Springtime in M-town

Spring in the Mid-South is one of my favorite times. There is a small gap in the Memphis weather between the blistering cold winter and the scorching hot summer where for a few picturesque weeks the barometer stays in the high 70's to low 80's, a.k.a. perfection in a weather forecast.

Yards receive a makeover as the grass turns a glorious shade of Crayola green and flowers of every color suddenly burst out of their hiding places as if they had been waiting for an eternity. The perfect amount of rain falls which helps illuminate the array of colors already splashed over Memphis' canvas. The ever-present background breeze rustles the leaves in the trees with just enough force to make its presence known.

Bikes and roller blades are pulled from the shadows of dusty garages, the smell of freshly cut grass fills the air, and parents pushing their babies in strollers and dogs dragging their owners take to the sidewalks. Constant driveway car washing is a staple in my neighborhood as I am sure it is elsewhere. Invitations to crawfish boils and cookouts spread far and wide. People try to find things to do outside. We may be one of the unhealthiest cities in the United States, but you wouldn't know it right now.

This is one of my FAVORITES! It is like I told someone recently, you don't have to like crawfish to enjoy a crawfish boil. Like a lot of things in life, it is all about the atmosphere... friends, family, and a good time. And crawfish boils in the spring equal a good time. :)

This is my new toy. Me and my roommate each bought one! I am so excited to start riding!

Maybe it is the fact that we have all been cooped up for much of the winter season, more so this year than in the past seeing as it was unnaturally cold here, but one thing is for certain: everyone is nicer… friendlier… more joyful. Waking up is easier and smiling becomes more natural. More deep breaths are taken, more happy moments are created, and more fond memories are pondered. People wave from the windows of their cars and scream hello, arms flailing, from across the street. It is like a blanket of good mood has been draped across the city affecting everyone who is fortunate enough to be underneath it.

Do you think it is just the way we see things or all about how our surroundings make us feel that causes us to be so much more joyful and different? I think that is part of it, but I also think it is about the actual change. Spring is the refresher season, the clean slate season. It is the season of inspiration. Gorgeous weather makes people feel like they can start anew. I read in a blog somewhere about a "Spiritual Spring Cleaning" that takes place. Maybe that is one of the reasons God created the seasons. As the Earth experiences its different changes, so do we.

Nothing looks the same from one season to the next, and if you think about it, neither do we. A lot happens to us throughout the year. Think about the person you were last year at this time. Think about all that you have gone through, the people you have met, the places you have been, the things you have experienced. Are you the same as you were last spring? I know I'm not.

I would be willing to bet you have withered and bloomed, frozen and melted, and changed color quite a few times over the last year. Were there times when you felt like you had everything to offer and times when you felt too lacking or limited to give? Times when you wanted the whole world to know how you felt and times when you wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear? Times of glorious celebration and times of complete grief and mourning?

Yeah, we all have. Good and bad, they have one thing in common. They change us. These "things", i.e. events, people, moments, feelings, come into our lives, stay a while, some longer than we would like, and eventually go. Still, they all change us. It is funny how God works, isn't it? Everything is linked. Such opportunity to grow. Amazing…

Springtime is about change. What is not to love about that?

Go enjoy your season of change.

 

“You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly, you settle its furrows; you make it soft with showers, you bless its growth. You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing.” 

-Psalm 65:9-13

"For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!"

-Song 2:11-13

Down the Rabbit Hole

LA is a land of wonder and dreams. Where stars are born, made, broken, and burn out on a daily basis. People, for the most part, leave each other alone, more worried about living their own lives. This strange land allows everyone to be and act how he or she pleases. There is not one true sense of style because anything goes. There is no one place to be because everything is fun and different. Harmony and chaos walk hand in hand. For me, there is always something about stepping off that three and a half hour flight from MEM to LAX that brings a smile to my face and goosebumps to my skin.

During my most recent trip to Santa Monica to visit my soon-to-be STAR sister... dun da da duuuun... Erin Williams, I realized something: LA is exactly like Wonderland (with about a trillion times the number of Alice's chasing about a billion different white rabbits).

*Okay, yes, guilty as charged. The premier of the 3D version of Alice in Wonderland was the Friday while I was visiting.*

Driving down the 405 on a perfectly delicious seventy degree afternoon can make you feel like you have not a care in the entire world. The weather is like something out of a Nicholas Sparks beach read... but every day! With a great song in the background and the snow-capped mountains in the distance, I feel like, even if just for the car ride, nothing can touch me. Freedom. What a great feeling. Have you ever felt like that? Like nothing can touch you? From the moment I step foot off the plane I can not help but believe that anything is possible. Corny, I know. Really what I think is it is not so much what I feel, but that I feel... so strongly, so passionately. Like I said, it just feels great.

"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see," Alice says.

So, down, down, down, the rabbit hole I go...



The lure of LA doesn't begin and end with the vast range of people I encounter while there, although, let's face it, it probably could. To me, the best part about visiting the "city" is the ever changing landscape. Mountains roll into freeway, neighborhoods flow into beaches which disappear into water, and parks and playgrounds are speckled with star-studded billboards. Bikes chase down cabs while pedestrians on foot own the streets.

You could possibly blame the ever constant bright and burning sun for the use of sunglasses or a hat or maybe it is just one of many... many fashion statements of the moment. Everyone has somewhere to be and yet no one seems to EVER do anything at all. I swear, no one works in LA! It is crazy. No business suits. It is all comfy casual or daytime dressy. I am always amazed at the multitude of people roaming the streets, shops, restuarants, and beaches at all hours of the day! I am looking around like, "I took vacation days for this! What do you do???" Yes, it stems from pure jealousy, but that is beside the point...

While chasing my own white rabbit all over the city, vintage shopping in Silver Lake, running to the beach for breakfast in Santa Monica, and eating a dinner filled with A though Z list celebrity sitings in West Hollywood,I realize you can literally do anything here. You just have to think of it and be brave enough to act.

Endless possibility in the City of Angels.

Be. Do. Go. Give. Share. Change. Live. Grow.

While out and about, I realize that I am smack dab in the middle of a city scattered with characters straight from Alice in Wonderland. I find Mad Hatter's who entertain and make us question everything we know followed by White Rabbit's who lure us into unknown situations we would never have considered before. There are the King's, Queen's and their many minions who we secretly want to be like, and, of course, I can't forget the many versions of the Chessire Cat all looking to take advantage of the unknowing, obviously nieve newcomers.

Inspite of and to some extent because of these people, I feel alive and free. Free from responsibilities. Free from the burdons. Free from the expectations of the hand of cards life has dealt me. ("Off with her head!") I can do anything and be anyone I want. It may not be reality, but it is real while I am there.

From the Duchess to Alice, "If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does."

Maybe I am just fooling myself, but in a backwards (or forwards, which ever way you look at it) land far far away from my hometown, it is just that simple. I know no one except for a handful of amazing people, a few of which I have met along the way, but the one thing they all have in common is they never expect anything. They are open and up for anything. The only requirement is to have a good time.

Thus is La La Land.














Unfortunately, as Alice comes to find out, when your life is somewhere else you can't live in Wonderland forever. And, if I really think about it, I wouldn't want to. I live where I live for a reason (multiple ones at that), but the need for places like LA is obvious... breaking barriers, stretching limits, stepping outside your comfort zone... finding and bettering yourself. Places like LA allow me to do all of these things and return home refreshed and changed even if just a little or for a little while.

"I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!" (Alice)

Now, I think the trick for me is to figure out how to feel like this whoever I am with and wherever I go. Situations, people, surroundings, these are all things which have the ability to make me feel and act a certain way, but the deal breaker or maker needs to be... me. I find that too often my emotions live and breathe on the things and people other than my own confidence and strength in the Lord. Feeling alive and soaking in the moments with the people, places, and things around me is a marvelous thing, but having them determine my character, my reactions, my perspective, that is where I have to draw the line. What I have to keep reminding myself is all I need to do is turn to the One greater than me, greater than everything around me, for my true happiness. My reality should be based on His promises. Comfort and security in an uncertain world.

Sounds simple.
I wish.
I am only human, so it definitely does not come easy. Maybe it's not supposed to, but I have to keep trying.

A reminder to myself: The beauty is in the attempt... but the ending is written in stone.

It may not be all cakes and tea all the time, but at least it is real. Wonderland only exists in my head.

Back to life. Back to reality...

"Live freely, animated and motivated by God's spirit... two ways of life are antithetical, so that you can not live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit..." Galatians, The Message

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, do not let yourselves be burdened again... Deep down the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect... just make sure you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love, that's how freedom grows."  Galatians 5:1,10,14-15

Empty Never Looked So Beautiful

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!' So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)"

-John 20:1-9

If you google the word empty you will find a range of definitions like "holding or containing nothing", "lacking purpose or substance; meaningless", "lacking force or power", "needing nourishment; hungry", "devoid; destitute". Overall, pretty depressing, but, be that as it may, this is how our world thinks when it comes to being empty. We picture hungry bellies, wallets lacking funds, and lives filled with sadness and loneliness.

There is, however, one portrayal of emptiness that contradicts every worldly definition: an empty tomb. For me, this image is not one lacking purpose, power, or meaning. It is quite the opposite, in fact. Full of promise and power and love. An act that, in an instant, became the center of the universe. One life-altering,    

history-making, world-changing occurence that gave us everything we will ever need. Distant power made available through a sacrifice and a return. Hope found, faith restored, and joy unimaginable all created through an empty grave. He rose. He returned. He followed through on His promise to us all.

Nothing about His tomb was empty...

Graves are an interesting concept because the only one we recognize as a society is the one we end up in after we die. But if you really think about it, we dig our own metaphoric graves all the time. Depressing thought, I know, but still very true.

Have you ever felt like you have run head first into some impossible obstacle so overpowering and all consuming you can barely breathe? Grave.

Or a situation you think you will never be able to conquer so you try to avoid it all together? Grave.

Or, even when dealing with something or someone who has so much control over you that you act in such a way that you don't recognize yourself at times? Grave.

An obsession? An idol? A painful memory  in which you can't let go? Grave. Grave. Grave.

The list goes on and on. From the outside everyone's may look different, but from the inside they are all just four walls of seemingly insermountable, self-created "dirt" that continues to pile up higher and higher until you feel like one is going to cave in on you. The result: we end up slumped down in the corner dirty from head to toe from our personal efforts to break free. Yes, we all dig our own "graves", and we are dang good at it. At least, I know I am.

Realization moment: because of a man who could not be held down by death, because of the One who rose from His very own self-made grave, we have hope everlasting. He died so we may live. He broke free from death so that we all may be free. He rose, folded His linen cloth and placed it where His head once laid to show He would not be back. It was finished and so it all began...

Now, it is our turn. So what do we do? Well, for starters, I know we need to take our dirt-covered hands away from our faces and have the courage to simply look up. As surrounded and trapped as we may feel at times, because on this day He rose from the grave, there are no ceilings! There is only light shining through the top of those four walls guiding us all the way to our beautiful escape. There is such hope and reassurance in knowing that.

Who would have thought that an empty tomb would end up being the most beautiful image of them all?


Such a beautiful, happy day! I hope your Easter weekend was as great as mine! I leave you with this song, "Glorious Day", from Casting Crowns. They are an absolute favorite of mine.



Happy Easter!!!