"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
I recently read an article that likened the number of disconnected youth in America to the size of the state of Minnesota. For this discussion, "disconnected youth" refers to youth ages 16-24 who are neither in school nor working. Millions of youth who are single, at home caring for a baby (one study removed women who in this age range who were married to a working spouse) or seemingly lack the clarity, ambition, or guidance to get where they are intended.
My son is home from University for a long weekend. When several of his high school friends were over today, I wondered what made them seem different. Then it dawned on me that they were coming into themselves and emitted a lightness in becoming more like their authentic selves than the teens society wanted them to be just a few months ago.
At the same time, I had a brief a chat with a student looking at universities and asked what they wanted to study. When they did not have an answer, I probed about studying theater. I got the usual hesitation about the risk of not making a lot of money. I have long grown anxious that adult practicality throws water on the fire of youth passions and ambitions and then, those youth become adults who are no longer clear on their purpose in life.
I thought about this as I was processing these photos for today. Like the recent Super Moon Lunar Eclipse, we start out our lives with clarity and bright anticipation, only to become confused as we conform to the world's expectations. That is begins the time when we hide the person we believed we were meant to be. In the same way, the true nuance of the moon was difficult to photograph during the total eclipse.
Some of us become completely consumed as we accommodate the world's view of us, remaining hidden or disconnected and others are persistent enough to press through and become what God had intended. And, that is a truly beautiful thing.
Blessings.
Today's Photos: Stages of the 2015 Super Moon
"If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:
God’s blessing inside the city,
God’s blessing in the country;
God’s blessing on your children,
the crops of your land,
the young of your livestock,
the calves of your herds,
the lambs of your flocks.
God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl;
God’s blessing in your coming in,
God’s blessing in your going out.
God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.
God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you.
All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe.
God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan. God will make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today."
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
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