"God created us to need something or someone else. Sooner or later, any healthy individual discovers that autonomy doesn't cut it. Once we confront our need for someone or something beyond ourselves, we will subsist on the alms of others if we don't discover Christ. Like beggars we go from person to person with our empty cup, crying, 'can't you add anything to my life?' They might throw in a coin or two. In fact, a few may be weekly...and probably weary...tithers. But when we shake the cup, the tinny echo reminds us how empty we remain. Until we allow Jesus to fill our cups daily, we simply subsist...You were meant to thrive."
-Beth Moore

I could kill this metaphor. I could talk about the many people that for years were pointless "tithers" to my cup...the hundreds of coins tossed in that I know now were only foreign currency, some that seemed to have even poked holes in the bottom of the tin. I could thank those of you who tried to contribute, and usually did, something substantial. I could talk a lot about an empty cup. A whole lot.
But I won't.
I'll just rejoice that I figured it out now.
Thank you, Jesus.

Me V. World.

*the weather-amazing. point for me.
*school-awful. point for the world.
*skipping biology-currently happening. point for me...thats 2-1.
*my suitemate-incredible, God-fearing, amazing. 3-1.
*my roommate...well... point for the world. 3-2.
*my bank account-empty. 3-3.
*my big sis-hilarious, loves Jesus, loves me. 4-3.
*my car not starting-suckfest. point for the world. 4-4.
*missing my parents- :[. 4-5.
*going home for thanksgiving- :]. 5-5.
*homework-awful and in mass amounts. 5-6.

...and so it goes...

Hebrews 1:3 says that "the Son is the radience of God's glory"
so if we are called to be like Jesus, then we are called to be radiant...
and the definition of radiant is vividly bright and shining, marked by love, confidence, or happiness.
thats a really cool picture.
just saying.

I am broken.
I am bruised.
I am battered.

I am fragile.
I am frightened.
I am frail.

I am weak.
I am worn.
I am worried.

I am sinful.
I am stained.
I am stale.

But He fixes,
And forgives,
And is faithful...

Through His goodness
and the giving
of His grace.

So in awe
and amazed appreciation,

I will rest eternally in His embrace.

green is the new black.

Today in the student union I was reading "Good to Great Expectations," an article in last weeks edition of Business Week, and it got me thinking.
(By the way, I'm not trying to sound cool by saying that I read Business Week magazing...Its a weekly assignment in my Business 1010 class.)
Anyway, the article is about this guy Jim Collins and his best-selling book on how to take good businesses and make them better.
In the article, he touches on the issue of creating balance in one's life...juggling work and the family, etc. He says "As I look at the most effective people we've studied, a 'stop-doing list' or not-to-do list is more important than a to-do list because the to-do list is infinite."
I get what he's saying. There's always something more to do...always another way to improve. And maybe in the business world he's right. Maybe it is better to focus on what not to do rather than what to do.
But for me, I'm finding that the opposite is true.
I've been creating my own list of things not to do for years...dont drink, dont smoke, dont lie, dont gossip, dont envy...
Just making the list was exaughsting, much less following it (although I rarely did.)
I think it's that list thats infinite. You can literally drive yourself crazy thinking of all the things you shouldnt do. And its frustrating and overwhelming and discouraging.
So instead, I try to focus on what I should do, which is simply to know God and live for Him as He lives in me. It's much easier to try to live for God than against the devil. And its a much more peaceful struggle.
Just a thought.

if you just sit down and really think about grace and what it means in your life,
it can be paralyzing