One of my absolute favorite things to do is to go for walks… especially at night. Tonight was the first night I’ve taken a walk through my neighborhood since the fall, and it was oh-so-lovely. Every now and then, I will take a walk with my iPod plugged into my ears. As someone who absolutely loves music, I rather enjoy having the soundtrack with me. However, as I’ve gotten older, and as I’ve fallen more in love with creation, I’ve found that I take more walks WITHOUT my iPod. I love listening while I’m walking… Obviously during the fall is the best, when you can hear the leaves dancing along the street, dragging their legs and making a soft sweeping noise as they move about. But mostly, I love listening to the wind, even if there are no leaves to dance. There’s something so amazing about the wind, and I just love being out in it…
I have so many memories of fantastic walks… One of my favorite places to walk is on the pier on Lake Michigan. I had the honor of walking that pier this past Saturday with my friend Ms. Rigden, and it reminded me of all the great walks I’ve had on that pier and down by the lake. Another great place to walk is Doctor’s Park – such a beautiful walk down to the beach! I also love walking up Brewer’s Hill. While it isn’t the most fantastic as far as nature is concerned, it does have one of the most amazing views of Milwaukee – I love walking up there, sitting up there, and looking down over the city – especially right around sundown. BRILLIANT! And of course, there are places like Pike’s Peak – a place where you are surrounded by beautiful trees, and the sunshine peeks through the branches every few feet, reminding you of its warm existence.
But while I enjoy all of these places, and they all hold their own special beauty, I have yet to find a place to walk that I like more than the neighborhood where I grew up. I have so many fond memories of so many spots in my neighborhood. So many summer nights spent sitting on the street corner, thinking about life as an adult, and wondering what it would hold. Walks taken with my best friends from high school, sharing pieces of our lives as we dipped in and out of different subdivisions. I love thinking about the many trips to Super America I took with my best friend Leah as a little kid. All the activities that flurried about as we walked through our neighborhood – the smell of moms making dinner, the sound of dogs barking and kids laughing and neighbors setting off firecrackers… I love walking through the neighborhood, and remembering all the amazing conversations and moments I’ve had with people in my life.
Walks are just so great, aren’t they? I don’t know… Maybe I’m easily amused. I once told my friends that I’d be a cheap date – all you’d have to do is go on a great walk with me, and I’d be as happy as can be!
Walks provide an amazing time to converse, to think, to reflect, to pray, and to relish in the beauty of God’s creation. So fantastic.
So with warn weather just around the corner, I know there are more great walks to come… Walks through my neighborhood, walks through other neighborhoods, and walks through places yet to be discovered.
walks
anthony & raul
I really want to tell you about two gentlemen I know – Anthony and Raul.
I did a Google search to figure out what title best suits them: Service men? Utility workers? My friend Mark even suggested handymen. I am not entirely sure what types of workers they are, or what their actual titles are/should be… All I know is that I love seeing both of them when I go to work!
Anthony is one of the main custodians where I work. I usually see him mopping the floor – during this season especially. Where I work, we have a white and black marble tile floor, and it gets pretty dirty pretty fast. Anthony spends a lot of his time mopping the same areas over and over. My co-worker Kate and I apologize profusely every time we have to walk across it, even though he assures us it’s ok.
But here’s what I love about Anthony…
He always goes beyond his role as a custodian. I remember one morning, I was walking into my building and he was coming down the hallway towards me. He turned to the elevators, and hit the “up” button for me so that the elevator was waiting when I got there. No prompting. No “hey, catch that elevator for me.” He just knew that’s where I was headed, and thought he’d help me out.
I can remember going for months, not knowing his name. We’d always greet each other in the morning with our typical “hellos” but that was about it. Until one morning, I finally said to him, “You know, I see you every morning, and I don’t even know you’re name.” Thus began our “friendship.” Now, I put the word friendship in quotes because it’s not really what I’d consider a friendship, but we definitely aren’t just causal friendly strangers anymore.
My goal as of late has been to get Anthony to smile. He’s usually a pretty serious fella – always friendly, but doesn’t often smile. However lately, we’ve been cracking jokes a bit more and he’s been a lot more light-hearted with my co-workers and me.
He does a job that most of us wouldn’t think of doing, and he does it well. He’s one of the nicest guys in our building, and I love him to pieces! He brightens my day when I see him.
Then there’s Raul…
Raul cracks me up! He is such a funny guy. He’s our building “fix-it” man. He’s been there at least as long as I have, and I always enjoy when there’s something on our floor that needs fixing. The funny thing about Raul is he really likes to talk about things very specific to a person. So, he gets to know one or two things about you, and then that’s ALL he’ll talk about with you. It’s fantastic, though!
For example, my co-workers Beth and Kate and I decided last June that we were going to canoe to work. June 26th is National Canoe Day (in Canada) but we decided that it would be fun to canoe down the Milwaukee River on our way to and from work. So, bright and early one morning, we put the canoe in at Becher & KK in Bay View, and canoed down the Milwaukee River until we arrived at ASQ. Because we work downtown, there aren’t really a whole lot of places to leave a canoe. Therefore, we docked where the Edelweiss docks, carried our canoe across Michigan Avenue, waited until a car scanned into the basement lot, and carried our canoe down to the basement. Raul saw all this go down, and thought it was fascinating that we canoed to work. Now, almost every time we see him, he makes some sort of comment about our canoe adventure, asking us where our paddles are and such.
But Raul is always looking for ways to make us smile and laugh, and he’s always such a delight to see when he comes to our building. He services a TON of buildings in the Milwaukee area, so we don’t get to see him that often, but when we do, it’s a total treat!
Over the past few weeks, he hasn’t been around. We started getting nervous that maybe he didn’t work for the company anymore, and were feeling really sad about his absence. But not more than a half an hour after the conversation I had with my co-workers, there was Raul with his ladder fixing all sorts of things.
I know it may sound silly, but these guys make my day and I’m so honored that they work in my building! Ever since I was little, I’ve loved the sort of “unnoticed” people – the people who do all the jobs most of us wouldn’t want, but make our workplaces such great places to be. When I was little, I had a total soft spot in my heart for the janitor at my school. I’d often make him cookies and I was able to build a fun friendship with him. He was such a sweet man, and cared so much about the students. To this day, I still have a lot of joy in my heart when I see him. He was such a fantastic janitor and friend!
So, if you think about it, try to learn a little bit about the custodians, or the “fix-it” guys where you work. They’re great people with really great stories! And they do more than you realize to make where you work a fantastic environment!
Next person I’d like to get to know: The awesome older guy who works the parking garage gate. He is this SUPER sweet man, and we always wave goodbye to each other at the end of the night. I don’t know his name yet though… Soon enough!
post
A friend of mine posted this on her blog about a week ago... it spoke to my heart, in so many ways.
I want to share it with you.
Thanks Chrissy... for your obedience, your love for the Acholi people, and your honest seeking.
Do you hear?
Do you care?
Do you more than check in once in awhile?
Is your heart tugged?
Do you want to do more?
Are you satisfied?
Can you live like this?
Can you feel anything?
Where is your heart?
What would you die for?
What is it that charges you?
Who do you love?
Why do you love?
Who would you fight?
Who would you fight for?
Is it in your nature to show compassion?
Is it in your nature to be passionate?
Does your blood boil? Flow? Soothe?
Is your soul reflective of where your soles step?
Can you really wake up one more day living this life?
Can you really go to sleep knowing what lies ahead tomorrow?
Can anything provoke you to change?
Can anything provoke you to stay the same?
Do you want new or used?
Can you accept where you are at?
Can you move forward?
How does your heart beat?
Whose heartbeat is it?
Does it belong to you?
Where do you begin and end?
How do you begin and end?
This can’t be all of it, can it?
Questions come so easily when I know the answers to the questions I pose. I wonder if these questions race through minds. I wonder how they each are answered. Journeys are amazing…each day is a question with an answer that excites me more and more; only to go and find more to ask. I can never be the same again…never; from Monday to Tuesday; from last year to this year; from 8 years ago to 8 years from now. No. I know the answers only in snippets. Snippets. I get there by knowing the Voice that speaks so clearly to me.
The Holy Spirit is real.
He speaks.
He is the relationship builder.
He speaks differently to each of us - but He speaks.
Stop being layela (stubborn).
You know what you need to do. Do it.
You've been told.
You know you need to cross that Jordan.
You might think you will drown or get attacked by the crocodiles or maybe you have a different journey to take...but He has this for you....He has you. Trust Him. He wouldn't send you anywhere without anything nor anywhere He didn't want you to be.
Come on now. How much more playing around are you going to do before you do what you are supposed to be doing...who you are supposed to be being?
grace and peace
I love music. No shock there. I am always talking about music, looking for new music, sharing playlists with people, going to concerts… Music holds a very big spot in my heart. But today, it tugged at my heart more than it has in a long time…
A couple of months ago, a friend of mine who currently lives in Sudan sent me a song to encourage me. It was the song “I Will Praise Him, Still” by Fernando Ortega. I was familiar with Fernando Ortega, but not that familiar with his music. I downloaded the song, and as I listened to it, I marveled at the fact that my friend – who is living in a culture completely foreign to most of us, in a land that is so completely torn by violence, pain, and evil – could identify with that song and herself say, “I will praise him still.”
That was the only song I downloaded by Fernando Ortega, and I only did so because it was a song suggested to me by my dear friend. I wasn't immediately drawn to his style, and so I didn’t look into any more of his music. However, this morning, much to my surprise, Fernando Ortega was in the church service I was attending, where he sang a song called “Grace and Peace.” There was something that happened close to where I was sitting that caused me to have a rabbit trail of thoughts… The first thought I had was incredibly selfish, a sort of “woe is me” type moment. However, where I eventually landed in my trail of thoughts, was thinking not only about Haiti, but also all of the other countries in which children are parentless and without family… Individuals who literally have no one in their life telling them they are valuable and loved.
Another situation going on right next to me added to my thinking... I was sitting two seats down from a woman who was holding a baby she nannies for. The baby was absolutely beautiful. Bright eyes. Soft skin. And doing that little “bobbing” thing that all little babies do. I watched as this woman – who was not even the baby’s mother – held this baby close to her chest while stroking the baby’s head. I enjoyed watching the two of them interact (as I absolutely love babies!) and didn’t think much about the fact that this baby not only has parents who love and care for her, but also this woman – someone who is not even blood – who is there to love and protect her.
But as Fernando Ortega played his song “Grace and Peace” I felt my eyes well up with tears. The interesting part was that it wasn’t even that emotional of a song. However, I started to think about my friend who had first introduced me to Fernando Ortega's music, and about all the people she has met and cares for. I thought about the fact that many of them do not know grace and peace – in fact, they may only know the very opposite. I also started thinking about all the babies who do not know the love of their parents, or anyone for that matter. I also thought about all the people in Haiti who must wonder if they will ever experience relief, if they’ll ever experience grace and peace.
I became greatly overwhelmed by these thoughts… But I think what became most overwhelming to me was the fact that while it’s great to have those moments of realization, those moments where I am sensitive to what is going on in the rest of the world, my life does not reflect a great passion or sensitivity towards it on a regular basis. I find that I’m so selfish in my thinking and doing. I am consumed with figuring out my own life, wondering how MY life will unfold, when there are plenty of people who are just trying to hang onto their life, wondering how long they will even have it.
I don’t want to be that way. I don’t want to be so focused on wondering what God has for me that I miss what he has for the rest of the world. I want my heart to beat for others. I want my heart to beat for restoration. I want my heart to yearn so much for what God is doing throughout the world. And through it all, I want to be like my friend and be able to say, “I will praise him still.”
I am not there, and don’t know how to get there just yet…
God, I pray you change the beat of my heart. I pray you guide my focus, my passion, and my desires. May they become molded to what you want them to be. I pray that you show me how to get there… Show me how to love like you do, to give when I don’t have the strength, and to follow you the best I am able.
ross
After declaring my love for Bob Ross, a good friend of mine sent me this picture, and it made me laugh so hard, I almost wet my pants.
Ok, no, not really.
But I do love this picture, and it did indeed give me quite a chuckle.
For your viewing pleasure...
honest
I was recently asked by a good friend to write an article on a specific topic. I was told the article would be anonymous, but that it needed to be real, raw, and personal. It needs to be honest and not cliché.
My friend’s challenge got me thinking about this sort of writing – “honest writing” if you will, and just how difficult it is. I thought a lot about the entries I’ve put up on my blog, and realized that most, if not all, are very much self-censored. The modernist in me crafts these blog entries that have neat and tidy endings, almost as if I’d placed a big red bow on them. Even if I don’t solve the questions I’m wrestling with, I still end my entries with some sort of triumphant, “But I’m on my way to figuring it out.”
I wonder what would happen if I wrote more honestly… But how does one do that? As I started to think about the idea of honest writing, I found that I had more questions than answers…
Questions about honest writing:
- What IS honest writing? How does one write what is truly in ones soul?
- Why is it so hard to write honestly? Are we scared of being seen as less than what we portray in our not-so-elaborate, in-person selves? Do we fear being held accountable to our words? Are we afraid of worrying our loved ones, or maybe even infuriating them?
- Is there every a point where a writer can be TOO honest? Does extremely honest writing create more discomfort than it creates comfort? Should an individual sensor oneself for the better of mankind, and maybe for their own good?
- Does honest writing serve a purpose for anyone but the writer? Or is it just therapy?
- When does “honest writing” become just a “vent session”?
- Are blogs really a good medium for honest writing? No one would question a novel, poem or play that’s been published, but a blog? Especially since employers are using our personal blogs as testimonials of us as individuals…
Your thoughts and ideas are welcome… I’m always anxious to hear what people think about matters such as these. The spectrum is quite large, but also extraordinarily fascinating.
So please, share.
I look forward to learning, and gaining new perspectives on “honest writing.”
