Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Do You Have An Open Chair...?





"I love the friends i've gathered together on this thin raft..." (Jim Morrison)



I am pretty empty in the creative department right now. Thanks for all the comments on my new blogskin...I couldn't get it to work properly for me, so for now I've switched back to my old one.


It's funny how "thin" this life really is...how fast life passes us by. I just had an amazing week at Family Camp...here's a picture of one of the many beautiful sunsets we experienced throughout the week. Time at camp allowed me the opportunity to spend time with friends from three different churches. A lot of things happen over the week, especially in terms of seeing how much I've grown in the last little while.

God has taken me through a real pilgrimage of reflection and examination the past few months. I have a feeling that it's not over yet, but that's okay. As a result of this, I have started to look at some things in a real different light. Some things which might not have bugged me much a year or two ago, last week cut through my heart like a double-edged sword. I really think we lose sight of the fact that our words and judgments spoken out are just like taking a knife and stabbing someone with it.

Regardless of what comes down that path of life, I am truly grateful for all the friends which I have in my life. Just like they meet me where I'm at and are gracious to me, in spite of the mountain of imperfections I sometimes portray, I know I need to meet them where they are at and have the same graceful attitude.

One of many things from camp, which is sitting right at the forefront of my brain is a question the speaker asked of the congregation: "Do you have an open-chair at your circle?" Basically, if someone were to come to your house, your church, a gathering of your friends...would they feel welcomed? Would they be made to feel like they have been a part of that circle for longer than they actually have? Or would they feel left out...out of place? Feel like an outsider or spare tire which is dragging along, slowing everything down?

Camp was a truly enlightening and eye-opening experience for me this year, on a variety of levels and aspects of life. I'll try and touch base in the next little while...things are extremely hectic here right now and my posting will most likely be very sporadic. I hope summer's treating you all well and that you are feeling His love, grace, peace, strength and blessing in a very powerful way!


"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

3 comments:

Corry said...

God blessed you bunches to experience and realize all this :-)

Love you.

God's Grace.

Cinder said...

2eyes_open ~ Not a worry...this whole blogging thing just comes with time. Thanks for stopping by girl and I will be stopping by NorthVUs at some point throughtout the day, but right now I have to get my kids up and get going to have some more "dreaded" vaccinations!

Blessings to you and yours!

Corry ~ He truly did bless me bunches to have all the experiences I had last week and to take in and realize the things I did. I'm just grateful for the fact that I was open enough to truly take things in and not shut down how I sometimes tend to do!

We'll talk to you soon...love you too...blessings to you and Kc!

audrey` said...

I'm very happy that we're friends, Cinder :)