through His lens - week 4

Crazy to think this is week four in the "through His lens" series! Jordan and I sat last night talking life and reflecting on what it has meant to us to take this time each Sunday to pause and look back. It's been such sweet time to recall and focus in on the past week, being made more aware of His constant presence. Even as the week runs fast and the days run long, He is there - in the selfies taken by co-workers, the snapshots of food being baked, and the sky looming overhead. He is moving in the moments not captured also - the Skype call that left my soul refreshed & challenged, the back porch song writing session that began the week on a sweet note, and the countless meals shared with hearts laid bare & laughter abundant.

He is present & He is good. This ever remains True.

to Austin we go

Wandering, romping, adventuring near & afar - this makes all that is inside me spin, giddy & fast. Leaving me dizzy on the ground, with a stupid silly smile on my face. I also picture myself wearing a tutu and in a field of flowers. Now that this imagery of how I feel about traveling & adventures sounds like a feminine supply commercial, I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. Which probably would have been before that last sentence. With that, I proceed....

This past weekend, on a whim, my dreamer friend and I decided to hit the road ATX-bound. We found ourselves venturing up and down South Congress; wandering in and out of shops (Uncommon Objects, Stag, & St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store). In between little shop pop-ins we consumed coffee like air (not using our windpipes contrary to popular belief), we super enjoyed the TOMS Roasting Co. and snagged a classic ATX snapshot by Jo's!

After a late lunch at Magnolia Cafe we trekked back to the car and headed over to the Graffiti Wall. We ended the day lake side at Mozart's Coffee Roaster. I couldn't have imagined a better end to our day than unwinding coffee in hand (#typical, I know) and taking time to write. Just one sketchy bathroom stop & several sing-alongs, and then we were back home.

So thankful for the chance to quench this thirsty inner-wanderer and enjoy such a sweet day with Jordan! Hope you enjoy a little visual peek in to all we encountered!

What was your last road trip like and what's your go-to sing-along song?

stitches of an adventure heart

You take my adventure heart
for miles & miles of wild rides
through open skies & hidden towns
You delight in seeing my heart come alive

My inmost tangles are known to You
each woven thread & knot undone
Divine Hands of Yours tug gently
winding Our thread together more tightly

No thought unseen or desire uncharted
each stitched with care on my fabric heart
calendar numbers passing fast & slow
not a single hour left unbuttoned

seams never left untouched
Your presence woven in with each
never a point, a place without
Your Holy Stitch of grace complete

Dark can never cloak Your presence
nor light outshine Your Love Divine
each waking, waning, wishful moment
hemmed in by Your heart so kind

Your fingers trace the roads like knotted stitches
grace unravels as every mile is sewn
adventure hearts knitted together,
it is here that I am known.


*inspired by Psalm 139

through His lens - week 3

Here continues the capturing of life through His lens- the messy, quiet, full, sweet, and all the little moments in-between. This week held over 600 miles traveled, 4 musicians met, 19 cups of coffee chugged & sipped, and countless memories whose beauty continues to unfold. 

Thankful that life is more than numbers counted and hours past, that it is full with the Fullness of Christ!

Hope y'all have a super rad & restful Sunday!

through His lens - week 2

Began this new series last week, after a late night of dreamer talk with my wonderful friend Jordan. So here continues the capturing of life through His lens- the messy, quiet, full, sweet, and all the little moments in-between.

Here's to learning that Life is more journey than destination.
Happy Sunday folks!

     

        

soundtrack

Need a good soundtrack for your weekend? Here are a few of my long-time and recent favorites.

Old Pine by Ben Howard

We Don't Eat by James Vincent McMorrow

Brothers by Penny & Sparrow

Pilot Me by Josh Garrels 

Dust We are and Shall Return by The Brilliance

Hope that gives y'all a little something to have as the background to your weekend roadtrip. 

Have a happy Friday my friends!

through His lens - week 1

I'm thankful Jesus is as big a fan as I am of car rides. While sometimes I don't look forward to those long four hour drives home, He always comes along for the ride. He comes along for those long hauls and for the little runs from home to store, down the street, and He sits in the parking lot as conversation ebbs and flows between sisters. The clock telling our eyes to close for sleep, but our dreamer hearts awakened by the Truth spoken in to the dark. Here we spoke of Him, with Him.

Jordan is my fellow dreamer. We sit for hours in coffee shops, plan trips we may never take, laugh deep and long, talk for too long, listen even more, and seek to know the heart of our Artist Father. Seven days ago, today; perhaps six by the hour of the night, we sat and spoke of a lens we desired. A view of the world we wanted so badly to adopt. Admitting our own selfish eyes that focused so often on the mishap and bland, we knew there was something more. So we sat in quiet, and He spoke. Calling us to see through His lens.

Here is the start of that. We decided a picture a day or two perhaps, ushered first by the prayer to have His eyes to see. See the beauty all around - the simple, exquisite, deep, distracting, hopeful, desperate, unnoticed, and bright. A necessary honesty - I struggled with this. Though so often capturing an image is worship, the recognition of Beauty Divine. As the week flooded in, my attentions were pulled and pushed in every direction. I am humbled, and thankful. He is not finished with me yet. As I fight for the decision to see beauty in mess and joy in all circumstances, He is riding with me. Over every road, every mile, beside and inside - He is calling me deeper, and He is beckoning me to look at life through His lens.