Tulipa: Friendship

Can I just dedicate this entire page to these gorgeous tulips my dear friend Chancie bought me? If you didn't know, tulips are my favourite flower. There are so many varieties, and I like them all. If I can personify a flower here for a moment, tulips are graceful. That is what I have always like about them. The way they stand tall, and then gently curve toward the sunlight as they open up.

My friend was visiting Florida over the weekend and she got them for me in celebration of my new job, and my soon-to-be-move to my new apartment. It was such a lovely surprise! I rarely get flowers and to have their burst of colour in my apartment is a treat, for sure. As was the time I got to spend with my friend.

Life's little pleasures just reminds me of God's richest blessings in our lives everyday. Every single day is truly a gift that is meant to be enjoyed and to be filled to the brim of joy. Anything that takes out joy away should be left out of the formula for the day. I have struggled with that for a long time, and I am finally (at last) to a point where I am able to filter out the negative, and the things that do not bring me joy, but hurt. Sorry, negative vibes, I don't have room for you in my life. But lovely tulips and lovely friends, I have plenty of room for you.

Follow

I was watching an Andy Stanley message the other morning about following. (Note: If you haven't listened to Andy's messages I highly recommend them) The one I watched was here.

He was asking the simple question. Am I following?
Or am I worrying about the rules and how I should change or do this or that?

Andy said this, below, and I just had to write it down because it was the most profound piece which summed it all up perfectly:

The Pharisees say - Change, and then you can join us
Jesus says - Join us and it will change you

When we contemplate our own lives and think about being a better Christian we probably think about how we need to change, or how we need to stop doing something and then we will be a better Christian. It's back to that mis-conception of following the rules only. That common mis-conception is what so many non-Christians think. They think we live by rules and cannot have any fun. The rules do not change your heart. Those things are good, but should not be the starting point.

We don't have to change first, and then follow. No. We are able to follow right now. Wherever we are. By following right away, the change happens gradually and will emerge without you even thinking about it. We allow God to work on our hearts, and the changes come as a result. It will not be easy, no promise was ever made that it would be. And yet a joy will fill our hearts. But the choosing comes first.
Follow.
The change comes next.

A lot of times I think we get stuck in the earthly way of thought. That we have to prove ourselves worthy. That's always going to be a problem because we are truly never going to be worthy. But we aren't talking earthly love here. It's heavenly. It's eternal. It is God's love that seeks us, and we don't have to do anything except get up and follow.

Iced Coffee

The other afternoon I wanted some coffee, but iced coffee sounded really good (being that it's in the 80's here and pretty humid). So, I iced my coffee, and it was delicious and will most definitely be a regular weekend occurrence. Why did I not think of that before? I definitely prefer hot coffee, but here in Florida it gets so hot here that I just want an icy drink. Well, my mind is awake now and I will remember this.

Why did I not do this before? That I cannot say, but now that we are entering into the loooonng hot months of Florida, the iced coffee ritual will be readily repeated. Add a fun chevron patterned straw and you've got a   fun drink worthy of a coffee shop.

I have many things in store for this weekend, how about you?

Happy Weekend!

8 Tracks

I am about to share some great music with you. I felt it only the appropriate thing to do. I knew you needed some good jams. And when you know about something pretty cool it's only right to share the goodness.

My boss and co-worker have gotten me connected to 8Tracks, (8tracks.com) a music sharing website where people create playlists that you listen to. On my first day at work, my boss introduced me to it. I thought that was pretty cool because sometimes you just need some good music to keep you going through some work. I like it because I don't have to think about what to listen to, it just keeps playing that kind of category until I change it.

Basically, you can search the playlists by your mood or the type of music you want to listen to, or you can search for a specific artist and they will list the playlists that contain that artist.

I like this website. You should check it out. My current favourite go-to playlist is this one here. And yes, that is a photo of J.R.R. Tolkien. Someone knows how to grab my attention. Ha. 
I also like a lot of the classical playlists, like this one here, but I am still exploring them more each day, and enjoying some groovy music my office-mates play.
So go listen to some good music!

Hope is the thing with Feathers

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
and sings the tune without the words
and never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard
and sore must be the storm
that could abash the little bird
that kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
and on the strangest sea
yet, never, in extremity,
it asked a crumb of me.

-Emily Dickinson

It's hard sometimes, in all this joy and goodness, not to feel that someone is missing. I cannot even tell you how many times, in the recent month or so especially, I have thought how much I wished my Dad was here to be able to take part in all the good things going on. To hear about my new job, to see the new apartment I will be moving into, to meet his first granddaughter, and many other good things going on in my family. O! How I ache in my heart and soul that he isn't here to be a part of all this.

And yet....

I cannot let myself despair because my Dad is in a better place. Hope always remains. He is in heaven, and I would like to think he can see all this goodness from his even better perspective. It all gives me hope because I know he is okay. He's better than okay. He's with our Heavenly Father in our true country (as C.S. Lewis wrote).

Still....

Sometimes it's still hard. Life is that way.

So we cling to that hope that perches onto our soul and doesn't let go. As Emily Dickinson writes, hope is the tiny bird that makes it through the roughest storms and comes out singing. Yet, hope never asks anything of us. Let hope sing.

Coffee & Scripture Time

I found this lovely Japanese mug at Goodwill last weekend, and I like it a lot. Essential coffee time in the morning with some Scripture. I have been reading through Ecclesiastes, which I finished this weekend and moved to Proverbs.

I realized that at different points in my life different books of Scripture speak to me as appropriate for that time. It's funny, because if you go to any bookstore, you will find aisle after aisle of self-help books on all sorts of subjects. But we only need one self-help book. The Bible. It's got the situations, the problems, the stories about all the things we deal with here. Sure, we may think modern stories might be helpful for us to read about, given the context of our ultra-technology-based lives that isn't referenced in Scripture. But there is always a deeper issue at stake in our souls that is much more than what our modern life looks like. At the core, we are the same as those who lived in the first era of Christianity. The same issues are recorded in the Bible that we go through each day.

Do you find that certain passages of Scripture are perfectly applicable now that did not seem to be before?

Fun Little Things

My new rug I bought  from the Fancy Flea a few weeks ago. It's gorgeous. I love the muted colors and the antiqued tint.

Fun little (tiny) buttons I bought in NYC. These are now pinned to my tote bag I bring to work with my lunch in it.

Rainy days and my favourite crocheted blanket. Not a bad combination every once-in-a-while.

Simplicity. Dried rose and an old glass container from the Fancy Flea adorn my desk at work.

I painted my soon-to-be kitchen a color called "atmospheric" and it looks so sharp with the white wainscoting. I cannot wait to move into this little apartment. It's really coming together.

Thoughts are but Coins

The Apologist's Evening Prayer
C.S. Lewis

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

This poem is an adequate summation of how we all have been at some point and still are in danger of falling into. From all our lame defeats we know we have encountered, whether by chance or choice. We have suffered through many in our lives. And then we seem to win big in some victories that we become engrossed in so much that we think ourselves so clever and become haughty and self-centered. We do things to please the world, with no thought about the angels watching us, weeping over our lack of wisdom.

The line "Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head" really sums up nicely the image of the thin promises and surface-level guarantees we depend upon in our lives. Those earthly promises are as thin as coins; things we should never trust in over God's promises. This image will stick with me.  Our thoughts are thin, shift with each breeze. Even when our thoughts are dwelling on the goodness of God, we still have trumpery, or falseness, in our thoughts. God, grant us all clear minds that are able to focus on You without the clutter of our false thoughts.

Newness of Spring

While a new season of Spring has arrived, a lovely reminder of all things Spring comes from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, Spring.

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

Hopkins uses so many alliterative words (the repetition of sounds in several words of a line) to speak of the beauty of Spring. Try reading these lines out loud. They are kind of like tongue twisters. Full of a fresh feeling of newness and birth in all that is good and pure. With the new life that I have just met, my niece Elliott, I read this poem with joy of her birth, in the Springtime, and the joy that comes with the new beginning. The purity and innocence that she has. As Hopkins praises all that Spring holds, he reminds us to look and remember that it won't last forever. We "cloud" it over and "sour" it with sinning.

Enjoy every moment of the unclounded beauty.

The precious gift of a baby and the innocence of the pure love sinks into me now, in this season of newness. 

Elliott Marie

She's here! She's here! My niece, Elliott Marie, is the new baby in the family! I am an Aunt to the sweet little baby girl. She is healthy and beautiful. Born on April 12, weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces. I am SO happy for my brother, Ryan, and sister-in-law, Samantha, I can hardly put that into words.

God is so good. He allows such good things to happen and it is such a joy to be a part of. When we think that something is impossible, He proves to us again and again that nothing is impossible. That the joy is right around the corner, even though we cannot see it yet. There is no answer to how everything worked out so smoothly other than God being in total control. He placed all the pieces in perfect harmony so that it fell into place beautifully, like a song.  I cannot help but boast about the goodness of God and all that He can do. The thankfulness is swelling inside me. Watch out! It might pour out of me and onto you!