Trace Jacksonliving the life God saved me for
  • about me
  • why this blog
  • goals
  • facebook

clearly

January 3, 2009 1 comment Article a day in the life

first – some great book recommendations:

the shack. everyone’s talking about it and rightly so. it’s an awesome piece of fiction that may change how you perceive your relationship with God and who you are in Him.
black. the first in a trilogy about a guy who wakes up in another world whenever he falls asleep here, and wakes up here whenever he falls asleep there. and thrilling adventures ensue in both places. took me no time at all to blast through it and now i’m onto red, the second in the circle.

i’ve been thinking about marketing and how simple moments of life are captured to make a product or service appealing. like depression pill commercials will show someone opening the blinds on their windows to reveal the sun shining in and the beauty of the outdoors, maybe even their own children playing in the yard. made me think that what they’re selling isn’t a depression pill at all (well, yes, they ARE, but through selling something else) – but the parts of life that people want. despite how clamorous and busy we work at making our lives, our inner desire is to make things as simple as possible. despite how people rarely say what they mean, we yearn for things to be straightforward.

a model home will sell houses because it is decorated minimally with clean lines and open spaces. there isn’t clutter, there aren’t overdone walls and furniture. but when we buy the house that it represents we fill it up to overflowing and feel unsettled and wonder what happened.

jon got me a camera for christmas and as i was learning how it worked i started really looking at the pictures i took. and i saw so much beauty in them. they were just so darn simple – my cats taking turns sitting in a box, my nephew peering over a balcony and looking very small, my mom with a bandanna tied around her head and making rocker signs with her hands. they captured real life, real simple fun unencumbered and straightforward life. it’s what we find attractive and appealing. it’s what sells!

i felt like i was seeing life clearly. the simpler it seemed, the clearer it became. and it was just the way i wanted it. regardless of what our life’s efforts appear to betray about us, it really is what we seem to be after.

makes me think about all the hubbub of the career ladder and wall street and titles and prestige. and as crazy as people allow their lives to get, when they want to ‘get away’, they choose the simple. it seems to be in our very nature. so why aren’t we grabbing onto that with both hands and building our lives around that instead? why does it just have to be what holidays are made of? why do we wait for christmas to spend time with family? why do we wait for those two weeks out of the year to stand outdoors and breath in nature? if it pleases us so much, why do we complicate and busy up our lives? are we that mislead and greedy?

i choose to see things clearly.
i choose simple.
i choose life.

wanna share?

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: book rec's

1 comment

  • Sanguine Cole January 17, 2009 at 3:55 am - Reply

    So I started the Shack yesterday, I keep hearing about it and then I didnt want to read it because it was so popular but I finially gave in. So far so good, I will let you know what I think once I read the whole thing.

    Oh and on another note, there is a VERY good possibility Tom and I will be visiting Texas sometime this year before the Fall semester (september).

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Calendar

March 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Aug    

Archives

  • August 2016
  • May 2015
  • February 2015
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • July 2012
  • September 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • March 2011
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • August 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006

Categories

  • "poetry"
  • a better me
  • a day in the life
  • devos
  • on mission
  • uncategorized

Copyright Trace Jackson 2021 | Theme by ThemeinProgress | Proudly powered by WordPress

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.