ideas on love from carl sandburg

A bag of tricks--is it?
And a game smoothies play?
If you're good with a deck of cards
or rolling the bones--that helps?
If you can tell jokes and be a chum
and make an impression--that helps?
When boy meets girl or girl meets boy--
what helps?
They all help: be cozy but not too cozy:
be shy, bashful, mysterious, yet only so-so:
then forget everything you ever heard about love
for it's a summer tan and a winter windburn
and it comes as weather comes and you can't change it:
it comes like your face came to you, like your legs came
and the way you walk, talk, hold your head and hands--
and nothing can be done about it--you wait and pray.
Is there any way of measuring love?
Yes but not till long afterwared
when the beat of your heart has gone
many miles, far into the big numbers.
Is the key to love in passion, knowledge, affection?
All three--along with moonlight, roses, groceries,
givings and forgivings, gettings and forgettings,
keepsakes and room rent,
pearls of memory along with ham and eggs.
Can love be locked away and kept hid?
Yes and it gathers dust and mildew
and shrivels itself in shadows
unless it learns the sun can help,
snow, rain, storms can help--
birds in their one-room family nests
shaken by winds cruel and crazy--
they can all help:
lock not away your love nor keep it hid.

How comes the first sign of love?
In a chill, in a personal sweat,
in a you-and-me, us, us two,
in a couple of answers,
an amethyst haze on the horizon,
two dance programs criss-crossed,
jackknifed initials interwoven,
five fresh violets lost in sea salt,
birds flying at single big moments
in and out a thousand windows,
a horse, two horses, many horses,
a silver ring, a brass cry,
a golden gong going ong ong ong-ng-ng,
pink doors closing one by one
to sunset nightsongs along the west,
shafts and handels of stars,
folds of moonmist curtains,
winding and unwinding wisps of fogmist.

How long does love last?
As long as glass bubbles handled with care
or two hot-house orchids in a blizzard
or one solid immovable steel anvil
tempered in sure inexorable welding--
or again love might last as
six snowflakes, six hexagonal snowflakes,
six floating hexagonal flakes of snow
or the oaths between hydrogen and oxygen
in one cup of spring water
or the eyes of bucks and does
or two wishes riding on the back of a
morning wind in winter
or one corner of an ancient tabernacle held sacred for personal devotions
or dust yes dust in a little solemn heap
played on by changing winds.

There are sanctuaries
holding honey and salt.
There are those who
spill and spend.
There are those who
search and save.
And love may be a quest
with silence and content.
Can you buy love?
Sure every day with money, clothes, candy,
with promises, flowers, big-talk,
with laughter, sweet-talk, lies,
everyday men and women buy love
and take it away and things happen
and they study about it
and the longer they look at it
the more it isn't love they bought at all:
bought love is a guaranteed imitation.

Can you sell love?
Yes you can sell it and take the price
and think it over
and look again at the price
and cry and cry to yourself
and wonder who was selling what and why.
Evensong lights floating black night waters,
a lagoon of stars washed in velvet shadows,
a great strom cry from white sea-horses--
these moments cost beyond all prices.

Bidden or unbidden? how comes love?
Both bidden adn unbidden, a sneak and a shadow,
a dawn in a doorway throwing a dazzle
or a sash of light in a blue fog,
a slow blinking of two read lanterns in river mist
or a deep smoke winding one hump of a mountain
and the smoke becomes a smoke known to your own
twisted individual garments:
the winding of it get into your walk, your hands,
your face and eyes.

material girl

contrary to common belief. happiness really can't be found in things. i was reminded of this last night while watching one of my favorite movies "The Darjeeling Limited". to give you a very brief synopsis of the film: the main characters in this film are three rich young brothers who all have their own set of issues, and they set out on a spiritual journey together...and hilarity ensues. there is a song that comes up a couple of times throughout the movie. one of the three brothers, jack, often plays this song on his ipod. so i downloaded the song today, because it sounds fun and i like it. and so i was enjoying peter sarstedt's soothing voice, and writhing in response to his brilliant use of both acoustic guitar and accordian, i realized that the song was about a girl who can't seem to find happiness in her riches. it talks about her extravagant lifestyle: her fine wines, her designer clothes, expensive jewelry, a high class apartment, invitations to exclusive events, the best education, the best vacations. these types of things can never bring us peace. for christians living in america this is something that we must remind ourselves of often because we are constantly being bombarded with the lie that peace and happiness can be bought. though this song was written in 1969, i think that this song could easily translate today to britney spears or paris hilton or [fill in rich young girl's name here], and it can be a nice reminder to all of us that the only place to find contentment is in Christ alone. anyway, the song is beautiful so you should listen to it. here you go:

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) - Peter Sarstedt

senioritis

i never thought that i would be one to get senioritis. i have always loved being a student, and being a younglife leader. but this semester, i find myself not caring about much. i want to be done. i feel tired, and i feel as though my position in life is a burden. i feel as though i have been doing this for years and i just need a break.

but really, i'm sad that i feel this way. school and younglife are two things that i have always been really passionate about. now i just feel lethargic about all aspects of my life. even the future, i don't feel as though i have much to look forward to because i'm not excited about anything, there's almost no motivation to go on. i think of the jars of clay song that i mentioned in a previous blog. their song entitled work says, "i don't have a line of prospects that can bring some kind of peace, there is nothing left to cling to that can bring me sweet release, i have no fear of drowning, it's the breathing that's taking all this work". work. it is just that. the physics definition of doing work is exerting force (or something like that, right rob?). i don't feel like exerting myself. i don't feel like doing work.

i suppose i should remind myself that work is a good thing. there are a couple of scriptures to reference that i think will help me to remember that work is good. Genesis 2:15 says, "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it". and there you have it. from the very beginning God had in mind for us to do work. it is not part of the curse of sin, as some people think. the truth is that humans were created to do work. God's work specifically, the work of redemption. also, work is a way to bring glory to God. the scriptures often say things like, "...whatever you do, do to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

all this being said, i have come to the conclusion that senioritis is simply not acceptable. if i want all the things i do to be for the glory of God, i should put all of my effort into it. i know God has called me to be both a student and a younglife leader, why wouldn't i put my whole heart into doing my best at both for God's glory?

my friend leslie brought up the topic of prayer at younglife leadership this week, and i realized that the only way out of my current apathetic predicament is to pray. i want God to "light the fire again", if you will. for the rest of this semester i'm sure i will find myself praying for passion to do His work. your prayers would be appreciated as well. thanks friends.

the epicenter of cool

never in a million years did i think that my apartment would be the epicenter of cool. who would wanna hang out at my house? it looks like crap. going into this year i really believed that everyone would be hanging out at "skinny house". skinny house is what we call the place where my lovely friends caroline, chelsea, laura, tara, and tiffany live. they are such awesome girls with a whole house, they are all so good at decorating and party planning, they even planted some flowers around their house. then there's what we call "outback house". outback house is the home of dann, evan, keith, nate, and steve-o. this house comes complete with a make-out room, hot tub, a basement with drums, guitar, bass, and sound equipment, and a huge movie screen. outback house is also the home of such famous events as the annual apple fest, best party around. although going into this school year i was excited to be visiting all of my friends awesome housing arrangements, i was sad because i though that no one would ever want to come over my house.

let's face it. my little apartment is not that high class. my roommate jessica and i have a motto that we repeat to ourselves about our apartment. we like to say, "it's ghetto, but it's ours". our apartment can be described as the following: There is one main room, one bedroom, one kitchen, one bathroom. The paint job is crappy, there is a leak in the bathroom, the heat escapes out the window, there's always construction going on in the hallway, the stairs up here are like a death-trap, there's a whole in the kitchen floor, the light doesn't work in the fridge, and there aren't enough parking spots. we have mis-matched furniture, no awesome stereosystems or gamesystems, there's no wall art, and the only plant is a cactus sitting by the sink. all that being said: i love the place.

i'm so thankful for this apartment, it's just what we need and no more. jessica just said to me, "you know what makes me sad? there are people who don't have an apartment right now. they're out in the cold".

not only do i have the job of being a good steward of this place, but i get to share it with people i love. we don't have a lot, but we get to enjoy the little things in life. here we play monopoly, write, knit, play guitar, make baked goods, study, watch both entertaining and educational movies, draw, and read. we talk about politics, daily anecdotes, theology, stewardship, our pet peeves, and what it means to live differently. despite the fact that we have what the rest of the world would call a crappy apartment, we see it as a beautiful place where great things happen everyday. we love when people come over and don't leave for hours. this is a place where we see community in action. where we can share things and ideas. it's a place that God is using to do His work.

giraffes

this video speaks for itself:

it reminds me of the hot pink addendum days: www.purevolume.com/hotpinkaddendum