Ideals

The more pictures I capture with my camera the more I realize how consistently life unfolds in patterns.  There are patterns of light.  There are patterns of work.  There are patterns of relationships.  You can see these and more unfold in unending variations in the course of the every day.  It is extraordinarily beautiful when one slows down and listens to the patterns of life with their eyes and soul. 
In the midst of it all, I find myself coming back to the constantly new experience of witnessing the dawn.  It helps that east wall of my Singapore apartment is all glass.  In order to miss the dawn you have to draw the shades.  I never do, so as the light of the night struggles to relinquish its hold and let the birth of a new day emerge, I find myself opening up to the work God must do within. 
An old friend observed, money and time are never issues when one believes.  The observable patterns of belief can be found with inspired individuals everywhere.  When it is a work situation, it is energizing and filled with hope.  When it is a form of giving something back, it is energizing and hope laden. 
Relationship patters are everywhere.  The diversity of Singapore provides endless examples, some healthy, others not.  When one realizes that God's starting point is compassion, love, and mercy, then looking into the patterns takes on a new perspective.  The observations of old are equally true today; “God was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you've broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife.  God, not you, made marriage.  His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage.  And what does he want from marriage?  Children of God, that's what.  So guard the spirit of marriage within you.  Don't cheat on your spouse.”  (Malachi 2.14-15)
Striving for ideas is always a good idea.  At the heart of every truth pattern are the principles of compassion, love, mercy, acceptance, and community.