All One Alone




Photo: "all one" by Matthias Witteman

There are over seven billion people living on this planet. Seven billion is an astronomically large amount of people, yet there are so many of us in this world that feel completely alone. We are all one all together with those in the world, but we are also one small person alone in this big big world.

How is it possible to feel so far from people when they are everywhere we look? How is it possible to live amongst over seven billion people and have times when we feel that no one understands us or that no one is there for us? It's not as crazy as it sounds.


As bountiful as the world is and as many people as there are, we as humans tend to live in our own world within the real world. We have our lives and we become so consumed with them, that it is easy to forget that there are other people around us with their own set of problems, with their own memories, with their own lives. To put it simply, we are self absorbed. If it does not affect us or coincide with the way we live our lives and what we believe, it is either wrong or doesn't matter to us.

For instance, think of how many times we feel we need to change who we are just because it goes against the grain of other peoples' agendas. We live in a world that tells us to be free and tells us to stay true to ourselves, yet stops us before we can spread our wings and fly. Think of the mind, so vast, so powerful, capable of such amazing things, but if our mind fills its pages with different colors or if it draws a different picture, we are told we have our head in the clouds and need to be more realistic or that we are not normal. Even in our own minds, we are not allowed to be free. We are sent to the "island of misfit toys", and there the loneliness begins.

Photo by Matthias Witteman

Friends, we are all one but we are all different. We need to realize that not one single person is exactly the same, and we need to see that as a beautiful and amazing thing. Be the dreamer you are. Free your mind and your soul. Be different. We are like ingredients for a recipe. When we stand by ourselves all alone, we can't achieve our full purpose and we can't do the amazing things we are meant to, but when we come together with all of the different and absolutely necessary ingredients, we create something so amazing and something that we could never do on our own.


Think about it, you can't make apple pies with apples alone. You need flour, sugar, eggs, milk, salt, cinnamon and more. If you have a bunch of apples you'll have apples which is cool, but if you have all of these ingredients working together you have a delicious apple pie. If we have the same kind of people we will only achieve so much, but if we have all types of different people working together, putting their special strengths and features into full use, we can achieve immeasurably more.

We feel alone when we think we don't need others. We feel alone when we don't embrace the uniqueness and differences of others. If we want to be all one instead of all a lone, we need to seek difference and embrace it with all we have. Difference is beauty and difference creates beautiful things.

Photography referencing:

Photography by Matthias Witteman

https://www.instagram.com/last.hours.of.film/  

https://www.facebook.com/last.hours.of.film/

The Journey For Joy

Joy. It's a tiny word that packs a lot of punch. Only 3 letters, but its power and its significance in our lives are some of the greatest and most sough after aspects of our lives. When I think of joy, the first thing that pops into my head is children smiling from ear to ear, that butterfly feeling that we get in our stomach when we are excited, and that little dance we do when we receive good news and can't contain our smiles. It's funny because while writing what I think joy is, I had to really be intentional about not including the word itself in the description. I wanted to say joy is when we jump for joy, joy is when we do that little dance because we receive good news and are overjoyed. So, what is joy?

We spend our entire lives trying to find it, trying to grasp it, trying to hold onto it and never let it go. The thing is, I believe we overcomplicate what it is and how to find it. We think it is found in the perfect life, the perfect spouse, the perfect home, the perfect children, the perfect job. We think that when we have all of this, we have reached the point in our lives where we can finally be satisfied and therefore we can be joyous. That is the problem with our world. We are taking unnecessary steps and making ourselves wait for something we can have right now.

Joy is not found in success, in having the "perfect" life, or in checking off a certain amount of items on life's checklist. It is much more simple than that. It is found in accepting we are broken people and surrendering our lives and imperfections to the one who is whole. It is found in knowing that there is nothing on this earth that holds any chains on us. We are FREE! Joy is freedom. We put on these chains that were never there and never needed to be because we can't believe that someone so perfect could love us as we are: flawed. Brothers and sisters rid yourself of the chains of the world and accept the gift of freedom that was given to you. Let's not complicate things where they need not be complicated. Let's accept the simplicity and find our joy in that, because that is where joy truly resides.

Dear people, joy is simple and joy is real. Joy is for us and God wants us to have it. Rest your mind and your soul and know that the God of peace of love and of JOY has provided us with every beautiful gift and more. Look up to the skies, to the dazzling and vivid colors brushed so wonderfully along the horizon and see the beauty God has bestowed onto the earth and be reminded of the joy that you can and will have in your life with God.

Photography referencing:

Photography by Matthias Witteman

https://www.instagram.com/last.hours.of.film/  

https://www.facebook.com/last.hours.of.film/