Something Beautiful

My life has been busy lately. Starting school, working around 30 hours every week, trying to stay caught up on laundry and other necessary chores, running, and making time to hang out with God all keep me fairly well occupied and tired by the end of the day. Sadly in the midst of all of this, blogging is what gets the short end of the stick. I am hoping that as I adjust to all of this, I will be able to find a little balance to work blogging back into a more regular routine. But not for the next week because I'm going on vacation!! It has been almost a year since I took a trip, and my feet were itching to get going somewhere again. I got the week off of work, and I'm leaving behind most means of connection with life here. I'm going to spend time hanging out with two of my best friends, relaxing, reading, and just plain chilling out. . .with maybe a trip or two to the beach in there somewhere!! :) On a completely separate note, I am absolutely loving school!! It is so wonder...

Sometimes I feel like I have no extra words. This usually isn't the case as I am a woman and generally don't have enough time in the day to say all the words that are inside of me. But occasionally I don't have words to speak. I have been working a lot the last couple of days. Today will be my third day of working a double shift. I actually like working doubles, but it does get exhausting when that's what you do day after day. Anyway, so being around people that much has kind of gotten me talked out on my words. I'm so excited to go on vacation in just over a week!!! So excited to be with two of my best friends and enjoy spending time with them again!! I'm excited to see this again!! Manhattan Beach, CA

It isn't every day that you wake up realizing that this day will change the rest of your life. When I woke up this morning, that was the first thought in my mind. Today will change my life forever. I think that realization caused me to approach the day differently. I pushed myself more in my run. I realized that I often hold back from what I could truly be. I don't want to do that. I want to leave it all out there. To live with passion and persistence. Almost a year ago I started a chapter of my life that I may someday revisit, but it wasn't right at that time. I was so unhappy with the situation and the way everything about it felt. I should have been so happy and excited, but I opened the wrong chapter of my book and had to close it again. For weeks, no, for months, I have been excited about this day, though. Today I started a new chapter. Today my life changed forever. I am excited, beyond excited. I am equally excited and terrified, so I'm exactly where I am suppo...

I had a thought this morning about grace and humility. I was planning to get up to go run at 5:30 this morning before the heat of the day could catch up to me. However, when I woke up, my body was still exhausted even after I went to bed early last night. Sometimes that is the price of being a woman. The still, small voice in the back of my head told me to have grace with myself and to let the run go in favor of a couple more hours of sleep. I listened and realized that in order to live under grace, I have to give up my pride and realize that I cannot do all things. I think one of the best cures for pride is to understand and have a clear vision of the grace of God. Once we fully understand how truly incredible His grace towards us is, how can we even being to be proud? I pray that my eyes may be ever more open to see the reality of my sin and His Grace and that I may have a truly humble heart in light of that reality.

Time seems to slip away from me without me noticing it at all. Life continues to flow by like a river, and I cannot hold it in my hand even though I wish I could just stop it for a while, get off the merry-go-round and just sit and enjoy for a while. My roommate has been gone for the last week and a half, and I decided to take the opportunity to take a short hiatus from watching any tv or movies. I don't think I realized how greatly I rely on movies to be my entertainment instead of reading or spending more time with God or investing in others or any other number of things that I always say I would do if I had more time. I decided to do those things instead this last week. I finished a couple of books that I have had started and sitting on my nightstand for months. I love reading the thoughts of people who think differently than I do, who have different life experiences, different insights into God and people. C.S. Lewis is without doubt one of my favorite authors. His books always...