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.
