sensory images

IF you're looking for a really meaty, personality diving, spiritual post...




Don't read this one.





If I were suddenly struck blind, certain things would still hold sensory power for me. I have a tendancy to feel a texture, smell a scent, taste a food, hear a sound, and relate it to something else. here are some of my if I was blind thoughts.

1) the taste of sweet potatoes. My Aunt Kimberly makes amazing sweet potatoes with marshmallows and cinnamon and a smooth, sweet consistency. When I eat sweet potatoes I can picture my Aunt placing her dish on the Thanksgiving table.

2) The taste of Mac and cheese makes me think of my Uncle Mike, because he makes the richest, tastiest Mac and cheese EVER! I always compare mac and cheese to his. Uncle Mike pretends like he's Emrile on TV and pours all his ingredients in to little bowls before he starts, leaving all kinds of dishes that he has to wash later.

3) The smell of herbal essence shampoo always makes me think of my friend Ginkgo. Have you ever noticed how people have thier own distinct scents? Normally it comes from thier shampoo, but even two people who use the same shampoo will have different smells. For example, the pastor's wife at my church smells like a rich perfume. Ginkgo always smells flowerly (from Herbal Essence) like Ginny Weasley.

4) The feel of baby footy PJ's makes me feel safe and loved. Terry cloth is my favorite ever. If you want to buy me a Christmas present, buy me a terry cloth robe. The reason that feel, from the footy PJ's, makes me feel safe, is when I feel it means that my little sister has climbed into my bed next to me in the middle of the night for safety.

5) the sound of my dad reading makes me remember my childhood. The schooling curriculum we used required alot of reading aloud, and Dad read to us from a story collection we called the Red Book.

6) The smell of toy train smoke from our Christmas trains and pine makes me happy. It's associated with christmas and grandparents and cousins.

7) The feel of Sweaters make me think of my grandma, who always used to wear sweater vests because she was cold, and of my friend tyler, who likes argile sweaters.

8) The smell of coffee and the smell of cilantro (Spelling?) don't make me think of anything paticular, but I love them both.

9) The sound of a flute makes me think of my friend Liza and her Mom. Mrs. B plays the most beautiful flute and I love her music!!

10) The feel and smell of leather makes me think of my Uncle Mike and my Uncle Kieth. Both of them wear cold leather jackets and had leather sofas at one point in my life. The smooth suave feeling reminds me of them.

There are more, But I won't list them all. What are some of yours?

Are you...?

"This is your life, are you who you want to be?"
I have no idea who this line from a song is by. my inclination is to say Switchfoot, but I can't promise. But it links into my post. Before we get there though, we have to do some explaining. First of all, last weekend I went on the DHT retreat organized by a friend of mine. (I haven't asked him If I can use his name, so we're calling him J.) J is amazing, first of all, putting that whole weekend together. I remember first meeting him when he and my sis were debate partners. Second, DHT is something that I need to constantly be reminding myself of, or I will not do it. Third, another friend of mine who was also on the retreat wrote a great blog post/facebook note about it, so I felt forced into writing down these thoughts. (Thanks Ryan ;-))

So now, finally, back to the song lyric. I do not like that line. Not because it's a bad song, but because it's neo-centric, aka self centered. It's all about you, you achieving your goals, you getting to the highest possible place.
I don't think that's how the world was intended to be.
Let's put it in the words of Alex and Brett. They say "we become the men(women) we strive to be". Later they ask, "Are you, Son/Daughter of God, all that he has planned out for you to be?" If I was a song lyricist, I would have written, "This is your life, It's not in your hands, are you who HE wants you to be?". That is a prize truly worth striving for.

And I haven't been striving for it.

Rather, I've been walking contentedly along in my high schooler life, waiting. But waiting for what? Now is my opportunity.
Dave said at the beginning of this Navs year that we should try "to make the most of every opportunity". If you follow my blog, you'll know I hads a passion moment a few weeks ago. so now my passion moment is moving on from a MY passion moment to a GOD passion moment. That was the first study I did with Navs, making my plan for my life meet God's plan for my life. And I want it to. So I'm going to try.

What if__________?(First one from Katie. Looking for others! You fill it in based on my post.)
1) you asked yourself...
Are you WHO He wants you to be?
Are you WHAT He wants you to be?
Are you WHERE He wants you to be?
Are you doing what He wants you to do?

Passionate again

"Give me one pure and holy passion.
Give me one magnificent obssesion
GIve me one glorious ambition for my life,
To know and follow hard after you.

To know and follow hard after you,
To walk out in your spirit and your truth.
This world is empty pale and poor, compared to knowing you my lord.
So lead me on, and I will run after you,
Lead me on, and I will run after you."

That's the answer to my passion question. With that in mind, I'm going to start a new blog feature. It's called What if? and will only work with help. Based on comments, other blogs, converstations with others, i'm going to start including what if questions.

What IF? (inspired by Dave)
What if Jesus was trulyt greater than everything else in your life?

Quote:
"Always remember to forget the things that make you sad and don't forget to remember the things that make you happy." Mugolo Nathan, compassion child