Parting Shots

For those of you who don't know, i am hopping on a flight to France this afternoon.  I'll be teaching English to French students until May, so i won't be in the states for a bit.  So i'll leave you with some parting shots.

One of my missions in life is to give life meaning to those around me.  And when you invest your heart in other people, it's tough to leave them behind because, as the Bible says, "where your treasure is there also will your heart be" (Mt. 6:21).  That verse is one of those 'perspective checkers' for me.  I like to come back to it every now and again to make sure my heart is chasing the right treasure map.

But, if we're being totally candid, i'd like to let y'all know that the following excerpt is (probably) my favorite (definitely in the top 5):

"If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others." - Philippians 2:1-4

It is clear and challenging: a plea for unity and a challenge for humility.

And in those words i find my daily challenge.  Sometimes i fail and sometimes i succeed, but i'll be damned if i give up the fight (literally).  

So, America, as i leave for France, let my cross also be yours.  And be encouraged that this is a worthy battle to fight, because in fighting i have found the merit of struggling.  It's not always beautiful or shiny, but it is well worth the work.  In fighting you escape the monotony of superfluousness, you dig in the dirt, you expose your core and you see yourself in the reality of reality.  

P.S.:  I'll be giving a more day-to-day (or week-to-week) account of my dealings over at wordpress. holla back.

Le premier fois!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name not smell as sweet." - Juliet
...
"By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word." - Romeo

I've wanted to start a blog for a while. The one thing that's kept me from going about it is that you have to come up with a name before you write anything. If you know me (which you probably do if you are taking time to read this) i tend to be a bit all over the place. That doesn't necessarily mean that i have organizational problems (i'm getting better, mom!), it just means that there are many, many things i intend to include. I thought and thought about what to name my blessed little seedling, (Pooyah, I tried and tried, cher!) but nothing fit the bill. I tried working in words like 'myriad', 'concise' and others that tend to have a recapitulative meaning, but i suppose they were not meant to be.

My only promise was that i wouldn't further commit the crime of abusing the words "random" or "awkward". They've fallen to the lowly "vocabulary crutch" position on the linguistic totem pole. Sad day. I consider it my duty to equate other's overuse of them by not EVER using them.

If you hear me commit said crime, you have permission to punch me.

So I ended up choosing Extrospective Retrospectives (isn't it obvious why?). For one, it sounds cool. For two...it sounds cool. For three, i'd like to think of it as a reflective view on things that are beyond or outside my "spective". Introspective is a well known word. It's done it's due diligence to the English language. It's important, nay, essential! In no way am i saying introspection is bad. I am saying, in a sense, that a well balanced equation has more than one element. If all there is to do is to be introspective, then how are we to look beyond ourselves? If i'm always looking to figure out the inside, how can i see the beauty of the outside?

So i guess that's a little set up to what i'm hoping for.

...alas, extrospective retrospectives is born.

peace,
DJL