My Hope Box
My hope box represents four ideas that I desire to work towards. I saved the pictures before gluing them into the box for easier viewing purposes. The four pictures have the following significance to me:
- Top Left: This image is a happy woman and a stain glass window. To me these two pictures together symbolize sacred joy which is something I desire to possess despite life's difficulties. I also thought of my name Katelyn Joy which means pure joy and how I want to live into that way of being.
- Top Right: This image is a lion and a painting. To me these two images together symbolize creating in the wild and unknown spaces and having courage to find meaning in hardness. It also symbolizes the mindset of just because someone says an idea I might have is crazy or wild, does not mean I should not pursue it.
- Bottom Left: This image is a woman surrounded by succulents who is downtrodden and directly over her face and body is an image of a small group of people backpacking. I interpreted the backpacking picture as a group of people, perhaps friends hiking to the next spot. This has meaning for me because I have lived much of life as the downtrodden woman who is blind by anxiety, depression, PTSD and fear. I want to journey away from that and I want to do it by living and loving well within community who support me and allow me to support them.
- Bottom Right: This image is a woman who has an old film camera for an eye and an image of a happy couple. This symbolizes seeking beauty and choosing to see beauty despite my surroundings. I included the picture of the couple because I desire to have a partner in life and ministry. The picture of the couple is small and kind of floating because it is not the biggest thing in my mind but is something that God continues to pull my heart towards.
I found this image of a woman fishing and decided to put it in my hope box. She has a face that is fearless and determined. To me this symbolizes going after the things with tenacity and resiliency. It also means staying and waiting for the results I might desire and not giving up. I also think of the verse, "Seek and ye shall find".
The lyrics How will you get there? I'll tell you were playing in my head as I created these steps that are quite literally steps I want to take in order to make this future into reality. The flowers on top of the box symbolize the pursuit of beauty( meaning pursuing experiences and things that allow me to have an "aw" inspiring moments) and the idea of getting to the top of a mountain and being able to view the glory of its surroundings. Here are the steps I will take:
- Be known
- Forgive self & others
- Adventure
- Heal often
- Laugh
- Love fully ( self & others)
- Say goodbye to anxiety, depression and PTSD
- Seek beauty
I decided to have my hope box's window as an open door to this future. I opened the top of this box completely so that anyone can gaze in. To me this wide open look symbolizes the very real possibility of all of my dreams coming true. I put the word "love" on the open doors because I believe it is the love of the Father that allows me to step into the person He created me to be. It also beckons to me, as if the box is saying, "Hey Katelyn, keep going your hopes are within sight."
I think of this verse and want to inhabit the space of "living hope":
1 Peter 1:3-9
Blesses be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's powered are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by many trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that parishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not sen him. you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I think of this verse and want to inhabit the space of "living hope":
1 Peter 1:3-9
Blesses be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's powered are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by many trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that parishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not sen him. you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Blog Post: This is my Story, This is my Song
Religious literacy very much inspired my identity and spiritual development. My parents were both passionate about teaching me and my brother hymns, Bible stories, spirituals and reading us stories about how the people of God can overcome even the gravest of situations. I am very thankful for this story-based upbringing, I don't even know if my parents did it intentionally but they certainly tried hard to make sure these stories made there way into our belief system. I remember my parents singing me what I now know as freedom songs. As a biracial growing up in white culture,this was a big deal. Recently I have been given ( I believe by God) the perspective of perhaps those songs along with silly songs and Bible songs, which my parents sang to me until I requested that they stop at 14, did indeed infiltrate my thought process and cause me to dream what I am currently doing into reality.
I see the beauty and personal development necessity in the power of song and story. Every day at Freedom Schools scholars sing something called "The Motivational Song" it has the lyrics:
I know that I can make it, something inside so strong..." These lyrics inspire hope, transformation and resiliency just by singing them into existence , this along with the energy of the song, literally empower the scholars to come awake and live into the day (especially on a Monday) and into their potential. Below is an example of the motivational song from training. If this song doesn't inspire one to live into the fabric of their story, I don't know what does!
I see the beauty and personal development necessity in the power of song and story. Every day at Freedom Schools scholars sing something called "The Motivational Song" it has the lyrics:
I know that I can make it, something inside so strong..." These lyrics inspire hope, transformation and resiliency just by singing them into existence , this along with the energy of the song, literally empower the scholars to come awake and live into the day (especially on a Monday) and into their potential. Below is an example of the motivational song from training. If this song doesn't inspire one to live into the fabric of their story, I don't know what does!