Tags
Bridgetown, BridgeTown Inc, CorKnit, CorKnits, Go Inc, my life, my story, Night Strike
Hello to everyone out there! It’s just two weeks (and a day) until I leave for Go Inc.’s Mexico Mission trip. In an effort to continue to prepare myself, and help me make better life choices, this week I began to get up early in order to do some exercising. I praise the Lord that the week I decided to finally “just do it” has been blessed with gorgeous weather.
I’m trying to get up around 6am and begin with a walk to warm myself up. I figured going for a walk is the best, as jumping around my room to warm up might be slightly annoying for my roommate, and getting outside will help me wake up. When I get back I do some weight training and then stretching. I’ve also incorporated in my Bible study and prayer time into this new routine. It’s really been helping me get focused for the day.
On my walks, I just walk around my neighborhood, which I have never really explored since moving to my apartment just over a year ago, so it’s been fun. I thought I’d use my time walking to pray, but I found I just get too distracted by looking at everything around me, and my stretching time later is a much better place to focus, breath, and pray.
I have actually been using my walking time to just be in the moment, not really thinking about anything in particular. I’ve been avoiding using that time to plan out my day. Instead using it to breath the fresh air, rejoice in the excellent weather, and pay attention to the things around me.
I like looking at houses. I’ve always been a fan of architecture and design, and have always enjoyed seeing how people live and what they do with their space. And as I walk I find myself wondering about the people living in the places I’m passing, and that lead me to think about how we so often judge by what we see, and not by what we know and have experienced.
For example: There are some really messy yards and rundown looking houses, I could assume the owners are just lazy and don’t care, but I don’t know that for a fact. Maybe an older person lives there and they just can’t take care of their place, maybe they are so busy working to make ends meet that their yard is the last thing on their mind, or maybe there’s actually no one living there at the moment to take care of anything.
We all say, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But how often do we actually do that in our daily lives? I know I’ve picked up plenty of books because the cover grabbed my attention, only to discover as I explored the contents that it was filled with shallowness and a thin plot. Some of my favorite books are my used books. Books with worn and creased covers, dogeared pages, and spines cracked from being read so many times.
I think that’s another reason I love Night Strike so much. The people you meet under the bridge and out in the city, are often completely themselves. They don’t try and put on a front. No they’re not perfect, and they don’t pretend to be, they are who they are. Oh to live with such honesty in my own life.
I’m striving to live my life more intentionally, and to not be apathetic and passive in my decisions. To be present in the moment, and embrace it. The good and the bad. It’s all a part of life. I want to know the people around me, and to not just let us drift by each other in life. To dive in, messy yards and all. I hope you might join me in this journey.
^_^
Jessica
CorKnits 