Dear Lord. Feels.

for the sheer love of LARGE hair...

Listen to me, your body is not a temple. Temples can be destroyed and desecrated. Your body is a forest - thick canopies of maple trees and sweet scented wildflowers sprouting in the underwood. You will grow back, over and over, no matter how badly you are devastated.

Beau Taplin (via quotes-for-reference)

#Temples #Forests #Growth.

Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 12 – A blended photograph, with the sunrise from Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Skeleton Trees from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015 Our life is contrived from the start. The grounding foundation of our way with life is having our way with life. How to have our way in each situation as it arises– in every here-and-now that comes along– it our prime motivator. How do I get/have what I want today? And keep from getting/having what I don’t want? All day? Every day? If we are ever thrown into a life where we cannot ever hope to have what we want exactly like we want it, we wonder why go on. “So what? Who cares? What difference does it make? What’s the use? What’s the point? Why try?” become the burdens we bear every day. And it isn’t just us. It is everyone. It is the entire culture. It is the entire world of cultures. We are in it for what we can get out of it. And we bend, shape, form, contort our bodies and our lives to have the best chance of getting what we want. We do whatever it takes to have what we want. Our life is contrived from the start. NO CONTRIVANCES! NOTHING CONTRIVED! STOP IT NOW! That would change everything. And to live the life at the heart of life, we have to do that very thing: No contrivances! Nothing contrived! Stop it now! And replace it with what? We have no idea. We are so lost to the true center and ground of our living that we are completely clueless as to how to go about life without getting, having, keeping as the directing force of our living. Getting, having, keeping is what guides our boat on its path through the sea. Without that, we drift, flounder, capsize, sink. Poor, pitiful, us. What to do? When we don’t know what to do, the one thing that is always best to do is grow up some more again. We always grow up against our will, so no growing up ever happens until we are at the end of our rope. At the bottom of some wall. Wobegon and woeful “on the heaving waves of the wine dark sea.” There is always one more door to open. It is the one that leads to ourselves. To the Self that has been with us through it all. The Self that knows the way to life without contrivance. But. “That which we seek lies far back in the darkest corner of the cave we most don’t want to enter” (Joseph Campbell). To live without contrivance is to live with complete, utter, vulnerability. Jesus was born in a manger and died on a cross. How’s that for vulnerability? Jesus said, “If you want to be my companion, you have to pick up your cross each day and come with me.” They don’t talk about this on Easter morning. It’s all resurrection and life and Jesus died for us so that we don’t have to. BS. BS. BS. Jesus died as a way of saying, “This is how it is. The path to the empty tomb winds across the face of Golgotha. In the service of life, we die every day. Are you coming or not?” The Way is the way of vulnerability. And the power of vulnerability is that once you say yes to that, understand that, embrace that, nothing can harm you ever. You walked right into the cave you most don’t want to enter. You strode all the way to the darkest corner far in the back. You seized the treasure that has been waiting on you all these years, embraced your vulnerability and walked out of that cave completely immune to the worst life can do. You are Ulysses smiling up at the Cyclops, spitting into its ugly red eye, saying, “Show me what you got!” And, in that moment, you know the secret of facing every day, every moment of every day, each situation as it arises in the strength and confidence of one who knows you have what it takes to find what it takes to do what needs to be done in all circumstances, no matter what, all your life long– and that it comes to you in your moment of need, in the darkest place, in the most hopeless hour, in the here-and-now comes “the still, small, voice,” suggesting the way, the right way, the right response, the right reply, the right deed, the right action for this time, this place, right here, right now, arising from within– spontaneously, unbidden, unthought, unimagined, but undeniably occurring to you out of nowhere, offering in the darkness resurrection and life. And like that, contrivance gives way to occurrence. And it is a new world, Golda. A brand new world.

hahhahahaha... that can as well be described as having an immense mad CRAVING for something.. then when you finally find it, you flash it down the toilet...

I say H_E_L_L_N_O... al take my risks...

*where are such boys anyways? #sigh #sigh #sigh.

TALL BOYS WITH PRETTY EYES AND DEEP VOICES AND MESSY HAIR WHO SMIRK A LOT ARE THE ABSOLUTE WORST AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS 0/10 WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

Cool stuff.

CHARACTER FACIAL EXPRESSIONS (WRITING REFERENCE)

EYES/BROWS

his eyes widened

her eyes went round

her eyelids drooped

his eyes narrowed

his eyes lit up

his eyes darted

he squinted

she blinked

her eyes twinkled

his eyes gleamed

her eyes sparkled

his eyes flashed

his eyes glinted

his eyes burned with…

her eyes blazed with…

her eyes sparked with…

her eyes flickered with…

_____ glowed in his eyes

the corners of his eyes crinkled

she rolled her eyes

he looked heavenward

she glanced up to the ceiling

she winked

tears filled her eyes

his eyes welled up

her eyes swam with tears

his eyes flooded with tears

her eyes were wet

his eyes glistened

tears shimmered in her eyes

tears shone in his eyes

her eyes were glossy

he was fighting back tears

tears ran down her cheeks

his eyes closed

she squeezed her eyes shut

he shut his eyes

his lashes fluttered

she batted her lashes

his brows knitted

her forehead creased

his forehead furrowed

her forehead puckered

a line appeared between her brows

his brows drew together

her brows snapped together

his eyebrows rose

she raised a brow

he lifted an eyebrow

his eyebrows waggled

she gave him a once-over

he sized her up

her eyes bored into him

she took in the sight of…

he glared

she peered

he gazed

she glanced

he stared

she scrutinized

he studied

she gaped

he observed

she surveyed

he gawked

he leered

his pupils (were) dilated

her pupils were huge

his pupils flared

NOSE

her nose crinkled

his nose wrinkled

she sneered

his nostrils flared

she stuck her nose in the air

he sniffed

she sniffled

MOUTH

she smiled

he smirked

she grinned

he simpered

she beamed

her mouth curved into a smile

the corners of his mouth turned up

the corner of her mouth quirked up

a corner of his mouth lifted

his mouth twitched

he gave a half-smile

she gave a lopsided grin

his mouth twisted

he plastered a smile on his face

she forced a smile

he faked a smile

her smile faded

his smile slipped

he pursed his lips

she pouted

his mouth snapped shut

her mouth set in a hard line

he pressed his lips together

she bit her lip

he drew his lower lip between his teeth

she nibbled on her bottom lip

he chewed on his bottom lip

his jaw set

her jaw clenched

his jaw tightened

a muscle in her jaw twitched

he ground his jaw

he snarled/his lips drew back in a snarl

her mouth fell open

his jaw dropped

her jaw went slack

he gritted his teeth

she gnashed her teeth

her lower lip trembled

his lower lip quivered

SKIN

she paled

he blanched

she went white

the color drained out of his face

his face reddened

her cheeks turned pink

his face flushed

she blushed

he turned red

she turned scarlet

he turned crimson

a flush crept up her face

WHOLE FACE, ETC.

he screwed up his face

she scrunched up her face

he grimaced

she winced

she gave him a dirty look

he frowned

she scowled

he glowered

her whole face lit up

she brightened

his face went blank

her face contorted

his face twisted

her expression closed up

his expression dulled

her expression hardened

she went poker-faced

a vein popped out in his neck

awe transformed his face

fear crossed her face

sadness clouded his features

terror overtook his face

recognition dawned on her face

SOURCE

#WiseWords...

Sigh.

infp issue #166

i give myself less credit than i deserve

we

"Gulabi Gang" is a gang of women in India who track down and beat abusive husbands with brooms.

---

Lord, Bless Me.

I don’t tend to see Christians talk about this much, or in a very nuanced way, and I think it’s worth talking about. and that is that suppression and surrender are two different things.

suppression is the refusal to acknowledge feelings you’d rather not feel. it’s stuffing them down out of shame or guilt, or the belief that you’re not “supposed” to feel them, in favour of pretending that you don’t experience them at all. suppressing anger, for example, leads to long-term bitterness, grudges, and burn-out from pretending you’re a happy peppy optimistic Christian all the dang time. it is deeply unhealthy.

surrender is the active, honest acknowledgment of your feelings, desires, and temptations, without attaching undue shame to them, and then bringing them to the feet of Jesus and choosing to live by His Word anyway. it is not a dismissal of feelings but the very act of bringing them to light so He may show you what to do about them. 

surrendering to God’s way does not mean shoving feelings of anger or bitterness or anxiety into a dark crevice, or acting like you can brush off years of pain in a moment.

surrender is telling God you are hurt, letting yourself feel the pain of being wronged so that your pain may be healed by Christ’s tenderness and love. 

surrender is telling Him you are anxious, you are desperately frightened, and letting Him be present in your trembling, letting Him be peace and steadiness and unconditional love while you breathe and count and grounding-technique through the wave of panic.

surrender is allowing yourself to say you did not deserve the abuse, you will not stand for abuse, you will not return to your abusers, and working day by day to forgive your abusers and pray for them anyway. 

surrender is telling Jesus you are sorely tempted- to cheat on the exam, to cheat on your partner, to objectify your cute coworker, to talk shit about your boss- and allowing Him to lead you away from acting on it and into doing the right thing anyway.

surrender is the exact opposite of suppression.

I so often see this message online, explicitly and implicitly, that whatever you’re feeling is valid– and it is!– but then it just… stops there. if you’re angry, good, stay angry. you shouldn’t have to forgive anyone. you shouldn’t have to treat people with dignity if you don’t like them. nobody has the right to tell you to act in a way that doesn’t completely indulge your feelings. treat yourself. you do you.

I disagree. indulgence may seem like the right fix because it’s surely the polar opposite of suppression. but being a slave to your thoughts and emotions is no better than being a slave to shame. it is good to express anger. it is also good to place limits on your anger so you express it in healthy ways. it is okay to have a mental illness. it is also important to not let that illness define your very being, to remember you are more, to fight for recovery. it is completely normal to be tempted in a thousand ways. it is important to resist temptation and seek to do the right thing, and run to the grace and overwhelming love of God when you don’t.

true freedom in Christ comes when you are open with Him about all you are, and willing to let Him lead you through the maze. true freedom makes room for limits and boundaries, ones that will help you grow and flourish.