Reflections on God's gift to Women 3.14.06

*** Allow me to preface this blog... I have been re-visiting my myspace days. It is fascinating to read my perspective from six years ago...tomorrow :-) I am working on new reflections but I was inspired by this old one... It's still my heart. Even though I'm more practical and less of a hopeless romantic these days... Enjoy!***


so i was perusing someone's myspace and read a really great post about the way of women... he inspired me to write one of my own.  i often write about being woman...but we share this world and we were given life to be partners with men.  it's time to give respect where it is due.
Man.  The first image that God formed to represent Himself, to be His faithful companion and to wrestle and rule the rest of His creation.  I find it intriguing that our God first chose to demonstrate His likeness in man.  Man is strength.  He's a source and an encouragement. He is safe although rugged and untame.  Within him lies a great God-given power, to be the foreman of the ranch to both tame wildness and unleash passion in a way that only points to a great Creator. 
Standing on a swinging bridge above a rushing waterfall and looking into eyes that say, "You aren't walking this alone.  I won't let you fall, just hold on tight," makes a woman's heart soar with energy to go the distance, to see what is beyond the next peak...  For a woman, nothing is more exhilarating than knowing that she is safe and protected even in her wildest dreams...that she will not be flying alone.
A man...free to be all that the Creator intended...is a sight to behold.  God knew this...that's why He made man.  What is beautiful is what unfolds just after creating man.  God realizes that man alone is not fully reflecting Himself...so He creates woman to bring a representation of His Beauty...His gentleness...and most importantly so that His passion for relationship and life would not be lost on Man who is lonely.  Without the mountain...the grass and the trees and the birds would be useless.  It is the combination of the two that brings the full picture.
Man without Woman...lacking.  Woman without Man...lacking.  Man and Woman without God...nothing.  God, as seen through the unity of Man and Woman, Beautiful Strength...

Thank the Creator God for the Strength and the Beauty...thank You for our partners....
 

I have a problem...

"Hello, my name is Rachel Leonard and I am addicted to books..."

"Hi, Rachel...." (imagine a chorus of people that sound like Eeyore)

(Ok, in case you're not laughing ... you should be!! The last year of has ruined my humor!)

No, seriously, people...I LOVE books! And I think that I have a problem. (That's good, they say that the first step is to admit you have a problem...I'm getting there :-) I like to buy books, borrow books from libraries, borrow books from friends...

I am also a chronic multi-book reader...meaning I am reading about 10 books right now...in fact, I was SO proud to have finished one the other day...guess, how long I was reading that one? Come on, give it a go... alright...it took me about a year (granted, I didn't start until about 8 months after receiving it as a gift because I was in denial over needing to read it...a great book on singleness!)

I realized the other day that the first thing I do when I move to a new community is find the public library...I have a library card on my key chain from 5 years ago (I interned in southeast KY for 2 months and spent all of my free-time at the library!)

So, um, right now I'm avoiding a mess in the basement...totally and completely MY mess...
I am trying to squeeze 26+ years of life into a tiny bedroom ...and it is becoming a little overwhelming! The other day I realized that I have moved 4 times since May 2009! And, well, I'm not done yet for this year!! However, I've decided I need to get my stuff in some decent organized order...even if it is only for six months or less.

One discovery that I have been making in the process of this mess...ehem, drumroll please!

Most of my belongings have great similarity... they all have hundreds of pages, tiny print and are bound together in various forms of colors and pictures...we like to call these things books! Oh...I just love them! Until, I have to pack and unpack them :-)

I asked myself a good rhetorical question today...

"Why do I love books so much?"
"Good question, Rachel."
(Yes, I did just talk to myself and respond...)

Well, I'm not sure of the answer. I do know that I usually like to read to understand something better....a people group, a world situation, God's Word, myself... or to just escape from life for a while... I literally have entire sections to my collection...Bibles, Hermeneutics (big word for studying scripture), Leadership, Missions, Church Growth, Counseling, Youth, Young Adults, Women's Issues, Addiction, Marriage, Dating, Literature, Christian Fiction...

Each section contains an insight...I like to read and I like to understand...and then I like to share! One of my dreams since I was a little girl has been to have a room in my house completely devoted to books, it will have shelves full of books...cozy couches, a fireplace and snuggly blankets...and to top it off a ladder that will slide down the wall (partly because I'm short and partly because Belle in Beauty & the Beast always made it look so fun!)

Welcome to the random mind of Rachel :-) So, to the answer the question...I'm not sure? haha...but I should probably get back to organizing all the books I already have...in my basement bedroom!

PS I found this awesome picture...another dream of mine to have a house where I can plant a tree in the middle and it will grow super tall right through the roof... what a GREAT combo ...well, at least in theory :-)

Love Life!

This weekend has been so...beautiful...in so many ways! I just got back from St. Louis, MO. It is a such a lovely city. It is full of green space and I love the historical, ornate architecture and little details. The weather was gorgeous. AND I giggled and laughed and enjoyed being a girl with 12 precious women from TLC. We went to the Joyce Meyer Women's Conference, "Love Life." The sessions were focused onf "Mind, Mouth, Moods & Attitudes." Let's say, it was full of moments to ponder. I enjoyed every minute of it...I'm still processing the conference... there was one speaker who intrigued me so much! Dr. Caroline Leaf is a neuroscientist (?) Her session was all about showing how science supports the simple truths of scripture... she showed through the complexities of the brain how we can experience freedom in the Spirit... I know, I know...how? Well, I took 10 pages of notes...and bought two books. I plan to blog on them as I read, it will make more sense later.

:-)

Just a "needed" non-day...

I have done absolutely nothing today. Really. I'm not kidding. Nothing. Wben it got dark a couple hours ago, I suddenly found myself regretting the loss of a day. It feels like a non-day. And I don't like non-days :-) However, in my attempts to feel better about my complete and utter laziness...I have not had a true day off for a very long time. It's been at least a month of weekends out of town and weeks full of flu/flu shots and after work meetings. So, I tell myself...just relax. Ha! Easier said than done...I don't like the feeling of laziness...unproductiveness.

On another note, yesterday at work, while doing my most favorite job ever...filing loose papers (the worst of the worst filing because I always put it off for months and then on a slow-er Friday, I have loads of papers to file), I had a moment of truth. You see, lately I've been feeling like life is a whole lot of daily...yes, the get up early, go to work, work all day, run a few errands, come home after dark, go to bed and do the same thing tall over again the next day type deal. I always say I want to be a writer, but then I always say I have nothing to say...that hasn't already been said. So somewhere between the H's and the M's, I decided...I'm going to start blogging again... I have so many thoughts every day...that if for no one else but me, need to be articulated.

Then, on a whim, I decided I had to get out and DO something social for once on a Friday night...and we went to the cheap theater. We had nachos and popcorn for dinner and sat on the back row... The movie: Julie & Julia...a movie about a disenchanted almost thirty something woman from Queens who loves to cook and who is a closet write that doesn't believe in herself who finally decides to complete something! She decides to attempt to make all 524 recipes in Julia Childs' cookbook in 365 days and blog about it. It changes her life...as simple and mundane as it sounds... she finds herself and rediscovers the richness of her marriage and her greatest treasures over the year's time. Her love for Julia Childs' cookbook also tells Julia's story which took place about 50 years prior to Julie's. It's a lovely, unique film, refreshingly different than anything out there right now...that's for sure.

Anyway, I just found it ironic that the same day that I decided to re-engage my blog, I happen upon another woman's (true) story of self-discovery and enrichment through blogging. So, here I am...it's been a very long non-day...but I'm here... Today, I do not have much to say, but tomorrow is certainly another day. And not a non-day, tomorrow I will be with the people I love most...at least some of them...and I will celebrate the life that God has given me... I look forward to another day...