lessons from life

Okay so more specifically this is a lesson I learned from weed pulling. When you don't take care of a little problem it becomes a big problem very quickly. Then instead of a little time spent every so often working on a problem, you must spend intensive time repairing the damage done because of the problem.

I was thinking specifically about sin in our lives. We let that one little sin go because we don't think it's a big deal. But before you know it, that one little sin has overwhelmed the flowerbed of your life and is choking out and killing off the beautiful flowers that were there. Yeah, you can spend a lot of time and energy and effort to remove it, but wouldn't it just be a little easier to tend carefully to the garden of your heart and deal with the little problems as they come instead of ignoring them or letting them go just this once? Trust me, this is a lesson I need just as much as anyone else. That's probably why God had me pulling weeds this afternoon.

On a completely different subject...
I was reading last night because I couldn't fall asleep (I think that was because I was trying to go to bed early so I could get up early this morning). But anyway...I felt yesterday that I needed to read a specific chapter out of a book I have read a couple of times called Confessions of a Single Woman by Connally Gilliam. It is such a good book, and I was in two different studies on it, and I got so much out of both of those studies. I was also amazed at how much I had forgotten from this book.

The chapter I felt like I needed to read is called Men, who needs them? What I love so much about this chapter is that Connally actually examines the legitimate reasons why women should or shouldn't need men. And the conclusion that she comes to at the end of the chapter is that we [meaning women] all do. There are many good things she says throughout the chapter, but there is one thing that she says that just registers with me.

She says that men allow us women to exhale. Let me do my best to explain this. Having men around brings a certain presence that girl friends just don't have. They allow us to relax, to be women, to rest. Having men around allows me to breathe deeper. Connally attributes this in part to the fact that men and women are both image bearers of God. Both genders carry a different part of God's image, and when they are brought together there is a marvelous thing that happens, we are able to be who God created us to be.

I have seen this played out in my own life. I am a (fairly) independent, competent, smart woman. I can handle just about anything by myself. I am very self-sufficient (as a friend said once). But I would argue that I am this way for two reasons. The first is that I find my identity and my satisfaction in God. But I also believe that I am able to be this way because I have so many good men in my life who allow me to exhale. I know that if I need one of them, they are just a phone call away. The presence of good men in my life allows me to be more myself than I could be without them.

That being said, today is the birthday of one of the good men in my life: my dad. He is such an incredible blessing, and I can't imagine having anyone else for a dad. He has always been there when I needed him, and more importantly he has been an amazing man of God in our home. He has allowed us to have a safe and open environment in which to grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. He is not only my dad, but a mentor and friend. And I love him dearly!! Happy Birthday Daddy!!

I'm so excited I will get to see mis padres on Monday as they are coming down to see me off at the airport. It hardly seems possible that I leave in 4 days. There is so much crammed into the next 4 days that I know I will blink and be in New Zealand. So excited to hang out with good friends tomorrow and eat sushi with K.

I'm going on a walk with a friend here in just a little bit, so I need to get off of here.

Peace out yo!