Sunday, October 14, 2007

gazing at beauty

So a couple months ago, Aric and I decided that we should see something beautiful and breathtaking once a week. It's a way to find perspective by taking attention off ourselves and squarely on something truly praiseworthy. Next to the vastness of the ocean, the golden glow of the San Gabriel Valley from the Colorado Bridge, and the vista of Los Angeles seen from the roof of the 1935 Griffith Observatory, our day-to-day struggles seem small and our efforts to keep our days spinning with our own ambitions almost silly.

As a teen, when I'd get overwhelmed with the drama that is high school, I'd find the highest point to climb in our small city. This wasn't hard considering that I lived in a desert. It ended up being the top of South Mountain near Mesa, Ariz. or a huge boulder on top of a hill near Arizona State University. Gazing at the world quietly glimmering below me, I found myself getting pulled into the bigness of life and out of what C.S. Lewis called the tyranny of an "incessant autobiography." It seems it's only when I am reminded of how small, insignificant yet precious I am to the One who created the world that I find rest in my restless mind.

So from time to time, I'll post photos of the beautiful things Aric and I make a point of gazing at every week. This week, it was the view from Griffith Observatory.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

ruminating on these words

"The first thing a Christian is emancipated from is the tyranny of moods and the tyranny of feeling he is not understood. These are the most fruitful sources of misery. Half the misery in the world comes because one person demands of another a complete understanding, which is absolutely impossible. The only Being Who understands us is the Being Who made us."
-- Anonymous

Conversation between child Lucy and Aslan the lion in Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis:

"Aslan, you're bigger," Lucy said.
"That is because you're older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."