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

It’s How You See.

**for those of you who aren’t going to check out the new about page.

This blog is about cracks in the sidewalk.  It’s about beautiful people and looking for the moon.

It’s about new things and old things and the way the trees look after it first snows.  It’s conversations about heaven.  It’s prayers on the bathroom floor.

It’s aching hearts and tired eyes and remembering what it means to be sincere.  It’s about the stars and the sun and the people who always listened.  It’s about the road trips.  It’s about the things your mom always used to say.

This blog is about empty glasses.  It’s about the things we forget to see.

We’re growing up and we’re growing old and we’re still trying to figure out exactly who we’re supposed to be.  I think we’ll probably always be that way.  

But this blog is about noticing.  It’s about the things we forget to see.  Like sincere words and open hearts and the leaves falling outside our window.  It’s about dandelions in the front lawn.  It’s about cracks in the sidewalk.  It’s about the things we forget to see.

-Linds 

Open.

via

I know this isn’t groundbreaking news or anything, but I want you to know that God lives. 

And I’m not saying that because it will change everything. And I’m not saying that just to say it. 

I’m saying it because somedays it helps just to know.

I’m saying it because once you know you’ll look for Him, and you’ll find Him in the stars.  You’ll see the smiles as you walk and the frost on your window,and you’ll think of Him.  You’ll hear His words and you’ll learn His voice and you’ll smile because you know.  And once you know you’ll look for Him, and you’ll find Him in your eyes.  

Your heart will grow, and your eyes will too, and at some point you’ll realize you’re happy.  And you might not remember exactly when it happened, or how it happened, but I hope in that moment you’ll remember God lives.

Because He has a way of changing things.

And sometimes it helps just to know. 

-Linds 

or so I've heard

And this earth is a scary and cold and awful place to be, people will tell you. It's full of nothing but hate and greed and tears.  People are selfish, and people are dishonest, and people will cheat you until after you're dead.  The earth is lost, for the most part.  There are no boundaries, and there is no love, and things are certainly not looking up.

Or so they've said and so they'll say until long after we're all dead and burried in the ground and no one's left to hear them say it anymore. 

But I'm not really sure I believe that-- about this earth being nothing but a black hole of dispair.  In fact, I look at you and your eyes won't let me believe that.  Because at the morningside last week I saw you move so that girl would have a place to sit, before anyone even had time to notice.  And while most kids would be texting, my best friend was taking notes.  Then wyatt offered to take my chair.

I can't believe it because while we were having a sleepover a couple nights ago, she told me, "God knows the way to everyone's heart."  And her faith gave me a little hope that my friend would be ok.

I can't believe it because my sister spent all of yesterday making pies with my mom when I'm pretty sure she could have thought of an excuse like I did.

I can't believe it because I went to seminary and Dalton talked about forgivness and how he said that it was ok.  It was ok that they had broken into his house.  It was ok that they had stollen everything.  It was ok, and he still loved them.  Forgivness like that refuses to let me believe it.

And I heard you crying yesterday, because you don't know how to help her.

And I saw you come to church alone a couple of weeks ago, and even though I know you'd never say it, I can only imagine how hard that would be.

And you told me about how scary it is to do the right thing, but you're going to do it anyway.

This earth is a scary and cold and awful place to be, proabably a lot of the time.  But I see you smile and I hear you pray and I realize there is a lot more to it than that.  People laugh and people grow and people will love you until long after you're dead.  And maybe it's not so much what's on this earth but the way you see it.  And maybe it's not so much what's in this world as it is what you do with it.

It is true, they'll say, people are broken and beaten and alone.  But I'm not so sure I believe that either.  People are compassionate and strong and inherently good.  You are compassionate and strong and inherently good.  And I'm a little sick of people discounting you, because you are the only thing that stops this world from becoming that black hole of dispair they're always talking about. 

Your light is my hope, and I love you for being that.

-Linds

because it was so human

The sun doesn't always shine, and neither do people

And somedays i expect too much from them,

and judge too quickly of them,

and think too little for them.

When the truth is I just don't know enough about them.



-linds.