Last night I had the strangest dream...

Hi!

I haven't blogged in a very long time. I could make a bunch of excuses but at the end of the day my six month old baby and my constant quest for perfection are what's getting in the way...
Well, yesterday changed things. I'm not sure why but something clicked yesterday and then I was 'filled with glorious purpose' and up half the night with a dream! and now I'm tired... Haha...
I want to share this dream with you because then it's no longer just a dream but a vision too and it gives me less excuses to ignore it later. Anyway a lot of this post is going to just seem like a brain dump and I guess it is, so if you're reading bear with me...

I want to start by letting you know being on maternity leave has been one of those checkpoint moments in life to me. I have been SO thankful to be able to take a year off to be with my child in his most precious of moments, his most vulnerable state. To continue to be his habitat until he is more naturally ready to un-attach himself from his mama. But it has also given me time to look at what it is that I am 'doing' with my life... As a melancholy personality I am constantly reassessing, constantly analysing myself (and others, I'll admit it), life is a constant opportunity for improvement, for reaching goals and finding 'success'. Therefore I have found it hard to appreciate maternity leave and just 'be' with my beautiful bubba from time to time and reaching the six month mark for me has found itself to be somewhat of a half-way marker, a reminder to say; what are you doing? Are you really 'just' a mum? (Words straight from the Devils mouth to be sure, what on earth is wrong with being a mum? What's with the 'just'?!) This in turn has led to lots of prayer, which can't be a bad thing, and ultimately to me watching lots of TEDX talks about career motivation...
I was assessing what I am good at, what I'm interested in and my passions to ultimately determine THE question; what was I put on this earth to do? I won't bore you with all the details but ultimately an idea was birthed from these wonderings that I want to share with you today...
I love magazines and have done so since my pre-teen days where I would sit flicking through my big sisters Dolly magazines in the bedroom that we shared. I also love women, particularly young women who are on the verge of realising themselves, much like my younger self sitting in my bedroom reading wth curiosity and wonder. And I also love Jesus and the justice and mercy he brought into this world. What if all three of these loves were combined?
I Let my mind, heart and soul go there and this is what emerged:

A beautiful quarterly, self-financing magazine that promotes positive self-image, spirituality, social justice and health and well-being.

Many of you would know that I am a member (soldier) of The Salvation Army and that my husband is a pastor (officer) of The Salvation Army. For that reason I would want this project to have the values of The Salvation Army without screaming army (I.e without all the weird bits that put everyone else off).

It would be a magazine that any coffee shop in Melbourne would happily have sitting out on their tables or any young woman would happily pick up and read while at the same time be influenced by the very things that make up the values of The Salvation Army.

Subscribers would also receive a digital copy and social media presence would be essential to its success.

This would be a partnership between the women's ministries, youth, editorial, creative arts and social justice departments of The Salvation Army. It would be something that any woman from any of those departments would want to pick up and read while at the same time wanting to share it with their daughters, friends and even 'clients'. Eventually it would be great if it could become a magazine that is distributed through the mainstream (places that are aligned in mission).

Content could come from all over the territory/ country but not just from 'salvo' sources.

Readers are to be respected as though they are intelligent, competent and fun leaders in their area of influence.

No photo-shop, women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and ages are to be displayed on its pages. Every woman is celebrated as beautiful and challenges the social norms on beauty whilst acknowledging the creative design of the universe and everything in it (including its women). Beautiful is not vain or materialistic but it is also not passive or degraded, it is celebrated and admired.

This magazine aims to celebrate all the gifts women have been given while ultimately being love to women. It strives to be original and have worth, it's not disposable. Beautiful is modest but this does not mean it's not fashionable or even sexy.

This magazine will see celebrities in the positive and will only write about them that way. It promotes modest living (within your means) and integrity.

While the dream is to promote the values of The Salvation Army, the salvos does this weird thing where it has a ranking system and it refers to their officers (ministers) in that way... I believe this is completely counter-cultural and certainly not biblical... It is for this reason this magazine would not refer to people based on their rank but rather in regard to what they are contributing I.e. June knop, editor in chief, Tracey Tidd, Director of Women's Ministries...

I see this magazine bravely approaching issues of real relevance such as sexuality, mental health and substance abuse through people's stories as opposed to telling people what to think and believe...

So wow, what a brain dump but it doesn't stop there, I envisage that this magazine could be more than a magazine but a movement with several stages of mobilisation... Beautiful relevant events could be held all over the country for women and that's the word that's really coming up in regards to this dream... Relevant!