Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
And I will continue to rejoice.
I don't have a photo. I don't have any thoughts. Well, I have a lot of thoughts, but no time to organize them. So I will leave you with something that I need to be reminded of:
It's true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
Philippians 1:15-18
And, whether their methods or personality bug me to no end...the message of Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.
It's true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
Philippians 1:15-18
And, whether their methods or personality bug me to no end...the message of Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Priorities
Sometimes I get so caught up in the busy-ness of life that I forget the simple, important things.
But we must remember that the simple, important things are what make the busy-ness seem not quite so busy.
But we must remember that the simple, important things are what make the busy-ness seem not quite so busy.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Language (ironically use the word "blah" a lot in this post)
This is probably going to be very rough draft like. I just don't even know where to start. Shall I start at the beginning of the idea...or should I add a little back story. And if so, how much?
Let's start it at December of 2003. I was at the third Lord of the Rings movie, looking as though I was crying my eyes out. I wasn't, though, just had one of the worst sinus colds ever. I figured, I'm miserable anyway, might as well see a 4 hour long movie too. Samwise was being pretty inspirational, though, so I'm sure someone might have cried their eyes out.
Anyway, as it usually goes, I was doing some thinking during the movie, and decided that my new year's resolution would be that I would not (how to put this) be looking for a husband in 2004. Not that I had been a serial dater in the past or anything like that. But I was the type that had at least two big lists of what I wanted in a man that would be my husband, and I was holding to it pretty strongly. I was also sick of being friends with boys and wondering if they were "the one."
So I decided to take a year off from that thinking. If someone wanted to date me that year, they would just have to wait until 2005. I was not going to look at my husband lists, and I was not going to be interested in dating any boys. I was going to learn how to be content on my own, because, I figured, if I was not content while I wasn't dating anyone, I certainly wouldn't suddenly be content if I was dating someone. I decided it would be healthy for me, and in hindsight, I think it was healthy for whoever I would marry (if that ever would happen). I wanted to be content in my singleness.
In this resolution, I also decided to make some goals for being independent. I decided that I was going to try eating out alone, and try going to movies by myself. Eating out while you're by yourself wouldn't be so bad, except I feel like everyone feels a little bit sorry for you.
Host: How many?
Me: One
Host; Right this way
Ok. So it wasn't really what the host said so much as it was the look on her face while she was saying it. That, and the fact that she and the waitress kept coming back over to check to see if I needed anything. If you can look past that, I guess I can say that eating by yourself gets you really good customer service.
Going to the movies by myself, however, I actually really loved. There is something freeing about sitting there all by yourself, laughing out loud with the other people in the theater.
Anyway, I say all this to lead up to the point that it was in 2004, in a restaurant by myself, that I read the book about the 5 Love Languages. I found it to be pretty interesting; something I think about a lot still to this day. I always try to figure out what other people's love language is.
My love language is Quality Time (a close second is Words of Affirmation...leave some comments, people!).
I guess I could've started this post out with, "Back in 2004, I read this book about the 5 Love Languages." Ah well. Told you it was going to be very rough drafty. I look back on 2004 being such a great year. The friends and memories I had/made in 2004 are some of the ones that I still cherish today. Best new year's resolution ever*. Anyway.
Fast forward 5 or so years. I'm laying awake in bed thinking about how lately I've been feeling rather "blah" toward God (for lack of a better word). And I wondered if God maybe felt "blah" about me too? My brain instantly generated a bunch of verses that reminded me that God doesn't feel blah about me...but I couldn't get over why I felt like God was, how do I say this, annoyed with me (just because someone feels something doesn't mean that it's true). And annoyed might not be the right word either. Maybe blah is.
Anyway, then it dawned on me that my love language is quality time. How much quality time had God and I been spending at that point? Maybe if I would just intentionally take more time to spend with God, quality time, I wouldn't have to lay in bed at night wondering why I feel so spiritually blah.
Then, I started wondering if all of the love languages play into our relationship with God (this is also where I could've started this post).
Let's review what the love languages are:
Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Receiving gifts
Acts of Service
Physical Touch
Now, I don't want to dig too deeply into this for a few reasons:
1. The love languages are not my original idea, so I don't want to add too much to someone else's idea.
2. I don't want to take something out of context and make it mean what I want it to, beyond what the author intended.
3. I've already typed like 3 posts worth of stuff. Who knows if anyone has made it this far?
Anyway, so if someone's love language was Words of Affirmation, they would know God's love most through some encouraging words from the Bible.
Is someone's love language was Quality Time, they would most experience God's love through intentional time taken out of their day to devote to spending time with God (this can probably look many different ways).
If Receiving Gifts...maybe someone would say that the gift of salvation, or the gift of a beautiful sunrise, or any other gift that God gives is a certain reminder of his love.
If Acts of Service....perhaps this person recognizes God's love most when serving others as Jesus did. Perhaps the biggest act of love for them is Christ dying on the cross?
If Physical Touch...maybe being out in nature/creation, physically experiencing God's handiwork is the best way to know God's love, if indeed this is your love language.
I guess maybe the question should be, "How do you know that God loves you?"
I guess this is also where I could've started this post, but instead, it is where I will end it.
*It was about March or so of 2005 that I was feeling pretty content with my singleness. Content with life, I should say. God has a pretty good sense of humor though, because in April of 2005, Steve and I started dating, and in June of 2006 we were married. I love marriage, and I think being so good at being single before that has helped a lot....but that's for another post altogether.
Mad props to Amy Hoffsommer, our wedding photog.
Let's start it at December of 2003. I was at the third Lord of the Rings movie, looking as though I was crying my eyes out. I wasn't, though, just had one of the worst sinus colds ever. I figured, I'm miserable anyway, might as well see a 4 hour long movie too. Samwise was being pretty inspirational, though, so I'm sure someone might have cried their eyes out.
Anyway, as it usually goes, I was doing some thinking during the movie, and decided that my new year's resolution would be that I would not (how to put this) be looking for a husband in 2004. Not that I had been a serial dater in the past or anything like that. But I was the type that had at least two big lists of what I wanted in a man that would be my husband, and I was holding to it pretty strongly. I was also sick of being friends with boys and wondering if they were "the one."
So I decided to take a year off from that thinking. If someone wanted to date me that year, they would just have to wait until 2005. I was not going to look at my husband lists, and I was not going to be interested in dating any boys. I was going to learn how to be content on my own, because, I figured, if I was not content while I wasn't dating anyone, I certainly wouldn't suddenly be content if I was dating someone. I decided it would be healthy for me, and in hindsight, I think it was healthy for whoever I would marry (if that ever would happen). I wanted to be content in my singleness.
In this resolution, I also decided to make some goals for being independent. I decided that I was going to try eating out alone, and try going to movies by myself. Eating out while you're by yourself wouldn't be so bad, except I feel like everyone feels a little bit sorry for you.
Host: How many?
Me: One
Host; Right this way
Ok. So it wasn't really what the host said so much as it was the look on her face while she was saying it. That, and the fact that she and the waitress kept coming back over to check to see if I needed anything. If you can look past that, I guess I can say that eating by yourself gets you really good customer service.
Going to the movies by myself, however, I actually really loved. There is something freeing about sitting there all by yourself, laughing out loud with the other people in the theater.
Anyway, I say all this to lead up to the point that it was in 2004, in a restaurant by myself, that I read the book about the 5 Love Languages. I found it to be pretty interesting; something I think about a lot still to this day. I always try to figure out what other people's love language is.
My love language is Quality Time (a close second is Words of Affirmation...leave some comments, people!).
I guess I could've started this post out with, "Back in 2004, I read this book about the 5 Love Languages." Ah well. Told you it was going to be very rough drafty. I look back on 2004 being such a great year. The friends and memories I had/made in 2004 are some of the ones that I still cherish today. Best new year's resolution ever*. Anyway.
Fast forward 5 or so years. I'm laying awake in bed thinking about how lately I've been feeling rather "blah" toward God (for lack of a better word). And I wondered if God maybe felt "blah" about me too? My brain instantly generated a bunch of verses that reminded me that God doesn't feel blah about me...but I couldn't get over why I felt like God was, how do I say this, annoyed with me (just because someone feels something doesn't mean that it's true). And annoyed might not be the right word either. Maybe blah is.
Anyway, then it dawned on me that my love language is quality time. How much quality time had God and I been spending at that point? Maybe if I would just intentionally take more time to spend with God, quality time, I wouldn't have to lay in bed at night wondering why I feel so spiritually blah.
Then, I started wondering if all of the love languages play into our relationship with God (this is also where I could've started this post).
Let's review what the love languages are:
Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Receiving gifts
Acts of Service
Physical Touch
Now, I don't want to dig too deeply into this for a few reasons:
1. The love languages are not my original idea, so I don't want to add too much to someone else's idea.
2. I don't want to take something out of context and make it mean what I want it to, beyond what the author intended.
3. I've already typed like 3 posts worth of stuff. Who knows if anyone has made it this far?
Anyway, so if someone's love language was Words of Affirmation, they would know God's love most through some encouraging words from the Bible.
Is someone's love language was Quality Time, they would most experience God's love through intentional time taken out of their day to devote to spending time with God (this can probably look many different ways).
If Receiving Gifts...maybe someone would say that the gift of salvation, or the gift of a beautiful sunrise, or any other gift that God gives is a certain reminder of his love.
If Acts of Service....perhaps this person recognizes God's love most when serving others as Jesus did. Perhaps the biggest act of love for them is Christ dying on the cross?
If Physical Touch...maybe being out in nature/creation, physically experiencing God's handiwork is the best way to know God's love, if indeed this is your love language.
I guess maybe the question should be, "How do you know that God loves you?"
I guess this is also where I could've started this post, but instead, it is where I will end it.
*It was about March or so of 2005 that I was feeling pretty content with my singleness. Content with life, I should say. God has a pretty good sense of humor though, because in April of 2005, Steve and I started dating, and in June of 2006 we were married. I love marriage, and I think being so good at being single before that has helped a lot....but that's for another post altogether.
Mad props to Amy Hoffsommer, our wedding photog.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Association
As of late, I've been listening a lot to Iron and Wine. I think it is brilliant stuff. Anyway, here is my second favorite song off of the Around the Well album.
So far, all I can find is the live version, which is nice, but I wish I could also find the album version (to post on here).
I really don't know quite what the lyrics are about. But I've been listening to the album version on repeat.
Anyway, I've listened to it enough that I will already associate it with my second year in Lithuania, which has only just begun.
I've googled the lyrics. Haven't taken the time to think about them. But you're already on the internets, you can also look them up if you're curious. Let me know what you think, if anything.
So far, all I can find is the live version, which is nice, but I wish I could also find the album version (to post on here).
I really don't know quite what the lyrics are about. But I've been listening to the album version on repeat.
Anyway, I've listened to it enough that I will already associate it with my second year in Lithuania, which has only just begun.
I've googled the lyrics. Haven't taken the time to think about them. But you're already on the internets, you can also look them up if you're curious. Let me know what you think, if anything.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Parade
Not one single piece of candy, yet still one of the most interesting parades I have been to.
The second and the fourth are my favorites in this series, but I couldn't not include them all. The fact that they are moving from right to left says nothing about their circumstances, and everything about what side of the street we were standing on.
The second and the fourth are my favorites in this series, but I couldn't not include them all. The fact that they are moving from right to left says nothing about their circumstances, and everything about what side of the street we were standing on.
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