18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. {Romans Eight}
"All things work for the good
Of those who love God
He holds back nothing that will heal you
Not even His own Son
His love is everlasting
His faithfulness unending
Oh, if God is for us, who can be against us?
So if you feel weakJust hold on to the promisesHold on to the promises
Jesus is alive so hold tight
Hold on to the promises..."
-Sanctus Real, Promises.
11.07.2012
10.30.2012
Ὠκεανὸς
cerulean blue and seafoam greens collide
churn and froth into white foam
the salty swell is mesmerizing,
I cannot take my eyes away.
calm, swelling, rushing, crashing-
repeat.
wind whipping hair
unexpected butterflies flutter by
what in the world?
butterflies at the beach.
tousled by wind and waves
I am a child frolicking with a roaring monster
laughing when it knocks me down
forgetting the danger and the strength;
I just want to play.
my weariness is eroding
water washing away the grit from me
salty spray straight in my face
I laugh, silly and girlish and free
it’s me and the water-unimaginably vast.
undertow pulling me in
calling, whispering, urging, I can hear it:
“come, come, come...”
grinning I give in
swim out, out, out....
farther, farther, farther
siren call of the playful surges
salty foam kissing my mouth
if I hadn’t known better I would have swam
straight out until I couldn’t see the shoreline
and there was nothing but water.
Oh, ocean, how I miss you.
churn and froth into white foam
the salty swell is mesmerizing,
I cannot take my eyes away.
calm, swelling, rushing, crashing-
repeat.
wind whipping hair
unexpected butterflies flutter by
what in the world?
butterflies at the beach.
tousled by wind and waves
I am a child frolicking with a roaring monster
laughing when it knocks me down
forgetting the danger and the strength;
I just want to play.
my weariness is eroding
water washing away the grit from me
salty spray straight in my face
I laugh, silly and girlish and free
it’s me and the water-unimaginably vast.
undertow pulling me in
calling, whispering, urging, I can hear it:
“come, come, come...”
grinning I give in
swim out, out, out....
farther, farther, farther
siren call of the playful surges
salty foam kissing my mouth
if I hadn’t known better I would have swam
straight out until I couldn’t see the shoreline
and there was nothing but water.
Oh, ocean, how I miss you.
10.28.2012
Looking.
Today I awoke determined to find joy, determined to notice all of the tiny miracles and blessings around me.
I looked at my phone. There was a text from a fellow joy-seeker, "Today, look. Just look."
So I tried, looking around my house for beauty, for blessings. Uggh. Yesterday I gave up on trying to keep the house clean, and finding beauty in a house that looks like a seasick yak threw up all over it is, um, hard.
Aha! I could look outside. There's always beauty outside.
I walk out of the house and I'm greeted by the scent of Autumn and the warm sun. I squint. It's been far too long since I've looked.
Walking around to the side of the house, looking for a warm spot of sun in the chilly breeze, I stand and soak up the sun.
Then, whoosh, a wasp lands on my right knee and takes my breath away. I'm standing there, holding my breath, looking.
This exquisite creature rushes from my knee to the grass, stops there to clean itself. I kneel immediately and just look. How have I never noticed how beautiful wasps are before?
Because you've never looked before, you blind geezer.
For minutes straight I look at this tiny monster and grin, and pray. Thanking God for the blessings and the beauty and suddenly overwhelmed by joy.
I hear noises behind me and hear a door slam. People are coming out of the house next door, done looking it over. Potential neighbors. They all pour out of the house and get into a car, except for one man who looks to be in his mid-fourties. He just stands there with his hands in his pockets, curious about this curly-haired girl kneeling and looking in her front yard.
"What're you watching?" he asks me, obviously amused.
I spin around and grin. "A wasp." I say, full to the brim with joy I couldn't contain if I tried.
At least he knows what kind of neighbor he'll be getting if he buys the house, right?
He smiles at me, chuckles. "Oh." he simply says, and walks away laughing as if he expected it to be something actually interesting. I grin harder because I know it seems silly, but I love this silliness and I can't get enough of this childlike wonder, this looking and finding and being filled.
I continue to sit there and grin and cherish my secret- that God is everywhere and joy is everywhere and I can kneel in my front yard estatic with joy, giving thanks to the Creator, while staring at a wasp or a leaf, marveling at the marvelousness that makes up this crazy life. A wide-eyed wonder in God's spoken world.
The wasp flies away, and I lay on my back in the grass and begin to count the different shades of blue in the Autumn sky. And I give thanks for every one of them, overwhelmed with gratitude.
I looked at my phone. There was a text from a fellow joy-seeker, "Today, look. Just look."
So I tried, looking around my house for beauty, for blessings. Uggh. Yesterday I gave up on trying to keep the house clean, and finding beauty in a house that looks like a seasick yak threw up all over it is, um, hard.
Aha! I could look outside. There's always beauty outside.
I walk out of the house and I'm greeted by the scent of Autumn and the warm sun. I squint. It's been far too long since I've looked.
Walking around to the side of the house, looking for a warm spot of sun in the chilly breeze, I stand and soak up the sun.
Then, whoosh, a wasp lands on my right knee and takes my breath away. I'm standing there, holding my breath, looking.
This exquisite creature rushes from my knee to the grass, stops there to clean itself. I kneel immediately and just look. How have I never noticed how beautiful wasps are before?
Because you've never looked before, you blind geezer.
For minutes straight I look at this tiny monster and grin, and pray. Thanking God for the blessings and the beauty and suddenly overwhelmed by joy.
I hear noises behind me and hear a door slam. People are coming out of the house next door, done looking it over. Potential neighbors. They all pour out of the house and get into a car, except for one man who looks to be in his mid-fourties. He just stands there with his hands in his pockets, curious about this curly-haired girl kneeling and looking in her front yard.
"What're you watching?" he asks me, obviously amused.
I spin around and grin. "A wasp." I say, full to the brim with joy I couldn't contain if I tried.
At least he knows what kind of neighbor he'll be getting if he buys the house, right?
He smiles at me, chuckles. "Oh." he simply says, and walks away laughing as if he expected it to be something actually interesting. I grin harder because I know it seems silly, but I love this silliness and I can't get enough of this childlike wonder, this looking and finding and being filled.
I continue to sit there and grin and cherish my secret- that God is everywhere and joy is everywhere and I can kneel in my front yard estatic with joy, giving thanks to the Creator, while staring at a wasp or a leaf, marveling at the marvelousness that makes up this crazy life. A wide-eyed wonder in God's spoken world.
The wasp flies away, and I lay on my back in the grass and begin to count the different shades of blue in the Autumn sky. And I give thanks for every one of them, overwhelmed with gratitude.
10.27.2012
The beauty of waiting.
Last weekend, someone I love deeply became engaged to the man of her dreams. I
got to be there when it happened; watch him kneel and worry over
whether or not the ring would fit, hold her after she grinned and said,
“Yes, of course!”
Yes, of course.
This was a moment she had waited for, five long years of longing and waiting and trusting God. Five years of not knowing but loving anyways. Isn’t that what love should be, loving whether or not you get love back? Loving even if you don’t know if you will ever get love back? Love is easy when you are loved back. When you don’t get anything back, it’s significantly harder.
Besides the fact that she just had committed to marry this young man, there was something so beautiful about that moment- that waiting being over.
I’d watched her for five years, love this man, get nothing back. But she loved him anyways, faithfully and unconditionally and selflessly- and then all of a sudden she was rewarded for this long wait, with that man kneeling on a Ferris wheel two hundred and sixteen feet in the air at the State Fair of Texas holding a ring.
Love always makes the wait worth it.
The girl who waited and the man who realized are planning their wedding for March of 2013. Lizzy, I am so happy for you. God bless you and Daniel, and your future together. Keep loving the people in your life fearlessly. I love you more. {Really.}
Yes, of course.
This was a moment she had waited for, five long years of longing and waiting and trusting God. Five years of not knowing but loving anyways. Isn’t that what love should be, loving whether or not you get love back? Loving even if you don’t know if you will ever get love back? Love is easy when you are loved back. When you don’t get anything back, it’s significantly harder.
Besides the fact that she just had committed to marry this young man, there was something so beautiful about that moment- that waiting being over.
I’d watched her for five years, love this man, get nothing back. But she loved him anyways, faithfully and unconditionally and selflessly- and then all of a sudden she was rewarded for this long wait, with that man kneeling on a Ferris wheel two hundred and sixteen feet in the air at the State Fair of Texas holding a ring.
Love always makes the wait worth it.
The girl who waited and the man who realized are planning their wedding for March of 2013. Lizzy, I am so happy for you. God bless you and Daniel, and your future together. Keep loving the people in your life fearlessly. I love you more. {Really.}
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