Dynamic Short People

The title was designed to get your attention (yeah, I'm guilty of the salesmanship plot...) and it might be a bit off-track, but this does have to do with small people -- who are either small in stature or small inside.

If you're like me at all (not very probable), you want to understand small people. Those people who seem too small to have made it into the spotlight, too unimportant to have influenced history. When I read a book, sometimes I find myself wondering about those in-between characters. What would happen if I took time to devote an entire novel to a lesser character...say the White Witch's dwarf-servant, or Pippin in Lord of the Rings, or Tinkerbell in Peter Pan?

There's always a deeper level to delve into.

I went to see The Return of the King in theaters last night. I know, it came out years ago, but they were having a special showing of the extended edition for just one night, one time...It was amazing:) LOTR has always held a special place in my heart. And the last one is just so beautiful and sad (*tears up just thinking about it*). I didn't actually cry, though, because SOMEONE kept laughing (*cough* Ruthie *cough* Alex), and consequently I laughed.

J.R.R. Tolkien's story seems to have so many, hm, similarities to our world. It reveals so many lessons and heartfelt truths (C.S. Lewis is also very good at that). But there is one lesson in particular that keeps coming to me over and over and over again.

[Here's where we get to the "short people" ;)]

The small, imperfect, weak, and simple-minded people can sometimes make the greatest changes in the world.

Obviously, I'm referring to the hobbits. Merry, Pippin, Sam, and, last but not even close to least, Frodo. Four hobbits who are half the size of everybody else and yet they choose to keep taking small steps forward and fight for their world - not in pursuit of glory and fame, but just because they believe it's right. The other, "wiser" characters are not dumped in the mud by any means; they still play their large and awesome parts. But it's just the fact that the little people can and do make a difference.

It's the best story in the world.

Probably because I feel like one of the lesser characters in my own story ;)

Which brings me to the connection with our world. I Corinthians 26-29:

"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."

There you have it. God wants to take our measly little selves and turn us into amazing people for Him! Not that we should stop trying to be better...but that we are content with who God made us. Whether you be Elf, Dwarf, Man, Woman, Hobbit, Orc (preferably not..), or Smeagol.

Never you forget that Smeagol had a part to play in the end! And only once he was cast into the molten lava of Mount Doom (spectacular name, btw) did he finally lose his chance for redemption...

Upside Down

Life has a way of turning things upside down...and making you wonder how you ever managed to live right side up:)

That's my thought tonight. It's like all those stars I was talking about yesterday (see older post) just lit up my sky and I could finally catch a little glimpse of God's plan. Well, not His plan (I never seem to see that part rawr), but just what He's doing with my life right now.

The future remains a mystery.

So I was thinking - last night when I couldn't get to sleep, and today, when I was trying not to think :P - about my life and who I picture myself as. I've always kind of been a Tigger person. Personality-wise, and admiring-wise. But I was wondering...

What if all along I thought I was Tigger, but I've really been Eeyore the whole time?

It was quite an epiphany.

I'm reading the Inkheart trilogy (again) right now, and it's making me think about everything in story terms. Fiction. Books. Making my story. And wondering which character I am in the Story of Life. And it's making me sooo glad to realize that, unlike most fictional stories, I can change roles. I can go from being the bad guy (er, girl) to being on the side of the heroes. I can switch from the shy, low self esteem girl to being bold and courageous.

I can change.

It's making me really happy. It's also making me ask myself a few hard questions: what is it I really want? And if I really want something, what will I do to get it? God should be my greatest treasure. If I want Him above all else, I need to go and get Him.

Anyway, He's turned my life upside down and I'm slightly ruffled and freaked out but isn't that the best part of the roller coaster anyway? Looking back and saying, "Wow, I just about peed my pants...But gee, let's do it again! I know exactly where I'm going now." :)

Hyper Stars

Heyyyy:) I'm here again! Ta da!!

I AM HYPER!!! :D :D :D

...Why, you may ask? Because I'm about to dive into a bowl of peanut butter cup ice cream AND it's after eight-thirty (nighttime, you know) AND I feel like I'm going to lose it. Thus, hyperness.

Great, huh?

I also have one very good reason to NOT be hyper/happy -- which I am very avidly ignoring. I don't want to be depressed and confused anymore. (Well, the confused part I won't be getting away from anytime soon.) I'm ready to look through the darkness and gaze at the stars.

Enjoy those little moments that sparkle like stars in my night sky. Some of them like shooting stars that I try to hold but they fade anyway...And others that glitter on, tucked away in my mind forever, where I can flip through them and just remember <3

But the best ones are the ones I'm living now. The ones where I'm riding the roller coaster and screaming as I shoot around faster than any shooting star. The ones that make me giggle because everything is funny. When all I can taste is something delicious on my tongue. All I can feel is the peaceful, cool grass on my toes...or the well-worn pages of my favorite book...or the bliss at being me, right where I am, in this world.

Maybe these moments are occurring less and less. But isn't it my fault if the little things are meaning less, and I'm focusing instead on heading for the big ones - the big ones that never come?? Yup. MY fault.

So, here's to enjoying the stars...even when clouds fill my sky with shadows <3