainbow INSISTS on thriving.
This is MY idea of beauty.

YES. God. I love rainbows. 🌈
Doesn’t everybody?

Isn’t this the BEST picture of
A loving God & HIS creative SPIRIT?

DISTINCT. In UNISON. TOGETHER.

So. As we go back to our conversation
About skin color, & eye color
& distinction . . .

We were having that conversation weren’t we?

Can we make it more GLOBAL?

CAN we consider the possibility
That ALL of humanity
In all of their diverse cultures & countries
Are also a important part
of an imaginative GOD
Who loves US all the same
With the same fervor
As HIS delightful POEMA?

And what if we Did the same as our God?
What if we did
See life & humans in this way?

HOW ? Would this affect us? & our paradigms?

JUST ASKING. 🤔

 

What is real life?

Is it the space within MY bubble?

Is it the beautiful truth

that I have 10 gorgeous grandchildren 

(one waiting to be born at any moment) 

Which is the outgrowth from my relationship 

with a wonderful husband and father 

who has sadly gone on from this reality 

to reside with his Creator?

Is this REAL LIFE? 

YES. IT IS.

It is real life. It is my life. 

but. . . . 

I submit to you

That REAL LIFE exists outside of MY bubble as well 

It exists in the conversations that  

defy my mother’s voice

“to never discuss religion and politics” 

because in her view I imagine 

it was safer to stay 

in the shallowness of a lack of information. 

Than it is to compare facts and ideas. 

In her defense, there is a truth to the fact that Nobody 

can disagree  in this place of NOTHINGNESS.  

So indeed it is safe. 

 

But is it REALITY?

 

My mother is gone. She has gone to be with her Maker. 

She was a wonderful mother. I honor her memory. 

But . . . 

I am NOT A child anymore.

I am an elderly woman. Grown up. Full of wrinkles.

Able to discern my own truth. 

That is reality as well. 

And WHILE . . .

I can easily pretend that ‘my reality’ 

within my very safe & privileged bubble 

will always remain so, & I can decide 

that  “THIS reality IS ALL THAT MATTERS TO ME.” ;

I also have the choice

To be willing to pop my own bubble

And to attempt to crawl out from within this ‘safe haven’

into the GREAT UNKNOWN OF LIFE 

where somebody else’s bubble may intersect with my own. 

I have the choice to look, to PEER into their bubble 

To consider the validity of their paradigm 

and their view of reality as well. 

This idea  is FRIGHTENING . 

What will I FIND if I look outside of my bubble?

What if their truth disrupts my own comfortable float?

Yes   . . .  Frightening indeed!

As a Christian

(albeit embarrassed to call myself such in these times)

I believe that Jesus Christ himself was  a popper of bubbles. 

He  was metaphorically speaking-

 the annoying child at a ‘bubble blowing’ birthday party 

that runs ahead of the other children and pops and pops & pops . . . 

All of the bubbles everywhere. 

Never allowing even one solo bubble to escape without his pursuit. 

His direct ideas did NOT allow us to float free and easy and clueless

Uncaring about the bubbles outside of our own

Even IF we attempt to  settle so easily in suburbia

nonchalantly floating without pressure.

Jesus defied the norms. 

He defied the insulation that protects us from the pain

& the opinions of others

Those tedious views that do not align with our own 

Simply because they have NOT walked OUR paths. 

He challenged us. 

TO POP OUR BUBBLES. 

To jump into the mess of other popped bubbles 

Until . . . 

All of our little worlds are reduced to a new mess

of slimy soap upon the ground.   

Messy yes!  Ahhhhhhh!

But . . .  Abounding with hope. 

Humanity as a whole is NOT about ME.   SURPRISE!!!

It is not about YOU either!     SURPRISE as well! 🤪

We are important.  INDEED.
We are important.   Each of us. 

INDIVIDUALLY.   We Are IMPORTANT.  

Yes. We are important. 

But humanity itself as a WHOLE is also IMPORTANT. 

All of us are individuals that make up the greater humanity

as a WHOLE which are the IMAGE BEARERS OF GOD.

AND thus it becomes   NOT only Important but CRITICAL

For us to consider the bubbles of others

As we strive to create our own utopian flights.

When our individual bubbles of reality are tested by facts and by truth;-

I submit to you that it behooves us to consider our own soapy mess 

& Not to disregard the soapy mess of another’s circle of life. 

As IF only ‘our understanding’ is valid while we float above REALITY

As IF we are not inextricably connected,

To the greater soapy mess that is the WHOLE  of reality. 

It behooves us to consider the difficult question :

“How can we set this WHOLE soapy mess to flight?”

  

Indeed,  I ask you:

What is more beautiful to the delight of a child

at this ‘bubble blowing ‘Birthday party?’

“What is more beautiful? – One solo bubble or an orchestrated symphony of bubbles that intersect  and are floating free?”

So, as  I float in my own utopian BUBBLE; 

I offer this genuine prayer to my GOD:

PLEASE. DEAR GOD. POP MY BUBBLE. 

ALLOW IT TO FALL TO THE DIRT. 

Judge it for the deterrent that it is 

to YOUR understanding OF the greater REALITY. 

 Help me to RISE above my own uninformed paradigms 

Teach me  GOD how to rise from this mess.

Show me the BIG BUBBLE that encompasses all of us

So as bubbles floating  free and beautiful  and intertwined 

We are in alignment with YOUR FLIGHT!

In the past few years

I have had cause to contemplate

the concepts of  

“how to navigate through life with joy”,

especially when life throws us an unexpected curve

that is difficult to move through.  

How do we navigate successfully

the curves that life can bring?

& continue to THRIVE.  

I am convinced that the answer to this question

lies in our initial perspective of  our expectation

for this life here on earth.  

On what hill does our perspective begin?  

In considering life do we begin with the idea 

that “all should go well always”

or do we understand the bigger story 

that “life on this earth is a drop in the bucket in comparison

to our future life to come. & as Jesus told us,  

“in this world you will have tribulation.

“but take heart!   I have overcome this world.” 

So how do we take heart ♥ when life

doesn’t go the way that we planned?

& How has JESUS overcome this world?  

He did it on the cross when He said “it is finished!”  

It was in that moment that HE sealed

“our cause for hope in this life”

& that hope being that GOD indeed

has a plan for the restoration of all of HIS creation.

There will be restoration.  

All things will be set right.

 But what about now?  In our struggles?

In the loss of someone that we dearly love;

or a fatal disease,  a dream squashed?  

How do we embrace this time here when we are navigating

these unbearable bumps in the road?

How do we take heart?

I believe that our best recourse lies

in our determination to seek Joy ♥

& to seek it fervently!  

We are not victims in this life.  

WE ARE OVERCOMERS!-

because we are attached to the ULTIMATE OVERCOMER!  

We can pursue His kingdom values.  

Values that embrace love as the ultimate source of joy,

understanding that we are dearly loved by a GOD

who understands our pain,

but gives us the courage to walk

on this path with our heads held high

& smiles on our faces.  

Walk on bravely!  Be conduits of HIS love.  

HE will continue to “collect our tears in a bottle”

& pour them out upon us as strength.

 

 

Life is a learning process,

– an ever changing dynamic.

It is a mystery. It is a delight. It is a struggle.

We are all unique love letters

waiting to be written.

Beautiful creations inspired

& designed by a loving GOD

with a plan and a purpose

that unfolds as our days open and close.

We come in to this world fresh and open

to the wonders that life has to offer.

We bring to it our unique perspectives

& questions & frailties.

We bear the burden of living in a fallen creation;

& as part of this creation we suffer

the common weaknesses of humanity.

We can not escape the truth

that we are all broken

on some level & yet . . .

we all desire life as it should be.

We dream of perfection.

We strive for beauty.

We rail against pain and suffering.

We look for answers.

We hope & we believe that God

will deliver us at just the perfect time.

& in that belief lies our peace.

Yet, there are times when even that

confidence can be shaken.

Because in this world we will have tribulation.

It is simply a part of living in a fallen creation.

No person can escape this fact. No one is exempt.

Just when we think that we have life under control;

the bottom can fall out.  

So what do we do with this truth?

How can we survive the inevitable pain?

Do we throw up our hands and rail at the world?

Do we curse at God? Do we whine, and itch and moan?

In these moments, is when we have the greatest power. The power to choose who we are;

& how we can face this bump in the road.

Yes, it’s true! We can choose the brave & noble path.

The path of courage.

Courage to smile in the face of adversity.

Courage to look outside the moment &

see the bigger picture.

Courage to choose the gift of perseverance

& walk the stormy path.

It is on this path that we can invite life

to show us who we are at the deepest level

& give us the endurance to find out who we can be.

In this world we will have tribulation.

But do not fear.

Christ has given us the tools

to walk through them with grace.

So walk this path;

& watch for morning-glories

along the way!