Why You Should Listen To Mountains

May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When I look down my street, I can see the Rocky Mountains bursting out of the horizon.

purple mountainsCreative Commons License joiseyshowaa via Compfight

Sometimes I wonder what they would say to me if they could speak. I imagine they would say things like:

  • You are small, and that is ok. You are not meant to be a mountain. You are meant to enter into the small broken places.
  • Did you know it is the small things that make the real differences? We are mighty mountains. And yet, we will throw ourselves into the ocean at a single word!
  • Learn from our stability. Plant your feet and calm your heart. If you are anxious, be still. Your heart does not need to be chaotic. [Read more...]
Filed Under: Literary Devices

How Many Spaces After a Period? (Or Why You Don’t Need To Believe Lies About Yourself)

May 14, 2013 by 2 Comments

Sometimes the papers I edit have two spaces after each period. When this is the case, I change it so that there is only one space.

I think people use two spaces because they were once told it is the right thing to do.

But it’s not. 

reflections (A)Camil Tulcan via Compfight

Ultimately it’s a style choice, but the style guide consensus is that one space should be used, and most publications use one space.

The truth is, there are a lot of things we believe simply because someone told us they were true, or because they were once true.

But just because someone told you something was true about you doesn’t mean it is. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grammar

Why Using Commas Will Make Your Heart and Head Less Confusing

May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

When I edit and write, I always use the Oxford comma.

The Oxford comma is the comma before a conjuction (like “and” or “or”) in a list.

NO CHAOS Daniela Hartmann via Compfight

Example of a sentence with an Oxford comma: I like books, bourbon, and basketball.

Example with no Oxford comma: I like books, bourbon and basketball.

With the Oxford comma, you know I like three separate things. Without it, you might think I enjoy drinking bourbon while playing basketball, which I don’t. (I have actually never tried it, but I’ll stick with water). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grammar

Untangling Life and Language (or why I am starting a new blog)

May 6, 2013 by 4 Comments
Photo credit: Aristocrats-hat via Flickr CC

Photo credit: Aristocrats-hat via Flickr CC

“They f**k you up, your mum and dad

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had

And add some extra just for you.”

This is the opening stanza of “This Be the Verse,” by Phillip Larkin. It’s one of my favorite poems. (Click here for the full poem)

Not because I had bad parents, because I had incredible parents.

But because this poem talks about how we inherit things we never asked for. We are born into messes. And these tangles and messes walk with us through life, and we inevitably pass them on.

To be human is to be messy. To be human is to be tangled. To be human is to be a f***k-up. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Figures of Speech, Finding Healing, Grammar

When You Feel Like Running, Plant Trees

February 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/25029704@N04/ under the creative commons license

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/25029704@N04/ under the creative commons license

Sometimes when I face problems or pain or confusion in my life, my first instinct is to run away. I get this feeling in my heart like it will explode if I don’t run away and let rushing wind and changing scenery peel away whatever is weighing it down.

But running away has never resolved or healed anything. It just makes things worse.

Lately God has been teaching me to sit down in the midst of my pain and confusion and problems, and to listen to his whisper reminding me I am loved and valuable and significant.

Because deep, complete healing and understanding can only happen with stillness and a certain stability. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing

God Has Put A Lightness Inside You

February 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Original image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/tfruechtenicht/

Original image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/tfruechtenicht/

Sometimes when my heart is heavy, I lean in to the chest of God and hear him whisper:

I have put a lightness inside you. You are like the wind. Your prayers cover oceans, and stretch to distant lands. If you keep your ear ever-listening, mountains will move before you. You will dance on the tops of trees, and they will clap their hands in time. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing

Why You Should Cut Violence Out of Your Life

January 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Original image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/locosteve/4321735469/ under the Creative Commons license

We live in a violent culture. Violence is in our movies, video games, and history.

And watching violent movies, playing violent video games, and glorifying violent past events all do the same thing.

They make us devalue human life.

Sure, you can watch violent movies and not be a violent person. You can play violent video games and be overall loving and kind. You can celebrate history and not want to start wars. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing

Why Being Created From Dust Should Give You Hope

January 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Original photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/yotut/5422718511/

The Bible says we are made out of dust, and I never really liked that metaphor, because it made me feel kind of worthless. I would have rather been made out of gold, or sunsets, or waterfalls. I felt like God was telling me I was, at my very core, worthless.

However, lately I have been learning to love the metaphor. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Figures of Speech

You Are Not Alone (Even If You Feel Like You Are)

December 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Original photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/stroganov/4647724950/ under the Creative Commons license

Another name for Jesus is “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”

Jesus came to heal hurting and broken and lonely people, but he didn’t start with care-plans, prescriptions, or self-help books. He started with himself. He started to heal us by being with us.

Healing by presence. By close-proximity.

When I was struggling with depression and self-injury, the healing process began when I started to understand Jesus was with me, and I wasn’t alone, and he heard me when I thought no one could hear me, and he saw me when I thought I would never stand out, and he cried when I thought I was crying alone.

He loved me, and he was with me, and he started putting back together my broken pieces, and putting his healing palm over my bleeding arms.

And he wants to do the same for you. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing

Why “And” Can Help You Find Who You Are and Where You Belong

December 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“We are unusual and tragic and alive.”

This is the greatest line in the greatest book of all time, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.

And it is an impeccable example of a polysyndeton.

A polysyndeton is when more conjunctions than necessary are used, and it usually occurs in a list.

My friend Evan said he likes polysyndetons because they can make unrelated things friends, bringing them into one room and making them hang out together in harmony.

After he said that, I began liking them for the same reason. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Figures of Speech

Feeling Crazy or Misunderstood? Try an Asyndeton

December 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

When I was going through a period of depression in high school, I didn’t talk to people about it for a long time. One of the reasons I kept it to myself was because I didn’t have language to express how I felt. Everything I could think of saying made me sound crazy.

I am sad, happy, and hurting. I am thankful, loving, and self-hating.

Everything I could say made what I was feeling seem replaceable. Seem tossed in and fleeting. Seem crazy. You can’t possibly feel all those things at once! They don’t fit together! Let’s find which ones you actually feel.

I didn’t feel a mixture of pain and joy and sadness. I felt pain and joy and sadness fully. Every inch of my body was hurting. But every inch of my body was also happy. To my logical self, this sounded crazy. You can’t be both sad and happy. You can’t feel pain that comes from nowhere.

Then, God came to me with asyndetons. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Figures of Speech

Why You Should Share Your Mistakes

December 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay-Z

There is a rhetorical device called an enallage.  An enallage is an effective grammatical mistake.* Usually it occurs in dialogue.

One example of an enallage is from the movie The Help. I have not seen this movie, and I don’t plan on ever seeing it, but I know this line from it: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”By using “is” instead of “are,” the affirmations seem more genuine, more authentic. The grammatical error makes the quote more memorable.

Another example is from Jay-Z (or nearly any other rap song). In one of his songs, he says: “All the ballers is bouncin’/ they like the way I be leanin’.”

I doubt Jay-Z would have become as popular as he is if would have written grammatically correct lines all the time. “All the ballers are bouncing. They like the way I am leaning,” just doesn’t pack the same punch. The original, grammatically incorrect phrase seems more authentic.

And so, while grammatical mistakes are still mistakes, they can be used effectively, as they sometimes come across as more authentic than perfect grammar.

As humans, we have all made mistakes. Some of us carry around some serious baggage from mistakes we have made or are making. And we all have flaws.

But we like to hide our mistakes and flaws.

If you are looking for healing, you will not find it by being fake. You will not find it by pretending you are perfect. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Figures of Speech

Why Love Is a Greater Healer Than the Golden Gate Bridge

November 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago I was in San Francisco for a friend’s wedding. One night we went sailing on the San Francisco Bay at sunset. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

While we were on the Bay, someone committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was so strange, knowing that someone had jumped off the bridge we had just been admiring, had watched the same sunset as us, and was now in the same water we were sailing on. Had felt incredible pain while we were feeling incredible joy. Had been hopeless while we had been celebrating a hopeful future.

It made me so. so. sad. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing

5 Reasons You Should Delete Your Facebook

October 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I have a pretty poor self-esteem. I am always worried about what people think of me, and about whether or not people like me. It drives my girlfriend nuts.

One step I took to fight my poor self-esteem was to delete my personal Facebook.

I have been without Facebook for three months, and it has been wonderful. I will not go back. (Note: I still have my fan page, but I deleted my personal one. On my fan page, I am not friends with people, I just post things.)

If you have a low self-esteem (or even if you don’t), here are five reasons you should delete your Facebook: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing

What (And What Not) To Do When Your Heart Hurts

October 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/94215313@N00/ under the Creative Commons license

When I was in high school, I was carrying around a lot of pain. I am not sure where it came from, but my heart always hurt. I also couldn’t believe that God loved me. I am sure the two had something to do with each other.

Sometimes, late at night, after being at a friend’s house or a basketball game or something, I would go to a parking lot where I knew know one would see me and I would pound the ground until my hands started bleeding.

The whole time I would be crying and begging God to make things better. To help me feel loved. To help me not hurt so much inside.

But these times never helped me feel any better. They only left with me with more questions and scratched palms.

Because being in pain does not make feeling pain go away. Being in pain does not make you feel loved. Pounding concrete will not make God hear you better, it will most likely just prevent you from hearing God better.

I know this makes sense logically, and I also know this sometimes doesn’t make sense emotionally.  But it’s true nonetheless.

If you, like I was, are carrying around pain and don’t want to be. If you, like I did, want to feel loved but don’t. If you, like I did, are hurting yourself to feel better. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding Healing
«Older Posts