A Reminder

Sometimes you have to listen to music again to remind yourself of the feeling and the thoughts and the decision based upon that very moment when you first listened to that music.
Today I have to listen to Dvorak's symphony No. 9 "From the New World" again and remind myself what choices I made going into this season, this Fall.
I cannot allow myself to be stolen of these decisions, these very deep dreams and this urge for something greater than I can fathom.
I remind myself of the choices after my trip to India and I remind myself of the Epic life I want to live.

xoxo
Ramona

In your Shade

As most of you have probably figured out I am currently reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge again. And it is just perfect timing because somehow I just needed to hear some things again. Very different things than I learned the first time I read it though.
The thing is I want to be a woman after God's heart. I want to be the Proverbs 31 woman. Some of you might say, "Oh Ramona that's too high of an aim" or "Ramona, these are just symbols" or "Ramona, come on really?" Yes really. I want to be the kind of woman that when I enter a room God's love and grace and His anointing are shining so much out of who I am that people will be attracted to me. Not because of me and all the great things I can do, but because of God through who I am what I am.

In the chapter Beauty to unveil they really explain what it means to be with a beautiful woman and is not the outward appearance but beauty that comes from the inside. And there is one line that really got me and encourages me to be eager to become like that. "You find room for your soul. It expands. You can breathe again. You can rest. It is good. That is what it is like to with a beautiful woman. you are free to be you."
Actually it is like being a tree.

And yes being that. Being at rest and offering this beauty to others is risky. Really risky. As you open your heart to share with others, to invite others to eat from your fruit or sit in your shade is a leap of faith. You don't know if they will respond at all or if they will come and cut of the branches or throw away your fruit.

Nonetheless I know how important it is to offer that beauty even if it hurts sometimes. Even if branches are cut off or destroyed. But I am planted on a riverbank (Psalm 1) and like that one quote in one of my favorite movies The New World "Think of a tree how it grows around its wounds. If a branch breaks off, it don't stop but keeps reaching towards the light."

We must offer beauty. We must invite and share.

xoxo

Ramona

PS: Listen to some new songs on my Current Soundtrack
PSS: Have a look at my Travels
PSSS: I watched this beautiful movie yesterday
PSSSS: Picture from my sister's bachelorette party in July.

The North Wind and the Sun

"The North wind and the Sun had an argument one day. They disputed which of them was the stronger. A traveler came along the road at that time, and the Sun suggested a way to resolve the argument. Whoever was able to cause the traveler to remove his coat would be the stronger. The Wind accepted the challenge and the Sun hid himself behind a cloud. The Wind began to blow. Yet the harder he blew, the more the traveler clutched his coat about himself. The Wind sent rain, even hail. The traveler clung even more desperately to his coat. Finally, in despair, the Wind gave up. The Sun came out and began to shine in all his glory upon the traveler. Quite soon the man had removed his coat. "How did you do that?" asked the Wind. "It was easy," said the Sun. "I lit the day. Through gentleness I got my way." 

- out of Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

Just your ordinary girl?

Ever heard girls say, "I guess I am just your ordinary girl..." or "I am just simply the girl next door" or "I am just your average girl..."? Well I did and sometimes even used to say these words in my mind as a defence or explanation for I don't know what :-)
And then the other week it struck me: Ordinary? Simple? Average? I don't want to be that (and I certainly am not!)!
So I looked it up and here are some definitions of these words:

or·di·nar·y [awr-dn-er-ee] adjective
1.of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
2. plain or undistinguished: ordinary clothes.
3. somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.
4. customary; usual; normal: We plan to do the ordinary things this weekend.

sim·ple [sim-puhl] adjective
1. easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.: a simple matter; simple tools.
2. not elaborate or artificial; plain: a simple style.
3. not ornate or luxurious; unadorned: a simple gown.
4. unaffected; unassuming; modest: a simple manner.
5. not complicated: a simple design.

av·er·age [av-er-ij, av-rij] adjective
6. of or pertaining to an average; estimated by average; forming an average: The average rainfall there is 180 inches.
7.typical; common; ordinary

I certainly do not want to be defined by these adjectives as a woman. I want to be a worldchanger, different, breathtaking, unusual, luxurious, beautiful, tender, elaborate, colorful, special!

Because I believe that is how God sees me. That is what defines His creation. And I am part of that creation and of His being an artist. And I don't think that any artist would call their piece of art unspecial or plain.

Therefore I just want to encourage you that before you say things like that about yourself. Rethink. Change your mindset about yourself. You are not ordinary, simple or average. You are special, extraordinary, complex and beautiful! God wanted you!

xoxo

Ramona

PS: picture from last Christmas with my best friends! We are anything but normal!

Waiting for Forever

"Bad love letters beg for love back. Good love letters ask for nothing"

Sometimes you watch movies and they are entertaining. They give you the bliss of a moment where you enter a world of drama, romance, action or adventure. Everything ends happy and you are happy. We all long for it. We all long for this Epic.
And then there are movies which are different. They are special. They have you enter a world. Their world. You experience it with them. These movies don't need special effects or overdramatization or sexual content. They are beautiful as they are. Simple. And when they end you know something has changed. They describe our longing in a deeper sense. They touch your heart on a deeper level. They touch areas you didn't know existed.
Waiting for Forever was like that for me.

Here's the trailer. Be inspired.





xoxo

Ramona

Picture via

Berlin, Belin!

Last weekend I went to our Capital. Berlin. I hadn't been there in over ten years (man does that sound old!) and I wanted to give the city a second chance to prove to me that it is beautiful indeed.

And oh did she redeem herself! Berlin is such an interesting city, such a green city and such a versatile city. It somehow had slipped my mind (don't know how that happened) how much history can be found there. On every corner, on every street are remainders and reminders of our history. And not only our history in the second World War but our history in the Cold War. The history of the Wall.

It impressed me and I again learned so much about my country again. I live so far in the south that we don't see these things everyday right in front of our eyes. So that was most definitley good.

The first picture is a remainder of the Berlin wall, the second picture is of the Global Stone Project for peace. The third is of course the Brandenburger Tor.

This is the memorial for the killed Jews in World War 2. It is very impressive. I just sat there and thought about it. It amazed me that in the center of a city they errected this memorial made of over 2000   of these. 

There was this light festival. It was beautiful with light projections everywhere on famous buildings and places. Here is says, "whithout him love would ony be half as beautiful."

This is where we had one of the best coffees I have ever had. After that we went to the fleemarket, ate corn on the stick, listened to this 12 year old sweet boy playing guitar and singing and watched a British magician do his tricks. It was so fun and relaxing and good to be at another place for a weekend. Sometimes you just need to get away for some days. 

Anyways, I had a wonderful time and will definitely return. Berlin, you are a beautiful city and I am glad I gave you another chance.

xoxo

Ramona

Thursday Tunes

Today I want to share two songs with you I've really been into lately. Mostly because we dance to both of them in my dance class and that is why they mean so much to me. They're both by Adele.
I love both of these songs and interpreting them in dance brings out some interesting feelings but it helps you to just dance it all out and be in that moment. Anyways I know these are two very soft love songs that make you want to cuddle up with candles and cry and although I don't feel like doing that (the crying part) they somehow make me feel like Fall and lighting candles and dreaming of my future husband. And that is a good thing. To dream. And to hope.
xoxo
Ramona