I look to You

This might be the only week out of the entire year that I will do absolutely no cooking.  Seriously.  I've totally enjoyed spending the last four days eating nothing but breakfast leftovers from my birthday weekend.  If you ever have a chance to go to Coffee Cup in St.Paul, do it.   They aren't shy about their portions and they have a pretty extensive menu to explore.   I have to admit that I did miss cooking a wee bit but I did not miss the dishes.  Oddly enough, my distaste of washing dishes is the primary difference between me and my fellow condo dwellers.   Many of them have shared with me that they like to cook because doing dishes is so relaxing to them.  I am waiting for an appropriate moment to invite them to wash mine.  Just kidding - I always get them done. . . it just usually takes me a couple of days.  

In other news, I was completely blessed by this song today.   It's so comforting to know that even when I feel like I have nothing left to give, Jesus is real, present and able to provide a way.  Hope is found in no one else.  Following Christ is certainly not easy but there is no greater safety or support then being held firmly in the hand of the Lord.  

John 10:27-29

New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

25 and counting

One thing is for sure: I feel happiest when my family is around.   Life is better when it is filled with people who love me and who I love me in return.  My parents and my brother made the way all the way to the land of 10,00 lakes to spend some time with me celebrating my birthday.  Surprisingly, I did not take any pictures of our adventures together.   Thankfully I've got plenty of backups to share with you today, all documenting other adventures I have had with my favorite brother Jonathan.

Getting our Christmas tree (November 2011) 

Roommates on family vacation (May 2009) 

Seeing The Fray live and in concert in Minneapolis (Summer 2009) 

Last but not least, celebrating Christmas at Grandma's (December 2011)

A year ago I celebrated my birthday on a cruise in the Caribbean, this year I hung out at Ikea, perused the shelves at REI, ate a LOT of cake, and laughed outrageously hard.   Adult birthdays are the best!

Striving.

I have come to the realization that I am hard-wired to strive for things that are ordinarily unreachable.   I am built for commitment and function best when I am motivated to work towards a greater goal.   As trivial as growing my hair out so that it can be donated and as significant as not.giving.up in college, there is no situation that doesn't have me fighting for the finish line.  I live my life in milestones and am constantly dissecting the task at hand so that I can achieve it in a tangible and realistic way.

On a much smaller scale, this is the very thing that makes me a good cook.   Driven by the promise of new and delicious food, I follow recipes to the very last step.  I cook because it feels like a journey, and there is something deeply satisfying about exploring something new.  

Just in case you also feel the urge to strive for something new, I will disclose my most recent kitchen victory with you.   Roasted Red Potatoes (recipe found here).   While this may not be the best weather to crank up your oven, these bad boys are hard to pass up! Did you know that the secret to getting your potatoes extra crispy is using bread crumbs?  Round up some olive oil, salt, pepper, bread crumbs along with your sliced potatoes and you have got yourself some of the best oven fries out there.   Totally worth sweating over if you ask me!

Magnified blessings

As I prepare to go to bed tonight, I can't help but meditate on a quote I stumbled upon this morning:

"How much more pleasant this world would be if we magnified our blessings the way we magnify our disappointments."  - Unknown.

Humbling, right?!  Off the top of my head I can rattle off trivial disappointments like my failed attempt at a car wash because the machine did not accept my cash,  forgetting to buy kidney beans at the store, waiting for over 15 minutes for a lane at the pool, and spending half the day with my name tag from church still displayed on the front of my sun dress.  And that's just scratching the surface.  

On the other hand, communicating my blessings takes far more work.   Even at a trivial level, listing my blessings doesn't seem to prompt the same kind of discussion that disappointments do.  This is not to say that blessings don't prompt conversation, but for some reason most people are much better at relating to disappointment then they are at identifying with blessing.  Perhaps this is because we tend to have more practice at one than the other? 

For me, the answer to that question poses a call to action.   I am literally minutes away from closing my eyes and sleeping away the last moments of my freedom-filled spring break.   Being back into the swing of things will inevitably throw me into a situation where my disappointments will be easy to name in contrast with the quiet and restful week that I am leaving behind.  Given the fact that work in and of itself is a blessing, something tells me that whatever I am seeking to share with others is what I will see.    It may be easier to magnify a disappointment but it is far more edifying to give voice to a blessing.   

Sin is ugly

Sin sure is ugly.  I'm sure this statement needs no explanation but for the curious reader, I have explained myself below.   

As I was was preparing for my work week, I decided to momentarily set my computer aside while I went in pursuit of some much needed scripture.  I decided to revisit some of the verses from my Sunday school class and was immediately struck by the verse 1 Peter 2:1-2 "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."   There it is: the ugliness of sin.   Malice. Deceit.  Hypocrisy.  Envy. Slander.  Every one of these verbs has played a role in my life over the last month and I am humbled to realize that the stress I have been carrying around can largely be attributed to the sin in my own life.   Stress feels circumstantial, and yet our battle is never against flesh and blood.  I am in no way minimizing the effects of stressful circumstances, but I do want to be clear that where Satan is present, a battle exists.  While this battle has been swelling around me, malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander worked their way into my heart.   No wonder I was having a hard time living my life verse, Proverbs 11:25, "A generous man will prosper: he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."   

So, what's next?  Actively praying the truth of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 " May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."      


This battle is not done but I have been called by the One who has overcome the grave.   He is faithful, and He will do it.