The Ramblings of a Redhead

Woke up this morning to the gentle sound of that teasing autumn breeze outside my window. The sun had yet to come up so my room was still dark. My curtains swayed lazily back and forth in a graceful dance. Every now and then a bird would chirp adding to the already peaceful chorus. I listened as the wind rolled through leaves, and in that moment while the rest of the world seemed to be sleeping, I had this gift all to myself. A moment to just be. To breathe. To remember. To thank. To dream. To hope. To pray. Life can become so busy and overwhelming that these moments are easy to forget, and the importance of being still slips from our thoughts. Take a moment today to stop and remember the small things. Smile at a stranger. Speak life and encouragement into the lives you come into contact with. Stop and watch the steam spiral up from your hot cup of coffee (or tea or hot chocolate). Remember the dreams that have been instilled in you. Take that first step. Pick up the book you've be...

Adventure tugs on the strings of our soul (not the surface strings, but the strings that are hidden deep within our very essence) - urging, begging us to listen to it. It stokes the fires of dreams, desires, passions, and curiosities. It begs us to take wing and fly to the highest heights. It causes us to become restless, curious, and perhaps, if we are completely honest with ourselves, even a wee bit reckless... However, the anchors of reality and responsibility also have a very tight hold on us, and sometimes it feels like their only purpose is to slam us back down to the cold hard ground. We feel the weight of them growing always heavier, dragging us downwards until we feel like it's trying to crush our wings, and yet, even under all the weight, our hearts still long to soar high above the clouds always searching for that same life giving spark we once experienced when adventure first gave us our wings. While reality is important to keep us somewhat grounded, we have to be so c...

Wow, how does one put everything they are grateful for into words... I guess to sum up as best I know how I would have to say I am beyond thankful for this wild and wacky adventure called life. I'm thankful for those who share in the journey alongside me, for those who have played their part in my story and moved on their own way, for those who have yet to enter my story and change the world as I know it. My family and dearest friends always beside me. I'm thankful for the good times that are forever mine to cherish, and the tough times that always have a lesson to teach and grow me. I'm thankful for eyes to see the beauty of the world around me, ears to hear the sweetest sounds, feet to take me to places I've never been before or to lead me back home again, hands to hold up those around me who are too tired to carry on alone, a tongue to taste the richness the world has to offer, and a heart to feel every emotion to its fullest. I'm thankful for the sunshine t...

CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!  The crowd gathered around Pilate's estate grew more agitated with every passing moment. If he couldn't get this riot under control he could lose his position. Caesar would not take kindly to a man who couldn't control a crowd. "I have found no guilt in this man!" He tried to reason with them. "CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!" He looked to where his wife's messenger now stood off behind him. Her words echoed in his mind, ~Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.~  There had to be something he was missing. "Nothing deserving death has been done by Him. Therefore, I will punish Him then release him." He had to try to get these people to see reason. He sent Jesus to be flogged. When Jesus was brought back before him his heart ached. Then he remembered, it was custom to release a prisoner at the passover feast. He could bring up Ba...

I have lived a thousand lives in hundreds of different worlds...I have felt anger, pain, love, joy, excitement, fear, hope...I have seen civilizations at their worst and at their best...I have seen love conquer against all odds, I have seen the darkness grow to the point that all light became just a distant memory...I've walked the forests with the elves, flown through the skies with dragons, walked into the very heart of the earth with the dwarves...I have seen kings overthrown by the most vile of humanity, and I have watched in awe as the most unlikely person became a hero...Ah yes...the magic of books....no adventure quite like it

Change. What comes to mind when you think of Change? Is it perchance autumn and the brightly colored leaves as the world shifts from one season to the next? Or perhaps it is water as it rushes along falling from one place to the next and joining the big river that is never the same again? Is it a fork in the road where the path you need to take breaks away from the path you are familiar with? Could it be watching the waves from the ocean crash upon the shore for just a brief encounter before the water rushes back to rejoin the ocean? Maybe you see a pebble breaking the glassy surface of a lake that creates ripples that grow larger and larger the further out they go? For me, I see Change as the turning of a page in an amazing book. The beginning of a brand new chapter in an epic story. Any way you look at it, Change comes to us all, and it isn't always easy. No matter how many times I encounter Change along this journey of life, it always seems to create and stir that hollow fee...

Life. Life is hard. Though if life wasn't hard we would have no reason to become stronger. We would never grow and flourish into all that we are capable of being. Life has a way of shaping us to fit into cookie cutter standards, but do you know what I say to that? Life is so much bigger than the cookie cutter shapes we are told we have to fit into to be worth while. I look out across this incredible world we live in, and do you know what I see? I see a kaleidoscope of so many things. I see hope. I see love. I see anger. I see dispair. I see hurt. I see heartbreak. I see joy. I see brokeness. I see adventure. I see hardships. I see loneliness. I see wholeness. I see.... This list could go on forever, right? Everyone living in this world knows how difficult living is. We know that life doesn't always give us a picture perfect reality. Real life is messy. It is a series of really high highs and unexpected drops, twists and turns, light and dark, love and hurt, joy and sorrow....