Donald Miller, you've done it again.

Donald Miller, you've done it again. You've spoken beautiful words directly into my life.

This is from the foreword to Through Painted Deserts:

"Everybody has to change, or they expire. Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.

I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently.

...

And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you, about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it? It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. I want to repeat one word for you: leave."

Once again, Donald Miller justifies the choices that I've made in my life. I have this need to move around, to go places, and to have adventures that are not simply fun, but that change my life. "It would be a crime not to venture out..."

Lent

I have (at the last minute) decided to observe Lent this year!
At my small group tonight, we talked about Lent, and it was clear to me that I needed to do something about it this year. I associate Lent with the movie, Chocolat, where an entire village observes a strict Lenten fast, staying away from any kind of sensual pleasure, including, of course, chocolate. I don't think this is what fasting is about in this case. I've decided to quit watching TV on netflix and other various internet time-wasting things, such as youtube, regretsy, MLIA, etc. I've gotten into a horrible habit of spending way too much time watching TV shows. I'm currently hooked on 30 Rock, and have watched way more episodes than I would care to admit in the past couple weeks. This has kept me from spending quality time with God. I know that sounds horribly cheesy, cliche, etc. But someone in my small group was saying that her love language was quality time (it's one of mine too), and that perhaps God is the same way. So during the season of Lent, I have resolved to stay away from the internet as much as possible, and spend time reading the Bible, Oswald Chambers, Donald Miller, etc. because as my pastor said tonight, devotions are not just ritual, they are life-giving. (Yes, life-giving is another Christian cliche word, but sometimes you just have to use those words) So my fast is about aligning my daily life so it is centered around Christ, rather than me.
And perhaps I will blog about it.
PS You know you're going to an awesome church when your small group (led by your pastor) discusses 30 Rock, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Arrested Development, and Harry Potter, all in one night.

Pressing On

I thought it would be a good idea to use my laptop outside… But of course, all I can see on the screen is a reflection of me making a very squinty face. Because it’s sunny! And I’m not moving inside, because the sun is worth it. 

I have been quite negligent lately in my blog-writing. Mostly because it has been February. Even though awesome things have happened this month (seeing Brett for 5 DAYS, getting my summer job figured out, fun roommate adventures…) I just am not eloquent or even very pensive this month. I don’t like to think during February. It’s my “take a break from life” month. Which doesn’t work very well, because the rest of the world does not honor this tradition. 

But now it is March, and I must once again be insightful and awesome.

By the way, I think it’s safe to announce that I am officially going to be the Ranch SALT leader at Cascades this summer! I am getting more and more excited about it every day. I thought I was done with camp, but I somehow found myself applying for kitchen and O-team, and unintentionally ended up at the Ranch, yet again! This is going to be great, folks.

It would be really cool if I was good at writing songs. But I am not, so here is a link to Relient K’s “Pressing On”, which I have been listening to ad nauseum lately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLNcsqHwoXI

I believe Relient K is somewhat timeless, because they have killer lyrics.

Let me talk about some of the especially poignant lines:

“I think we’re going somewhere, we’re on to something good here…”

This has been a big theme in a lot of conversations I’ve had lately. The question is, “Is the grass really greener on the other side?” (You’ll see how this connects soon) The answer is, “no”. That is, not necessarily. Illustration: I was watching “Stranger than Fiction” last night (which I think might have just made it into my top 5 movies), and realized that it was filmed in Chicago. I recognized various streets that I’ve walked down many times, and I got really excited. Chicago is a pretty awesome city, I will never deny that. But most of the time I was there, I wanted to be anywhere else. Now I’m living in Bellingham, thinking about how great Chicago is. So the REAL question is, “Why is contentment so difficult?” I was talking to my friend on the phone a couple days ago, and she said that she’s afraid of being too content, because she doesn’t want to get stuck in one place. And I think there is something to that. I am afraid of being stuck in Washington, because I am comfortable here. I have to go out and find challenging things here, whereas most places I have been over the past four years have been challenging by nature. And I want to have so many more adventures! I have to dream about other places, so that some of those dreams can actually happen! But I want so desperately to fully embrace every place that I find myself in. And it’s hard to do that when I don’t want to stay too long.

Let’s turn around and look at the Bible.

Paul says,

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:11-14

Really, Paul? Please, share with me this secret of contentment, because it is not easy. I would like to know his definition of contentment. I could ponder that for several blog posts. But I won’t… Anyway. “I can do all this through him who gives me strength”. Amen. Now if only I could figure out how to always let God give me strength instead of ignoring him, like a fool… (Side note: Read “The Practice of the Presence of God”, by Brother Lawrence)

Yikes. Sorry about all that. I hate longwinded blog posts.

So, back to Relient K. “I think we’re going somewhere.” I am not stuck here. My life is in motion, even within the confines of Bellingham. “We’re onto something good here.” There are awesome things going on all over the place, and I encourage anyone who stuck it out all the way to the end of this blog post to look around them and see that “we’re onto something good here”.

“And I won't sit back, and take this anymore

'Cause I'm done with that, I've got one foot out the door

And to go back where I was would just be wrong

I’m pressing on”