New newsletter over at Songs from the Valley about Perceptions. I believe it is possible to change the way we look at ourselves, others and even the world around us, but it takes learning how!
Great article by my friend, and amazing author, Ocean Palmer http://oceanpalmer.com/ featured artwork by Daniel Brooks Grove http://danielbrooksgrove.com
www.songsfromthevalley.com then click on the picture!
I am excited to give art journaling a try very soon. I have been studying it for a couple of years now and, I must admit, I have been a little intimidated by it, but here I am ready to try it!!!
Check out the new issue of Songs from the Valley on Inspiration!
http://www.songsfromthevalley.com
keep your eyes open everywhere for amazing blessings like this street art!
Jesus never looked down on others by Jon Walker
Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. (1 Corinthians 1:26 NIV)
Jesus never looked down on others, and that gave him the ability to see them as people. They weren’t users, consumers, or customers. They were people in need of a relationship with him, not a dos-and-don’ts religion.
Once we understand our identity in Christ, we will begin to see people in a similar way. We will see that they are eternal beings, created in the image of God. We will no longer use their circumstances or sins to define who they are; we will see who they are through the eyes of Jesus.
This perspective, so different from our natural tendencies, brought out the best in the people Jesus met. He saw their true value, and, as a result, they came to know their true value.
Consider:
Our objective is to stop seeing others from our limited perspective and to start seeing them in the way God sees them, encouraging the best of others, bringing them to the one who wants more than all the world what is best for them — Christ the Lord (Luke 2:8-10).
“Love your neighbour as yourself” the Gospel says (Matthew 22:38). But who is my neighbor? We often respond to that question by saying: “My neighbours are all the people I am living with on this earth, especially the sick, the hungry, the dying, and all who are in need.” But this is not what Jesus says. When Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:29-37) to answer the question “Who is my neighbour?” he ends the by asking: “Which, … do you think, proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the bandits’ hands?” The neighbour, Jesus makes clear, is not the poor man laying on the side of the street, stripped, beaten, and half dead, but the Samaritan who crossed the road, “bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, … lifted him onto his own mount and took him to an inn and looked after him.” My neighbour is the one who crosses the road for me!
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org/
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Last week Ann Voskamp, and her son Caleb, were in Haiti for Compassion http://www.compassion.ca/child_list.asp read her blog posts about this experience http://www.aholyexperience.com/ – if you are not moved to action, you must be dead!
Check out the newest issue of my newsletter at www.songsfromthevalley.com – it is a very personal one. At the preent moment, I am in the middle of a big faith walk, so please pray for me today as God calls me to your mind.
I read Martin Luther King, Jr’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail yesterday and one sentence especially jumped out at me – ‘Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.’
What are we going to do with our time here? It is always our choice!
Just found these comics thanks to my new friend Rex Lai! Awesome stuff!!! Love it!!!
This is a little about the creator of these amazing comics –
Hi! My name is Leah. I live in San Francisco, CA. I started drawing comics in 2010 when i ran out of words but still had something to say.
The name DharmaComics is a double entendre. “Dharma”, a sanskrit word, has many translations. One of which is “Truth” – but rather than an objective truth, it refers to the truth inside each of us, our personal compass, guide, knowing.
Another is “Nature”, as in, our individual nature, that which we were born to be and do. The example is often given of an acorn, who’s dharma is to grow into an oak tree; and not just any oak tree, but the specific one it becomes.
To me “Dharma Comics” refers both to my quest to reflect deep personal truthfulness, and also, i experience these comics as something i am meant to do. I don’t have to believe in some big master plan, i know because like the acorn into the oak, they come naturally.
by Paulo Coelho on July 11, 2012
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2012/07/11/be-like-a-river/
“A river never passes the same place twice,” says a philosopher. “Life is like a river,” says another philosopher, and we draw the conclusion that this is the metaphor that comes closest to the meaning of life. Consequently, it is always good to remember::
A] We are always doing things for the first time.While we move between our source (birth) to our destination (death), the landscape will always be new. We should face these novelties with joy, not with fear – because it is useless to fear what cannot be avoided. A river never stops running.
B] In a valley we walk slower. When everything around us becomes easier, the waters grow calm, we become more open, fuller and more generous.
C] Our banks are always fertile. Vegetation only grows where there is water. Whoever comes into contact with us needs to understand that we are there to give the thirsty something to drink.
D] Stones should be avoided. It is obvious that water is stronger than granite, but it takes time for this to happen. It is no good letting yourself be overcome by stronger obstacles, or trying to fight against them – that is a useless waste of energy. It is best to understand where the way out is, and then move forward.
E] Hollows call for patience. All of a sudden the river enters a sort of hole and stops running as joyfully as before. At such moments the only way out is to count on the help of time. When the right moment comes the hollow fills up and the water can flow ahead. In the place of the ugly, lifeless hole there now stands a lake that others can contemplate with joy.
F] We are one. We were born in a place that was meant for us, which will always keep us supplied with enough water so that when confronted with obstacles or depression we have the necessary patience or strength to move forward. We begin our course in a soft and fragile manner, where even a simple leaf can stop us. Nevertheless, as we respect the mystery of the source that gave us life, and trust in His eternal wisdom, little by little we gain all that we need to pursue our path.
G] Although we are one, soon we shall be many. As we travel on, the waters of other springs come closer, because that is the best path to follow. Then we are no longer just one, but many – and there comes a moment when we feel lost. However, as the Bible says, “all rivers flow to the sea.” It is impossible to remain in our solitude, no matter how romantic that may seem. When we accept the inevitable encounter with other springs, we eventually understand that this makes us much stronger, we get around obstacles or fill in the hollows in far less time and with greater ease.
H] We are a means of transportation. Of leaves, boats, ideas. May our waters always be generous, may be always be able to carry ahead everything or everyone that needs our help.
I] We are a source of inspiration. And so, let us leave the final words to the Brazilian poet, Manuel Bandeira:
“To be like a river that flows silent through the night, not fearing the darkness and reflecting any stars high in the sky.
And if the sky is filled with clouds, the clouds are water like the river, so without remorse reflect them too”
The meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour.What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general bur rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion: “Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?” There simply is no such thing as the best or even a good move apart from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one’s opponent. The same holds for human existence. One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.
As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.
By declaring that man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life, I wish to stress that the true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system. I have termed this constitutive characteristic “the self-transcendence of human existence.” It denotes the fact that being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself — be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called selfactualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.
© 1959 by Viktor Frankl from
Man’s Search for Meaning
Excerpt from “An Essay on Man”
by Alexander Pope
ALL are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;
That, changed through all, and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth, as in th’ ethereal frame,
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent:
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part;
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns
As the rapt Seraphim, that sings and burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small—
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all….
All nature is but art, unknown to thee:
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see:
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.
Public domain
Macro shot of dewdrops by Sharon Johnstone
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/
life: acoustic & amplified 