The Bittersweet Way of Life by Chase Butler
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=214546&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
By Chase Butler
I couldn't help but notice how beautiful and refreshed this morning felt. I just left the house to go pick up breakfast, and the ground is still wet from the previous night's storm. It's like everything has been washed. It's in the mid-60s, and the sun is shining. I'm feeling happy, and then I remember the headline I read upon waking up earlier: "Two children killed in tornado." It stormed all last night. The evidence was in my front yard. A huge limb had broken free and fallen to the ground. Fortunately, we dodged any damage.
Ebook PDF Download
By Evon Horton
Price: $12.99
I couldn't help but notice how beautiful and refreshed this morning felt. I just left the house to go pick up breakfast, and the ground is still wet from the previous night's storm. It's like everything has been washed.
It's in the mid-60s, and the sun is shining. I'm feeling happy, and then I remember the headline I read upon waking up earlier: "Two children killed in tornado."
It stormed all last night. The evidence was in my front yard. A huge limb had broken free and fallen to the ground. Fortunately, we dodged any damage.
I'm reminded that nature, storms, and many of life's happenings are impartial to those on their path. I wake up to a beautiful day, another wakes up to tragedy—all because geographically I happened to be elsewhere.
There's always a heaviness alongside the lightness, isn't there? "The good and the bad are moving along parallel tracks toward the same end," a wise pastor once said.
It's the bittersweet tale we all participate in. We can feel blessed and burdened all in the same breath. Hopeful and helpless. It's the double-edged beauty of living this one, wild life. ?
Chase Butler
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=234074&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
There seems to be a recurring topic that continues to come up in my life—the balance between contentment and goals. Do I appreciate what I have, and am I working towards something meaningful that forces me to grow? An either/or approach never works. On one hand, you lend yourself to apathy and stagnation. On the other, you live under the tyranny of nothing ever being enough, endless striving that costs you something you never intended. I don't pretend to have this figured out. Every once in a while, I sense the alignment between the two within myself, but it's normally a fleeting moment followed by the pendulum tipping back towards one side.
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=233123&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
There are moments when I long for an answer, clarity, inspiration, relief, or hope and receive nothing. Even in earnest seeking, eager anticipation, a proper posture, an open heart, a willing spirit—nothing. Then there are moments when I receive an answer, clarity, inspiration, relief, and hope when I least expect it. Not seeking, not anticipating, yet a glimpse is given. So what to conclude?
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=231499&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
If the idea of selling everything and living out of a backpack on the road sounds like a nightmare instead of a grand adventure, this post might not be for you. If challenging the status quo and questioning societal norms in the pursuit of a full and satisfying life sounds intriguing, then let's continue. The beauty of friendship is that conversations tend to draw out aspects of yourself that otherwise would have been left untouched and dormant, or at the very least overlooked or ignored.