The Colors of Fall

So, first let me state my apologies.  I haven't posted a new blog since August!  Geez.  Here we go:

I love fall--the cooler weather, the coloring of the leaves, the candied/caramel apples (my favorite is caramel).  It's simply a great time of year, and I have to admit, it's a gateway to an even better time of year: Christmas.  But don't worry, I'm not a retail store, and will NOT gracefully SKIP over Thanksgiving.  It's a wonderful holiday, in its own right.  Thankfulness is something we all can work on.  Contentment is bred within a thankful heart.  Remember that old hymn "Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done."  Do that. Actually count them.  It will be a huge list.  There's no way discontentment could breed with such a list. :-)

One thing I'm very thankful for is the window in my room.  It has a great view of the trees that line the small wood behind our townhouse.  There's a very tall, huge maple that stands right in front of my window, and every time I open my window, it stares back at me.  I've watched all the seasons with this tree--pale green, the beginnings of spring, deep bright green, the middle of summer, and the bareness of winter.   But my favorite... now.  The rich golden yellow brings a smile to my face every single time.  I love the Lord, and His artistic perfection.

Everything about nature points to God, His death and resurrection--how death always leads to new life; how light will come in the darkness of nights, even in space, light abounds in the stars and planets.  The rising and setting of the sun, the falling of the leaves, the new life spring brings after the coldness of winter.  Everything points to Him. to Hope.  to Life. to Love.  It's a beautifully intricate story, which I am humbled to even witness.  Let us join with nature itself to worship and bring glory to the One who created us all.  Thankfulness.  It's as simple as that.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Storytime....

I love, love, love a great story.  Simply a well written plot, a witty anecdote, or one of family's crazy stories all bring me immense satisfaction.  And it can come in any form, really... book, TV show, movie, play or musical (my favorite), even sometimes a commercial (see blog post below).

Especially, with a good novel, I really invest in the characters I'm reading about...going through their joys, their pains, their triumphs.  I love it.  

I'm currently obsessed with the Twilight series.  Yes, they are vampire novels.  But before you jump to radical conclusions about my social life, let me just say that I'm not one of the "those" people.  You know, the sci-fi creepers that vicariously live through Star Trek.  These were a first for me in the "fantasy" genre.  They are incredibly addicting and very well written!!  So I decided I needed to share my joys in these books to others, so that we could talk about them. But every single person I convinced to read them was dubious at first (to say the very least) but ended up after reading all of them, being more obsessed than me.  All of this to say... if you haven't read them.  Go get Twilight now and start.  Hop on the bandwagon.

But enough on my current reading obsession.  Let's move on before someone has me committed... 

In view of my love of stories, I'm very happy to be a part of one of the biggest stories ever.  The story of humanity.  No, wait its bigger than mere humanity. It's the story of God and His Kingdom reigning... and I still can't believe He wants me to have a part in it at all.  I'm always nervous I'm going to screw something up, and the world will spontaneously combust into flames (like my kitchen sometimes), but thankfully, I'm not that important.  (Huge bite of humility pie just taken...)  But God is.  He lives in me, and will live through me...and help me, despite my impatience for an answer, or stubbornness to concede.  

I think the Lord shares my passion for a great story, and I KNOW He cares about His characters (yep, that's you and me) more than I could ever comprehend.  He's told me some things about the end of His story:  He wins.  And those who are with him do too.  So, I guess there is such a thing as a "happy ever after..."

To Trust Or Not To Trust

Vacation was so much fun...I read a ton (one of my absolute favorite things to do), I wrote in a brand new journal (also a fav), and got to be at the beach literally every day.  But then I get home and it's not so restful.

This week I realized I wouldn't have consistent work (with babysitting or Trackside Grill), which would seem like a nice break normally, but being on a strict budget and already having rested for two weeks, I was ready to work.  So not meeting my financial goals: sucky.

THEN... I also found out that my living situation for next year is unsettled.  I might have to move out of the townhouse, but maybe not?  Either way, moving or not, I have to find more roommates.  ugh.  

So with all of this info being thrown at me the moment I get back in town, made me feel like a slacker for being gone for 2 weeks and slightly stressed with the housing and the money stuff.

But life keeps going, and time goes on, even if we want it to stop.  Or at least slow down so that I can catch my breath.  And Sunday morning rolls around.  I called Trackside in between church and sunday school to see if I could make up for my lack of work at home, and work there this week.  Nope.  My stress level starts to climb.

I feel at a loss, and sort of like a failure and slacker all in one... all in a matter of moments.  I head on to Sunday school and we break into our families (literally with my parents) to read the this week's chapter of Hebrews (see, I go to reallly cool SS class where its mostly parents--its actually THEIR class--and college kids of the parents--we like the teacher).  And Brad, my stepdaddy, starts to read and a start silently crying.  Great.  I am officially nuts.  I try to stop. To calm down, but I can't.  Mom starts to read and I excuse myself to the bathroom, where I proceed to BREAKdown.  Nuts.  I thought I was going to be checked into Charter Wynn.  Geez.

Mom came searching for me after I didn't return like 10 minutes later.  She calmed me down.  

The breakdown didn't help.  Worrying does nothing, except make us haggard and subtracts years from our lives.  That's probably why Jesus tells us not to.  Don'tcha think?

To trust or not to trust.  I choose the trust.  I like trusting.  I'm certainly out of control on all this stuff, so I have no choice but to trust in God's timing (or be move to Millegdeville), while praying for Him to Send Help.