A Wish
"I wonder as I watch the moon
Bump noses with a star
Are you watching too?
Or is it dark and rainy where you are,
And when I turn a radio dial
and hear some song that's new
I wonder if off where you are,
You might be listening too.
Do you day dream as I day-dream,
And miss me, too, my dear?
And when I'm wishing I were there,
Are you wishing you were here?
Your letters help a lot,
Each page is full of charm,
But, darling, they aren't quite enough,
For letters don't have arms."
The poem my grandpa sent my grandma while stationed in San Francisco getting ready to be shipped out during WWII.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Who I am?
Read this for nonverbal after taking a personality test. Found it interesting.
INFP: "Questor". These people are idealistic, self-sacrificing, and somewhat cool or reserved. They are very family and home oriented, but don't relax well. High capacity for caring. High sense of honor derived from internal values. 1% of the total population.
INFPs feel internal turmoil when they find themselves in situations in which there is conflict between their inner code of ethics and their relationships with others. They feel caught between pleasing others and maintaining their own integrity. Their natural tendency to identify with others, compounded with their self-sacrificial dispositions, tends to leave them confused as to who they really are. Their quiet personalities further feeds their feelings of depersonalization. The INFP's quest for self-identity then seems even more alluring — but increasingly impossible to attain.
As with all NFs, the INFP will feel lost and perplexed at stressful times. As stress builds, INFPs become disconnected from their own personality and perceived place in life. They will lose sight of who they are in relation to time and place. They may not make basic observations, while instead they will focus on the more abstract and symbolic meanings of a particular interaction. This can sometimes baffle those who expect more direct communication and a fairly concrete relationship.
Healers present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others. But inside they're anything but serene, having a capacity for personal caring rarely found in the other types. Healers care deeply about the inner life of a few special persons, or about a favorite cause in the world at large. And their great passion is to heal the conflicts that trouble individuals, or that divide groups, and thus to bring wholeness, or health, to themselves, their loved ones, and their community.
Healers have a profound sense of idealism that comes from a strong personal sense of right and wrong. They conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place, full of wondrous possibilities and potential goods. In fact, to understand Healers, we must understand that their deep commitment to the positive and the good is almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. Set off from the rest of humanity by their privacy and scarcity, Healers can feel even more isolated in the purity of their idealism.
Also, Healers might well feel a sense of separation because of their often misunderstood childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood-they are the prince or princess of fairy tales-an attitude which, sadly, is frowned upon, or even punished, by many parents. With parents who want them to get their head out of the clouds, Healers begin to believe they are bad to be so fanciful, so dreamy, and can come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. In truth, they are quite OK just as they are, only different from most others-swans reared in a family of ducks.
At work, Healers are adaptable, welcome new ideas and new information, are patient with complicated situations, but impatient with routine details. Healers are keenly aware of people and their feelings, and relate well with most others. Because of their deep-seated reserve, however, they can work quite happily alone. When making decisions, Healers follow their heart not their head, which means they can make errors of fact, but seldom of feeling. They have a natural interest in scholarly activities and demonstrate, like the other Idealists, a remarkable facility with language. They have a gift for interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in lyric, poetic fashion. Frequently they hear a call to go forth into the world and help others, a call they seem ready to answer, even if they must sacrifice their own comfort.
INFP: "Questor". These people are idealistic, self-sacrificing, and somewhat cool or reserved. They are very family and home oriented, but don't relax well. High capacity for caring. High sense of honor derived from internal values. 1% of the total population.
INFPs feel internal turmoil when they find themselves in situations in which there is conflict between their inner code of ethics and their relationships with others. They feel caught between pleasing others and maintaining their own integrity. Their natural tendency to identify with others, compounded with their self-sacrificial dispositions, tends to leave them confused as to who they really are. Their quiet personalities further feeds their feelings of depersonalization. The INFP's quest for self-identity then seems even more alluring — but increasingly impossible to attain.
As with all NFs, the INFP will feel lost and perplexed at stressful times. As stress builds, INFPs become disconnected from their own personality and perceived place in life. They will lose sight of who they are in relation to time and place. They may not make basic observations, while instead they will focus on the more abstract and symbolic meanings of a particular interaction. This can sometimes baffle those who expect more direct communication and a fairly concrete relationship.
Healers present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others. But inside they're anything but serene, having a capacity for personal caring rarely found in the other types. Healers care deeply about the inner life of a few special persons, or about a favorite cause in the world at large. And their great passion is to heal the conflicts that trouble individuals, or that divide groups, and thus to bring wholeness, or health, to themselves, their loved ones, and their community.
Healers have a profound sense of idealism that comes from a strong personal sense of right and wrong. They conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place, full of wondrous possibilities and potential goods. In fact, to understand Healers, we must understand that their deep commitment to the positive and the good is almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. Set off from the rest of humanity by their privacy and scarcity, Healers can feel even more isolated in the purity of their idealism.
Also, Healers might well feel a sense of separation because of their often misunderstood childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood-they are the prince or princess of fairy tales-an attitude which, sadly, is frowned upon, or even punished, by many parents. With parents who want them to get their head out of the clouds, Healers begin to believe they are bad to be so fanciful, so dreamy, and can come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. In truth, they are quite OK just as they are, only different from most others-swans reared in a family of ducks.
At work, Healers are adaptable, welcome new ideas and new information, are patient with complicated situations, but impatient with routine details. Healers are keenly aware of people and their feelings, and relate well with most others. Because of their deep-seated reserve, however, they can work quite happily alone. When making decisions, Healers follow their heart not their head, which means they can make errors of fact, but seldom of feeling. They have a natural interest in scholarly activities and demonstrate, like the other Idealists, a remarkable facility with language. They have a gift for interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in lyric, poetic fashion. Frequently they hear a call to go forth into the world and help others, a call they seem ready to answer, even if they must sacrifice their own comfort.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
"To Be Her Knight, You’ll Have To Bleed Like Any Other Fighter"
Somewhere along the way, Hollywood, and sometimes Church, has told us that Love is a simple affair. If this is “the One” then there will be no pain, no struggle, no differences, no complications, and once the dragons in your lives are slain, then you will live life enjoying endless appreciation (a wife that constantly showers you will respect and admiration and appreciation, never has PMS, never gets cranky, and is always in the mood, and cooks for you every night and all the rest). And girls get told the same thing, if this is “the One”, if this is True Love, he will learn how to dance, come to adore his mother-in-law, buy flowers every week, learn to play guitar, become a pastor and buy you a bigger house and newer car than any of your girlfriends have. He will not only be as spiritual as Billy Graham, but also be very successful in business and a hopeless romantic at home-and you’ll also have perfectly well behaved children that stay cute forever and never become teenagers. In effect, his armor will never get rusted and Cinderella will never scrub another floor or face another evil stepmother again. For the guys, in effect, she will always be ready to ride off into the sunset with you, never challenge you to polish your armor when its getting rusty, and to fight any other dragons for her.
This is not only false, but it is also damning. If we search history, hairytales, scriptures, and media, we will find only ONE person in the entirety of human history, and even human stories (films, novels, etc) that truly understood love. What did He say about love with His actions? Love is sacrifice. What did His followers say about loving a woman? Be willing to lay down your life. Sacrifice everything even though you could be made a fool in the end if she divorces you or doesn’t appreciate it, which makes a man very vulnerable. What did His followers say about a woman loving a man? Be willing to follow where He leads even if you think you know a better way (which is a huge sacrifice for a modern woman and makes her very vulnerable).
If we are to Love, if we are to fight off the MULTITUDE of dragons in each others lives CONSTANTLY (men have their monsters under the bed as well, and a little feminine tenderness and respect/appreciation is the nightlight needed to keep it at bay),then we must be willing to bleed like a Knight.
Ever notice how nobody ever gets wounded in the fairly tales? In real life, that doesn’t happen. Dragons have teeth, and claws, and breathe fire. When you decide to fight for someone held captive by anything (low-self esteem, impossible media expectations, childhood trauma, unsatisfying job, illness and injury, or just the disappointment and despair common to mankind) you WILL get burned, bitten, and clawed. There is no way around it. As men, we only fight the battles we are certain we will win, because nothing is worse than returning home both wounded AND defeated, double-shame. The problem is that there are few enemies left defeated so easily, a little battle is only a little victory, and with it, only a short-lived and uneasy peace. To face the demons in life, in a way that they’re not coming back, will require you to take a few blows-sometimes to your ego, sometimes to your career, sometimes to your finances, sometimes to your heart. Jars of Clay sang it true- ‘Love Breaks the Back of Foolish Pride”. If you fear getting your heart broken, fear losing everything in the battle, fear looking like a fool, then you will never be free to Love. Love and fear are opposites, you can’t serve both of these masters. Courage is not pretending or believing you’ll never be hurt, courage is accepting these things are necessary risk for something well worth the chance at being bitten, clawed and burned, where it hurts you in the most vulnerable and broken places- pride, respect, your old wounds, your capability, competency, your Heart. Or for a woman, she might have to risk her beauty and tenderness in being rejected. In order to keep the monsters under her man's bed at bay, to return him to her, she might have place the best medicine in her porcelain heart, and set it into a raging river, and hope that it makes it down the shore to where he is licking his wounds in order to bring him home. All the whole hoping her fragile heart isn’t once again dashed against the stone as it has been before.
The Heart is a good thing, in the past we have been told “it is wicked above all things”, but once you come to faith in Messiah, then you are given a new heart, one that guides you into the battles that you can win though they come at great price, one that gives you courage, one that can truly love. This new heart in you is capable of fighting, and the heart of someone you love, is worth fighting for, its worth risking new wounds being made and old ones being attacked. To be her Knight, you must sometimes bleed like one. Small battles are only small victories that bring a short lived and uneasy peace. If you want lasting peace, you’ve got to get up close and personal, right where the claws and teeth are ready to rip you to piece, and chop its head off.
Love and Live with Truth and Honor,
Article by Brian Newman
This is not only false, but it is also damning. If we search history, hairytales, scriptures, and media, we will find only ONE person in the entirety of human history, and even human stories (films, novels, etc) that truly understood love. What did He say about love with His actions? Love is sacrifice. What did His followers say about loving a woman? Be willing to lay down your life. Sacrifice everything even though you could be made a fool in the end if she divorces you or doesn’t appreciate it, which makes a man very vulnerable. What did His followers say about a woman loving a man? Be willing to follow where He leads even if you think you know a better way (which is a huge sacrifice for a modern woman and makes her very vulnerable).
If we are to Love, if we are to fight off the MULTITUDE of dragons in each others lives CONSTANTLY (men have their monsters under the bed as well, and a little feminine tenderness and respect/appreciation is the nightlight needed to keep it at bay),then we must be willing to bleed like a Knight.
Ever notice how nobody ever gets wounded in the fairly tales? In real life, that doesn’t happen. Dragons have teeth, and claws, and breathe fire. When you decide to fight for someone held captive by anything (low-self esteem, impossible media expectations, childhood trauma, unsatisfying job, illness and injury, or just the disappointment and despair common to mankind) you WILL get burned, bitten, and clawed. There is no way around it. As men, we only fight the battles we are certain we will win, because nothing is worse than returning home both wounded AND defeated, double-shame. The problem is that there are few enemies left defeated so easily, a little battle is only a little victory, and with it, only a short-lived and uneasy peace. To face the demons in life, in a way that they’re not coming back, will require you to take a few blows-sometimes to your ego, sometimes to your career, sometimes to your finances, sometimes to your heart. Jars of Clay sang it true- ‘Love Breaks the Back of Foolish Pride”. If you fear getting your heart broken, fear losing everything in the battle, fear looking like a fool, then you will never be free to Love. Love and fear are opposites, you can’t serve both of these masters. Courage is not pretending or believing you’ll never be hurt, courage is accepting these things are necessary risk for something well worth the chance at being bitten, clawed and burned, where it hurts you in the most vulnerable and broken places- pride, respect, your old wounds, your capability, competency, your Heart. Or for a woman, she might have to risk her beauty and tenderness in being rejected. In order to keep the monsters under her man's bed at bay, to return him to her, she might have place the best medicine in her porcelain heart, and set it into a raging river, and hope that it makes it down the shore to where he is licking his wounds in order to bring him home. All the whole hoping her fragile heart isn’t once again dashed against the stone as it has been before.
The Heart is a good thing, in the past we have been told “it is wicked above all things”, but once you come to faith in Messiah, then you are given a new heart, one that guides you into the battles that you can win though they come at great price, one that gives you courage, one that can truly love. This new heart in you is capable of fighting, and the heart of someone you love, is worth fighting for, its worth risking new wounds being made and old ones being attacked. To be her Knight, you must sometimes bleed like one. Small battles are only small victories that bring a short lived and uneasy peace. If you want lasting peace, you’ve got to get up close and personal, right where the claws and teeth are ready to rip you to piece, and chop its head off.
Love and Live with Truth and Honor,
Article by Brian Newman
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