Outer Order and Inner Calm

I found this quote on Allie's blog and it just made a whole bunch of sense.

"Go figure, but outer order contributes to inner calm. Especially if you’re living in a small space—but even if you’re living in a gigantic loft. Start each day with a concrete, albeit tiny (and therefore manageable!), accomplishment.”

—Gretchen Rubin, Author, The Happiness Project

Hmmm, no wonder I feel so off-kilter.

On another note,

Heading to Anacortes today - hoping for a relaxing 24 hours.

Wednesday Words

Some words for Wednesday:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:5-8

Oh how my soul needs rest...

turning round and beginning again

Truly dust we are, and to dust we shall return;
and truly yours we are,
and to you we shall return.

Help this to be a time of turning round and beginning again.

Through the forty days of Lent,
help us to follow you and to find you:
in the discipline of praying
and in the drudgery of caring -
in whatever we deny ourselves,
and whatever we set ourselves to learn to do.

Help us to discover you in our loneliness and in community,
in our emptiness and our fulfillment, in our sadness and our laughter.

Help us to find you when we ourselves are lost.
Help us to follow you on the journey to Jerusalem
to the waving palms of the people's hope,
to their rejections, to the cross and empty tomb.
Help us to perceive new growth amid the ashes of the old.

Help us, carrying your cross, to be signs of your kingdom.
Amen.

--"A Time of Turning Round" by Jan Sutch Pickard

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Last night Nick and I went and saw the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell which talked about the war in Liberia between Charles Taylor and the LURD which led to destruction, thousands displaced, and the coercion of boy-soldiers. It showed how the women of Liberia bravely stepped up and through non-violent resistance made Charles Taylor and the LURD warlords come together for peace talks and then did a sit-in at the peace talks demanding they fruitfully talk through a peace plan. They succeeded and Charles Taylor was exiled and a new government set up with the newly elected President Ellen.

Two Liberians came to represent Children's Welfare International which is working to bring back the children soldiers whom their community has rejected. These children were forced to kill their parents and brainwashed to fight in the war and now they have no where to turn so this organization is working to make sure the children of Liberia are taken care of. If you're interested in helping or getting involved go here.

It was a captivating documentary and I am definitely drawn toward Liberia and its history as my Uncle worked there during the civil war and was able to work with the Minister of Health as the new government began to navigate in the wake of war.

Lenten Eve

So, Lent begins tomorrow.

And again I stand on the eve of a 40 day journey carrying a laden load of burdens, ample goals for this space and slight pessimism that I'll once again fall short of what I'd hoped for during this time.

I sit in a place of crossroads, decisions and what seems like endless work and impossibilities. Entering Lent is entering the desert, and thus, my hope is to go and sit in the desert and just be. Let God meet me and show me His will, and show me how to hand over my "closet-full" of junk that I've somehow let pile up.

Therefore I am not making promises or listing all my goals except one: that each day I go to the desert and sit, and wait upon the Lord.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;...a time to keep silence, and a time to speak" -Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6-7

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights..." --Matthew 4:1

GPS System and Frogs...

As a mentor for the freshman Christian Formation course I get to read their weekly reflections and watch them process, learn, grow and stretch - I definitely leave inspired by them.

This week a few gave some, what I deem, great analogies and I just had to share!

In a discussion about letting God have control of our lives one student talked about needing a "Jesus GPS". That instead of throwing up your hands and expecting God to grab the wheel and drive while sitting on your lap, he guides you as that helpful voice chimes in during a roadtrip "Left Turn Ahead". He also pointed out how we have full control to turn the device off and follow our own directions, but "how do we expect to get to a place we've never been?"

Another, in response to the question: "In what ways do the standards of the time in which I live...influence me without my fully realizing it?

This student gave the image of a frog in hot water. If a frog is dropped into a pot of boiling water it will swiftly jump out, but if it is placed in a pot of cool water and heated slowly it will acclimate and stay until it is cooked to death. This is sin, this is the subtle influence of culture heating beneath our noses and we don't realize it until we are knee-deep in the struggle.

Brilliant I tell you, they're brilliant.

It's All About LOVE!

Today is the day dedicated to love

Yet it has easily become the day to uplift those in relationships and leave those without a significant other in the dust of sappy love notes and rose petals.

But I love this day, as what could be more important than to celebrate love?

So in honor of Valentine's Day here are five of my loves that I'm so thankful for:

1. The Love of God.

"This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us in sending His Son to be the way to take away our sins" --1 John 4:10.

2. I love my family and friends: such joy and suffering comes from this love as we bear one another's burdens, walk through rocky hills together, yet always share the hope and ringing laughter of loving one another.

3. I love my beau, Nick. I am thankful for the way he makes me laugh, reminds me to relax and appreciate the now, his patience and love.

4. I love books. But we already know this...currently excited to start Too Deep for Words for Lent!

5. And for my latest love, a whole wheat English muffin with honey and cinnamon, yum!

So from me to you, Happy Valentine's Day!!

Cannon Beach

I've never been in need of an escape as much as this past weekend, so it was such a blessing when Nick's parents took us to Cannon Beach for a change of scenery.

My Favorites:

The foggy mist that settled in over the ocean, setting the mood for a cozy weekend

Our fabulous little place!

Complete with fireplace, which we definitely utilized!

Walks on the beach, and of course, Haystack Rock

A beautiful sunset we ran to catch

This most adorable beach house...

Our new hats :)

Good conversation, lots of laughs, shopping, rounds of cards - thanks Kurt and Lisa!

And most of all...

...an escape from the reality of being buried in the middle of a busy quarter in a rainy city.