what's your metaphor?

i recently started listening to regina spektor thanks to becca and emily and i came upon this song laughing with. the song really made me think so here's the link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rov3pV9PsRI

and i've listened to it time after time and every time i try to discover her message. i mean what is she really trying to say. is she trying to tell me not to God so seriously? is she saying God can be funny? maybe she's saying God is multifaceted. she's saying God is there for every situation. you can rely on him in when the police officer comes to your door with bad news. he's there when you're in war. he's there when you're starving. he's there when you're in the hospital. he's there when you need love. but he's not only there for the bad. God is there for you when you're searching for something funny to say. he's there when you just need someone to bounce ideas off of. so maybe regina spektor has the right outlook on God. God is always there in the good and the bad, and just like love, he wants all of you. he's wants you all the time. not only when you're scared or hurt or worried. he wants you when you're laughing. when you're crying. when you're thinking. when you're cleaning. when you're driving. when you're sleeping. God wants all of you. your soul. your mind. your strength. all of you all the time and that's a scary concept. it scary to give all of yourself to something you can see but that the point of faith. God doesn't just want your mind. he doesn't only want to see you on sunday. he doesn't just want you to call on him when you're struggling or in pain. he wants to hear it all. God wants to know about your paper-cut. your promotion. the five dollars you won on a scratch-off lottery ticket. he wants it all. the best analogy i can think of is when your best friends finds out some awesome news and not only do they neglect to tell you but you find out from an acquaintance that you barely know. the feeling is horrible. and that's how God feels when you only talk to him when you need a favor. i have been reading a book called God the what? lately and it's a book about our metaphors that we have for God. i think we all have our own metaphors that show each of us something different about our faith. i like to think of God as a best friend. a nursing mother. a light. the most-high. and love. we each have our own unique metaphors for looking at God and for myself my metaphors for God change with the situation that i'm in. when i'm looking and worrying about my future God is a light. when i'm in pain God is a nursing mother. and when i just need someone to talk to God is my best friend. this is what regina spektor is saying. God isn't just a healer. he's not just a father. he's everything and no matter what time of day he's there. so don't just go to God on sunday mornings or when you're scared. go to him when you're happy. sad. and looking for love. bring it all to him.



" we do not have to let go of one sense of God to take up another. neither do we need to about challenging old metaphors. what is crucial is to find a metaphor-- or two, or six-- that creatively point toward what we believe." - from chapter one of God the what? what our metaphors for God reveal about our beliefs in God

Joke of the Day: this one is quite long.. but i really like this one.. credit to jay cooper..
Little Carol came into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner.
Her birthday was coming up and she thought this was a good time to tell her mother what she wanted. 'Mom, I want a bike for my birthday.'Now, Little Carol was a bit of a troublemaker. She had gotten into trouble at school and at home. Carol's mother asked her if she thought she deserved to get a bike for her birthday. Little Carol, of course, thought she did.
Carol's mother, being a Christian woman, wanted her to reflect on her behavior over the last year, and write a letter to God and tell him why she deserved a bike for her birthday. Little Carol stomped up the steps to her room and sat down to write God a letter.

LETTER 1:
Dear God:
I have been a very good girl this year and I would like a bike for my birthday. I want a red one.
Your friend, Carol

Carol knew this wasn't true. She had not been a very good girl this year, so she tore up the letter and started over.
LETTER 2:
Dear God:
This is your friend Carol. I have been a pretty good girl this year, and I would like a red bike for my birthday.
Thank you, Carol

Carol knew this wasn't true either. She tore up the letter and started again.
LETTER 3:
Dear God:
I know I haven't been a good girl this year. I am very sorry. I will be a good girl if you just send me a red bike for my birthday.
Thank you, Carol

Carol knew, even if it was true, this letter was not going to get her a bike. By now, she was very upset. She went downstairs and told her mother she wanted to go to church.
Carol's mother thought her plan had worked because Carol looked very sad.
'Just be home in time for dinner,' her mother said.Carol walked down the street to the church and up to the altar. She looked around to see if anyone was there. She picked up a statue of the Virgin Mary, slipped it under her jacket and ran out of the church, down the street, into her
house, and up to her room. She shut the door and sat down and wrote her letter to God.

LETTER 4:
I GOT YOUR MAMA.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN, SEND THE BIKE.
Signed,
YOU KNOW WHO


enjoy your saturday and valentine's day.. much love and peace, dmaloney

does love have a price tag?

so it's that time of year again... valentine's day. it's pretty well a love or hate holiday. am i right? i've always thought of it as a halmark holiday. a day to spend extra money as proof of love. chocolate. flowers. expensive dinners and wine. but maybe it's really a holiday to remind us to love. it's not the money you spend but the thought. the care. the love. so this morning i looked at one of my favorite pair of shoes and saw that they obviously needed to be loved. so i grabbed the crazy glue and i glued them back together and as i worked to get my shoes to look somewhat presentable i glued my fingers to the shoe. at first i didn't realize it but when i pulled my fingers away the glue ripped some skin off of my fingers and it hurt. now i know that this may sound ridiculous but i tried to revive my shoes out of love. right? so i caused pain on myself out of love. love is crazy and it makes people do even crazier things. people throw themselves in front of buses for the people they love. and when i think about the craziness of love i can't help but think of the life of Christ. i just think that he lived knowing it would all end on the cross, in pain. but it was out of love. so maybe, just maybe, the missing skin on my fingers is a small price to pay for love. does love have a price tag? no, it wants all of you. love calls us to give everything and love is paralyzing. so this valentine's day don't buy overpriced flowers or chocolates. just love with all you are because we all need love.

Quote of the Day:

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."-mother teresa

Joke of the Day: longer than usual hope it's worth the time.

Two friends are discussing the possibility of love. "I thought I was in love three times," one friend says.

"How so?" his friend asks.

"Five years ago I deeply cared for a woman who wanted nothing to do with me."

"Was that not love?" his friend asks.

"No," he replies. "That was obsession. And then two years ago I deeply cared for an attractive woman who didn't understand me."

"Was that not love?"

"No," he replies. "That was lust. And just last year I met a woman aboard a cruise ship to the Caribbean. She was smart, funny, and a great conversationalist. And everywhere I followed her on that boat, I would get this strange sensation in the pit of my stomach."

"Was that not love?" his friend asks.

"No," he replies. "That was motion sickness."

Picture of the Day:

try looking at things with a new perspective.

enjoy your friday night and valentine's day. maybe it's love or maybe it's motion sickness.

much love and peace, dmaloney

thursday dinner, some food for thought

thursday is a good day. i mean just think about it is the day before friday and community is on. community it's one of, if not, the funniest, shows i've ever watched faithfully. thursday is not only the night of community but for my whole life it's kind of been the night that is laid back, relax and calm. it's not stressed like other nights where someone is running somewhere. granted not every thursday is calm. but i like to think that thursday is a day of reflection. is a time to look back on the week to that point. just like evening is a time meant for reflection, a time to look back on your daily accomplishments and to look forward to see what your heart is yearning for. a time for silence.

it's good to be in silence. not all the time. just long enough to entertain thoughts of the future. can we really follow our dreams if we never stop to look back? if we never stop to enjoy the view how can we even appreciate what where we've been? these aren't easy questions and they don't have one answer. no right. no wrong. it's not black or white. it's not yes or no. the answer is in thought. a plan.

Quote of the Day:

"For I know the thoughts and plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to hurt, plans to give you a hope and a future." jeremiah 29:11

Joke/cartoon of the Day:

so just remember even the best plans don't always work out. enjoy the rest of your thursday. and give community a try on nbc at 8. much love and peace, dmaloney

starting off the blah-blah

today's been a day full of rain, sleet, and snow. not to mention my laziness. right now i'm trying to filter the words and thoughts that are clogging my brain, but all i have is blah-blah-blah. maybe that's why i made this blog. i finally have a spot where i can just write it all out, let all of this mumble, jumble go. maybe i can't pull together any words because i've simply done nothing all day... one of my laziest days to date. my laziness aside, tobyMac has impressed me again with his newest album "tonight". it's another album that is jam-packed with the loud intensity he's know for along with some meaning full hits that are focused on his voice and his own thoughts. for those of you who haven't listen to tobyMac before i would recommend him to anyone. his albums just get better every time.this album is going to keep me busy for a couple weeks. I'll spend a lot of time listening and analyzing his purpose in each song.

if you are actually reading this, thanks for listening to my rambling if anything i'll try to put up a quote of the day/week and a joke or something. so if you decide you rather not read through the mumble-mix you can at least look for a joke, but if you actually want to here my thoughts you can follow this blog. i'll do my best to come on everyday, but i won't make any promises.

Joke of the Day:

Two psychiatrists were walking down a hall.

One turned to the other and said, "Hello."

The other one thought, "I wonder what he meant by that."

Quote of the Day:

"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once

accepted, in spite of your changing moods." - C.S. Lewis

just a picture from this weekend with some of the coolest people i know i don't think you'll ever know how you've all influenced me.

if you're still reading i'd really like to thank you for reading. stay dry and safe during this storm because it's crazy out there. be safe. with much love, peace d.maloney