Clouds

I like to do something every day that throws people off. It reminds me that reality is moldable. I have this rebellious side that people will find if they look hard enough. Ironic, I know, considering I have been known as the teacher’s pet and goodie two shoes practically since my conception. But, there was always a part of me daring to be different. I was the girl who grew up with the guy best friend, short hair, didn’t care, and was often mistaken as a boy. Back in high school I rebelled in little things: going to my school’s underground tunnels, skipping class, or putting dead squirrels in guy’s backpacks. I started conversations people didn’t expect and loved being the rebellious Christian that was pretty different when it came to politics and life possibilities. I didn’t go to the first semester of my junior year. I made cookies and would give them to everyone that asked, shocking every stranger. I think our love should throw people off. It should be the most real, most unexpected thing they encounter. I think that’s how Jesus is.
He is so real with us.
And he often does the thing that we don’t expect and couldn’t imagine.
The status quo life of America never thrilled me, in fact, it haunted me. I never wanted it. Uncomfortable became my reality early on in life, and I realized God seems to do his best inner work in me when my outer world seemed impossible, uncomfortable, and scary.  I saw miracles when the pieces fell apart and God put them back in place. I stopped believing him for anything less than the impossible.
People say my friends have their heads in the clouds, that they don’t face reality, and they need to come to grips with it.
But where should their head be if not in the clouds? In the 9-5 job that you wait 40 years to retire from? In their bank statement or pay stub? In the letter on this paper that we call a transcript? The relationships that always seem to end? The glass bottles? Or the pills in hand that can take it all away?
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I have come to learn that it’s not bad to have your head in the clouds when you make heaven reality. And maybe having your head in the clouds is the only way to glimpse heaven and become the bridge to have it touch earth.
I dare to say that heaven can be our reality.
What has society done, gripping us with fear of finance, lowness from loneliness, and striving for significance? Why do we gage what’s conceivable by the amount of our currency? Why do we say no because of what they will think or say yes because of the acceptance we will receive when we oblige?
I watch my friends get trapped because we’ve been told to face reality, not change it. And all the while we forget that simple faith makes what is impossible a complete possibility.
We all want to be wild and free.
And you can be just as wild and free moving to Hawaii as you can in a cubicle in your 9-5 job. But I pose this question to myself and throw it out to the world:
Have we built our lives on fear or hope?
Is there anything in my life holding me back?
Because I don’t believe there needs to be.
It’s a decision, it’s a choice. We can let perceptions and culture define us, or we can let God. We can let worry be our decision maker, or we can let our faith be. We can be realistic, or we can redefine reality.
I’m not idealist, I’m a kingdom realist.
I am free. I am free to be responsible. I am free to be a hard worker. I am free to choose how to respond to life. I am no victim. I am not trapped. I am not hindered. With Jesus, I am free.
I dare to believe he meant everything he said.
I dare to believe that his love is real.
I dare to believe that miracles happen.
I dare to believe every word in the book.
I’ve seen how it’s real. I’ve seen the unexpected. I love every minute of the wild, crazy adventure I’m on.
Because when my head is in the clouds, heaven tends to rain down.
He’s just waiting for someone to dare to believe that it’s possible.

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