.: sun set free :.

The years present us with an array of seasons, each one giving us what we either long for or fear might repeat itself. Tremendous pressure builds as we anticipate the joy and memories that will soon become ours. But right when we were not expecting it, it begins to rain. Spirits that were once alive have begun to move east. But we cannot resist our movements forward, for nothing can keep us from finding our joy. The state of mind that once was here has moved out and a new stage has been built into your day to day living. Each of us bears a hunger for the events that so often repeat themselves. We will not allow our hearts to settle until we find our treasure. Every impulse that marks days like this causes us to wonder what charms they may present to us. Smiles take form upon our faces as we move closer to the weekend. The days begin to come easier as we progress and what has been weigh upon us is finally lifted. We love days such as these, for they bring the kinds of things we were created for. The rest we had been hoping for arrives after such a long wait. The covers are pulled back and we rise up into another day. Our souls regain their strength and peace once again becomes ours. Something whispers that we cannot afford to cheat ourselves out of not enjoying every moment. Recollections of summers past meet us halfway and long to find new places, names, and sensations to hold onto for the colder months ahead. It is never truly good enough to remain in the past. Life consists of finding these kinds of deeper moments. Connections await us as we let our thoughts carry us into action. It is all we are doing now to not waste our energy on the things we have to do, for we will need it for times that leave us feeling blessed and truly breathing. Each of us has our own ways of counting down the days until we can join old friends and embrace life in journey together. We want to be free. And in days such as these, we sense its imminence and all that follows. These days are marked by family. They are marked by moments of praise as we gather for one more season. They are marked by hearts that come fully alive. Our shut eyes and drawn breaths reflect cries of worship and praise, for we have come through it all and find ourselves to be unlike what we were not too long ago. Come, enter into what you have been waiting for! And find the release that must occur so that we do not fall into being content with the past.

.: silent gasping :.

We bear the thoughts that we may be going nowhere. This certainly was not what we had in mind. But comfort has cost us a sense of direction and focus. We fall back on what we do best, and yet still hope to entertain those we were hoping to draw. Nothing seems right in these places of our lives. We scratch the surface to see if it will carry on into something of weight. We need His voice. We need His touch. Crazy thing is that we have gone on without them for longer than we can recall. Anything fresh would grant us a couple miles more, yet He seems to be refusing to grant us that momentary craving. We catch ourselves resting against anything that whispers a future to us. Old friends or the summer that seemed to be here and then gone forever. The road falls into the background and our mind is consumed with confirmations of the fear that we will never be able to get back there. It was only a minor detour, yet something about it seems to have its hooks in us, drawing us back every so often. It continually reminds us that it all felt a little too perfect at the time, yet it pointed towards something about our design. If only we could have those days back. And though we bore some of them with such silent anguish, we would trade even our so-called best days to be back sharing life with those who once surrounded us. Are we still on course? It seems like we began so long ago. Who truthfully knew that we would end up here? Someone reminds us that once we have managed to leave, to return only seals our fate that much more tightly. We cannot continue to keep company with those who seem arrested by the past. We need new life. Maybe that means we need new voices. The old ones had meaning and were necessary for that portion of the journey. But these are the days of something original. We ourselves are being transformed daily into something of profundity. Maybe we ought to rejoice that the old wells that we mindlessly wander back towards are turning up dry. This turns us over to the pursuit of life within the Kingdom. God, grant us a vision for that one thing!