God Loves Smart People

God loves that you are intelligent.

God loves that you love to create.

God loves that you are SMART.

Religion makes you blind and dumb.

But God did not make you dumb or blind. He gave you a brain. He modeled you after Himself. If you are a mathematician, guess what? So is He. If you are a poet, guess what? So is He. If you are an engineer, guess what? So is He. If you are a mother, guess what? So is He. If you are a doctor, guess what? So is He. If you are a teacher, guess what? So is He. If you are a lover, guess what? So is He.

And He loves you.

If you are a Christian, you are allowed to be talented, brilliant, and inventive. You aren't just allowed, it's expected. It's part of how He designed you to be.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

We have misplaced the meaning of denying ourselves. We must deny the selfishness in us. We must not, under any circumstances, deny what God has placed within us.

These are two separate things.

God loves that I am a poet at heart. God loves that I love to teach. God loves that I love deep conversations. He placed these things within me. These are reflections of Himself.

I had a conversation with someone that I deeply care about who is going to school for engineering. He said, "You are closer to God because you are good at English. You understand the bible better than me. I am just logical and I just don't get it."

This statement was never ever meant to be true. This person is also a reflection of God. God is logical! God is an engineer! God figured out a way to make EVERYTHING work. Air. Gravity. Organs. God is a builder.

And He has given us authority and commissioned us to build.

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God doesn't sit around and read His word all day long.

God is His word. God lives His word. God acts on His word. He is not contained or restrained by it.

We eat and sleep His word, but we do so that we may also live His word. Living it is better than memorizing it.

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If you are not a Christian, being intelligent and believing in God are not contradictory. He designed you to think. He designed you to create. He designed you to desire to know Him.

My friend Zheng told me just the other day, "There's spirituality, and there's also personality." You can have spirituality and personality. Jesus was both natural and supernatural. It's okay, you can have both too.

I'm Not in Kansas Anymore

I love people. I want you to fully understand that. I love people.

But I have to fight this desire to go live in the woods by a lake (not a pond-- Mr. Thoreau) because sometimes I just really miss being alone with myself.

I need cave time. I need time where I can be a stranger in a place. I need time where I can be unrecognized in a place. I need time to dream and write and talk out loud to myself. Maybe that is why I have been driven back to the page. Perhaps that is why all writers are driven to the page.

It's been a few months since I've written with such candor. Life that was once at a stand still picked up speed to a whirlwind and here I am amidst the debris-- checking to be sure my red slippers are still on my feet and also noticing that I'm not in Kansas anymore.

Has that ever happened to you? A few months go by and suddenly you realize through all of the moving and shaking you feel like you have been scooped up and moved into a completely different season in life. It's not like you got a letter in the mail that said, "Hey, we're moving you out pretty soon. You should get ready." It feels more like a friendly kidnapping, where along the way somehow you agreed to it-- not knowing what you were agreeing to.

But you chose the path less traveled, or so you thought, and here you are.

Thanks Dorothy Parker, Here We Are.

I have my bed (or mattress) and comforter, a cup of coffee and a computer. The rest of my habitation is in utter disarray. There are boxes half full and a floor half empty and clothing that has been abandoned to lie in uncomfortable and compromising positions rendering them wrinkled and distorted. Like Still Life Installation: My Bedroom in Moving. Except that it is not pleasing to the eye. But art wasn't meant to feel clean.

And neither was life. I want life wrapped in blue ribbon, like a present waiting to be opened. And then I disagree with myself because I have a better thought. (Leave room for thoughts in progress, a period is not final. EE Cummings had it right when he broke grammar rules to make a point).

I want life as nature sits in Fall. The wind is blowing and the leaves are changing. Nothing is tidy nor clean; everything is in its place.

The Strength of Femininity

Recently, I have observed differences in a sense of femininity. To me, there are a few perversions to femininity that actually hinder and can aid in distorting masculinity and vice versa.

To some women, femininity is rejected, and a more masculine form of this is taken on. I'm not even talking about women who identify themselves as homosexual--nor am I talking about women who are simply more "tom boy" but who identify themselves as heterosexual.

I'm talking about women who take on an "I hate men" mentality. And paired with that is often a sense of "I must be crude and non-emotional if I am going to be a strong woman".

There is another perversion of femininity that is the oversexualized woman. I'm not talking about a woman who is sexy. I am talking about women who find their strength in portraying themselves as objects of sex.

PLEASE do not misunderstand me here, I am not suggesting that it is wrong or against femininity for women to be sexy. I think this is something that should be embraced and is very much a part of femininity. What I am talking about is an over exaggeration of this part of femininity so that it translates to identity.

I really don't think that most men will disagree with me when I say that a woman's sexiness can be powerful.

Sexiness is a part of femininity just like sexiness is a part of masculinity.

But it is a part. It is not a part that is "less holy" and should be divorced from these terms, nor is it a part that should be overly elevated. It is a necessary and good part of both masculinity and femininity.

Femininity can simply be defined as womanliness.

It is the very essence of being a woman.

There is strength and power in womanhood; yet it is different than the strength and power in manhood.

It is different, but it is equal.

I believe that true femininity is not weakness, but a powerful strength to be reckoned with. It is not simply being emotional; men have emotions too. It is not simply being loving; men are loving too. It is not simply being attractive; men are attractive too. It is the very essence of being a woman.

It is embracing the form of the woman-- the body, the mind, and the heart as equal parts of strength. Equal to the strength of a man, and yet different.

I'm not trying to make comments on gender roles or anything like that-- I'm simply trying to say that femininity is strength, not weakness. If you are a woman, embrace and explore what it means to be feminine.

Have a Cave Day

After one week and a day of teaching, it is vital that one remember the importance of the cave.

When I say the cave, I mean the place where you go and hide and find immeasurable amounts of joy being in seclusion.

My cave happens to be my bedroom.

You have permission, no matter what walk of life or profession, to need a cave day.

Or a cave moment.

Go, be by yourself in your happy place for 8 hours or 5 minutes.

Go, do it.

Stop reading this post if you need to and go do it right now!

If you give to all, do not forget to give -- even if just a little-- to yourself.

Rest is the most amazing thing you can do for you.

Rest recharges your spirit and your atmosphere.

If you feel guilty for resting, its probably a lie you're agreeing with.

So, stop agreeing with it.

That's all

#sipstea