Quote by Seth Godwin

“The linchpin, the engaged one, the graceful actor in an unfolding play — these people don’t seek to only inspect. They’re not traveling in order to tick a checkbox. Instead, they open themselves to the world they bought a ticket to, knowing full well that they will be changed. The toll of making change is that you will be changed.” –Seth Godin, Graceful

awake my soul and sing

Today, just live :)

Mary Anne

learning to walk

 i am only just beginning to realize that we never really "get" there or "get everything figured out so we can get married or get that job or move on to the next part of life." life is all about moving forward daily with God, and learning to depend on him and love with the purest of loves and find completion and fulfillment in him. do I feel in flux and insecure and lonely and scared and ungrounded sometimes (or most of the time)? most definitely! and god is faithful and just to bring me back to himself over and over again as i continually seek him. It's about learning to love HIM and walking WITH him daily. i must continually open myself up to learn through every experience he allows me to have and trust him to become real to me in new and personal ways that i might never have known if it weren't for the experiences and people he brings into our lives. keep on journeying friends and never be afraid to readily embrace all god has for you each day :)

Mary Anne

celebrate. LIFE

oh, to have faith as simple and worry-free as a flower, who simply blooms and does what it does best and shines its face up to the heavens to be kissed by the sun.

Mary Anne

Quote by Donald Miller

"We were designed to live through something rather than attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us. The point of a story is the character arc, the change." ~ Donald Miller

most excellent harmonies

'celebrate GOD all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. help them see that the master is about to arrive. he could show up any minute!
   don't fret or worry. instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. 
  summing it all up, friends. i'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. put into practice what your learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies...receive and experience the amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, deep deep within yourselves.' Taken from The Message, Philippians 4, emphasis mine.

sometimes faith is hard and it's always a choice to believe, to trust, to follow. in a world that sometimes seems swallowed by darkness, sadness, ilk, may you have eyes to see the noble, the true, the beautiful and may HE work his most excellent harmonies in you this day! 

Mary Anne

solace and music

i find solace in my music and my art. i find healing through my music. just like any other form of art, music has boundaries and an artist must render expression within the boundaries of the meter and rhythm. music is a language spoken through an instrument, driven by human hands and voice and understood only by the heart.  it does the heart good like medicine and gives your soul room to breathe.  

  Mary Anne

blackberries and brambles

today I tasted the first of the summer blackberries. what a delicious treat! I fell to reflecting on how often treasures are found among bramble and roses among thorns and joy through pain. I wonder how often the dearest and the most precious lessons are taught through the brambles and thorns of our lives. may God grant us eyes to see the berries and roses and joy among our own brambles and thorns.

Mary Anne