Friday night I got to drive to Bethany, Oklahoma to visit my brother... to just relax and enjoy the peaceful neighborhood where he was staying. He lives about 35 minutes from me, so you'd think I could go see him often... I hadn't seen him in about a month though - life is hectic, and people are busy!
Saturday my parents and sister came to the area for Luke's football game, but came a few hours early to see me so we could catch up and hang out - i needed to feel the presence of stability. My cup was completely overfilled with abundant joy from getting to be in their presence. I've missed them so much - I had no idea how dependent I was on my family...
For the past couple weeks, since the semester has started, a few of my friends and I have been randomly busting out in song about all the things we love - Shelby and I publically display it on facebook to each other, while Sarah and I yell it while we walk down the south oval - and Mady and I pretty much just love to live a lifestyle of constantly loving the most silly things. (I'm pretty sure I've gotten weirder since I've moved to college!)
I love the birds, and the songs they sing. I love the beautiful weather. I love the rain. I love the grass on the south oval. I love walking through hundreds of people while I'm walking from building to building. I love walking! I love the caf. I love the songs I'm learning at U-Sing. I love to sing. I love to celebrate birthdays. I love to celebrate half-birthdays. I love to celebrate! I love to drink water. I love to lay in the grass. I love to watch the squirrels. I love to call people squirrels. I love to read the side walk chalk on the walk ways all over campus. I love to imagine writing my own announcements on the sidewalks. I love to meet new friends on the elevator. everytime i'm on an elevator. I love to learn peoples names. I love to go to Theta. I love to paint. I love paintings. I love to lay on boats. I love to dance. I love naming EVERYTHING Rex. I love uggs. I love OCTOBER. I love blessing people. I love fingernail polish. I love to laugh. I love to cry. I love to play in the rain. I love to yell. I love to whisper. I love the trees. I love spanish. I love accents.
In such a busy lifestyle, from going to class to dinner to theta to practice to chapter to new member meetings to dates to studying, I love to remind myself of all the things I have to be thankful for... all the things I love.
The other day I was sitting at starbucks with two of my best friends, Amanda and Mady, and we were talking about certain things in our lives... things that made us sad... pretty much just sharing feelings - and when I looked down at my starbucks cup the initials "PTL" were written on it.
In starbucks language "PTL" means "Passion Tea Lemonade" but in my language it means "Praise the Lord"... it was a pleasant reminder that the Lord is sovereign, and he works out all things for the good of those who love him. We all got a laugh out of the irony, and reminded each other to praise the Lord about something, anything, during hard times.
So - whatever day it is that you are reading this - here is a challenge from me to you: Talk about the things you love. Speak them out loud. Write them down. Hang them somewhere that you can see them and be reminded of them. Dance. Make pasta. Drink lemonade. Go for a walk. Show up somewhere alone. Buy a $4 coffee. Celebrate yourself. Watch the birds. Marvel at how many flies are gathered around one meal. Race. Be in community with someone else. Ask soemone else what they love. Speak life over someone. Declare liberty over your days - you were created to live abundantly. Isn't that cool? You were created to be in CONSTANT joy - celebrating and engaging with people - laughing about the beauty of the world... the butterflies and the leaves falling from the trees... the sound the wind makes and the crunch of an aged leaf.
Not even the next moment is promised to you, its a world of unknown futures and chaotic weeks - days that turn into seconds... you find yourself wondering where the time has gone. Tests, and papers and traveling and practices and positions to fill and music to write... maybe you're waiting to be discovered. Or maybe you are trapped in a violent relationship. Maybe you've lost your best friends. Or your kid moved away. Maybe you long for something real, a love that lasts... maybe you wonder if "love" could ever really last... maybe you long for a role model that has a positive influence. maybe you're sick of taking care of your family at age 17... Maybe you long to be a kid again.
Marvel.
We live in such a beautiful world. Love something.
9.27.2010
9.17.2010
Recklessness.
Have you taken time lately to hear whats going on in the world?
In my communication class this week we learning the importance of listening - one of the points in the book was that more times than not, we listen to what other people say so we can respond to them with our thoughts and opinions on whatever the issue is. We listen to respond. Instead of listening to hear. When's the last time you listened to someone, just hear them? I had to get myself in check on this one - I usually listen to respond. I think more of us are guilty of it than we would like to admit.
hear this:
Chile's mining minister expressed optimism Thursday that the 33 miners trapped since early last month 2,300 feet (701 meters) below ground here will be rescued in early November and maybe sooner.
The Census Bureau has released its annual poverty report showing more people are living at or below the poverty threshold. This means many are finding themselves there for the first time.“Maria,” who was too embarrassed to give us her true name or allow us to photograph her face, says she and her husband have had to sell their most cherished possessions.“We sold our wedding rings, our furniture, everything,” said Maria.
Sheryl WuDunn says, "Before long, we will consider sex slavery, honor killings and acid attacks as unfathomable as foot-binding. The question is how long that transformation will take and how many girls will be kidnapped into brothels before it is complete -- and whether each of us will be part of that historical movement, or a bystander."
Guatemalan police on Thursday were searching for a drug trafficker who initiated a shootout with police at a shopping mall the day before.
These things are going on in the world, and we don't even think twice about them... is it because they seem to be across the globe, and have no effect on us? Or is it because we have "other" things to worry about... more important things...
I got in a 'debate' with a friend today about the idea of having a female president - I understand that we all have different opinions about this, which is fine - but I think through this talk that we were having, i discovered that there was really an underlying issue. In multiple places throughout the bible, it talks about men being the head of the house hold - Paul tells us that men should love their wives the way Christ loves the church - even giving His life for her; and in return wives are to submit to their husbands. (Eph.5) I completely agree with this - and will do it gladly.
But what if we took gender out of the equation? what if we were submissive and loved each other in the greatest form, that we would even lay down our lives for eachother if it came to that?
The underlying issue is not the gender of our president - the issue is that we get more upset with each other about issues like this instead of getting angry over what's really wrong in the world.
when i asked him if he would vote for a godly woman over an ungodly man to lead this nation, which he would pick... the answer was somewhere along the lines of "the woman- but that choice would only happen because this country isn't full of christians"
I feel like it doesn't take much to realize that the body of christ is lacking in doing its job around here - I mean, the two greatest commandments are to Love God and to Love People... right? So if we are legitimately following Jesus than we would be more worried about taking care of the orphans and the widows and the poverty stricken than we are. Jesus said "What you do to the least of these, you're doing to me" (Matt 25) I think we should take that seriously. Its time we get angry about the things are wrong in this world - we waste our time and our breath with arguing about things that are so controversial that we will probably never agree on, and then we get mad at each other for having opposing ideas...
Hear this:
"What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: "Faith, hope, and love"? That sounds beautiful. But I would say - courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack today is not psychology or literature...what we lack is a holy rage - the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth...a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God's earth, and the destruction of God's world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish... but never the chameleon." - Kaj Munk
Will people know who we are by the things that make us angry?
I once heard that if only seven percent of professing christians in the world adopted an orphan, there would be no more orphans...
What is making you angry? We must get a grip on a Holy rage - the world is watching our every move... a world that is searching for something stable, something true, something that lasts... we hold the answer - it replinishes itself. We can never get rid of it - when we empty our cups, they get filled back up. We have to stand up for something that matters.
It's time we run hard and fast after something that can rock human history until it conforms to the norm of the Kingdom of God... He wont relent until he has it all. Get angry about something.
In my communication class this week we learning the importance of listening - one of the points in the book was that more times than not, we listen to what other people say so we can respond to them with our thoughts and opinions on whatever the issue is. We listen to respond. Instead of listening to hear. When's the last time you listened to someone, just hear them? I had to get myself in check on this one - I usually listen to respond. I think more of us are guilty of it than we would like to admit.
hear this:
Chile's mining minister expressed optimism Thursday that the 33 miners trapped since early last month 2,300 feet (701 meters) below ground here will be rescued in early November and maybe sooner.
The Census Bureau has released its annual poverty report showing more people are living at or below the poverty threshold. This means many are finding themselves there for the first time.“Maria,” who was too embarrassed to give us her true name or allow us to photograph her face, says she and her husband have had to sell their most cherished possessions.“We sold our wedding rings, our furniture, everything,” said Maria.
Sheryl WuDunn says, "Before long, we will consider sex slavery, honor killings and acid attacks as unfathomable as foot-binding. The question is how long that transformation will take and how many girls will be kidnapped into brothels before it is complete -- and whether each of us will be part of that historical movement, or a bystander."
Guatemalan police on Thursday were searching for a drug trafficker who initiated a shootout with police at a shopping mall the day before.
These things are going on in the world, and we don't even think twice about them... is it because they seem to be across the globe, and have no effect on us? Or is it because we have "other" things to worry about... more important things...
I got in a 'debate' with a friend today about the idea of having a female president - I understand that we all have different opinions about this, which is fine - but I think through this talk that we were having, i discovered that there was really an underlying issue. In multiple places throughout the bible, it talks about men being the head of the house hold - Paul tells us that men should love their wives the way Christ loves the church - even giving His life for her; and in return wives are to submit to their husbands. (Eph.5) I completely agree with this - and will do it gladly.
But what if we took gender out of the equation? what if we were submissive and loved each other in the greatest form, that we would even lay down our lives for eachother if it came to that?
The underlying issue is not the gender of our president - the issue is that we get more upset with each other about issues like this instead of getting angry over what's really wrong in the world.
when i asked him if he would vote for a godly woman over an ungodly man to lead this nation, which he would pick... the answer was somewhere along the lines of "the woman- but that choice would only happen because this country isn't full of christians"
I feel like it doesn't take much to realize that the body of christ is lacking in doing its job around here - I mean, the two greatest commandments are to Love God and to Love People... right? So if we are legitimately following Jesus than we would be more worried about taking care of the orphans and the widows and the poverty stricken than we are. Jesus said "What you do to the least of these, you're doing to me" (Matt 25) I think we should take that seriously. Its time we get angry about the things are wrong in this world - we waste our time and our breath with arguing about things that are so controversial that we will probably never agree on, and then we get mad at each other for having opposing ideas...
Hear this:
"What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: "Faith, hope, and love"? That sounds beautiful. But I would say - courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack today is not psychology or literature...what we lack is a holy rage - the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth...a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God's earth, and the destruction of God's world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God. And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish... but never the chameleon." - Kaj Munk
Will people know who we are by the things that make us angry?
I once heard that if only seven percent of professing christians in the world adopted an orphan, there would be no more orphans...
What is making you angry? We must get a grip on a Holy rage - the world is watching our every move... a world that is searching for something stable, something true, something that lasts... we hold the answer - it replinishes itself. We can never get rid of it - when we empty our cups, they get filled back up. We have to stand up for something that matters.
It's time we run hard and fast after something that can rock human history until it conforms to the norm of the Kingdom of God... He wont relent until he has it all. Get angry about something.
9.09.2010
Overcomers.
Fifteen years ago, 1 in 288 teenager girls cut themselves.
Fifteen years ago, 0% of teenage boys cut themselves.
One of my good friends, Alison, moved to India this passed summer and is living there for the next year... She emailed me last week and asked me what she could be praying for me and I got to tell her what God had been doing in my life.
I grew up around boys. All the time. Before my Sophomore, junior and senior year my best friends were boys... I liked to believe that they made better friends; less drama. Growing up, if my dad and brother were doing one thing and my mom and sister were doing another, you'd usually find me with Craig and Luke. It's just the way I was.
My junior and senior year of highschool I developed a passion for connecting with young women, and walking through life together. I was constantly being reminded that us girls gotta stick together. We have to be for each other. It's the only way we'll make it out.
The Lord has been so faithful. I ask the Lord to place girls in my life that I need to meet. Girls I need to mentor me. Girls I need to invest in. Girls who will probably end up changing my life.. I'm in a new city at a huge university and I'm surrounded by girls everywhere I turn. I live on an all girls floor, and I'm constantly with girls from my sorority. I've gotten to meet so many girls who are in the same boat as I am... so many new friends to make and stories to hear.
I keep asking the Lord to show me who I am.
Who am I?
I am a daughter of the Most High King - a daughter.
I'm learning what that means. I'm learning what it means to really be a girl. I've lost a desire to be "one of the guys" - I want to be who God has created me to be. Girly, and pretty, and joyful, and classy, and lovable.
She is more precious than rubies, and she will greatly enrich his life. She is energetic, and strong, and hard working. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. - Proverbs 31
I've been asking God to show me who I am... how to be His girl. His daughter. His wife, the church.
I am more precious than rubies, and I will greatly enrich his life. I will strive to be energetic and strong and hardworking. I will extend a hand to the poor and open my arms to the needy. I am clothed with strength and dignity, and I laugh without fear of the future. When I speak, my words are wise and I will give instructions with kindness.
Life is hard, and sometimes it's too hard to be who we are called to be. We are overcomers. We are not meant for this world. We were created for another one. The life after this... We are called to be IN this world, but not OF it.
Today, 1 in 5 teenage girls cut themselves.
Today, 1 in 7 teenage boys cut themselves.
Sometimes life interupts our plans... we get stuck in a moment that feels like it will last forever. We can't see past the darkness that we live in... we feel like hope is non existant.
Hope is real. We are overcomers. Remember the light - it is coming for you even when you cant see it. Your story matters. You were created to be a Proverbs 31 woman. Talk to someone. Your words are worth something. Your life is more precious than rubies.
Who are you? You are an overcomer.
Fifteen years ago, 0% of teenage boys cut themselves.
One of my good friends, Alison, moved to India this passed summer and is living there for the next year... She emailed me last week and asked me what she could be praying for me and I got to tell her what God had been doing in my life.
I grew up around boys. All the time. Before my Sophomore, junior and senior year my best friends were boys... I liked to believe that they made better friends; less drama. Growing up, if my dad and brother were doing one thing and my mom and sister were doing another, you'd usually find me with Craig and Luke. It's just the way I was.
My junior and senior year of highschool I developed a passion for connecting with young women, and walking through life together. I was constantly being reminded that us girls gotta stick together. We have to be for each other. It's the only way we'll make it out.
The Lord has been so faithful. I ask the Lord to place girls in my life that I need to meet. Girls I need to mentor me. Girls I need to invest in. Girls who will probably end up changing my life.. I'm in a new city at a huge university and I'm surrounded by girls everywhere I turn. I live on an all girls floor, and I'm constantly with girls from my sorority. I've gotten to meet so many girls who are in the same boat as I am... so many new friends to make and stories to hear.
I keep asking the Lord to show me who I am.
Who am I?
I am a daughter of the Most High King - a daughter.
I'm learning what that means. I'm learning what it means to really be a girl. I've lost a desire to be "one of the guys" - I want to be who God has created me to be. Girly, and pretty, and joyful, and classy, and lovable.
She is more precious than rubies, and she will greatly enrich his life. She is energetic, and strong, and hard working. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. - Proverbs 31
I've been asking God to show me who I am... how to be His girl. His daughter. His wife, the church.
I am more precious than rubies, and I will greatly enrich his life. I will strive to be energetic and strong and hardworking. I will extend a hand to the poor and open my arms to the needy. I am clothed with strength and dignity, and I laugh without fear of the future. When I speak, my words are wise and I will give instructions with kindness.
Life is hard, and sometimes it's too hard to be who we are called to be. We are overcomers. We are not meant for this world. We were created for another one. The life after this... We are called to be IN this world, but not OF it.
Today, 1 in 5 teenage girls cut themselves.
Today, 1 in 7 teenage boys cut themselves.
Sometimes life interupts our plans... we get stuck in a moment that feels like it will last forever. We can't see past the darkness that we live in... we feel like hope is non existant.
Hope is real. We are overcomers. Remember the light - it is coming for you even when you cant see it. Your story matters. You were created to be a Proverbs 31 woman. Talk to someone. Your words are worth something. Your life is more precious than rubies.
Who are you? You are an overcomer.
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