Monday, October 29, 2007

My love for the South.

5 things I love about the south:
1. Roadside memorials to those who have perished "en route."

2. The front porch...a perfect setting for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and some great conversation.

3. Cicadas. They make the most soothing and reassuring noise at night....even for an insomniac like myself who tends to wake up at 3am for no good reason.

4. Folk Art. Probably, the one "type" of art that consistently inspires me with its authenticity, passion, color and beauty.

5. Those signs that sit outside of churches with catchy "headlines." The below is not a picture of mine, but, rather something "leveraged" off of the internet.

My most recent favorite phrase seen on my drive home was, "The way that you live your life is an expression of what you believe about God." I love that. It seems that we live in a society that always has a LOT to say, a lot to preach, a lot of advice to offer. One of my favorites: "do well by doing good." Often it seems as though the people who need to say these kinds of things are most often the ones incapable of actually following through with "good behavior." The proof is, indeed, in the pudding. It is not enough just to say that you care, that you love, that you are a friend, you must live your life caring, loving and being a friend. And we all fail, but the point is to take responsibility, learn the lesson and move forward with the understanding that we can always do better. Growth is change, and growth can be painful but it is necessary to live life to the fullest.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen sister!

Anonymous said...

Don't forget photocopied revival posters hung outside grocery stores!

love the list.

Heidi Brueggeman said...

I love the south so much I will be crossing the Mason-Dixon line to steal some of your weather in December for almost the entire "winter"...Mary email me! I lost your email address when my computer crashed: heidi@shopsugar.com - xoxox, Heidi (Brueggeman, from Elon, I know you know me...)