Celebration of Life

Currently Listening To: "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap
Current Location: My desk at the 5-O

Today, I was just overwhelmed with the beauty of God. Whenever I find myself lost for words for how beautiful God has painted this world, I take out Dinker, my camera. Dinker and I have traveled far and wide to many places and seen many magnificent things. Dinker is my handy dandy companion in capturing the moments of beauty and life that God has blessed me with. Even though, I am no expert photographer and my angles, crops and editing are probably all wrong, I love each photo because behind each photo, there are a hundred more with a thousand stories. Here are some of my favorites from the past year. :)

 --One of the many dear children from Tijuana, Mexico. SERVE 2010--

 --My two little cousins in their monkey towels, Olivia is facing the camera. August 2010--

 --He is the old man of the sea to me. Bellingham, WA November 2010--

 --A walk in the dog park with my favorite dog, Scooby :) August 2010 --

 --Sunset at Kirkland Waterfront, September 2010--

 --Whidbey Island, 5-O winter retreat. One of my favorites by far. January 2011 --

 --Crazy ladies in the ice cold water. January 2011--

 --House for the Winter Retreat. January 2011--

 --Praise. Winter Retreat, January 2011.--

--My tribute to spring dresses, old cameras, photography and spring. March 2011.--

Living.

Currently Listening To: 21 by Adele
Current Location: The couch with a cuppa hot cider

This month has been especially difficult. In this month, I have watched life grow and also reflected on the loss of a life. Life is always a variable. We never know what is going to happen. Last night, I was talking with two dear parental figures of mine when one of them stated that there are only three constants in life; Death, Taxes and Change. Haha. I find that extremely funny because my dad is an accountant, so I was born after tax season ended (to my father's elation), my life has been full of changes and unfortunately I have also had to experience death. As much as we like to avoid it, we know the inevitable end of life. It is as if we are reading a novel to a certain point only knowing the last sentence of the last chapter. That. Is. Life. The prologue is based off the biggest decision made in the chapters of the novel; if you chose heaven or hell. But enough of that analogy. Let's get down to brass tacks here.
Life holds a promise; to constantly be unexpected and full of surprises. Three years ago, I received the biggest upset possible for me. My tables turned on an early March afternoon as I heard my mom say that she had a year to live. God gave my world a bit of a shaking with those words. Within a few weeks, my heart was filled with agony as I watched my mom slowly leave this world for a better place. Instead of a year, I was given less than a month. As painful as that was, I know it was for the best. As remarkable as mom was and even though there are a million and one things I want to share with her; I know she is so much better off. She no longer has to deal with the pains of cancer, the heartaches of life and the sin of this world. She is free and with her Creator.
A verse that stuck with me through her dying was "To live is Christ, to die is gain" -Philippians 1:21.  For so long, I only vaguely understood the verse for its full worth. Life is like Christ. Christ suffered. He endured the agonizing pain of all our sin. He endured the ridicule of us. He endured the mockery, the contempt, the jealousy, the downright awful behavior of this world. So "to live is Christ", is coping with the pains that life holds. To watch it fall apart, to lose someone or something, or even losing everything. Yet, there is promise in that verse. Christ performed miracles in His time on earth. We saw miracles. We even see miracles today. We can see it in birth, love, laughter, sunsets and sunrises, nature, and those moments when words can't describe how perfect something is. THAT is God giving us a glimpse of heaven. It is God's reminder to us to have faith, to trust in Him when there are sufferings in life. With those moments in life, God shows us a glimpse of why the challenges of life are worth it. Even though they break us at the moment, bringing us to our knees; it gives God the opportunity to pick us back up and tell us that even though it hurts and we don't understand; He has great plans for us and that we will understand once we finish. Then there is the final part of the verse, "to die is gain". Death is leaving all the pains of this world behind, and finally having an eternity of breathtaking moments. To see God, to understand and to be surrounded by perfection.

Dependence

Currently Listening To: Marie Antoinette
Current Location: The couch.

For awhile, I have wanted to see what life would be like without facebook, one of the prime ways of communicating nowadays. So earlier this week, I decided to "delete" my facebook and see what happened. As hard as it was, I enjoyed not having facebook. I realized that so much of my time revolved around checking to see what people were up to...on facebook. Instead of actually caring to see how someone's life was and asking them, facebook seemed like a reasonable way for me to see. So these past few days I learned a little bit about myself and others.

1. People depend on facebook too much. Facebook can determine a lot about a person's life. In most cases, facebook is a way for people to express their thoughts, beliefs and who they are. It can be called, letting people know how your day is, that you "like" winter activities or that you think these song lyrics are really awesome. Clarification: I am not saying that any of that is bad, I am not the judge of that. What I found ironic, was how the deletion of facebook worried some people. I got asked if I was okay, if I vanished off the earth, or if I had died (I am hoping that was a joke though...). Yes, everything was okay, it was just an experiment to see what life without facebook would be like. It was ironic how facebook determined how I was or if anything was the matter.

2. I loved facebook a little too much. I realized how dependent I was on checking how lives were on facebook, instead of genuinely asking someone. It was my time-waster. During the "facebook fast", I learned I had a lot of free time. I was surprised at how much of my time was devoted to the internet world. There would be times when I wanted to log on and see what was going on or to even update my status. Instead of checking my facebook, I decided to devote my time to things of greater important. Like, exercising, actually talking with people or more importantly time with God. I learned that I was lacking in my dependence with the One greatest importance in my life. Poor God. Once I found myself spending more time with Him, I found so much more peace, happiness and provisions working in my life. I learned more about my weaknesses and strengths and how much I do rely on God and how much more time He deserves of my life.

I know some people are mocking me. How I only was without facebook for a few days, how I obviously failed. Well yes, I guess I did fail. I logged on to facebook not to become re-addicted but because there are things that I missed out on. Event invitations, hearing about people's lives and etc. I don't plan on being on facebook in the near future. It may seem ridiculous, but it worked for me. I learned more in a few days than I thought I would.

The Little Things

Currently Listening To: "Come Back When You Can" - Barcelona

Current Location: A Bench Outside Drumheller Fountain at UW

Sometimes, humanity gets so caught up in the busy lifestyles that the world has to offer. We get focused on school or our jobs. So focused on every enticing detail that the world holds that we get distracted. It is so easy to get distracted by all the things that create life that it becomes wearisome. We get tired, frustrated and lose hope.

All these burdens that our hearts end up carrying weigh us down and make life seem like a vortex that we are trapped in. Through it all, we tend to forget the little things that make life beautiful. The gifts God blesses us with.

            God created so much beauty in this world for our enjoyment that we tend to forget that it is there and we take it for granted. Currently, I am sitting on a bench outside Drumheller Fountain at the University of Washington. Drumheller has this fantastic view of the mountains. Especially since it is winter right now, the mountains are blanketed in a snowfall. Those are the moments that we tend to take for granted. God created so much beauty but we sometimes overlook His creations because we are caught up in the earthly matters.  God loved us so much that He blessed us with the enjoyment of His artistic capabilities. His hands made this earth and filled it with His glory. His mind created and developed this whole wonder that we call earth. Imagine. Imagine how brilliant God is to create such beauty and cover it over a billion vast landscapes. God created a beautiful world for us to enjoy.

            Oh no, it doesn’t even end there. God created the beauty but He also gave us the opportunity to enjoy it. First of all, He gave us eyes to see His breath-taking creation. Those moments when you are standing on top of a mountain and you look around and feel like your line of vision is forever, but in reality you are only getting a mere glimpse of the beauty. It is like looking at a part of a painting that is the size of a thumbnail, when the painting is the size of Washington State. Wow. God gave us the eyes to see His creation and visually SEE His love for us. Besides the gift of sight, God blessed us with so many other senses. He gave us the gift of taste. Whether it be biting into a juicy burger (which sounds oh so good right now) or sipping a Chai Tea Latte while walking to class. Or it could be smell, when you take time to stop and smell the roses, or lilies because I love lilies. God BLESSED US with so many extraordinary gifts. He gave us life, the ability to feel His love for us and He described His love in the beauty of earth.

            So why do we get distracted? I love walking somewhere and seeing the little beauties God offers. Whether it be the crinkly-crunch of the leaves or the blue skies, I challenge the world to thank God for how He blesses our lives. We just need to take a moment from our busy schedules to breath in God’s wonders and exhale praise for who He is and what He has done. 

For Starters:

Once in a blue moon, I tried the whole blogging shmeal and didn't end up continuing or keeping the blog. But now, I am at a new time in my life. College. So since this whole shindig is going down, I figured it would be fun to record the moments in which God reveals life lessons to me. God is good and His lessons are priceless moments of life where understanding comes.
God is my motivation and sole purpose in life.

"So whatever you do, may your every action be for the glory and honor of God" - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Let this blogging extravaganza begin.