Those mad intensities

"It's not all bad.  Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self loathing - they are not all bad.  Those devils have been my angels.  Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me."

- Stephen Fry

Moab Is My Washpot

Pay attention

"What did you say, Gram? About there being no church out here?" 

"I said that the sky was the roof of my cathedral and the desert was its floor and any time I paid attention, I could feel a Higher Power all around me."

- Terry Farley

Blue Wings

The surrounding hullabaloo

"I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo."

- Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar

Raise

"Raise your words, not your voice.  It is the rain that grows flowers, not the thunder."

- Rumi

In the end

"The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God."

- Victor Hugo

Les Miserables

Unspoken

"That was one of the saddest things about people - their most important thoughts and feelings often went unspoken and barely understood."

-Alexandra Adornetto

Halo

Being the Beloved

"Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.  Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection.  When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions.  The real trap, however, is self-rejection.  As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody."... My dark side says "I am no good...  I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected and abandoned".  Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved."  Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence."

- Henri J.M. Nouwen

What one feels

"One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels."

- Gustave Flaubert

Happy New Year

And so this last day of the year 2015 arrived, and in Swakopmund, it's a cloudy dreary day with rough seas and the promise of rain in the clouds.  As I reflect on the year it has been, I can see that I have been embroiled in many stormy waters but, with God's grace, I have survived the all the turmoil and emotional roller coasters of missing home, missing family and just missing being close to loved ones far away. 

 I also know that I could not have had a happier and more blessed year in 2015. My family's been blessed with health and happiness and my children are thriving in our new home.  We are living in one of the most beautiful countries in the world and have so much to be thankful for. 

So, looking forward, to all the dear family, friends and fellow wanderers, travelers and bloggers out there:

I hope you all have a hearty, happy and healthy 2016 with no more stormy waters than what you are able to handle.  

Happy New Year!  

Let's be romantic

"Let's be romantic and dance in the rain.  I'll prove my feelings for you by bringing an umbrella, because I'm drowning in my love for you."

- Jarod Kintz

This Book is Not FOR SALE