If you haven't read Part I, this continuation won't make any sense. Go back and read it first! I left off yesterday hinting at the fact that even as I had humbled myself before God with astonishing results, the real journey had only just started. Just like Oliver's deconstruction only started with forgiveness, soon extending to his identity, so my journey would do the same. |
By January of 2015, a year after my transformation began, Dad gave me some very specific instructions: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself." Matthew 6:33-34 (NIV) He showed me that I had been so worried about tomorrow that I had been erroneously attempting to add things like a title or an engagement that weren't in His timing, and then wondered why I felt more confused when I went to Him for help figuring it all out. Essentially, I had been doing it all backwards!
So, to reverse the tide, Dad started asking me let things go. And here's the part I really appreciate---I ended up doing so in EXACTLY reverse order as to how I acquired it. I'll spare you all the details (though they may become the subject of future posts as relevant), but know that by January 5, I was ending an engagement and a relationship I had been in for the better part of three years. And by March, I was placing life responsibilities and family ahead of my work, and transferring to another similar division within my department more conducive to those priorities. |
With my focus and priorities finally in line with my Father's, the real work could begin.
Welcome to Alameda & Downing
The first part of 2015 was a time of intense outward transition to match the work that had already take place inside of me. And for the first time in what felt like years, hope grew stronger and bolder, every day felt like an adventure, my relationships flourished, responsibilities got handled, my skills and abilities exponentially increased and joy was a state of being, not an occasion. And did I mention my imagination had become seemingly boundless? The only way I had ever dispensed of the creativity was through writing. Much like Holly, writing "[got] me out of my head and back into my heart." Boy, did my heart have stories to tell---and that was only just the beginning. |
By now my heart---and my perceptions---had changed dramatically. In contrast to my initially snarky and shameful assessment, what I saw now were four people embarking on a mission much larger than they could have imagined. Each had their own unique road to travel separately, but together. Oliver, their stoic leader with wounds he was desperate to heal; Shane, emerging from behind technology's comfortable shield to test the waters of human connection; Rita, finding confidence as she exercised courage; Norman, his tender heart and expansive knowledge an emerging asset. Collectively they were a family stitched together out of four lonely hearts, united in both task and their love for one another, with the DLO their home. And all of it was happening inside the post office at Alameda & Downing.
Remember that the Pilot is the only film in which the Denver Main Branch is identified in this location. And, as we know, the real life location has an incredible story of its own. Ironic that this seemingly innocuous reference became the name of the only blog of its kind, tirelessly maintained by someone whose reaction to the film bearing its namesake was so cynical, now spreading a message of infinite hope. But by June 2015, that's exactly what started to happen. All the writing I had been doing my entire life suddenly started to make sense. Not only that, it now had purpose. And the rest, as they say, is history. |
Signed, Sealed & Delivered,
Chandel