May Days

It's May.  Where has the time gone?  

It seems that each month of 2012 so far has brought some very exciting things into my life.  I am often overwhelmed by the ways I am being blessed.  

It's the small things that are speaking so loudly to me lately.  An evening with friends becomes a time of precious memories with people who love me and who love the Lord.  A commute to dinner becomes a meaningful conversation with my dear roommate.  A child's birthday party becomes an inspiration as little ones are playing together and loving each other with innocence that isn't found anywhere else.

What little blessings do you have in your life?

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Overflow

This weekend my heart has been in a constant state of overflow.  I took last Thursday and Friday off work to participate in all the wedding festivities of my dear friends Jennifer and Clifton.  Jenn and Clif are two of my closest friends, and they have been a big part of why I love my current life/work/friend situation.  Getting to push pause on "real life" and indulge in a fairy tale wedding weekend was nothing less than magical.

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed all weekend.  Overwhelmed with joy.  Overwhelmed with awe.  Overwhelmed with love.  And I wasn't even the one getting married!

First of all, Jenn and Clif are a special couple.  I've gotten to watch them grow together and figure out the ins and outs of establishing a romantic relationship in the context of being best friends first.  Their relationship is fun and endearing.  They are a picture of love in its ultimate sense:  forgiving and patient, caring and genuine.  But most of all, they love Jesus, and this love is reflected in their relationship.  They desire to reflect the love of Christ through their marriage.  Getting to observe this in Jenn and Clif has given me an even greater appreciation for marriage and made me more excited to experience it some day.  It's easy to get caught up in the romance of weddings and of relationships in general, but the true romance is one that chooses love even on days when someone is unlovable, one that is selfless when it's much easier to be selfish.  I was super excited about the wedding this weekend, but I am also super excited to watch Jenn and Clif continue to grow in their love in the context of marriage.  Love them.

Secondly, the whole weekend, I was surrounded by people I love.  The wedding party was made up of some of my closest friends, and we had way too much fun spending the days celebrating!  From planning and coordinating different things with Miranda, my wonderful roommate, to bonding with a couple of the bridesmaids from out of town, to the "after-party" with a few friends after dancing the night away left us tired and blistered.  It has come up several times in the last couple weeks how blessed I am with the friends I have.   The community of young adults who love the Lord and are passionate about glorifying him with their lives is worth more than I often realize.  So, so thankful for these people with whom I get to share life.  

With the lovely couple, Clifton and Jennifer!

My heart is so full, it can't help but overflow...

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Blessed

This is a big week.  Well really, it's a big couple of weeks.  Within the next two weeks a handful of big things are happening.  Good things.  Really big and really good things.  

First, this weekend I will turn 25.  A quarter century.  Part of me doesn't think it seems that old because I am the youngest one of my friends.  But on the other hand, 25 years is a long time.  I have been incredibly blessed in my 25 years, and I look forward with excitement toward the 25 years to come.  

In 25 years, I have lived in 2 different countries, spent time in 6 or so others, lived in 5 different states, and visited a lot of others (feeling too lazy to try to count them up at the moment!).  I have finished two degrees and have flirted with the idea of getting another.  I have held three different full-time jobs and a handful of part-time ones.  

I have witnessed the marriages of many people I love.  I've snuggled with the babies of some of my closest friends.  I was the first person to hold my friend's precious daughter; she and I share a special bond, and I love watching her grow up into a sweet, creative little girl.  I have built close, meaningful friendships with so many wonderful people from all the different places I've lived.  I spend a few precious minutes on the phone with my mom each morning.  My dad and brothers are the best a girl could ask for.  I know I don't deserve the support system I have, but I am highly blessed by it.   

I've been privileged to be part of several different ministries in churches in Pennsylvania, Florida, and now Virginia.  I've gotten to work with missions organizations serving people here in the states and around the world.  

I feel like I have a lot to show for 25 years.  I also feel like I have a lot of room to improve for my next 25 years.  I want to spend more time reading things like the Bible, classic literature,  biographies, and other things to broaden my horizons.  I need to practice patience and humility and kindness a lot more.  I need to make people and relationships more important than things.  I could use a lot more discipline in a lot of areas of my life.  

25 down, who knows how many to go.  However many it is, I pray that the Lord will continue to be at work in my life and bless me with more opportunities to know and serve him more.

I will be debt-free. After getting paid for my last round of online teaching, Sallie Mae and I are breaking up.  Forever.  And I'm not going to miss her.  I am a little wary of talking about dollars and cents and financial stuff on here, but this is too exciting not to share!  I didn't have any debt other than my student loans, but getting rid of them is certainly reason to celebrate.  I can't wait to see what doors are opened as a result of being debt-free.  The opportunities are endless!  I have also been told being debt-free will increase my marketability in the dating/marriage arena, so I'm looking forward to those benefits as well.

Sunday is Resurrection Day (aka Easter).  I don't often spend as much time as I should remembering the importance of this day and the reasons we celebrate it, but this year, I am more in awe than ever of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the victory of his resurrection.  So this weekend, Sunday is more than just another day of the week, or another get-up-and-go-to-church day.  This Sunday is a celebration of my living Savior!  This Sunday, amid the church services and meals and fun, I will sing the praises of the risen Lord and remember with humility and gratitude his ultimate sacrifice so that I might have life.

Next weekend, there's a wedding.  Two of my closest friends are tying the knot in just a few short days!  This wedding has been anxiously awaited for sometime - officially for only four months, but we've suspected this was coming for quite a long while!  The closer we get to the big day, the more I am excited to see these two begin their new life together.  It's kind of a big deal and a wonderful reason to celebrate!  

I am baffled by all the big, exciting things happening in and around me these days.  Often I have to just push pause and remind myself that this is real. This is my life; these blessings are true.  I don't deserve any of it.  So these next couple weeks, I am being reminded over and over of the good, wonderful, beautiful things in my life.  Blessed.

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Spring

Today is the first day of spring.  March 20.  Why it's not tomorrow on the 21st which I thought was spring equinox, I'm not sure.  Either way, a new season is upon us!

I love new seasons.  I love spring.  I won't say it's my favorite season because I can be largely noncommittal when it comes to favorites.  I LOVE spring, but if I say it's my favorite, what about summer? And fall? And winter? (Ok - definitely NOT winter, though I like a good snow once in while, but summer and fall would give spring a run for its money!)  

Favorite or not, spring has something wonderfully special about it.  There is something about the new beginning and fresh start of it that stirs my heart.  I love these lines from Nichole Nordeman's song Every Season:  

And everything that's new has bravely surfaced, teaching us to breathe.  

What was frozen through is newly purposed, turning all things green.  

So it is with you and how you make me new with every season's change,  

And so it will be as you are recreating me...summer...autumn...winter...spring.

There are a million things about spring that leave me a little speechless:  the beautiful, flowering trees we have here in Virginia (The dogwoods haven't bloomed yet, but they're my favorites!), the bright green color of brand new leaves starting to appear, the smell of lawns being mowed for the first time of the season, the promise of the warmer weather and the longer days to come, the power of a thunderstorm bringing the rains that keep things growing, flowers popping up in places they were all but forgotten like little surprises all over, and most of all, the picture all this is of the amazing redemption of the Lord.  

Just like the season gets to start new, so do we.  When we invite Jesus into our hearts and let him wipe our sinful slate clean, he lets us have a spring of our own.  I don't have to live in darkness or gloom.  I can have the joy of sunshine and the beauty of the most stunning spring blossom.  Forgiveness is overwhelming.  I don't deserve it ever, even for a minute, but it is so freely offered to us to are willing to accept it.  I am beyond thankful for the steadfast love of Christ and the forgiveness He offers.  New leaves aren't just for the trees in my yard; they're for people, too.  And it's not just a one-time deal either.  He doesn't give up on me, and he's there to offer me a new beginning every morning.  These are the things that stir my heart in the springtime.    

So today ushers in spring, and it was a perfect day for it complete with a day of sunshine and an evening of those strong and loud thunderstorms.  This spring, amid these sunny-rainy-cheery-blooming-green-growing days, I am especially moved by the peace I find in the forgiveness of my Lord, the promise of new beginnings, and the surprises of the future.

"Let us press on to know the Lord;

his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth."

Hosea 6:3

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...

Sometimes there are thoughts and prayers and excitement welling up in me, but I can't seem to find the words to express them. Like right now for instance, there are a handful of things going on in and around me that I just want to sing about or be mad about or rejoice about, but the ability to express them seems to escape me. 

There are people I know who are hurting, who seem to be making wrong choices, who are facing unimaginable challenges, but I feel at a loss for words to reach out to them or to support them or to confront them.

There are answers to prayers that have been prayed for a long time that seem to be coming down the pipeline, that are beginning to make themselves known, but I can't even express my excitement and thankfulness the way I feel like I want and need to.

I know this is all vague and what not, but, like I said, I can't seem to find the right words.  In lieu of my own words, I will sing the song of praise that Daniel sang when the Lord revealed to him the king's dream and its interpretation and spared the lives of him, his friends, and all the wise men of the land.

He has everything in his hands.  The good.  The bad.  The confusing.  The exciting.  The times.  The seasons.  The kings.  Wisdom.  Understanding.

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, 

to whom belong wisdom and might. 

He changes times and seasons; 

he removes kings and sets up kings; 

he gives wisdom to the wise 

and knowledge to those who have understanding; 

he reveals deep and hidden things; 

he knows what is in the darkness, 

and the light dwells with him.  

To you, O God of my fathers, 

I give thanks and praise, 

for you have given me wisdom and might, 

and have made known to me what we asked of you, 

for you have made known to us the king's matter.

Daniel 2:20-23

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