Stirring

It's almost the new year.

And i'm getting a little more permanently excited about my new year stirring challenge.

Lemme splain the stirring.

When one (perhaps someone like myself) gets too caught up in surviving the day to day survival of the American rat race, one might begin to forget some or all of the wonderful interests and enjoyments that help to make life worth working for.  And when we begin to turn into working robots, and our focus (foci) gets set on the wrong things, we are less valuable to ourselves, to our family, to our friends, and to God.

This is the place where i began to find myself.  And besides all those things, this place quickly, for me, turns to a medium level of depression, which i am not fond of.

One of my goals for the new year is to take a picture of something beautiful that is created by God, each week.  In my youth (did i really say that?) i was always a sucker for the beauty of God's creation, writing poems, inventing possibly life lessons demonstrated by nature......insufferable.

So when i found myself paying more attention to my destination than the beauty around me, my heart longed for a change.

I made a point to make myself stop for beautiful scenes.

Here are a couple of the tiny bits of enormous beauty that i've been able to capture in the last few weeks.

The chief benefit of this change in my attitude, is not the pictures above....although i am enjoying those.  The chief benefit is that i am noticing what is around me much much more.  I'm appreciating the artistry of God's hand that has always been such a delight and a comfort to me.

So i think i'm on the right track.  If i make a point of encouraging those things that bring my soul to life and allow God to get inside my head, then God is able to get inside my head.  And my heart.  And i want Him there.

So i'm excited about making changes in the other areas i've mentioned, too.