the view from upstairs

Did I mention there’s a window here?
There’s a window and a tree.  

And it really is the most wonderful thing.  

Sometimes I lie with an open window late into the night.  I turn out the lights, and I look up at the sky.  It’s dark, and it’s wonderful, and it even feels like home sometimes.  Mostly because God’s there.  

Sometimes I talk to Him too.  I ask Him to say all of the things that I can’t right now.  I ask Him to listen.  Mostly I try and say thank you, though, and that’s mostly because He loves me.  And I’m thankful for that.

Sometimes I look up through my tree just to find the moon.  I always do, and I always smile.  Mostly because life really is the most wonderful thing, and the moon has always reminded me of that.

-Linds

given much

I've spent a lot of words saying thank you lately.  Thank you for  this place and those stars and my leopard spotted blanket.  And I keep saying, "Thank you for this abundance of love."  

And I said it again last night.  

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, abundance, I mean.  And you know what I think?  I think that there is an abundance of wealth and love and good in this world.  I think that that's the catch we all forget.  

We have this idea that there isn't enough.  So, we need to ration and take and divide.  

But I don't think I really believe that.  I think that there is enough love and wealth and goodness for all of us.  There is an abundance of opportunity.  There is an abundance of love.  

Our trouble comes when we forget that God made enough when he created us.  We're creators.  We create love and wealth and goodness.  

So, if there isn't enough, go make more.  Take all your love and kind words and pretty thoughts and big ideas and faith and equations and goals and desires and ambitions and add them.

There is an abundance of good things.  Thank God for it, and then add yours to it.  

Share your talent and your love and your passion with the world. Find something wonderful, and then smile or laugh or cry because you think it's beautiful.  Do what you love, and then share it with the world. Write it or speak it or yell it.  Lift someone up. 

Go out and look to the sky and find what it is that you have to give, and then give it everything.  

Stop complaining about the lack, and go and create more.   

And the beautiful thing is, there is enough love and opportunity for everyone.  If we all create, it can only get bigger.  


-Linds

( For You )

 If I were to write a book, I'd write about that tree outside my window.  I'd write about watching the snow fall and reading in the leaves.  I'd write about playing basketball that day and how it was so beautiful that I still go there in my head sometimes.  

I'd write about that day we went sledding and midnight hikes and that time they asked me about the perfect day and I just smiled because I've already lived so many perfect ones with you.

I'd write about the leaves that fell last fall and waiting for the snow to melt.  I'd write about the new things and the old things and the way I was happy then... the way I'm happy now.

I'd tell you to say thank you more often and to write more things down.  I'd tell you to remember the important things and to have faith in the small ones.

If I were to write a book, I'd call it Prayers from the Bathroom Floor, because to me that's what life is.  It's winter days and summer nights and hiding behind a wooden fence just to look up at the stars and say thank you.   

And I love that.  

If I were to write a book, I'd dedicate it to you, with your sarcastic jokes and overwhelming faith.  I'd dedicate it to the days that go to quick and the nights that will last forever.  I'd dedicate it to the smiles and the insecurities and the happy struggles I'll never forget.

And I'm not there yet, but one day I'll write a book.  Because God has given me so many beautiful days, and your eyes are too bright to forget.  

-Linds

Thank You For Breathing

Do you remember that night we road scooters down the canyon and then we left?  We said goodbye, and we just left for what seemed to be forever.  And I know it's rather anti-climactic now, since I talk to her almost everyday, but I was terribly afraid... and you were always there.  

And now I'm just terribly afraid that I never had the chance to thank you.  

Forgive Me?

-Linds

Whole.

"I want to believe that, in a city of nearly three million people, there has to be someone else who sees the world in the beautiful way that I do."  (Postsecret.com) ^^^^^

Well, I do; I see it.

I see the crazy hair and the sunflowers and the girl reading alone in the library.  I hear the birds and the laughter and the telephone ringing.  I see the trash on the corner and I smell the freshly cut grass.  I lay in the fields and i look at the stars, and I see it.  

I see the weeds growing through the sidewalk cracks and I feel a little sad for them and I guess it's because I know what it's like to feel unwanted.  And in their will to flourish, I see it.

I see the railroad tracks and I hear the bicycle wheels as they turn down my little street past my little house.  I smell the cornbread that I sometimes make on Sundays and I smile at the texts that sometimes make me cry because they are so beautifully sincere.  And through their love, I see it.

I hear my sisters prayers and I feel the truth in that classroom as he talks about God.  I see the kindness in their faces and I see the gratitude in hers as they say she's been wonderful.  And I see it in her tears as they fall.

I get angry when I hear them whisper but then I smile because it may just be that God is trying to teach me something.  Then tears fill my eyes as gratitude fills my heart when I remember those people who've changed me.  And it's in their eyes that I see it. 

And my heart changes shape as I think of you and my eyes widen as I watch that little girl touch her hand gently and my ears lingre a little longer on the I love you's.  Every moment I realize His love a little more fully and everything I see becomes a little more clear.

And I want to shout, "I do. I see it."

I see God's hand as I look to the mountains and I hear His voice in your advice. 

I see it, and I realize that there's something beautiful about an imperfect world, and I realize that maybe things aren't always supposed to go as planned. 

And maybe life can be beautiful without being perfect.