This Changing World: July 19, 2015

By: Gabriela Yareliz

The world keeps spinning and changing. MAC announced it will launch the Selena (Quintanilla) line in 2016. A Latina icon being celebrated like this would not have happened in my childhood.

Donald Trump thinks he can turn Puerto Rico into Puerto Trump (please God, no). No one remarked on the fact that his plan to turn the island into a giant golf course with 1,800 holes because not much was in the way except “maybe some chickens,” was racist and disturbing in and of itself.

And then, there is Atticus Finch, the fictional civil rights champion of our youth, who with the publication of Go Set a Watchman was explicitly revealed a racist and bigot.

The world keeps changing, and if you blink, you just might miss it.

Reflections Before Bedtime #32

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I have been thinking, and I think I have realized that maybe the easiest way we realize we don’t believe something will happen is when we don’t dream about it at all or envision it. Nothing new there. But it’s weird when you come to that realization– that perhaps there is a room in your heart that has been empty, gathering dust and full of cobwebs.

Or maybe, that room is full of furniture that has been left under dust and watch of spiders; some Havishamesque room where time has stood still. Forgotten. Old dreams that have begun to rot.

Have you ever walked into such a room? A room where the past and present meet. A room that leaves a pang in your chest. A room where past failures or dashed hopes sit broken, like a shattered vase. A room where, somehow, a ray of light streams in, making even the dust glitter, inviting life. A room whose door is unlocked, waiting for you to decide that it’s time to clean it out and put things in their order. A room that is full of possibilities if you could just move past pain and be courageous enough to believe in its potential. A room that is not about what you see, but what you want to see. A room to which only you have the key.

No Fear

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Those of you who read my random musings know I am all about self-improvement and growth. I believe that truly living out God’s purposes for our lives means combatting our fears and moving past our comfort zones.

Yesterday, I was deeply moved by a verse in scripture that I have read many times:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

God doesn’t want us to be afraid. I began wondering, if my fear is real, then what does God want me to do with that fear? Our fears are real and pressing. The thing is, God doesn’t just stop at, “Don’t be afraid.” Instead, He gives us the reason of why we shouldn’t be afraid. He says:

“Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

We shouldn’t fear because His promise is that He is with us wherever we go.

The Creator of the universe walks with us. He is ready to show us how real He is, if we are willing to let Him show us.

XOXO from Texas.

On the Road (a non-Kerouac version)

       “But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?” Jack Kerouac, On the Road

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Don’t worry. I won’t start talking about how I saw God on the road to Utah or how I tried to convince someone of their beauty à la Kerouac. This is my version. The version of a twenty-something year old looking at clouds through her car window thinking of fears she wants to vanish and a future she wants to rule.

Greetings from New Orleans! We are on the road, again. We made a lovely stop at the New Orleans’s French Quarter. It is a good 100 F degrees, and it felt like even the colorful shutters on the New Orleans’s buildings were melting. I noticed an absence of humans on Bourbon Street. I think New York has ruined me because now every city feels underpopulated and deserted as if an apocalypse happened. I end up wondering, “Where are all the people?” 

The road is slightly bumpy, and we continue to cross over bridges with blue water and green marshes below.

There is so much to see and discover in this world. And while some places may be similar or somehow familiar, what makes them different is the people who live there. Us and our stories. We make places unique and special.

Humans and love, it makes things different; it transforms; it creates. This fact makes me wonder, why do we fear death so much? As some famous rapper says, we don’t die if our legacy is alive. We should fear being silent and not being who we want to be more than someday passing…

My toenails are pink, and they are glittery like the traffic outside. I am off to keep daydreaming and staring out of my window at the lovely Louisiana that is just outside.

       “‘I just won’t sleep,’ I decided. There were so many other interesting things to do.” Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Road Trip

By: Gabriela Yareliz

The family is going on a road trip, and naturally, I am coming along– bar books, camera and all.

It will be quite the adventure. By the end of the summer, I will have probably visited at least eight states (?), with my departure and destination points being the same. Life is one weird, wacky road trip. You have to pack your cutest, Coachella-esque outfits, packs some snacks (and tacos, please), grab your map, charge your camera for the memorable moments, and hope for the best. It’s about being patient and willing to explore dusty roads with your Converse-clad feet.

Sometimes, you will get stuck in traffic, you’ll miss an exit, get lost, or breakdown– but the important thing is to stay focused on the destination, and do your best to stay on track. Have an open mind, and bring good music because the ride is long and anything can happen.

[Images from Tumblr]

Monday Inspiration: July 6, 2015

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Happy Monday. I know I am late in like every time zone. Anyway. A new week has begun. Those of us in our study caves are glancing up from our kerosene lamps and books at our quickly fading calendar countdown for the big exam.

I bought a one-way ticket today, *holds breath*; yep, it’s pretty weird. But lately, everything is changing–so, gotta roll with the punches. Can we take a minute and talk about the Fourth of July weekend sales? I got four articles of clothing for $30. It was amazing. The rest of the weekend, I was either staring at corporations bar notes, a sparkler or at news about the Greece referendum. #Grexitgotmelikewhoa

I hope your week is also off to a good start, good deals, exciting changes and increasing knowledge. Wishing you much productivity and peace.

XoXo.

GY

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” C.S. Lewis

“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.” Claude Monet

“I’d rather look back at my life and know that I was brave instead of calculated.” Joy Williams, interviewed by Alan Light of The New York Times

أحياناً يبتعد شيء جميل لتقترب أشياء أجمل، فقط كُن صبوراً

 

In other words:

Sometimes you lose something great to gain something greater.

“Love cleanses, beloved.” Michael Hosea

“For although we don’t know why everything that happens to us is sent by God as a blessing, we should be convinced that everything that happens to us is for our good.” St. Basil the Great

“Life, even with Jesus, is hard. And life, especially with Jesus, is unfathomably beautiful.” Angela Nazworth

“There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in.” Elizabeth Gilbert

[Images from Tumblr]

Reflections Before Bedtime #31

By: Gabriela Yareliz

It’s funny how we end up meeting the people we need. People who teach us, stretch us, challenge us and sometimes see us in a much more accurate way than we see ourselves. Maybe, it’s not funny…maybe, it’s serious; so serious, it’s sublime.