God is in my coffee.

Lately, I've been attempting to form a spiritual perspective with what I accept rather than with what I reject. I realize what I hypocrite I am to say that my connection with God through admiring nature is sufficient divine conversation, while some one else's Sunday morning service is not. Yeah, it's not really my cup of coffee, but we all have different palates.

It's like a painter at the easel, or a baker and her cupcakes; like the writer of a novel, or even the three-year-old and her play-dough village. In all these "products" there are signs and reflections of the producer and their personality. The artists style, the baker's taste, the author's vocabulary, the three-year-olds imagination. You see where I'm going with this... If God is the creator of all things, then why do we dismiss the possibility of understanding Him more through, well... all things? And if each of us possess different passions, different perspectives, different interests, then how can we misunderstand how the musician is more inclined to hear Him in music, the church-goer more apt to witness Him in a sanctuary, or the doctor more prone to find Him in the intricacies of the human body?

So, let's be real here. No, seriously. Let's shed all of our labels, reputations, prejudices, yada yada, and let's be real people. Bona fide, snot-nosed, everybody-poops, hurting, lying, crying, we're-all-dying type of REAL people...

The manifestation of God IS in all things. All things. I don't mean the interpretation of truth, but rather the realization of it. Not "what's right for me is right for me, and what's right for you is right for you," regardless of contradiction. No. I mean truth and God are revealed in all things, good, bad, beautiful, and ugly, and the places that I find Him are no better than the places that you find Him. So, why not be excited to share with one another the ways that we've come to know Him, and eager to learn from others without bias?

All to say, though we should always approach ideas and theories with discernment and precaution of delusions, let's be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater :)

"Two of a trade never agree."

"Pride is a spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense...

The more pride one has, the more one dislikes pride in others... The point is that each person's pride is in competition with ever one else's pride... Two of a trade never agree... It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest... A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you...

We must not think pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity - as if God Himself was proud. He is not in the least worried about His dignity. The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him, you will, in fact be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life."

-C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

Knock, knock.

A few weeks ago, a big ol' tree branch fell on Noffy's neighbor's wooden shed. They've since been fixing it, and as they were, I spotted one of the old wooden doors in the trash and begged Noffy to ask his neighbor if we could have it! "Why?" You might ask (if you're anything like Noffy). Well... to make a jewelry board, of course!

My prize :)

Noffy helped me (or rather, I helped him) cut it, about 2x3. I wanted to make sure to keep the handle on it so it still looked like part of a door. There's about half of it left over, so I've been brainstorming what to do with the extra pieces.

What a guy; helping me with my little projects :)

Screwing in the hooks.

The finished product. We had to hang it a bit off-center due to the framing in the wall, but no worries. I still love it! We bolted a wire to the back and hung it by two nails.

The door was free, and the hooks were only $2.50 for a pack. Plus only about an hour of our time, and I'd say it ain't so bad a deal! Now what to do with those extra door pieces... a bracelet board, maybe? Hmm...