Mapmaking: Look Up.

Near the end of college, I had this vision:

A little girl was walking along a muddy path. She was being very careful to not step in large puddles of water or to trip over tree roots peaking above the ground.

Her face focused downward her spirit quickly grew worn, filled with the tension of trying to stay clean and to avoid possible danger.

Suddenly the little girl realized that when she looked up the view was magnificent. As she continued forward she got a little mud on her feet and even lost her footing a few times, but her journey became filled with beauty and discovery.

Psalm 16:9-11
"Therefore my heart is glad, and my
whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.

For you will not abandon my soul...

You make know the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Mapmaking: Color and Contrast

I've been called emotional. And I'm okay with that.

Psychologist, Mary Pipher, says in her most recent book Seeking Peace, "To say that all
privileged people should feel nothing but joy is to assert that all people in dire circumstances should feel nothing but sorrow. While our lives may be different in many ways, our hearts are much alike. We experience the same ever-changing gamut of emotions. Indeed, it is the human condition to feel hope, fear, joy and sorrow. To deny anyone's right to a complete set of human reactions is to deny our common humanity."

In summary, people often feel like being strong and healthy means to not feel. But feeling is what connects us. When we feel, we are capable of knowing each other--not only in an intellectual, but also in a spiritual way.

...I like emotions. I think they add color to life.

While talking to my friend Kristen about Mapmaking, she made a really interesting comment about color:

Me: What's a mistake that a lot of mapmakers make?

Kristen: Many mapmakers try to put too much information on maps or use colors that are hard on the eyes or difficult to interpret. It's best to see an example. I've attached a bad map & a better map (I won't call it good since a map can always be made to look better).



Me: What are good color combinations?

Kristen: Pretty much everything looks better on a gray background. I rarely use black, always a very dark gray. The goal is to have maps that are readable & not overwhelming, so we generally pick lighter colors that show up easily on darker backgrounds.

I like the implications of Kristen's observations about color.

First, deep contrast helps makes the map clearer. Which is true of emotion. Ever meet someone who has a rain cloud following them around...or how about that I'm-so-happy-I-make-puppies-throw-up person. There's a lack of perspective when our emotions are only dark or only light. We see life clearer when we experience both sides of the spectrum. I think the Psalms are a good biblical example of this. There are expressions of both deep despair and incandescent joy.

Second, Kristen made the comment that "everything looks better on gray." One of the great revelations of my twenties is that life is not black and white. I have yet to find a secret universal formula for any situation. The harder I look for definite answers, the more turmoil I experience. The more I'm okay with the mystery of life, the more peace I find.

May you have a colorful week!

Mapmaking: Layers and layers

Yesterday, I started a series on Map-making, based on Scott Peck's concept that throughout life we draw, erase, and re-draw maps of how we view life. To explore this concept in more depth, I've been grilling my friend Kristen on her job geo-processing (map-making).

Me: Okay, Kristen. What are some of the essential tools a mapmaker needs?

Kristen: Good data, good software, & good training. Other than that, the tools are mainly internal. Good spatial intelligence, creative problem solving, not being colorblind, etc.

Me: So if the tools are mainly internal, is it a group process at all? Or primarily based on individual creation?

Kristen: Map making is definitely a group effort! Maps take a lot of layers, even a simple map like the one below has six layers. We have 144 layers in our main database. 38 layers are static (require no editing), I maintain 82, but 24 are edited regularly by other county departments. Since those departments rely on those layers daily, it's best that they have control over the edits. We do have a certain amount of checks & balances since we're all looking at each others' data frequently and can easily tell each other about edits that need to be made.

Peck emphasizes the importance of community to maintain accurate maps of life. Often our own pain can distort our perception of the truth. By inviting others into our lives...allowing them to view our maps, we invite others to correct mistakes.

Actually, the city just put in a new light post on this corner...I know this because I live down the block.

I know you think you bore people, but remember the other day when you had a really good conversation with the girl who was new in Bible Study?

Letting people look at our maps takes courage. It's much safer to keep our maps to ourselves, peaking for direction when no one else is looking. But, we run the greater risk of using a guide that is outdated and inaccurate.

Peck makes a final brilliant observation about lies and the map-making process. He explains that it may be easy for us to show people only particular sections of the map--the sections we know are up-to-date and won't evoke correction. But when it comes to the areas we are unsure about, we cover them in shame.

Are you inviting others to look at your map? Are there some areas of your map that you feel are more difficult to show others? What are they? Why is it more difficult?

Mapmakers: Let the Journey Begin!

Psychologist, Scott Peck, uses the analogy of "The Outdated Map" to describe why a lot of us struggle through life. He explains that as we grow and develop we each construct maps in our minds of how the world works: If I smile at my neighbor, I most likely will make a new friend. When I finish my homework, I get good grades.

For the most part our maps will take honest and true form and help us navigate decisions and relationships. But, sometimes negative experiences begin to form our maps with distorted perceptions of what is real: I will only get hurt if I take risks to love my friends. The only way I can find success in my career is to be flawless.

Or the landscape changes, but our map stays the same. Peck writes that we can form a "set of ways of perceiving and responding to the world which is developed in childhood and which is usually entirely appropriate to the childhood environment (indeed, often life-saving), but which is inappropriately transferred into the adult environment."

I'm starting a mini-blog series (I think it will last the rest of the week) about the maps of our lives and how they become distorted and ways that we make them right.

Luckily for me--and luckily for you--I have a friend who makes maps for a living, and has been answering my crazy questions about "geoprocessing." I think this should be fun--let the journey begin!

Expecting Good...About Others

Sunday I was sitting at Starbucks with my friend Kristen,

"I had this epiphany during church this morning."

Kristen smiles and nods. (I always have "epiphanies.")

"No really," I continue. "I was thinking about how I judge people pretty quickly and decide if I think they're a jerk. If I do think they're a jerk, I usually write them off and have no shame in making their life crappy."

I thought about the night before and shameless comments I had made to a guy I felt was a little too into himself.

"But, this morning...I felt like God said to me, 'I WANT TO RESTORE THEM TOO, TIFF.' And so I'm convicted to hope for the best in even people I think are inherently jerks."

Yesterday, I read Donald Miller's blog "The Stuff of Good Friendship." He talked about not judging people and hoping the best for them.

Ever notice how God repeats the messages he REALLY wants us to get?

So, I'm taking Miller's challenge. This month I'm trying to think the best of people. Instead of mentally writing them off, I'm going to ask God to show me the possibilities for that person and look for ways to encourage.

In the process, I'm suspicious that God is making ME less of an inherent jerk.

Peace, friends.

Choosing to Love

My friend's brother recently broke up with the girl he thought was 'the one.' She said he's devastated and calls my friend all of the time to try to figure out ways he can get his ex- back.

I empathize with him and think of the look I get from friends when I start talking about 'that guy' ...again. The look where she listens but secretly wants to punch me in the face for not getting over it. (I have violent friends.)

Relationships can drive us to obsession when we feel we're in control. What if I did this? Would that change the way my child/lover/friend responded to me?

In the Old Testament, God asks Abraham to offer his new son, Isaac, as a burnt sacrifice. So, Abraham climbs to the top of a mountain and prepares to plunge a knife in his young child who asks, "But, dad? Where's the lamb?"

And readers everywhere scream, "What the crap-kind-of-story is this?!"

But lately, I've been realizing that it's a brilliant-kind-of-story story. It teaches us the appropriate way to approach relationship.

Without clinging.

Without obsession.

Without control.
In fact, an important aspect of relationship is allowing the other to move with free will--whether toward or away from us. That's why it's so beautiful when people actually choose to move toward one another.

And though it's difficult to let someone move away from us, clinging only suffocates. Think of the mom who hyper-manages her child, or the friend who becomes irate when you do not respond in the way they want.

When one ceases to be able to choose, they cease to be able to love. The relationship becomes ugly.

Thus, Abraham trusted God enough to sacrifice his son. A God who, in His goodness, spared Isaac by providing a lamb at the last minute. Who, in His goodness, provided a lamb for all of us that we may live in abundant love.

"The Children's Song" - Josh Garrels from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

Down on my knees

Praying please, have mercy now

Christ my shelter, in a world that tries to drag me down.

Open your mind.

Open your heart.

Open up your soul.

Jesus come in,

and make a broken man whole.

Carried the cross.

Carried the pain.

Carried the love.

We don’t belong here,

but to the Father above.

Jesus in heaven and

Jesus in hell below.

Paid for our sin,

broken body with the red blood flow.

Rise up in glory,

raise your hands to the risen King.

He’s God almighty, listen to his children sing.

Let em sing.

Hallelujah to our King.

Hallelujah, ruler over everything.

The children sing.

Hallelujah to our King.

Hallelujah, ruler over everything.

In this world you will have trouble.

But Jesus overcame the world.

And our body is His Temple.

And we will worship forever more.

Discipline and Merry-go-rounds

In fourth grade, I was grounded for pushing Jody Foster off the merry-go-round. My best friend and I were the top-dogs in the popular girls' circle, and Jody wanted to play with us...so we devised a game where she would run toward the merry-go-round and we would keep her off. The game ended at a massive size of about 20 girls pushing Jody off and her landing in a mud puddle. (That's the cliff notes version.)

This story is not one of my bright shining moments.

But it was formative.

What formed me, however, was my parents' response to the incident. I remember the look of saddness (worse than disappointment) on their faces as they read the note sent home by the principal--followed by a pain-staking 24 hours of deciding on an appropriate punishment, which included a consultation with my teacher, Mrs. Nicholaus.

For two, long weeks I came home from school grabbed a snack and went directly to my parents' room. I sat there until dinner, ate with the family, and returned to their room until bed time.

I remember feeling like a martyr because of the 20 girls in my class...I was the ONLY one whose parents decided to discipline.

Discipline.

I read this morning in a psychology book that discipline explores "our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature."

It's funny at the time, I felt like a martyr...but now I feel blessed that my parents recognized the importance of transcending my own nature. It's natural to feel self-important and to destroy others. Two weeks of solitary confinement taught me to do the unnatural--show compassion and give myself for others.

"Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:9-11)