Brave Enough To Be Bliss

How Much Time Do You Really Need to Dedicate to Your Relationship? | Psychology Today

It’s as though we expect our relationships to be great and yet, just like with card selection, we don’t invest the time and energy into making them meaningful and rewarding. Doing things faster will never produce the same results as doing things with more heart. I can send a million “hug” and “heart” emojis and they will never compare to the warmth of my embrace while I verbally say, “ I love you. ” And a text saying “ I love you ” will never compare to a handwritten note or a carefully selected card that expresses the true feelings of my heart.

When we choose to express our hearts, it is vital that we take the time and invest the energy to be Real .

James Wesley - Real (youtube.com)

“Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks.” Yo-Yo Ma

I have never liked cold weather and in the past few years my attitude had gotten worse, because my fingers and toes have started aching more with Raynaud’s syndrome. When I was in Michigan the second time, I invested in some new cold weather outerwear and realized what a big difference that made during my long walks. Then when Kylee and I went to Washington in early December, I invested in actual snow boots. The appropriate gear made such a difference. There were certainly previous points in my life when I would have been in a much more secure financial position to make such investments, but I never spent the money on myself. I made sure others had what they needed to feel comfortable and cared for, but I didn’t think I was worth it. I only bought things for myself when they were on sale or the cheapest version, even though, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend money on the best for those I loved. I just didn’t love myself, so I didn’t believe I was worth such investments. Anyway, the proper gear had started to shift my thinking toward cold weather but since returning from Michigan, all my surroundings just seemed so brown and drab. Until one morning in December when I woke up with these exact words and recorded them on my phone. Sometimes you really have to listen and look and feel for the beauty of my majesty. But do that, don’t miss it. I hadn’t realized it until I read that sentence and gave it some thought, but the reason I felt so connected spiritually when I was in Michigan was because of the beauty of my surroundings and the daily practices that connection inspired. Since I had returned to Kansas City , I hadn’t been looking for the beauty in my surroundings and as a result, I hadn’t continued the same routine of music, prayer and devotionals, so the spiritual connection was suffering. After that, I stopped comparing everything to Michigan and started appreciating Missouri for what it was and realized what I had been missing. There may not be a lake outside my window, but once I started listening, looking and feeling the beauty that did exist, I began to find it. And it wasn’t just looking at nature. One of the biggest things I missed when I was in Michigan was the human contact, so coming back to Kansas City gave me something Michigan couldn’t . I got to listen to my daughter tell me HIPAA-compliant stories about work, hear her dogs bark when I arrived, hear the laughter of my friends. I could give and receive hugs that I had longed for when I was away feeling no human contact for all those weeks. I saw all their beautiful faces that I had missed so much. While God’s majesty was so apparent to me in nature while I was in Michigan, I had missed thinking about the most important thing in my life, people, as His majesty. Humans, even as flawed as we can be, are still God’s greatest masterpiece. Once I started listening, looking, and feeling for the beauty of His majesty every day, I began to see it in all kinds of places I never had before.

And if that’s not a God wink, I don’t know what else is. This book has nearly 350,000 words in it, but majesty isn’t used other than in these several preceding paragraphs because it’s simply not a word I use. I know

407