Sometimes, our thoughts get tangled like string, and the spool keeps running until it finds a wall that stops it. What if it finds a staircase that allows it to completely unravel?
Sometimes, our hearts swell. And we aren’t sure if it got bruised or if it fell. Or perhaps, it simply can’t contain all that is within. Or maybe, it heard your voice, and it decided to grow wings.
We are always digging and discovering. Sometimes, we find that what we thought was real is fake, and what we thought was passing is here to stay.
Maybe, every passing day is a hammer hitting on a nail that can now withstand the weight of a thousand pictures, worth a million of these words. A million.
“Love doesn’t sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all of the time, made new.” Ursula K. LeGuin
By: Gabriela Yareliz
As the true and old Kanye West fan that I am, I will start out by saying that our 2020 presidential hopeful and wife Kim K. West welcomed their baby boy into the world! A mini Kanye has arrived. I heard Mariah Carey had her favorite hits (sung by her) playing when she went into labor. I wonder if Kim did something similar…(cue ‘Bound 2’ to play in background).
Kimye forever. Vogue family portrait.
Anyway, in other news, it’s Monday. We come again to a beginning.
I was listening to something on the radio, and the person was talking about how clarity can be overrated. We are often seeking clarity, when maybe God and life don’t want to give us clarity. It’s about trust. The man then read from Psalm 62: (starting at verse 5)
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” (Ending at verse 8).
I want the key words for me this week to be: “Trust in Him at all times; pour out your heart before Him.”
Life is messy and complex. It’s not all clear, that is for sure. Still, God calls us to recognize His love for us, and He asks us to trust Him because He loved us first. We go through phases, ups, downs, sadness, joy, love, heartbreak, apparent certainty, uncertainty… Let’s let God have it. Let us say as King David once wrote in Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.”
That’s all we can do. Jeremiah 29: 13 promises, “You will seek Me (God) and find Me, when you seek Me with all of your heart.”
Experience has taught me that when we seek God with all of our heart, maybe not everything will be in order. Maybe some things will be shattered, and all we can do is come to God with all of the pieces. The point is to come with all that you are, and rest in Him. I hope that this week you make that extra effort to find Him.
This week, let’s celebrate life. Let’s look at all of our blessings. Let’s love with everything that we are; let’s live, holding nothing back. Let’s be all present. Open. Strong. Hopeful.
Never forget, as Christine Caine likes to say, “God starts at the impossible.”
Be inspired.
XOXO.
GY
“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. The cross was the proof of His love- that He gave that Son, that he let Him go to Calvary’s cross, though “legions of angels” might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us- not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”
Elisabeth Elliot
“be softer with you.
you are a breathing thing.
a memory to someone.
a home to a life.”
“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”
Steve Maraboli
“Of course God does not consider you hopeless. If He did, He would not be moving you to seek Him (and He obviously is)… Continue seeking Him with seriousness. Unless He wanted you, you would not be wanting Him.”
When I need a pep talk or extra slap in the face– the video in this post is my go-to. It reminds me to always keep hustlin’.
So, if you are weary from long hours at work, struggling through a moment of transition or stagnating circumstances, or you are up late studying and ready to call it a night, take a break. I give you permission. Get inspired, and keep moving forward.
Life can and will knock you to your knees. What happens next is your call.
This past weekend was a refreshing time with family and friends. I hope you ate yummy food like I did. My amazing family also had a surprise waiting for me–eggnog! Yes! The nog! So, those of you who know I have been hunting for the soy nog for weeks know how delighted I am to have gotten my fix. Very exciting, indeed. I miss my family already. They are the best part of my life.
Airport hassle was real for the holiday weekend. I almost missed my flight leaving from JFK because of my snippy driver, who by the end of our interaction was eating his words and just praying to keep his job.
On my way back to NYC, while boarding, a woman gave me a slip of paper assigning me a new seat. First class! Thank you Jesus and Delta for the mysterious hookup to first class. I had never been on that side of the little curtain. I hope that you had safe travels this weekend.
And now, we are back to the routine and hustle. Christmas music is the new soundtrack to the sparkly decorated city.
It was a bitter cold morning on the A train platform. Bundle up this week. Chase your dreams. Take time for self-care. Hustle like mad. Live like a Shah. Believe.
Xoxo.
GY
“I treat myself like I would my daughter. I brush her hair, wash her laundry, tuck her in goodnight. Most importantly, I feed her. I do not punish her. I do not berate her, leave tears staining her face. I do not leave her alone. I know she deserves more.
I know I deserve more.”
Michelle K.,I Know I Deserve More
“1. You must let the pain visit. 2. You must allow it teach you. 3. You must not allow it overstay.”
Ijeoma Umebinyuo, three routes to healing
“Go all the way with it. Do not back off. For once, go all the goddamn way with what matters.”
“I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.”
Steve Maraboli,Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
“If you love someone, act on it.”
“God’s will is determined by His wisdom which always perceives, and His goodness which always embraces, the intrinsically good.”
C.S. Lewis, inThe Problem Of Pain
“Love starts with a fluttering of thoughts and attraction, we think ‘Oh, I could see myself with this person.’ and then the fluttering stops and it begins to expand, like your chest is going to burst with all the feelings you hold, yet, it’s simply just that, a feeling.
It’s when you continue to choose daily, saying ‘I am with this person, and I love them.’ So now you go out of your way to show them that they matter, you go beyond what expanding and fluttering can go, and you go to the deepest part of the sea, and you drop your anchor; this is when you have made your choice. There is no going back now, you have bound yourself to the sea, and she is worth being lost in because you realize that you always had the love of her in your blood.”
This will be a simple, no-frill post. I don’t have too much to say. I know. Rare. Maybe that is a lie, though. We’ll see how long this post ends up being.
This weekend was pretty introspective. Apparently, I appreciate the art of making myself uncomfortable. So, after a weekend of lovely friends, waiting for trains that never came, and then riding the train with a man who lit a cigarette with a match in front of me inside of the train car and drunk rappers arguing about zodiac signs and of course, rapping– this is what I got:
Sometimes, we are so focused on what is going on or falling apart in our lives. It feels like this is it, and we can’t see past it. Life can get dramatic quick, like a bad episode of The Shahs of Sunset.
I hope to focus on Habakkuk 2:4 this week– “the just shall live by his faith.” Maybe, I can’t see past this, and right now, this is something that consumes me because maybe there isn’t much else to steal the show. Still, I have to learn to see past it– even if fog blocks the horizon. Even if I don’t know exactly what I am looking to beyond this, I have to look away and take time to look above and beyond what is in front of me.
If your life feels more dramatic than reality tv, take a second to take a step back. Think of all the other things you hope to achieve and the people important to you. And also, think about who you are. Gratitude for the things we have is important, but we should also be grateful for who we are and who we are becoming by the grace of God.
And most importantly, think about who God is. We often live life as if we think God doesn’t love us. We won’t understand everything. The just shall live by his faith.
This week, look up; look past; look with hope.
It is Thanksgiving week, and I wanted to say thank you to all of you who take the time to read what I write. That always means so much. It has been a long journey, and it is just beginning. It has been amazing interacting and corresponding with many of you. As I look at the blog stats, I know that it’s not just a number but that so many people have given me an opportunity to dialogue with them and make them think or reflect. That is huge to me. Let’s continue this journey, and I look forward to hearing from you and sharing along the way.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 