Travel Theme Photo Challenge: Feet

Thought it would be fun to enter a photo challenge. I haven’t done it in a while and would like to join in again. Hope you have just as much fun as I.

This week’s photo challenge from Where’s My Backpack is “Feet.“

I tend to always put things in light of scripture. That’s just where my heart and head tend to be. In thinking about feet, I’m reminded of all the places I’ve been. Our feet mark our territory that we’ve gone over, are in or are going to cover. When we put ourselves in the right frame of mind and strategically move forward, we have success. Move forward in what you know is right and good. Enjoy the benefits of the fruit it produces. Rejoice in the areas that may have been difficult to walk through, but you made it through regardless.

Our feet are an important part of our being. In the last season of my life, my feet were very important.

Over the past two years I had set some running goals and found photos to reflect.

Fun memories!

Here are the photos I’d like to share to meet the challenge:

Training for the runs

My Feet after trainings

Goal Accomplished!

In the last two years, my goal was to complete official runs. Seeing that I am not a “runner” this was an exciting time!!

After the runs…

In the sun at the Beach

In the grass at the Park

Pedi for the weary

Nothing like goals where you’re feet will take you.

Koko Head Crater Railway Trail 1,048 railway tie steps!!

Psalm 18:33, “Watch the path of your feet and all our ways will be established.”

Feet! What a fun challenge. I’m glad I took it on. If you are interested in weekly travel themes join in over at Where’s my backpack.

Love and Blessings, Kulia

Keep Going…

Have you ever felt like no one understands? You try to share from your heart and you are all excited, but the ears that it falls on just didn’t catch the same vision you had received.

Don’t get discouraged. Don’t let go of your dream, idea or plan. Just like Noah had gotten a word from the Lord to build the ark. They laughed and made fun of him, yet he didn’t quit. He kept going. He held on to what God told him. The result: the saving of the animals and mankind.

Nehemiah was another example when he made the decision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore the city within. He met with great opposition. He had those to help him including the King, yet there always seems to be naysayers and haters. Like Noah, Nehemiah didn’t give in. The walls were rebuilt in 52 days!! Tools in one hand of the workers and a weapon in the other. Wasn’t easy, but it was done.

So hold on and keep going. Believe in yourself.

It may not be an ark, a city wall or temple, but you’ll be surprised at the results.

Love and blessings, Kulia

For further inspiration from Kulia come visit:

www.journalswithin.wordpress.com

wwwpetalsofprayer.wordpress.com

@Gracefull_Words

also on Instragram at #Gracefull_Words

It’s Yours…

Sometimes things that we want are easy to obtain and at other times we may find them difficult to get a hold of. Don’t allow people, circumstances or situations to stop you from pursuing and going after what is in your heart and mind to do.

If there is even a sparkle of an idea, concept or dream in your heart. Go for it. Do whatever it takes. “Nothing ventured nothing gained.” We all know that you’ll never reach it, you’ll never attain it, you’ll never have it if you don’t put forth the effort and go after it.

Claim it. Decide and determine that what ever it is…

It’s Yours!!

Be true to who you are and what you possess inside. Do what it takes and enjoy the process and journey that lies ahead.

And as a side note, if for some reason things don’t turn out exactly as you planned.

It’s really okay.

Be encouraged in the fact that at least you tried!

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

Have an awesome day!!

Great Peace, Kulia

For further inspiration from Kulia come visit: www.petalsofprayer.wordpress.com, www.journalswithin.wordpress.com or @Gracefull_Words

Go Get It…

Today is a new day! Embrace it. Grab hold of it. Take it for all it’s worth.

Go Get It!!

Just as David asked God in 1 Samuel 30:8, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And the Lord answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

God’s encouragement in this verse to David and to us today is to…

Go Get It!!

Go ahead. Set your mind. Do It.

Go Get It!! Embrace today and make the most of it!!

Love and Blessings, Kulia

For further inspiration from Kulia visit:

www.petalsofprayer.wordpress.com

www.journalswithin.wordpress.com

Awesome…!!!

We all have a different perception, opinion, idea of what speaks volumes to us. The old saying, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” holds true. The value placed on a thing only carries the weight of the one to whom it matters.

Quite frankly, if you think a thing to be awesome, guess what… it is!!!!

Go for it. Be positive. Grab hold and get excited.

See as many things as you can as amazingly awesome!!!

Blessings, Kulia!!

Moments Like these…

Sometimes it doesn’t take much for a positive reaction to flow from your heart. It could be a tiny gesture hardly noticed, a huge event experienced by many or something from nature rarely seen. Whatever causes you joy, whatever gives you peace, whatever makes you smile from the inside out are all valued treasure to embrace.

It doesn’t always happen, but when it does,

recognize it,

catch hold of it,

bask in it.

Enjoy what is special to you.

Rejoice and be glad in …moments like these!!

Blessings, Kulia

You Win!!

No matter what is going on, try to find the good. In doing so, in the end YOU WIN!! When you look for the good how ever small it may be, it does something very positive deep on the inside. If nothing else, it will smother those things that appear negative, aggravating and life draining.

Hope against all hope. Regardless.

Push past what was meant to pull you down. In spite of.

Look beyond the surface. Habitually.

knowing that… YOU WIN!!

Great Joy and Abundant Peace, Kulia

Make Good…

Whatever you have before you, make good. No matter what it is make the most of it. If it is something that you don’t like or would like to see changed. You make that difference. You be that change.

Remember, your greatest strength is inside you. Be encouraged!!

Blessings, Kulia

Weekly Photo Challenge: In the Background

In the background…I’m loving it! I hope you will too. I visited Okinawa a couple of years ago and found myself at times more interested in what was going on in the background on the streets as we drove around. Well, I didn’t do any of the driving. I was doing good as a passenger trying to get use to being on the opposite side of the road as well as in the car from what I was use to. Good experience but some things are just better left alone…me driving on the opposite side of the road was one of them.

Back to the challenge… it was such a joy to capture everyday people coming and going. The photos I share with you below are of people going along unaware

…in the background in the routine of the day!

It’s a good practice to appreciate the ordinary. You can get more out of life that way. Nothing overlooked. Just learning to value all that surrounds you. My mom used to have a saying,” If you learn to eat everything, you’ll never go hungry.” Guess, I can apply that to life in general by saying, “if you appreciate everything, you’ll never…you’ll never …get bored.” Well, anyway something like that. Thanks, Mom!!

Seriously, if you learn to appreciate most things, you will add great value to your life as a whole. You will not take things or people for granted. What a precious characteristic to possess. We live in such a fast pace world and tend to overlook such detail that would be such an addition to our very being. Slow down take notice of what is around you. Just to try stop now and identify 10 things in your day that made a pleasant difference for you: the weather, someone letting you in traffic, a phone call, a text, hot running water, a bird perched on a pole, a flower in an unexpected place, a child’s smile, full use of your senses and limbs. So many things get pushed into the background of life as we hurriedly or intensely go through our days and nights.

Have fun with the life you are living. Get all that you can out of it. That would include taking notice of even the smallest things as well as the large and obvious. Try it. Go passed the 10 items I suggested above and tomorrow on purpose take notice from the moment you wake til the end of the day. See how many items you are able to list. I think you can get to 100 items. If not 100, I believe you will get pretty close 🙂

Bring the things in the background to the foreground and enjoy even the details of your life. Like in my photos…you never know who’s watching and appreciating what you may be taking for granted.

Love Life and Enjoy.

Blessings in Abundance!! Kulia

(Let me know how you did, I would love to see some of the items on your list)

By the way if you would like to participate in the weekly photo challenge here’s the information they provide:

 Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, you’re invited to get involved in our Weekly Photo Challenge to help you meet your blogging goals and give you another way to take part in Post a Day / Post a Week. Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, we’ll provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag. You can also link to this post to create a pingback here and to encourage more people to participate.

3. Subscribe to The Daily Post so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

Oh my, it has been a while but I’m back. I have one more life transition coming up, then I can somewhat settle down for a while. Talk about Escape. What a fun photo challenge to come back to. I feel like I have had an escape from some things…for a little while any way. That’s what came to mind when I first saw the challenge for the week: getting away from it all. But in my photo collection what came to mind is one of my favorite subjects of plant and flowers. Below I’ve defined my idea of Escape in relation to the Scotch’s Broom Plants I’ve come across in the state of Washington.

These beautiful yellow plants that can be found almost everywhere along the road sides, highways, in fields and even in yards. They are literally everywhere in abundance. That is what made me research them out to find out just what was this plant. It is in the same category as the wild blackberry plants that are also in abundance around this area. In their season of fruit, I also enjoy the luscious berries of this weed. How can something so beautiful be labeled as an “invasive weed?” Doesn’t seem fair, but then I’m new to the area and don’t have it invading my personal property or territory. I just enjoy the sight of the vibrant yellow color and even the fragrance they release when you get close to them. And when you do get close, the single blossom is so sweet to see in the midst of the sea of yellow. I read that the Scotch’s Broom actually belongs to the sweet pea family.

So how do these gorgeous weeds define my idea of Escape?

It fits perfectly for me. Here we have an aggressive plant that needs to exist, grow, spread…and it does just that…any and everywhere it can. One of my photos above shows the Scotch’s Broom growing beyond a fence…trying to escape. There is another photo of a single yellow stem of blossoms growing in the midst of another white plant (haven’t researched that one yet to know what it is). Again, depicting an escape from all the other Scotch’s Broom on it’s own pulling away from the norm. Other views I chose to include show the aggression to take over from the point where it started to grow. Simply amazing to me. I can hear it saying, “gotta get away, gotta grow, gotta reach, gotta stretch, gotta escape…”

The norm is good sometimes, but other times you have to break away and do your own thing.

Escape!

Be yourself!

Be who God created you to be.

Flourish where you are.

As the saying goes, “Grow where you’re planted.” Or in this case, grow where the seed falls!

I enjoyed the challenge this week. I hope you did too. Thanks for dropping by. Sure feels good to be back. Like I mentioned, I have an upcoming transition but I shouldn’t disappear like before…chuckle. Hope you come back to visit and I will see you around.

Love, Grace and Peace, Kulia!!!

Oh, if your new around and would like to enter a challenge, here’s the info they provide…

“Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, you’re invited to get involved in our Weekly Photo Challenge to help you meet your blogging goals and give you another way to take part in Post a Day / Post a Week. Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.
Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, we’ll provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.

3. Subscribe to The Daily Post so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.”