Beautiful Things

Who can know the mind of a 5th Grader?

My tech-savvy 1o-year-old nephew was recently asked a series of social interview question on facebook. Ladies and gentelmen, his responses:

Who has changed your life most this year?
No body.

profound.

If you could bring one person back to life who would it be?
Chris Henry

A former wide receiver for the Bengals who was involved in a string of legal troubles during his professional career, including offenses such as driving under the influence, marijuana possession, assault, and criminal damage. Good choice.

How much would you pay to visit the moon?
10 million

reasonable.

What is your greatest fear?
When the lakers beat the Cavs

unreasonable.


Haha! He makes me laugh. I am so looking forward to heading home with Jonathan this weekend to spend some time with the little man and the rest of the fam. J's Dad and sisters are coming in for the 4th too- hurray for large family gatherings, newly installed swimming pools, and giant chunks of meat roasted in the backyard!

Changing gears...

It is a good thing to be able to feel your own heart changing.

Right after the wedding, Jonathan and I both felt ushered into a time of extreme thankfulness in our lives. We became profoundly aware of God's graciousness, faithfulness, and provision. Not only were we seeing our small obedience to God yield infinite blessing, but we were seeing Him redeem sinful, unpleasant parts of our lives and relationship for His glory and our benefit.

But somehow, in the midst of reveling in His goodness, we forgot to trust Him.
What had begun as, "Thank you Lord, for you are good and your steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 118
Turned into, "Thanks for everything God, we can take it from here. Please just don't mess anything up. Don't spring any surprises on us!"

I realized that while we were genuinely thankful, we were trusting in our own comfort and contentment rather than God's deep love and perfect provision.

Recently we've encountered some situations and circumstances that range from slightly annoying, to truly difficult. Just life. And I have found myself beginning to practice true reliance on Christ. I am finding that with each day, I become less attached to the things I want or that I think are best. Please don't misunderstand me-- I have far from mastered this! So often I am selfish and childish in my desire to do things MY way. But God does answer prayers, and He deeply desires for us to become more like Him. And so it is in His nature to honor a request to become disenchanted with sin, so that we can fall more in love with Him.

It is good to be able to feel your heart changing--- because it means Something Greater than yourself, Something Beautiful is actively loving and moving within you. And there is no greater feeling!