Extra Ordinary Mission

I have had this blog for a little over a month now and have not been exactly sure in what direction to venture forth since my original post. Since it seems though that no one in particular will ever even discover this blog, I guess it does not matter. As my few close personal friends know, I have lots of opinions and strong convictions, so a blog seems like a natural outlet for that, but sometimes I am often hesitant to share them for fear of how they will be received. I also though have a broad spectrum of interests and causes so to focus in on any one would for me be difficult.

I am a collector of quotations, pithy sayings, biblical verses and words to the wise that speak to my heart. It is one of the ways I make sense of the world around me. I love language and words that strung together in just the right order somehow capture and comunicate the essence of the human experience and transcend time and culture - they are to me like a beautiful painting. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I believe that well crafted words can also be worth a thousand pictures. A thousand people can read a biblical passage, a novel, a poem or hear a sermon, political speech, a song, .... and come away with a thousand different personal viewpoints from what they have read or what they have heard yet still somehow each hold on to the same basic truths or themes found in the message. Words can be magical. They have the power to influence, encourage, transform, inspire, guide, create, destroy, hurt, heal, forgive, redeem and so much more. We as individuals and as a society must be careful and not careless with how we use them. Nothing can be further from the truth than the childhood taunting retort "Stick and stones may break my bones, but words (or names) will never hurt me." Words do sometimes hurt and leave deep, long-lasting wounds. I much prefer the truism "The pen is mightier than the sword."

We all have our own concept of self that we carry around with us from very young childhood until we die and it usually morphs and transforms over the years as it is influenced by outside forces (Community has the power to shape us or destroy us) as well as our own hopefully ever-growing maturity, realtionship with our creator God and self awareness and progress on the road to truly being "self-actualized" (in the words of Maslow). When we are truly honest though, I think there are some constants that remain. For me one of those constants has been that I believe that somehow, in some small way I am going to change the world one day (or a small portion of it) for the better by influencing the way people think and in turn believe and ultimately act. Yes, my true self is (what some would call a hopeless) optimist. But I believe in optimism, there is always hope. I do freelance graphic communiations and design work and I guess that is ultimately my goal with that, to influence the way people think and view the world.

Here in this blog, in navigating the "Extras" in my ordinary life, I believe I will begin by each day trying to focus on taking one small quotation, pithy saying, or biblical verse that has latched on to my heart and experiences of that day and explore a little further what it is communicating to me. Then, perhaps, someone else will be sitting at their computer searching for hope, searching for meaning, searching for guidance, searching for the good in the world and also then find these words and they will speak to their experience as well and offer them comfort.