River — Leon Bridges

Been traveling these wide roads for so long
My heart's been far from you
Ten-thousand miles gone

Oh, I wanna come near and give ya
Every part of me
But there is blood on my hands
And my lips are unclean

In my darkness I remember
Momma's words reoccur to me
"Surrender to the good Lord
And he'll wipe your slate clean"

Take me to your river
I wanna go
Oh, go on
Take me to your river
I wanna know

Tip me in your smooth waters
I go in
As a man with many crimes
Come up for air
As my sins flow down the Jordan

Oh, I wanna come near and give ya
Every part of me
But there is blood on my hands
And my lips are unclean

Take me to your river
I wanna go
Go on
Take me to your river
I wanna know

I wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
I wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
Wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
Wanna know, wanna know, wanna know

Take me to your river
I wanna go
Lord, please let me know
Take me to your river
I wanna know

To whom it may concern:

When you live among the community, make sure to see, actually see, the living situations of your people.
When you wear relatively comfortable shoes and have a decent meal, remember that it's not the default living situation. Not just here in Ethiopia but all over the world. An overwhelming portion of the population lives in demoralizing poverty.

If we ''make'' it in life and become policy makers, public officials or land on some fortune, let's not forget this.

Hard work is only one ingredient of wealth. Perhaps it's the least important factor. The lady I saw the other day - weeding and planting with a baby on her back, in the scorching sun, on a busy street- works harder than these "self-made" billionaires. So do the women carrying literal sand all night (do you know how heavy sand is)?! So does the guy laying bricks and cobbling stones on the street.

We should know we are privileged: not to be crippled by guilt but to help out, or at least not to be insulting and out of touch.

Book quotes with similar vibes(from books I re-read like a maniac)

"I have only to glance over my shoulder for all those years to drop away and I see it behind me again, the ravine, rising all green and black through the saplings, a picture that will never leave me.

I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.

-The Secret History, Donna Tartt

"I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a
crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned,
about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years."

-The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Today put this saying into perspective.

Part 3 reflection on " Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers

Knowing God
As I mentioned before, I was reading the book of Hosea from the Bible before I started Redeeming Love, and something struck me deeply. In Hosea, God keeps telling His people that what He really wants is their hearts. He wants them to know Him. That exact message echoes throughout Redeeming Love.

God didn’t just want Sarah to be rescued from prostitution or to find a loving husband though those things were part of His plan. He wanted her to know Him. She had found temporary rest in a man’s love, even though that love was pure and meant to reflect God’s purpose of two becoming one. But she was still missing the main thing; putting God first.

So, God took her away for a while; not to punish her, but to speak to her heart. To bring her to a place where she could see that He alone is worthy of worship. He wanted her heart. And the verse that perfectly captures this is:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.”
— Hosea 2:14 (KJV)

This is what He does for all of us. He brings us into quiet, sometimes painful places, not to abandon us, but to finally speak to our hearts. To be known by us. And to be loved back.

Someday we'll be a part of the conversation. When we have more to contribute than our yearning.

Del Toro you beautiful, beautiful man!! It is the best thing ever when a director cherishes a work of art as much as you do, even more in this case, gives it the respect it deserves and pours his soul into it. Del Toro supremacy🧎🏽‍♂️

Every part of the process has to be emotion. What do I feel about it? Because if you feel about an image, then the audience will react to that image emotionally. I try to first think about that before I think about the aesthetics, and then they start informing each other...Every frame in the movie is a painting. Now you have to treat it like a painting, but unlike a painting, it also needs to move and employ the emotion and you have to move to the next one.

You appreciate every work of art even more when you understand the thought process, effort and emotions behind it, Oh, and spoiler alert for some of the images above🧍🏽‍♂️ I would've absolutely loved watching this in the cinema.

This is so true! Del Toro's love for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is literally palpable throughout the movie!❤️

Rasputin is my Roman Empire.

To whoever thinks classic books are difficult:

They can be. But it generally gets easier with each classic, don't worry.
I jumped from reading Wattpad teen-fiction straight to classics. I didn't know my literary left from my right. Don't know if I do even now. It took me a whole summer break to read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and I thought the 'real', older classics would be impossible to read. But the next classics became much more easier.

Some chunky classics are a struggle still and multiple genres are shoved into Classics just because they're old so if you can't stand one classic, move on to another.

So, why read classics?
-Because they stood the test of time.
-Because they take you to the olden days.
-Because they show you that some human experiences transcend time and endure cultural shifts.
-Because they're gateways into 'The Great Conversation' if not part of it.

Nostalgia is a liar. Because I don't actually miss my childhood. Because for all its disillusionments, growing up is the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't miss the dreary boredom. I don't miss the deep insecurity. I don't miss the constant hunger for attention and love. From parents, from peers, from teachers. I don't miss the fact that every unfavorable thought ended with my family disowning me.

Of course, blissful ignorance permeated most of it. A bliss that was maintained by my care givers. There was also knowledge. I knew that childhood was special even then. And I feared growing up. Turns out, growing up isn't all that bad.

There are golden moments I love looking back at, but I know they belong exactly where they are.

Today is good enough. With all its subverted expectations. With all its defiance. To be cherished. The past with its happiness, with its loss, with its good and bad and ugly, belongs in the past. To be respected though half-remembered.

One thing’s sure and nothing’s surer
The rich get richer and the poor get—children.😁
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby