27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #2

This has been the theme of my last - oh, I'd say - 5 years.. 

because, in my "what do you want to be when you grow up" world, I was going to be married at 21/22-ish, and by 28 have 3 or so kids (depending on single birth or twins), spending my days as a stay at home mom.. However, God's plan seems to be different than my childhood dream..

When I was first "licensed to drive", my parents would send me to get milk at the store, or have me drive the kids to school, ect.. When I  would come home well after the estimated allotted time it should have taken, they'd ask where I'd been. You see, I like to drive in a circle.. If I take one route to get to my destination, I can't take the same way back. If there's a road in between there and here that I've not traveled before - if it's "on the way" - then why not check it out? These slight detours became known as "Billy trails".. named after the Family Circus character Billy, and his travels..

.. at times I feel like I'm on a never ending "Billy trail" to that husband and kids and stay-at-home-mom-ness.. that I'm just wandering through these 20-something years, trying to find where I fit..

And yet, J.R.R's quote reminds me that wandering is really not so bad.. In fact, it's not even necessarily an indicator of "lost-ness"..  and while I will admit to wondering sometimes if God's forgotten the desires of my heart, and to crying out, "what abt me, God?.." I am mostly grateful for where I am currently..

When I look around at my life right now, I see many things I didn't have the capacity to "dream" into my future, but that God has graciously allowed me to "taste and see" that I enjoy! Never in a million years did I think I'd be an interpreter, working with Cru and college students on Summer Projects. Nor did I foresee mentoring a young Deaf girl and her family.. or high school kids at a youth group.  I didn't think about all the volunteer opportunities with Compassion that I'd have time for if I didn't get my dream.. Or the shift in perspective of my world and of living singularly while in community.


So, while I still hope to be that stay at home mom, with 20-some-odd kids running around in a controlled chaos called "home school", this billy trail to that destination obviously has merit in God's path for my life. So I'll continue to wander it, taking in my surroundings, and knowing that while "the shortest distance between point A and point B is a straight line" - there's also a beauty in the wandering one.. 


Soli Deo Gloria
:D

27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #3

You may have noticed by now, or you may not, but I sign off all of my blogs,


"Soli Deo Gloria" -Latin


It's a tag line I picked up a year ago or so now.. I started noticing the phrase a couple of places that I frequented (a blog, a YouTube channel, and few articles I was reading at the time) so I looked up what it meant. 


Wikipedia says, "Soli Deo gloria is a Latin term for Glory to God alone. It has been used by artists like Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Christoph Graupner to give God credit for their work. The phrase has become one of the five solas propounded to summarise the Reformers' basic beliefs during the Protestant Reformation. As a doctrine, it means essentially that everything that is done is for God's glory to the exclusion of humankind's self-glorification and pride. Christians are to be motivated and inspired by God's glory and not their own."

For me, it's become a litmus test for everything I write. Since I was a yearbook editor in high school, it goes against my grain to not proof-read something I write. And, yes, I realize my grammar may not be that of an English major - mostly because I prefer to "write like I talk" - to be more informal than formal.. but I digress. So, every e-mail I send, or post I write, I've written/re-read/altered/re-read/proofed again/and then sent/published.

That being said, I sign off with 'Soli Deo Gloria' as a frame to my comments and my thought before I press send are ".. is what I just wrote something that I want to be attributed to me of a reflection of Christ?".. "is this something that I am proud to say, 'yes I wrote that' and 'yes, I love Jesus' in the same sentence?" .."to the best of my knowledge am I being faithful to my Heavenly Father's challenge: "be holy as I am holy"?"


In light of all that..
Soli Deo Gloria!
:D

27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #4

On Thursday, I told the youth group that I work with, that last Monday I turned 27.. and they all (high school/middle school students) responded with "you're so old!".. *hahahaha* I remember being there.. and remember thinking (in h.s.) that, at 25 - you should know who you are, what you are doing in life, and be acting accordingly.. *bahahah* Now here I am, at 27, and still living at home, with no family and kids of my own, spending 3 months out of the year at a beach with college kids using this crazy "flapping hands" language that I love and trying to figure out who I am, what I'm doing and how to act accordingly. ;) In light of that, I am a fan of this quote (for multiple reasons).


"Don't take life too seriously, nobody ever makes it out alive anyway." - Van Wilder (and wiki says previously Bugs Bunny?)


1) Statements like these always make me chuckle, cuz while it's a generally correct principle, there are those people - like Enoch, Elijah and Jesus - that technically didn't "pass away".. and then there are those people (Lazarus, "Talitha", the widow's son) who got a second chance, but I digress.. 


2) In the materialistic world we find ourselves in today, it's a good reminder of the finite-ness that is our human condition. 


3) I find hope in this comment, too (though as a stand alone quote, I don't think the intent was to remind us that we were made for something more). I think it causes us to "contemplate the meaning of life" (2:23), and to realize that we were made for something more (0:38)


I'll close with this quote that has become a mainstay for me, in light of the "supposedly knowing who you are and what you're doing in life".. "The only constant in life is Change." - Heraclitus.. meaning that even if you "find" what you're suppose to be doing.. it's prolly gonna change, or circumstances are gonna change, or people are going to come in and out of your life.. which is hard for a closet perfectionist like me to accept.. so embrace the mess, and keep in mind that in this life, all we have to do is glorify God and enjoy him forever.. If you can do that, you've got it made! :)


Soli Deo Gloria
:D

27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #Bonus#

So my friend Courtney (from college) sent me this book after I complained about having to walk in high heels at my bro/sis-in-law's wedding.. And while everything in it is pretty ridiculous in my opinion, I did have a good laugh about the specific chapter describing how to actually walk in heels - who knew there was a science to it?? (not me!) 
In light of turning 27 though, I think this quote is fitting..


 "Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly" 
- Epictetus  (From How to walk in high heels, a girls guide to everything: Camilla Morton)


Today you get a quote AND a picture.. because, the more I "know myself" (you'd think by 27 years I'd be an expert on myself - but I'm still learning things about me!) the more comfortable I'm becoming in my own skin.. 

I've always been a pretty confident person, but I've also been a pretty athletic person.. So I think the fear came from "loosing" my athletic-ness if I donned a skirt and became "girly".. I know, I know.. makes no sense, but the older I become, and the more I "know myself", the more I can see these silly conundrums in my thinking.. let's just say, "I not skurd no mo'.." At least, I don't think so.. I will now wear a skirt on my own free will..  
Dresses, however, are a different story.. and heels, you can forget those - I'm tall enough, thankyouverymuch! :D
 ["The only people who can stand in heels all day, every day, are mannequins, and they are plastic and have screw-off feet." also Camilla Morton... maybe she's not as crazy as I thought..] ;)


Soli Deo Gloria
:D

27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #5

The about me section on my facebook profile starts out with this quote..


" Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."  -Abe Lincoln 


..and I think this is one of the main reasons I have such a hard time spitting out these blogs (that I naively thought 27 would be a good #, and wouldn't take me any time at all to type up *shakes head*).. Because I'm a teensy bit fearful that by posting a quote or writing my thoughts about it, I'll remove all doubt.. 


Obviously the fear is pushed to the back burner, and the blog-full-of-wordy-ness eventually comes out.. 
and then there's those individuals who comment positively on the post, and I think 
"yay.. at least they didn't think I was a fool.."


And in the grand scheme of things - if I think something, my thought is not going to change whether I say it out loud to a person, in a public forum on the internet, or in the silence of my own head. I'm not one to alter my thoughts to fit yours.. but I do have a "Prideful" side.. one that wants to be liked.. and not thought the fool.. *shrug*


It sure is a good thing, that God knows I'm a flawed fool, and yet chose to use the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.. 


Soli Deo Gloria
:D

27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #6

I've had this quote "drafted" for some time now but have struggled with the words. But because of this post, I think the Holy Spirit is ready to articulate what I want to say about the quote. It's succinctness is powerful to me.. before you read it though, I need to be clear that Francis is coming from a Judeo-Christian background (as am I) and discipleship is in the context of this kinda challenge, this kinda commitment, and this kinda commission..


“The solution to many of the world’s problems is discipleship.” -Francis Chan


It's this kinda discipleship that we need. And the wonderful/humbling/freeing/amazing/crazy thing is: we don't have to "get it right" all the time to be in this position.. in fact, we won't get it right most of the time - and that's OK! 


(You're getting 2 for the price of one today- but there's back story to this quote..)
When I was in college, I sat under a God-appointed man named Travis Tamerius. Travis was the Chaplin at Woods and provided a wonderful greenhouse in which to grow in my understanding of God as Redeemer. Travis studied under a man named Eugene Peterson (who authored the Message translation of the Bible..) while in Seminary in British Columbia. During our weekly Chapel services, Travis would often recall things Eugene had said to him.. One story resonated so deeply with me, that I often play it on repeat in my minds eye.. 
Travis began this tale by saying that Eugene was being interviewed and the question came, asking why he continued to Pastor after so many years. Travis, with a glint in his eye and the corners of his mouth upturned, enjoying the story of his mentor, then says that Eugene - without missing a beat - responds with
"..because I love the mess."
The interviewer was taken aback, and Travis goes on to explain that Eugene had to stop and expand his comment, but essentially he was saying: I love having a front row seat to witness God's redeeming power and restorative work in the broken lives of the people in my congregation. 


And that's just it.. discipleship means walking with people through those broken times.. and it's hard ya'll.. it exposes in you the nastiness that sin stains you with - namely (in me) Pride and Selfish Desires.. It reminds me that "I" am that sinner saved by grace. "I" am the one in need of the gospel - not just this other person that I'm suppose to be "teaching".. not just those people who's lived mimic a Jerry Springer episode.. me too!

And -speaking of Jerry Springer- it's messy.. It's not cut and dry, textbook answer, put a band-aid on it and go home kinda thing.. it takes time and energy. Physical + emotional + spiritual investment of your flawed self into another flawed person = MESSY .. but think back to Biblical times, when Jesus lived those 3 years with the 12 disciples..*shew* were they a motley crew! (getting it wrong more times than they got it right..)

So - step up, take courage, extend grace to others just as it's been given to you and embrace the mess..

..then witness the Redeemer's handiwork!

Soli Deo Gloria

:D

27 Quotes/Phrases/Thoughts/Lyrics to live by: #7

I often find myself speechless.. not because I don't have an opinion (if you know me, I tend to have opinions) but it's normally because I'm not quick witted, and my comeback lines come 20 minutes late.. then there are the times that I'm caught off guard by emotion.. or circumstance.. or comment.. and I just don't know what to say.. Sometimes it's deep and heady stuff.. other times, it's just fluff.. either way, I'm a fan of this chorus in Aaron Shust's song "Give Me Words to Speak"..


"Give me words to speak, don't let my spirit sleep..
Cuz' I can't think of anything worth saying, 
but I know that I owe you my life.."
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b1Cb_2Ls1E&feature=related


I think these lyrics resonate with me because they remind me of David and his Psalms.. I'm a fan of David's vulnerability with God.. and the ways that God showcases David's flawed-ness.. Regardless of the circumstances though, David knew that he knew that he knew (realllllly knew) that he could always go to God and that he had an ally.. a strong refuge.. a wonderful Adonai!


One of my favorite signs in ASL is the idiom for "cat got your tongue".. It can be signed a few different ways, but I guess I just like the idea of being "speechless" in more than one language.. :)


I am also comforted by these lyrics in the way that they mirror what Paul says about the Holy Spirit in Romans 8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8:25-27&version=NIV) taking up the "wordsmith job" when our words fail us.. Who better to "put words in our mouths" than the one who created them! :D


Soli Deo Gloria
:D