Monday, January 20, 2014

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words, And Many Pictures are a Journey

One of the main things that I love to talk about in my blogs are the flaws of humanity. Even though I constantly bash on people for being imperfect, I am mostly bashing on myself. That is why for my walk I made a story of them. Instead of individual pictures saying how I feel, the string of pictures are there to represent my journey thus far in life. Just like Mel for the longest time I felt stagnant in my faith. I felt that my parents faith was not my own. It took a lot of trials for me to even consider making that faith my own. Currently I am working extremely hard to change. Now I am taking my faith seriously, and working to strengthen it.

So here is my journey.


Humans are like this lake. We reflect the world around us. When people look at each other do they see the world? Oh, I recognize that hairstyle, that one actress had it. Those clothes, they were featured in Fashion Design. As Christians we are no exception to this. Many of us reflect the common views of the day. We all have opinions on homosexual marriage, abortion, nation healthcare etc. What we should do however is not just follow and reflect, but lead and be different. In order to change the world you need to purpose new ideas, and convince others to follow you. They need to reflect your ideas and not flawed points of view.

Here is another look. Humans are like this rock. We are the rock, and by the outline it is very obvious we are a rock. However, just like the rock people have changed us. They have colored on us, graffitied on us to the point that the outside of the rock is distorted. You can no longer tell what the original color of the rock is. Humans change when influenced by others, sometimes they change themselves. Many have changed so much that, like the rock, it is impossible to tell what the original color was. Christians are also colored on. What is different for us however is we have a way to clean ourselves. Through God we are able to erase all of the graffiti and recover our original color. Non Christians are only able to put on a fresh new paint, and wait for that too to be defiled.
One last thought on the rock. Like the cheese, the rock stands alone. This is how much of the world is living, thinking that they are alone. This influences thought is what drives people into depression, alcoholism, self harming etc. However as Christians we know that we are not alone.

The rock and the lake are just introductions to my journey, a back story. This was to set the stage to show how I felt, most of my life.







Looking back I was like the rock and the lake. I reflected the world in an attempt to be popular. I changed myself, and let myself be changed in fear of judgement. The pictures are a representation of how I was at that time. The scenery changed, with it completely new experiences and problems arose. But like the pictures there was only one path in my eyes. I was so focused on my path, that I failed to see the innumerable offshoots. I stayed unchanging even as things changed around me, and I hated myself for this.



As we go through life we usually are given the option to choose. We can take (A) the wide paved road or (B) the narrow, unpaved, uphill road. Both go up the same hill, but both lead to different destinations. Because we cannot see the other side of the hill, as humans we tend to take the easier way out. I also guilty of this. Many times with my life, I took the easy way out. I say that I was a Christian, and then live not in the faith. However, over and over we are presented with this same scenario over and over. As Christians we know that the easy way out usually is not God's way. I was confronted with this scene many times. When I finally choose to take the hard way, was the time that I really started to change.








The path was hard and rough. Just like the physical path in the picture, it was not walked by many. Constantly there were branches and thorns reaching out and grabbing at me. They tore my clothes and skin. (Yes on my walk I produced new holes in my sweats and sweatshirt.) For me this narrow path took 6 months, not including a 2 month journey back up when I fell down.







However when I reached the top, it made it worth the struggle. For standing at top was not a gigantic electrical structure, but what I wanted most change. Because of my journey and experiences I am able to look back and see how much I have grown as a person. To sum it up, I now strive to change and make myself an individual. I realize that the sky is the limit to how much I can change, and there is much more that can be done.

So this is my journey, shown to you through a string of pictures and explanation.

4 comments:

  1. Matthew! First off, I totally understand where you are with your faith, as well as most people. Especially being at SCS for so long, our faith becomes a repetitive cycle that is monotone in our lives. Its hard for us to go out and make our faith our own, when we are in a safe community and do not have to worry about taking it upon ourselves to figure out what we truly believe in. I honestly am happy and proud of you for putting yourself up to this challenge to make your faith your own while you are here, so you don't go to college and lose what you truly do believe in!
    Anyways, now on to your journey in picture: I loved the analogies and metaphors you used in your reflection! It shows you are learning your lit devices and becoming familiar with them! haha
    Matthew, I truly loved this journey you decided to write about and what you reflected on! It is nice to know what is going on in peoples minds and I think you are in a good space. I look forward to see where you go in the future!

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  2. Hey Matt! I just wanted to say that I truly enjoyed reading this post, for a few different reasons. First of all, as I was reading, I began to recognize your words as things that I have thought myself. I especially liked your analogy with the graffitied rock. We as human beings cover each other in who knows what, and in our own strength, we cannot remove that. I liked what you said about having the ability to remove it as Christians. We have that option, because God cleanses us from any and all impurities, if we submit to him. This goes into my next reason for enjoying your post. You talked about the journey being like a pathway, complete with brambles and sticker-bushes to tarnish our outward appearance, and I enjoyed this part because that is exactly how life is, especially as a Christian. We finally make the right choice, get onto the right path, but it is never easy from there on out. In fact, it often gets harder, but as Christians, that's where we can turn to God.

    By the way, I like your blog title "Where All Go to Know the Truth". You are honest, and willing to say what you feel, and I appreciate and admire that greatly. Great job, Matthew! :)

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  3. Matthew. This is great! I love how you use every picture to represent something different, and how it all totally works! The metaphors and analogies were great, and fit really well, and everything you said was so true! Nice job, man.

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  4. Wow, Matthew, you put so much thought and time into this! One of my favorite things you've written this year. In fact, this would be something awesome to share at Senior Chapel-- it's honest, encouraging, and the pictures illustrate your points in an engaging way. Really love this-- thank you for spending the time to write something with so much of your journey within it!
    15/15

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