Loving the Miles, For Your Sake | Mary Oliver

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It's Good Friday; I wanted to share this.
Such a beautiful poem, capturing the experience of coming to God in the first days.
Too often we can easily get caught up in the daily drudgeries of life we forget that moment, that experience of coming to God in our first days. Mary Oliver beautifully captures her experience, I am sure, experienced uniquely by many lovers of God.
For His sake, may we continually love the miles.

By Mary Oliver

Coming to God: First days

Lord, what shall I do that I
can’t quiet myself?
Here is the bread, and
here is the cup, and
I can’t quiet myself.

To enter the language of transformation!
To learn the importance of stillness,
    with one’s hands folded!

When will my eyes of rejoicing turn peaceful?
When will my joyful feet grow still?
When will my heart stop its prancing
    as over the summer grass?

Lord, I would run for you, loving the miles for your sake.
I would climb the highest tree
to be that much closer.

Lord, I will learn also to kneel down
into the world of the invisible,
    the inscrutable and the everlasting.
Then I will move no more than the leaves of a tree
    on a day of no wind,
bathed in light,
like the wanderer who has come home at last
and kneels in peace, done with all unnecessary things;
every motion; even words.

love & light...♥



Oleg Oprisco

 

I have just discovered an amazing fine art photographer named Oleg Oprisco.

This print reminds me of Hillsong's 'Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)'. Such beauty and mystery in this print. There is a sense of fearlessness, trust, longing and hope in this print from the woman who stands there. It truly moves me.

 

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me.

Tae me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith would be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour."

Visit: Oleg Oprisco

love & light...♥

Live FashionABLE

 

Live FashionABLE, another beautiful find.
I wanted to share this organisation with you all.

Leaving a life in the sex industry and moving into rehabilitation, women in Ethiopia oftentimes find it a struggle to gain work in the economical world; thus finding themselves trapped and returning to a life in the sex industry for sustainability. Live FashionABLE provides work for women in the form of retail production, helping them become orientated into the economical world.

 

Here is a little bit about the organisation:

" 'Women At Risk' is an organization we have partnered with to rehabilitate former sex workers. This work requires not only getting these women off the streets, but also providing them counselling and helping them find alternate means of income – this is why we created fashionABLE. Our ultimate goal is to help these women become healthy and productive members of society.

Headquarters for scarf production are in Addis Ababa, the capital city. Scarves are made by women in the program, as well as other Ethiopian sources that include women and men, to help meet demand. While being supported by those sources, fashionABLE is continually funding the training of more women in order to employ as many women as demand will allow. All the while, we are meeting the mission that your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf continues to create sustainable business for more women in Africa.



 

Your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf creates sustainable business in Africa. We are committed to long-term solutions to fighting poverty, and our main focus is creating opportunities for vulnerable women. That means that your purchase of a scarf creates jobs, so that the women are not dependent upon charity, but instead are a vital part of a developing economy.
 

So our strategy is two-fold. We work with women to help them start small business cooperatives, and we partner with and require manufacturers to also employ women with fair wages and fair hiring practices."

Visit Live FaahionABLE

love & light...♥

 

On Journaling.

Such a beautiful post by Audrey Assad.
I couldn't encourage this form of expression any more than I could ever try.

 "It’s almost a sacred thing in some ways, journaling—it’s quite vulnerable, leaving your thoughts and emotions on a piece of paper where anyone might ravage them, thus knowing you in a way you never intended. Perhaps this is part of the magic of it: as long as my thoughts, feelings, and deeply personal perspectives remain completely private, I am not confronted with exactly how much they mean to me. This is the threshing floor aspect of journaling for me: I write things down, and some of them leave my mind entirely, having been dumped in a place where they can no longer take up valuable space: but some of them grow and shiver with life, rising in front of me like new trees, and I must give them my time and attention, my love and my care."

Read the full blog post HERE

love & light... ♥

Miriam Designs | Handmade & Hope-Filled Goods

"Little did I know how much I would learn from working alongside them... like how to laugh until it hurts, to allow hope to conquer my fear, and to experience the healing that comes through a community that loves unconditionally." - Gracie Moakler

Miriam Designs. What a beautiful find.

Honestly, I cannot even remember how I came across this, but I am sure it was somewhere along the lines of Steve Moakler, and learning about this organisation his wife was a part of.

As a lover of all things handmade/homemade with a defining purpose, I was immediately drawn to Miriam Designs and it's ethos... and of course, all the beautiful jewellery!

Here's a little bit about Miriam Designs:

"Miriam Designs is a group of women in Nashville, Tennessee who have incredible stories of survival, restoration, and hope. They help to train and employ women who have survived years on the streets and are working their way to a better life.

Our goal is to help provide work for women here in Nashville who have survived lives of prostitution, drug abuse, trafficking, or homelessness. We teach them a new skill and create a fun community for them to thrive in. I LOVE spending time with them- so it just feels like a WIN-WIN every time we get together. The current goal is to get enough work coming in that we can bring at least 1-2 women full time and hire others with steady part time work! (we have 3-4 women who work part time as of now).."

Read the full article HERE

I recently bought the 'Kyle' necklace from their store, made of five African turquoise beads, and I absolutely love it. I have my eye on a few more!
I hope you take time to look into this organisation and are blessed and inspired by their faith and encouraging hearts to serve others.

Website: Miriam-Designs.com
Instagram: @MiriamDesigns

Me with my 'Kyle' necklace!

"And Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dances." 

- Exodus 15v20

love & light...♥

Darling Magazine | The Art Of Being A Woman

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It is so refreshing to have a magazine that focuses on the inner beauty of a woman rather than that constant bombardment of celebrity gossip, dieting plans and non affordable clothing, luring women into believing they are not beautiful or worthy, solely based on the exterior.

I recently ordered my (digital) copy of Darling Magazine and I am already loving it. Such a breath of fresh air and a definite recommend.

You can purchase yours here! You won't regret it!

love & light...♥

Renee The Movie | TWLOHA

This is fast becoming one of my favourite films & I haven't even seen it yet. I have been a supporter of TWLOHA for some years now and when the production for Renee started, I had been on/off keeping up to date with the videos they had been posting in the midst of its production. I recently saw this one which focuses on the music in the film. I was blown away at how they had conceptualised music in such a way that it was fueled on her imagination. Its something that I find difficult to describe in words. Music is a very beautiful gift & it never ceases to amaze me the extent of a journey it can take you to. Like Renee, I was once dependent on music and used it as my escape goat from all the crap that was happening around me. Nowadays, I'm in a much happier place & like many music lovers, its very difficult to separate what you see/feel from what you hear. I have a feeling this film will relate to a lot people in this generation, solely on music alone, & hope the story inspires them like it has done me.

"I am grateful to be learning to: hope without expectation & love without an agenda." - Renee Yohe

'To Write Love On Her Arms.'

love & light...♥

Organic Fashion | Fair Trade

Those is the named title are two ideals I've felt (for a while now) compelled to, and aim to support it's cause. Also, as a person who jumps at an amazing opportunity to help is a natural given for me, but to look good while doing so is always a plus. I figured I would share the little I know about the topic and it's effect on me.

My first encounter with Fair Trade/Organic Fashion was circa '09 through the sustainable fashion pioneer People Tree. The beautiful signature embroidery on the majority of their garments first attracted me to the brand & I later found that there was more of a purpose to this brand rather than just pretty patterns woven in cloth. I did some digging, read around the brand and became hooked on their ethos & wanted to support it in anyway possible, and till this day I still do. The empowerment of people in less privileged countries, through work and livelihood, as well as providing healthy and stable work sectors and to know that somebody else's hard work to put clothes on your body and shoes on your feet was so moving and touching, there was no way I could turn my back on it.

I had loosely been following the works of the fashion model, Summer Rayne Oakes (best name EVER) who is an eco-friendly, sustainable fashion activist so ideally and in fact, VERY recently I felt it appropriate to get her book 'Style Naturally' based on sustainable fashion and beauty. I don't know why I waited so long to get it, it is very insightful. Though her book is solely a guide into shopping sustainably, she expectantly creates awareness of sustainable fashion whilst highlighting some very important causes within her book. There is so much possibility that lies within fair trade and to do it while feeling good about what you wear and in a way that renders you eco-conscious in what you buy is, to me, so inspiring.

I hope in this life I myself can make some sort of an impact through this initiative, even if it is just to encourage at least one person to be more eco-conscious of some of the things they buy and to know who suffers or in this case benefits from their choices. Who knows, maybe one day my dream will come true; I'll be an amazing Nurse who somehow manages to run her own boutique selling beautiful organic & fair trade garments. Hopefully, not all at once!

Check out these Places:

People Tree
TOMS Shoes

Levi's
Saumarez Lingerie

love & light...♥

"If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it and let it become you, and you will find great things happen for you, to you and because of you." - T. Alan Armstrong