influence, inspiration, & insanity

i couldn't help myself, i had to stick with the alliteration. the past few weeks have been really busy, and yet it feels like last month was so much longer ago. sometimes a month is far too long to wait. and sometimes it blows by you like a bullet - you don't even know what happened until it's over.

anyway, this weekend brought an opportunity that i wasn't sure i wanted at first. i got to talk to our whole congregation sunday morning about how much i love brooklyn. [and i do LOVE brooklyn.] it ended up going well, but it probably caused a bit more stress than it was actually worth for both peter and i before it happened. thank goodness for peter though. i would have sounded like a bumbling idiot without him. 

{via bridgesofgrace.org}

the point of me getting up and talking to everyone was to try to get them excited about the opportunity we have to partner with the brooklyn church project [if i haven't told you about this already, you can check it out here]. in that sense i am thankful i had the opportunity to do it, but leading up to it i could hear my heart beating in my ears. thankfully we have bright lights in our sanctuary which almost prevent you from fixating on all of the people. anyway, i have no idea what kind of influence i actually had, but it reminded me of the opportunity i have to influence others all the time. 

does everything i say i'm passionate about truly come out in how i live?

thinking about influence has led me to ponder my inspirations as well. what inspires me to live better? what inspires me to be better? what inspires me to want to do differently?

the inspiration wall i've made for myself encourages me in various aspects of my life. through beauty and words, and emotions. it captures some of my hopes and dreams, and each picture gets at a part of my soul. in a way it reminds me of who i am each and every time i take a minute to study it. 

my current inspiration wall

there are certain places i tend to find inspiration. but i cease to look for it in far too many places. too many days i wear blinders, and drift about unaware of things right around me. of things directly in front of me. too often i miss it. i miss it. and i don't like missing it. i want to see the beauty around me. i want to be knocked off of my feet by the gifts that GOD places in my path. 

because i hope he will continue to place those things in front of me even though i neglect them far too often. 

my last little piece of news for you would be found on the "weird news" page if i had one. this event takes us back to friday afternoon. peter had let bexley outside in the backyard to go run around, and about five minutes later he glanced out to check on him. then i heard peter say: "what does he have?" and he walked outside to get a better look. 

this is what our dog found in our backyard. thankfully he was chewing on the handle. 

bexley's newest backyard find

we just hope he doesn't find human bones next!  it kind of makes us wonder who lived here before? and what kind of things did they do in the backyard?

happy almost tuesday!