Split Down The Middle: The Head & The Heart Collide

          "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and let it come in. Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in, we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levin said it right. He said, "Love is the only rational act." -Mitch Albom -Tuesdays with Morrie

    
          I think we've all heard the saying that "things are often easier said than done". So... what is it about 'risky' decisions, situations and people that so often can wreck a few days and nights for us?
    
          Could someone please explain why we wander the desert desperately seeking an oasis, only upon  arrival to venture out into the desert again? Logically, why leave? Perhaps your heart compelled you to, or maybe you just couldn't stay complacent. There are explanations six ways to Sunday why and all I can really say is that the answer varies from one individual to the next.
       
             Whether it is friends who make you feel like a part of something, a group / team, a difficult decision you need to make (ex: college, children, marriage, or quitting a habit - however benign), or a love interest; I see the the head and heart collide time and time again. The answer seems simple, all we need to do is find a balance... Right?
      
           Problem: How do we find balance? How do we make that tough decision.? How do we know that what he have chosen is actually the right thing? Is it solely the gut instinct or is it the logical choice? 

     All I can offer is to let your heart be your compass. One way or another, God will let you know what is good and right in His own, tailor-made way; since he only wants the best for His children.
    
          I won't pretend to know the magical formula, and I doubt that I ever will, but I find comfort in knowing that if all else fails, God knows you through and through. He'll help you; just be brave enough to ask for the 'big things' and expect an answer.
  
        With that said, I'll draw near to Him and as he steers me with people, occurrences, dreams and convictions, I know and crave the peace that only He can give.

Lots of Love, Emma
xoxo
 

           "Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident." 

-Saint Augustine

Mirror Mirror

 “As if you were on fire from within.
The moon lives in the lining of your skin.”  ~ Pablo Neruda 

 Mirror, mirror on the wall, is what's inside really pretty at all? 

  

  Poor Queenie, I wonder what made her so cold, she was obviously not getting her fill even though she practically had it all. Consequentially, Snow White really suffered for it too.

   

     Today I was thinking about vanity and trophies - whatever those may be to you (compliments, financial success, academic recognition,attention from the opposite sex...) Whether or not I like it - I admit that I have been sold to the world on several occasions. In this entry, i want to go into the 'why' a little bit.

     
          Here's the thing, there's a passage in Matthew 6:24 that goes:

 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
     
       The Papa (shack reference) who loves me and has been so faithful to me doesn't deserve to be treated as less than a friend of mine - he deserves more than that in the way i can only best describe as that of of a lover, husband, and devoted father. And for not doing so, I am immeasurably sorry.
    
       It has been said time and time again that exterior beauty is going to fade, so will the temptations of this world (refer to what i said about trophies). I think we've been a bit de-sentitized to what that really means.

      The pain of whatever dulled you to His divine love (in all the ways he expresses it) in the first place will also fade; it'll even heal if you surrender it to Jesus.

      So; are the trophies filling the void? Are they making the cut? Who else is suffering because of your inner/outer conflicts? You still browsing that proverbial mall? (whole new meaning to 'shopping therapy' there huh?)

     Today I resolve to stop looking for the insufficent 'healing' of this world and start receiving the resorative powers of new love and new life. Jesus please restore my heart to experience the thrill of 'first love' in a relationship with you.

Thoughtfully and truthfully yours,
Emma  xox

My beautiful friend Sam.

A Beautiful Brokenness

 “We are born to love as we are born to die, and between the heartbeats of those two great mysteries lies all the tangled undergrowth of our tiny lives. There is nowhere to go but through. And so we walk on, lost, and lost again, in the mapless wilderness of love.”

-Tim Farrington, The Monk Downstairs

              I sometimes wonder why we and myself choose not to see some people in 3D – for the humans they are. As people who very much experience feelings and emotions such as longing, satisfaction, disappointment, and loneliness. 

            Sometimes I catch my sister staring out the window  while listening to a song on the radio and and I can't help but link this to how I think that the reason we identify with love songs and the like is proof that we are not the only ones out there feeling those very real emotions.  Perhaps we prefer to turn a blind eye because it makes it easier to justify ourselves.

            God, forgive me when I turn a blind eye in my selfishness and thank you for revealing to me the beautiful brokenness of people. By you we were made to be loved and hardening our hearts is a chosen state, just as how a blue jay is made to fly but chooses to land (Young, The Shack). I remember that we also respond to tenderness, warmth, affection, and understanding. God heal and rearrange me from the inside out. Darling Papa, please do me the honor of using me as a vessel of your healing love and kindness.

Lots of Love, Emma

“This is real love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

- 1 John 4:10 NLT