Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Joel's Circle of Life
In searching blog archives, I was hoping to find for you the video of a 4-year-old Joel. He has always mulled things over in his head. You know he's really chewing on things, because out pops a totally creative new perspective. A tiny window on the world all his own. A completely different sense of this wacky world.
In the video he asks a good question:
"Since God can do anything, can He swim even where there is no water?"
I assume Joel would like to try swimming in the air when we get to Eternity... =)
My Creative Little Prince's wheels have been turning through First Grade.
Well, a couple days ago, he explained to me his version of the Circle of Life.
He's really put weeks of thought into it:
It makes me think, then laugh, then think again...
I think I love 'airplanes eat people' the best. It took me a long time to digest that one. Figuratively, people walk in and look like they are 'consumed'. Like a large animal swallowing up it's little passengers for dinner. Where does he come up with this stuff? But we've been in enough airplanes to consider them banale (French for 'commonplace', only better than just that).
Then the banale beast of prey disappears and is 'eaten' by a cloud. This is almost like one of those phone commercials where each new frame leads us to another world entirely. Don't you just love to see the way kids think? I hope Joel's Circle of Life gives you a chuckle today. We could all use a little more childlikeness.
I guess I do feel a bit like I've been in the belly of a whale after a 10-hr flight...
In the video he asks a good question:
"Since God can do anything, can He swim even where there is no water?"
I assume Joel would like to try swimming in the air when we get to Eternity... =)
My Creative Little Prince's wheels have been turning through First Grade.
Well, a couple days ago, he explained to me his version of the Circle of Life.
He's really put weeks of thought into it:
lions eat zebras
zebras eat grass
grass eats dirt
dirt eats water/rain
water/rain eats clouds
clouds eat airplanes
airplanes eat people
people eat lions
etc.
*insert cool circular graph here*
zebras eat grass
grass eats dirt
dirt eats water/rain
water/rain eats clouds
clouds eat airplanes
airplanes eat people
people eat lions
etc.
*insert cool circular graph here*
It makes me think, then laugh, then think again...
I think I love 'airplanes eat people' the best. It took me a long time to digest that one. Figuratively, people walk in and look like they are 'consumed'. Like a large animal swallowing up it's little passengers for dinner. Where does he come up with this stuff? But we've been in enough airplanes to consider them banale (French for 'commonplace', only better than just that).
Then the banale beast of prey disappears and is 'eaten' by a cloud. This is almost like one of those phone commercials where each new frame leads us to another world entirely. Don't you just love to see the way kids think? I hope Joel's Circle of Life gives you a chuckle today. We could all use a little more childlikeness.
I guess I do feel a bit like I've been in the belly of a whale after a 10-hr flight...
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Vortex
Okay, I admit it. I really have very little idea what a 'vortex' actually is.
I think it's supposed to be something that sucks you in whether you like it or not.
Like you're going down the drain.
A wild and powerful force
on the edge of uncontrollable.
Five weeks remain until we hit the friendly skies once again. The to-do lists are growing everyday with things to stock up on, de-plastify, carefully weigh in 50-lb. increments, and insure for the long-haul. Random things on my shopping list to give you the gist:
Bag zapper tennis rackets
Craisins
Multi-vitamins that expire after 2013
Math curriculum for 2012-2013 school year
4 laptops for Kent's work
If only I could buy me some peaceful TIME to do all this shopping...
'The experts', not sure who they are exactly, say that to completely unpack your emotional bags to live in a different place takes about SIX MONTHS. So, this time around, at only 5, we knew we wouldn't get that far. Trouble is, over the last wonderful 12 years together, we've only passed 6 months in the same house a few times. So this THING. This process of folding up your life in packable bits, moving it across the world... or across town, and unfolding it once again... This process is TRANSITION. And it is where we live.
In one of our orientation classes, a wise instructor gave us a gift.
A piece of paper really.
It's our emotional road map.
It lays out the emotional process of transition.
First, the folding up and shutting down.
Then the chaos in between.
Finally, the unfolding...
making mistakes.
Learning to trust.
Again.
We hang that roadmap on our bathroom door and often look at it and find ourselves in our relative processes. Such a relief to know that anxiety at this stage is normal. We have gotten to the point of taking it down once or twice, but usually it just lives on the bathroom door. Pointing us to the path ahead. Making our exit. Making our entrance. This path we walk... in transition. Following in dusty, bloodied footprints. Putting off the old life. Putting on the new. Maybe it's just good practice...
I call TRANSITION a vortex, because it seems to suck you in without asking. It feels like everything is powerfully out of control.
But it isn't.
This whirlwind of moving chaos has limits.
God holds it in his hands and does not let us spin out of control. He keeps our hearts pumping, minds thinking, friends praying. He holds us close. All else in the material world is packed, shipped or tossed away.
But we will always have HIM. And He is far more powerful than our little vortex.
I think it's supposed to be something that sucks you in whether you like it or not.
Like you're going down the drain.
A wild and powerful force
on the edge of uncontrollable.
Five weeks remain until we hit the friendly skies once again. The to-do lists are growing everyday with things to stock up on, de-plastify, carefully weigh in 50-lb. increments, and insure for the long-haul. Random things on my shopping list to give you the gist:
Bag zapper tennis rackets
Craisins
Multi-vitamins that expire after 2013
Math curriculum for 2012-2013 school year
4 laptops for Kent's work
If only I could buy me some peaceful TIME to do all this shopping...
'The experts', not sure who they are exactly, say that to completely unpack your emotional bags to live in a different place takes about SIX MONTHS. So, this time around, at only 5, we knew we wouldn't get that far. Trouble is, over the last wonderful 12 years together, we've only passed 6 months in the same house a few times. So this THING. This process of folding up your life in packable bits, moving it across the world... or across town, and unfolding it once again... This process is TRANSITION. And it is where we live.
In one of our orientation classes, a wise instructor gave us a gift.
A piece of paper really.
It's our emotional road map.
It lays out the emotional process of transition.
First, the folding up and shutting down.
Then the chaos in between.
Finally, the unfolding...
making mistakes.
Learning to trust.
Again.
We hang that roadmap on our bathroom door and often look at it and find ourselves in our relative processes. Such a relief to know that anxiety at this stage is normal. We have gotten to the point of taking it down once or twice, but usually it just lives on the bathroom door. Pointing us to the path ahead. Making our exit. Making our entrance. This path we walk... in transition. Following in dusty, bloodied footprints. Putting off the old life. Putting on the new. Maybe it's just good practice...
I call TRANSITION a vortex, because it seems to suck you in without asking. It feels like everything is powerfully out of control.
But it isn't.
This whirlwind of moving chaos has limits.
God holds it in his hands and does not let us spin out of control. He keeps our hearts pumping, minds thinking, friends praying. He holds us close. All else in the material world is packed, shipped or tossed away.
But we will always have HIM. And He is far more powerful than our little vortex.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)