Wordified: Xenophile

Here's to my first "weekly post"!
I've realized it's a lot more difficult than I thought to let go of a poem so quickly.  Usually I start writing one, ponder on it for a while, and edit it a jillion times before showing anyone.  So please excuse any appearance of spitting forth.  This will definitely prove a good exercise for me.  I hope you all might find some small amount of amusement in it!

xe·no·phile 

noun  \ˈze-nə-ˌfī(-ə)l, ˈzē-\  

one attracted to foreign things (as styles or people)

  (the word sounds weird for such a normal definition, right?)

XENOPHILE

Bring me across shimmering seas,

Take me to a land unknown.

I've nothing in order,

But everything ready.

There are broken streets, rusty doors.

They're like no others I've seen at home,

They're far away, abroad,

Singing of adventures to unfold.

There are faces and foods, entirely new.

Yet the same glorious sun and moon,

Will watch over me, guide me.

To find in others, just who I am.

 It fills my heart with the greatest joy,

My soul with subliminal peace,

To know there's a whole world waiting,

For this anxious xenophile to make her own.

 

(Pictures from my most beloved city- Herrnhut, Germany)

Writing: Assignment 1

For those of you who are wondering, I got all my writing class materials last week.  As I looked through the various books, assignments, and due dates I felt a little stress monster jump on my shoulders.  But I made the conscious decision to instead take a deep breath, and begin the journey.

Submitting work to be critiqued by a stranger that I can't impress with a nice smile and cheerful disposition is hard for me.  I am realizing how little I trust what I can create.  I can hear Michael Kors telling me, "you have to create something that can stand on its own". Haha.  I've been watching a lot of Project Runway.  Anyways, being someone who [very] highly values self-expression, it's nerv-racking.  It feels makes me feel so naked to share my dreams and thought processes.  Mostly because I am just one person, and there are a million others out there trying to "make it".

The first assignment involved a lot of great tools for making writing an intentional and high-priority part of your life.  Very organizational and practical, which I am all about.  And then there were a couple things that challenged the way I think about what I do.  In less than 150 words I am to describe the effect I want to have on my readers.  For the most part I write entirely out of selfishness.  Not to impress people or forever change their lives [though that would be wonderful], but because I feel alive in it.  I write to express.

It was a really good excercise to spend some time thinking about the bigger picture.
And here's what I've concluded:

In all that I write, my hope is to bring a breath of fresh air.  Whether through wit or muse, I want to venture past the conventional and express sincere truth.  In writing, my goal is to bring a unique and personal perspective on the challenges and joys we face.  It's not about informing, affronting, or convincing.  It's an invitation to sit on the shores of the vast sea and share the view, whether pleasant or stormy.  Like C.S. Lewis, Mark Twain, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, I want to bring a message of conviction and hope, yet marked with a distinct beauty. 

Word Me Up

So as I was browsing the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary I found a rather amusing category- New Words & Slang.  I know there's urban dictionary and all sorts of other online sources for slang definitions, but these were unoffensive and non-crude [which equals cool and possessing of some intelligence in my book]. 

 Here are a few of my favorites, which I have either used previously or will now add to my vocabulary:

backseat browser (noun) : a person who reads a computer screen over the shoulder of a computer user

technostress (noun) : stress or frustration as a reaction to technology

buttload (noun) : a very large amount

fantastical (adjective) : extremely fantastic

ragequit (verb) : to become angry and quit a game or other activity

flirtationship (noun) : a casual relationship based on flirting without serious involvement

Pretty great right?

And thus I have been prompted to start a weekly post with a word of the week and short little poem-of-sorts featuring the word.  The words won't necessarily be slang, just whatever I find to be intruguing that week.

I have yet to decide on a good name for the post, but Tuesday shall henceforth be...WORD AND POEM-INCLUDING-THE-WORD DAY...until I can come up with a better title.

A Night Away

Can I just take a moment to say,

I REALLY love my husband.

He makes me laugh until I almost pee my pants.

Listens to me rant & rave.

And encourages me daily.

We were so blessed by the youth pastors and youth group we serve with to have a night away at the Davenport Hotel.  It was so refreshing.  There's something so wonderful about taking time to get away from the ordinary and just enjoy life.  Especially when you dress up nice and pretend to have way more money than you actually do  :) 

Included in the package was $100 dining credit.  Having a nice dinner in a beautiful hotel and room service bringing breakfast in bed, totally awesome.  After the stress of so much music equipment breaking down last week, I feel much more at peace.  Feeling weighed down by the cares of the world, totally awful.

So here's this lil montage from dinner last night at the Davenport.

 

And here's this lil verse I've been meditating on.

Psalm 20

¹ May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble;
         May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;
 ² May He send you help from the sanctuary,
         And strengthen you out of Zion;
 ³ May He remember all your offerings,
         And accept your burnt sacrifice.  Selah
         ⁴ May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
         And fulfill all your purpose.
 ⁵ We will rejoice in your salvation,
         And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
         May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
         ⁶ Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;
         He will answer him from His holy heaven
         With the saving strength of His right hand.
         ⁷ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
         But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
 ⁸ They have bowed down and fallen;
         But we have risen and stand upright.         
 ⁹ Save, LORD!
         May the King answer us when we call.

Nevermind I Am Behind.

Do you ever feel really behind?  Not just on cleaning and laundry and dishes, but on life.

Max and I have been feeling that.  Our dreams and aspirations stare blankly at us. From miles and miles away.

It's really [frightfully] easy to get carried away with hopes and plans for the future, wish lists and to-dos.

I've been taking a deeper look at the effect of a life focused on the empty portion of the glass.  In my own life I've spotted some seeds of comparison that have bloomed into negativity and doubt.  And let me tell you, they are some UGLY plants.  I've come to the conclusion that it is of little importance how much you make, if you are married, have kids, or live in Europe.  There is still a stack sky-high of little notes scribbled with things we have yet to achieve.  When I step back and look at this discovery that I've made, I see how obvious it is.  Most people would agree, but to confess there is that stack in our own hearts?  There is a great task required, and many ways to approach it.  My method of choice?  Throw them in the air and do a boogie.

So the other night as we were going to bed, Max and I decided to play a game called "thankfulness".  We went back and forth saying both little and big things we are blessed with.  My favorite was my last one as I was drifting off to sleep, "I'm thankful that I don't have a third eye".  Yet even after that disturbing mental image, I slept so soundly.

There is a lovely little song by Brooke Waggoner.  In my years dreaming of the love yet to come, I listened to it a lot.  Now that I have found love, I still listen to it frequently.  It's true stuff.

"I am behind
I am behind
And nevermind
I will not pine
For I am mine"

Q With No A = Faith

Hello Questions.

Interesting meeting so many of you at once.

May I ask who invited you?

Oh, I see, you came on your own.

Felt a change in seasons?

Hmm. Is that how this works?

Well you caught me at a bad time.

I am fresh out of Answers.

I've actually been running on Faith for quite some time.

Yes, I know. It sounds silly.

But if you look at results, they're really astounding.
You may find this tragic, but I must inform you.
No amount of pestering or shouting will win me over.
My mind has been made up, I won't give in.
No sirree.
What? Oh that.
The pillow over the head trick?
Yeah, I'm giving up on that.
Faith suits me much better.
It's not the when, where, and how
Of which I will be concerned.
It's the purpose, prosperity, and justice
That I will rest confident in.