Sheila Day 8: Sigh
I got the joy of being able to spend another day cuddled in at home, but again, that also means limited opportunities to get into the outside world and "see" what is going on. However, it also afforded me a little extra time to do some online Christmas shopping and to scout around Facebook for a little while, when this image popped onto my homepage. Simply put, the image is breathtakingly beautiful!
My sister, Dawn is a photographer that captures moments in time for mama's and papa's to reflect upon for many years to come. Her vision for that "perfect" shot is AMAZING! I know this first hand because I have experienced my kiddos lives being frozen for little moments in time through the photos she has taken. Even today I scoured through wedding images trying to find the ones I want to adorn my wall, but dang, I just CANNOT seem to choose as I LOVE the all! However, today, this image captured my heart, mind and soul, and ironically, so did the caption below.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic was a rewrite of a song called John Brown's Body, but was rewritten by Julia Ward Howe during the Civil War. Julia was visiting one of the Union camps where her husband, one of Lincoln's Military Sanitary Commission and an abolitionist, was touring. Often soldiers would sing familiar tunes and then someone else would rewrite words to the familiar tune. Sometimes the new version was much more powerful and meaningful than the old. This was the case when Julia Howe rewrote the old song into the incredible version we know now as The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Slavery existed in our country then, and make no mistake, slavery exists in our world today. Freedom is an incredible gift, but we need to remember those that fought to make that freedom our reality. Today another influential person died and I saw images of Nelson Mandela scattered throughout my pages as well. How ironic that Dawn would post a picture that illustrates the cost to be free, that the caption would be a line from a song whose writer was also fighting for ALL to be free, and it is posted on the day when a great man passed away fighting for his country to also be free from the chains that bound them.
Mandela wrote this, "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." How difficult is this to do???? How challenging is it for us to really embrace our own freedom while honoring the freedom of another? AND how often do we take our freedom for granted assuming it is a gift that we have with no responsibility to protect it for others? How often do we miss the images that tell us folks are still bound by chains in their lives . . . sigh . . .
I found the following which was written by Lori Deschane and I found it really about self-discovery leading us to personal freedom.
- When you choose to forgive instead of seeing the world through bitter eyes, you are free.
- When you learn from your mistakes instead of letting them define or cripple you, you are free.
- When you love yourself regardless of what other people think, you are free.
- When you accept uncertainty instead of stressing about what you don't know, you are free.
- When you embrace chaos, instead of struggling for control, you are free.
- When you recognize that we are all imperfect, and then resist the urge to fight that, you are free.
- When you choose to appreciate what you have instead of lamenting about what you've lost, you are free.
- When you plant yourself in this moment, and do what you can to make the most of it, you are free.
Freedom, true freedom, requires that we spend our time in this world focusing on what we do to keep ourselves and others chained as we walk through this life's journey. We need to recognize that individuals had to sacrifice their lives in our time so we could have the freedom to become the people that God meant us to be. AND then we have to be thankful that a God who loves us, sent a SON that we did not deserve, to set us free from the chains that bound us as we move into the next . . . thank God for freedom!
In the beauty of the lillies
Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in his bosom
That transfigures you and me
As he died to make men holy
Let us live to make men free
While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Sarah Day 8: "To accept ourselves as we are, means to value our imperfections as much as out perfections."
One thing that I look at every single day, but I don't really see . . . is myself. I look at myself in the morning when I wake up, when I'm getting dressed, after I use the bathroom, after I eat to check for pepper in my teeth, in the evening when I'm getting ready for bed . . . and probably several other times too. I look at myself a lot, as do most people. But I'm only human, and I know for darn sure that I am my own worst critic.
When I look at that reflection the stares back at me in the mirror, I see my flaws. In that 15 seconds that I have to evaluate myself, I can think a million thoughts. Maybe I wish I had a tooth brush, or a bit more makeup on. Maybe I wish I had waxed my eyebrows. Some days, I wish my nose wasn't so big, or my skin wasn't so white. Some days, my legs are too long, and my arms are too skinny. But what I'm really learning, is that most days, I just need a new set of eyes to see my own beauty.
When I was in high school, I didn't care what I looked like. I played sports all year round and worked out on top of that. I curled my hair for Homecoming and tanned before Prom. I was young and fearless and determined. I was going to do great things for the world and I didn't have one ounce of self-doubt to hold me back.
Then I went to Northland, and things didn't change a whole lot. I was still playing volleyball and working out. I had a great team who were all my closest friends. I had Jesse, who never made me feel anything other than beautiful. I was still able to watch him play football and hockey. I was lucky enough to attend Homecoming and Prom 2 MORE YEARS! Which I loved. Yup, life was good.
Looking back, I can see that it was the very first day I moved away from home that really. . . my whole entire state of mind changed. I was depressed and homesick and I cried A LOT. Several times a day. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life or who I wanted to be. College was hard. I chose not to play volleyball. I was working a job and I didn't have many friends. Moving away from home was not easy and it wasn't long before I was feeling alone, self-conscious, and slightly defeated.
Today, one of my friends posted something on Facebook that was absolutely perfect. It was like, I read the post and my whole entire life started flashing through my head. The good moments and bad moments. My high's and my low's. It was a post that really consumed most of thoughts throughout the day. The post is called "How To Love Yourself." When I read the title, I immediately thought to myself, "I need to learn how to do that." As I read down the list one by one, I mentally put a check next to each point that I need to focus on doing in order to start loving myself. The next thing I know, I have check marks all the way down.
As the day went on, I continued to think about that post. I started to think about what it would be like to truly love myself. I thought about what it would be like to smile more and criticize less . . . and what it would be like to always see the good in every situation. By the end of the day, I was really starting to like the picture I was painting inside my head.
So here I am tonight, feeling like a whole new me is going to wake up tomorrow morning and I'm going to magically be a changed woman. Hah! Yeah right. These things take time, and probably a little extra time for me. Luckily, I think I've passed the first step and that's admitting that I need to change. It may not happen today or tomorrow . . . but I'm thinking by 2014, happiness, positivity and self-acceptance are going to be a major part of my life.
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