Defining love.

I had a spaghetti day today. No, not a spaghetti eating day - just a spaghetti like day. Think: events flowing together, getting twisted, tangled and just kind of all-over-the-place. Like a big plate of spaghetti noodles...

By the late afternoon I just needed some time out. So, I stopped by Panera, grabbed a journal and a lovely little book that makes its home in the backseat pocket of my Box.

Upon settling in a booth, I decided to open to a random page of the book and read until I felt content. Surprisingly, this didn't even take a full cinco minutos. Because a few pages in, I stumbled upon this:

A French priest, conducting a retreat, said,

To love anyone is to hope is him always. From the moment at which we begin to judge anyone, to limit our confidence in him, from the moment at which we identify him, and so reduce him to that, we cease to love him, and he ceases to be able to become better. We must dare to love in a world that does not know how to love.

And slowly, the hideous-monster-of-a-Biology-test and family drama seemed to fade away...

Some (not so new) art.

I made this piece for an English project I mentioned on here last month. In honor of the new year, we were given the task: creatively express a list of fifty (small-ish) ways to improve your two-thousand-eight.

Here's what I came up with:

Dream.

Dreaming seems to be a recurring theme in my life, and this week, I've found myself in a season where just about everywhere I turn (literally, from blogs to the single performance I watched on American Idol tonight), the message remains: dream.

Boldly, recklessly, as if money is irrelevant and time abundant - just dream.

With abandon, hope, vision and faith. With love as a key to the Kingdom's presence. Simply, purely, dream.

So here's to dreaming --

For friends preparing for Africa,
For a summer trip to the Balkans,
For life and love,
For joy and creativity,
For art and peace,
For a better tomorrow,
For revolution,
For hope,
For children's futures altered forever,
For freedom,
For days laced with laughter,
For reunion,
For safe homes,
For mending hearts,
For every dreamer who ever dreamed
May your soul dance along with each beloved dream
From now until eternity