Creativity VS. Sophistication

Creativity VS. Sophistication.

These two have worlds of their own it seems...
and, I have to admit it daily frusturates me.

I know...I am crazy...
but, I love fashion, and I think it is an art of expressing oneself.
And, it is daily something that goes through this chaotic mind of mine.

Don't get me wrong, fashion in general is "creative" because you are "creating" something.

When I refer to the world of "creativity", I don't mean simply creating, I mean the creative world that is unique, has no boundaries, and risks...constantly.
It's this world where anything is possible....
new ideas, colors, patterns etc are the heartbeat.
There is indeed apart of my heart that very much likes this world...
for it is fun and adventurous and so full of life!
When I think of this world I think of the essence of really being "free" to express who you are.

Now, when I think of the world of "sophistication" I also get happy.
It's this world of glamour, and class.
It rings, "wealthy and prominent."
I love this world.
It makes me feel powerful and unstoppable.
As, if I could change the world!
It is this world of importance,
where people look to you, you could say...
if we were painting a picture.
Which I suppose I am. :)

For so long, these worlds have been completely separate,
if not complete opposites.
And, boy does it bother me.
I constantly think of unique ways to mix the two worlds,
because they are both amazing to me.

I wouldn't say I have figured it out yet.
At all.
It frusturates me, continuously.
Pathetic? Yes.
True? Even more so.

I am on the journey of learning to see the two worlds collide...
because, I think of they did it would create one, amazing, powerful, adventurous world for fashion where ideas could flow endlessly.

To seeing the two worlds collide....

Peace. Love. Joy.

Joseph.

The story of Joseph in the Bible is amazing.

I mean, think about it...
here is this guy, who mainly due to his own oblivion was sold into slavery by his very own brothers.
Can you imagine? I mean really, truly think about that scenario. Selling your very own family member? Insane.

Then he ends up being promoted to this place with Pharaoh, because he was able to interpret his dreams. He must have been so in tune with the Holy Spirit to speak revelation of those dreams.

So, then from that place he now is given strategy from Heaven on how to handle the famine that is going to happen. And, eventually, not only is he running Egypt, because Pharaoh has given him full reign....but the world ends up coming to him:

"When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world." (Genesis 41:56-57)

This man, once simply a slave betrayed by his own family, is now promoted to this place of influence where he is able to bring the strategy of Heaven down to earth in such a manner that the world eventually comes to him for wisdom.

I think Joseph spent a lot of time with Abba. I think he truly knew His heart. And, I think because he chose to focus on the one thing that God promoted him to this world stage...because, He knew He could trust Joseph with the platform and with the wisdom.

Because, all Joseph ever wanted was to know Abba.

I want to be after His heart.
I want that to be all I am consumed with.
Because, I believe that from that place all else and MORE will come.

[I want Abba to trust me with His heart. To tell me His secrets.]

Peace. Love. Joy.

Rise and Rise Again.....

"We can't repay our good luck with bad grace. It invites darkness." (Robin Hood)

That is one of my favorite lines from that movie, and I am not sure why yet....I will figure it out though.

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I love creativity.
I love sophistication.
I want to merge the two worlds together.

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"One of the primary ways that we reveal the risen Christ is when our lives display a conspicuous lack of fear and the strong presence of bold love." (Kris V)

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"You have to put a demand on what you believe. It's not good enough just to believe it." (BJ)

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"Only in humility can we begin to find the beauty in everything. Do you have the
barefaced wonder to drift outside the lines? If you dare, you could rise up to be
the shameless architect of the unknown, charting new ground that the critics will
never know. For the rest of the crowd, there's safety in numbers. But for you- you
and your brave soul, there are no guilty pleasures. Just pleasures." -Jon Foreman-

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"Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!" -- Walt Whitman


Peace. Love. Joy.

Music.

Music.
Have you ever stopped and wondered at its glorious complexity?
How do all these different instruments create these sounds?
And, how is it that there are so many sounds to be created?
It's as if the combinations never end.

It has the ability to move your spirit..your soul...and even your body.
It's the thing we run to in joy.
It's the thing we run to in sadness.
And, even when we are angry.

It's this haven of understanding...
as if all the instruments creating this one, unifying sound,
can identify with where we are at and what we are feeling.

It brings peace.
It brings relief.
It brings comfort.
It's emotion at it's best.

I don't know about you...
but boy am I happy God decided to bring music into our worlds.
And, more so that He let's us join with Him in creating sounds that have yet to be heard.
Sounds that will move hearts.
Sounds that will break through walls on the inside of us.
Sounds that will transform our very lives.

Peace. Love. Joy.

Stretching.

To be stretched into what you were created to be...
it's scary and explosive at the same time.

It's the moment before being stretched where you freak out....
you have this choice; fight through even with fear still prevalent,
or give into the fear altogether.

I have found that most the time when you just fight through, even with the uncomfortable feeling of fear pulsating through every vein in your body,
you come out with victory and more importantly apart of your soul comes alive.
Because, you just did something even though everything in you wanted to run the other direction.
What could more freeing than that?

God is so good.
All the time.
I don't just say that as I cliche "church" thing we have heard our whole lives while sitting in the pews.
I say it because I have experienced His goodness.
And, my friends, once it's experienced there is no turning back.

I came to this conlusion though,
I KNOW He is good...
so why do I even fear?
If He is good all the time, then I know that no matter the siutations that arise in life, everything will work out for my good.
Because, His love and affection is for me.
What more could I ask for?

It's quite a brilliant thing to ponder.

Peace. Love. Joy.

Mistaken.

I realized something the other day.
What I am experiencing here, is the very opposite of what I thought.

I thought that I was coming to a place, where I had to be "perfect" in a sense...
because then, and only then could I be this "super charged miracle worker."

I came though, and realized, it's the very opposite.
My heart is being healed and is coming alive with Jesus.
He is drawing me into an intimacy I have never known.

It's all about the process my friends.
The process is what it's about.
I am in a process.
Jesus is doing so much in my heart.

I don't have to perform.
I don't have to be this "super charged miracle worker."
I just need to be intimate with Him.
I need to constantly be aware of His presence.
To gaze upon Him at any given moment--because it's in that place of intimacy with Him, that all else flows.

As long as I simply turn my affection towards Him, I don't have to worry or strive for the rest. It simply comes.

So, if you ask what I am "working" at?
I am working at not working at all.
I am working at intimacy...and just "being."

If I could give you one tip for life...I would say, embrace the process, and love it.
It's what life is all about.

Peace. Love. Joy.

"When we begin to serve God for the praise of man or to find identity in what we do, no matter how great the call of God is on our lives, no matter how powerful the gifts or the anointing flow in our ministry, that underlying attitude of self-love can begin to produce a hidden resentment and anger, fueled by a fear of rejection and a fear of failure. As soon as our service is no longer motivated by God's love, but by a need to be needed or seen, we begin to drift away from Father's heart of compassion, and we will soon find ourselves in the older brother's shoes, slaving in the fields and thinking all along that we dwell in His house of love." (Jack Frost--Experiencing Father's Embrace)

I suggest reading that book by the way--your life will be changed. Hands Down.

Be a Pioneer.

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better." (Mother Teresa)

"He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
(Titus 3:4b-7)

Peace. Love. Joy.