resting in your presence

today, im so tired.

i wish i could roll back into bed, and pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep.

to sleep peacefully without a care in the world.

you know those times when you just want to sleep in, when your body needs that relaxation, that care, in order to cope with the day?

that what i need.

just simple rest.

My Life Is Yours

"Take my will and make it thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart--it is thine own,
It shall be thy royal throne."

~Frances Ridley Havergal

My Worries

I laid awake in bed last night thinking of all the things that worried me. I thought it would be helpful to see this list face-to-face.

Things that Worry Me

1. Finding a husband
2. Graduating
3. Finding a job
4. Meeting current class deadlines
5. Catching up on class reading
6. Conflict with my family
7. Providing sufficiently for my future family
8. My grandfather eventually passing away
9. and how my family and I will react to the short-term and long-term consequences
10. Will I get everything done?
11. Am I missing out on all that God has for me today?
12. Working too much and resting too little
13. Letting work control my life rather than His Spirit

friends

Simple

was there ever a simple life?

a life devoid of things not big but things that are small?

a life where "the next big thing" does not matter?

a life where we find strength in the small things,

peace in heartfelt things,

and hope in simple things?

is simple really better?

does simple define who i am?

does complexity define who i am?

or, is it a matter of complexity?

am i such a complex person that there really is no simplicity to me?

are simple acts complex?

or, are complex acts really simple?

is it our perspective?

does our perspective change as we view familiar things or new things?

did God give us both complexity and simplicity?

a t-shirt by Edison Glass says:

"see with new sight changed eyes different perspective"

A Dose of Reality

"...What drives the decision to live divided no more, with the risks it entails?
How do people find the courage to bring inner conviction into harmony with the outer act,
knowing when they do,
that the force of the institution may come down on their heads?

...The difference between the person who goes to the back of the bus and
the one who decides to sit up front
is probably lost in the mystery of the human heart.
But in Rosa Parks and others like her, I see a clue to an answer:
when you realize you can no longer collaborate in something that violates
your own integrity,
your understanding of punishment is suddenly transformed.

Whne the police came to Rosa Parks on the bus
and informed her that they would have to put her in jail if she did not move,
she replied, 'You may do that.'
It was a very polite way of saying,
'How could your jail begin to compare with the jail I have had myself in all these years
by collaborating with this racist system?'

The courage to live divided no more,
to face the punishment that may follow,
comes from this simple insight.

No punishment anyone lays on you
could possibly be worse
than the punishment you lay on yourself
by conspiring in your own diminshment."

(my teacher gave this excerpt out in class today.
if you want to read more:
Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer (1998) p. 171)