The Great Dread Grow of '08

So my friend JJ is growing dreadlocks. I like the idea of tracking progress via blog & this is the best thing that's come up lately - here's phase 1:

Growing up is hard to do...

I guess I'm more or less grown up by now, but there's something to be said about the solidification of character. I read this book once that made this point: the acorn has everything it needs to become an oak tree. All of the codification is implicit in its nature - all it requires are the proper conditions to transform from mobile nugget to a mighty arbor. I was thinking on this & then thought of the latter steps in this development. Have you ever seen green wood? I'm talking about a new branch that's been around long enough to become more than a twig? The wood inside is soft & malleable - if you twist it or bend it, resist it or form it you'll find that it responds with easy compliance. What's been interesting to me is how the wood hardens in whatever shape you place it.

So what, you say? Who cares one way or the other, you ask? Good question... please track with me in this analogy. We may be "trees" in that our spiritual life is more or less grounded. We've put down some roots in our faith and are continuing a growing process, fueled by proper conditions and the all the spiritual matter we could ever require. But our character, or the shape of the tree, is ever changing. I find that lately I'm cultivating a character that I don't necessarily want to solidify in my life. I'm having a great time living the way I do right now, but when I think of the woman I want to be down the road, I am afraid that by virtue of not shaping my "branches" intentionally I'm allowing them to become something I'll have to deal with, painfully, later. I wonder if one of the great lies I buy into is that so long as "bad" stuff isn't a part of my life, that I won't have to deal with bad consequences. That's the tricky thing about trying to be an exceptional human being - it requires exceptional effort and exceptional standards. I wish I were okay with mediocrity.

I walked in on my dad doing something weird today...

watching a Jackie Chan movie originally filmed in Chinese, but dubbed in Spanish. He was into it.