Beyond

Beyond doing, there is being.
Beyond time, there is eternity.
Beyond mortality, there is immortality.
Beyond knowledge, there is faith.
Beyond justice, there is mercy.
Beyond happy thoughts, there is joy.
Beyond communication, there is communion.
Beyond petition, there is prayer.
Beyond work, there is rest.
Beyond right action, there is virtue.
Beyond virtue, there is the Holy Spirit.
Beyond appreciation, there is awe.
Beyond sound, there is stillness.
Beyond stillness, there is the eternal song.
Beyond law, there is grace.
Beyond even wisdom, there is love.
Beyond all else, HE IS.

by Christos Jonathan Seth Hayward

So I've been taking this astronomy class.

And THIS is basically what I have wanted to say but couldn't quite.

It hurts like heaven.

My brother writes beautiful things.

Come closer, dear reader,

I am telling you a story.

The Tricky Part of Dreaming

Two delightful reads for you, friends:

This amazing article on teaching and learning,

And a post about the beautiful, complicated, very twisty turn-y thing we call growing up.

There comes a day when, you look at your life and realize you are in that place, that time frame that everyone reminisces about when they are 30. You're no longer "too young" to live alone or have a boyfriend -- because right now, you are living those precious days that shape the rest of your future, forever. It's when you're young enough to do stupid things, but old enough to make it happen on your own. It's when life begins to change in ways you never thought it would -- not drastically, not tragically, neither for the worse or for the better -- just change. When you realize you are growing up, not in that way of turning 12 and being allowed to stay home by yourself, or turning 16 and being able to drive. It's your person, it's your being, it is struggling to free itself into the new world of adulthood without losing the joys of childhood. When you realize that your parents' stories of "we met freshman year" and "that's when I decided to major in history" is the timeframe of life that you are living right now. There is so much at stake, so much that could change at each move -- yet to recoil and hide in fear would be detrimental. You have to fight for what you want, risk failing at it, you have to be able to be in wonder, to be vulnerable, like when you were 12 -- but to respond to it with a heart and soul that has been molded by time. You have to move forward, you have to take a deep breath and cling to the people you love, who love you back, to what little truth you know, because the world is dark, and light is precious.

Two of my favorite modern instrumental artists in the world just collaborated to make one of the most epic music videos I think I have seen in my life, ever.

It's falling from the clouds
A strange and lovely sound
I hear it in the thunder and rain
It's ringing in the skies
Like cannons in the night
The music of the universe plays

Beautiful and free
Song of Galaxies
It's reaching far beyond the milky way
Lets join in with the sound
C'mon let's sing it loud
As the music of the universe plays

You are holy great and mighty
The moon and the stars declare who You are
I'm so unworthy, but still You love me
Forever my heart will sing of how great You are

(Cannons/Phil Wickham)