Kimber J.

For most of my life prayer has been an enigma.   Why pray when God already knows my thoughts and what I need or want?   What’s the point if He’s omniscient?   Seems superfluous and unnecessary, and I really don’t have space in my life for anything “extra” that’s using my precious energy.   Lately I’ve been thinking (more than usual) about prayer, talking to a few people around me about their ideas, pushing myself to pray even when the concept doesn’t make total sense to me, and reading.   A few days ago the scripture for the day on my Bible App was James 1:5-8.   This scripture has been in my reading for a long time but it struck me in a different way this morning.   I woke up this morning from another dream.   This dream was probably a mix of the peanut butter sandwich I had for dinner last night and a message from Heaven to get my head right as soon as I woke up.   The dream was not pleasant but it wasn’t terrifyin...

The last five years my work has pivoted around an independent thought, a single characteristic that spans the breadth of a panoramic movement sweeping the education field nationwide.   This individual idea is positivity; the movement is optimistic thinking.   From the perspective of positivity we are able to approach various strongholds, mental blocks, or even forms of oppression.   Through the practice of optimistic thinking we are able to cultivate new neuro-pathways that literally change the shape and function of our brains.   In my head the theory of “practicing” optimistic thinking derives from the adage “practice makes perfect”.   The adjustment to that adage for me in my own optimistic thinking is “practice makes permanent”.   Example: If I practice playing a song on the piano my skills will (or should) improve each time I practice.   (I don’t play the piano because I disregarded my parents’ encouragement to keep practicing bec...

My faith is conditional.   The last few days I’ve been reflective on some statements I’ve made involving faith and knowing that “God’s got me”.   The trend of these statements drifts to the spaces of my life where I have very little influence and absolutely no control.   These statements sound like, “Well, since I’m not there I have to trust God”, or “I don’t know what that reality looks like so I am just trusting God”.   In all fairness these are appropriate statements in the eyes and understandings of humanity, but they are incomplete and quite honestly, narcissistic in terms of God’s greatness.   In one way these statements prove that I am actively trusting God in places where I cannot be, places I cannot influence, places I cannot control.   In another way these statements are ridiculous because even in the places I can be, the places I can influence, or the places I can “control” are still all under God’s rule and still all submit to G...

“Processes.   Processes are stupid.   I want what I want, and I want it when I want it.   This waiting around business is dumb and I hate it. “ These are words and phrases and self-speeches I’ve said in my head AND out loud for years.   This morning my perspective shifted just enough to help me appreciate the process even if I don’t understand or agree with the process.   Process typically involves change.   I can’t think of a process that would take place only to render the exact same object from the beginning of the process.   As I try to remove all-encompassing statements from my vocabulary it’s safe to assume there might be at least one process that starts with something and ends with the exact same something.   It’s doubtful, but I wouldn’t want to be presumptuous.   (For the sake of this entry, I’m taking a license and declaring no process starts with something and ends with that SAME something)   For me, t...