bluebirduncaged Something to think about

a voyage of discovery

Alligators at the canal

 

"The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all" 
                                                        ~Brennan Manning

Jesus, make us joyfully + courageously faithful in our life adventure. May the outcome of growth outweigh the risk of being disobedient to You. Make us not safe but brave. And if we fail, may it be grace{fully} into your arms. May a sold-out heart be more important than a sold-out crowd. And may our lives be marked by a beautiful trust in the One who holds the whole world in His hands. 

bluebirduncaged for artists, Something to think about

Something to think about

"To 'make it new.' The 'it' is the truth of the world. A work of art doesn't invent truth, but it does make it accessible to us in ways that are not normally available because words and images have been tarnished by overuse or neglect" ~Ezra Pound

How can we use our art to present age old truths in new ways? Is it possible for art to present the truth more clearly than words are capable? Does this inspire you to push for more creativity and innovation?

bluebirduncaged 31 days, Something to think about

31 days: extraordinary

Well, I actually did it…I posted every single day for a whole month. It feels good. At first I wondered how I write about being present every day but now I’m wondering if I want to stop. I feel like there’s still so much to learn about being present and living in the moment. It’s ok. This is just the beginning–I’m excited to see where this new mindset leads.

Before we give this subject a rest for a while, here’s a little something to think about.

“The presence of Jesus in the daily minute has the potential to cause everything we do to be supernatural. If what you are called to feels less than extraordinary, there is a tendency to think, Well, the Lord has big plans for me later. And you wait patiently until He decides to reveal that master plan. But what if His plan for you is right where you are? Are you missing it because you are looking for something more extraordinary?”  ~Emily Freeman, Graceful

Now go be present in your extraordinary life!! 

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here. What have you learned this month? I'd love to hear. 

bluebirduncaged 31 days, Something to think about

31 days: the moment to be minded

The next hour, the next moment, is as much beyond our grasp and as much in God's care as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is just as foolish as care for the morrow, or for a day in the next thousand years—in neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything. Those claims only of the morrow which have to be prepared today are of the duty of today: the moment which coincides with work to be done is the moment to be minded; the next is nowhere till God has made it
                ~George MacDonald

This is part of 31 days (of being present). Join the other 31 day-ers here.

bluebirduncaged Something to think about

Something to think about

"We have too frequently been as harmless as doves without being as wise as serpents. This has caused many hungry intellectuals to conslude that there are no answers in evangelical Christianity to the problems which they see…since we know that truth does not change and that God's method of dealing with souls is ever the same, we must be faithful in our wielding the slaying sword of the Spirit.Thus only can we meet their real need. God never raised any soul to life through the Gospel without first slaying him with the law. With honest skeptics, for such often fall into this class, we should be firm and fearless while we speak the truth in love…No man has ever been argued into salvation; no man has ever been led to Christ through human wisdom. Only the presentation of human need and Christ's sufficiency will do it"

                       ~Donald Barnhouse 

bluebirduncaged for artists, Something to think about

the arc [/art] of storytelling

In our culture, he who tells the best story wins. Creating great narratives that produce epiphanies involves a particular talent that applies far beyond film and changes the way you write books, marketing copy, funding proposals, research reports, sermons, and so much more. Bobette Buster has built and sustained a long, respected career in the film industry by being the best at finding and developing epiphanies in some of the greatest movies we've all enjoyed.

Watch the Q video here

{I think this should be one of, if not the, main goals of the art we make -RKD}

 

bluebirduncaged Something to think about

Praying for Pentecost

For our own pentecost, we need then to pray for the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of depth, the spirit of courage, and (given the over-sophistication of so much of today's entertainment) the spirit of chastity…What pentecost needs to pour into us today is the spirit of resiliency, the spirit of forgiveness, the spirit of patience, the spirit of long-suffering, the spirit of understanding, and the spirit to not go jogging or bowling alone…Our hearts, unlike God's, are forever wanting to lodge in just one room. We need a pentecost to mellow us with the spirit of mildness, stretch us with the spirit of catholicity, and especially fill us with the spirit of hospitality so as to take us beyond the hardness that we rationalize as creed or cause…1 Corinthians 12, 7 suggests that pentecost is "the particular manifestation of the spirit, granted to each of us." We need to pray for such a particularized pentecost to happen.
                                                    -Ronald Rolheiser

Read the rest of the Q article here

bluebirduncaged Something to think about

Something to think about

When I am talking to somebody there are always two conversations going on. The first is on the surface; it is about politics or music or whatever it is our mouths are saying. The other is beneath the surface, on the level of the heart, and my heart is either communicating that I either like the person I'm talking to or I don't. God wants both conversations to be true. That is we are supposed to speak the truth in love. If both conversations are not true, God is not involved in the exchange, we are on our own, and on our own we will lead people astray
                                                        –Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz