dear friends,

i must say, i truly enjoy reading your blogs. i enjoy reading about your dreams [sleeping or awake], your travels, your thoughts, your struggles, your triumphs, your lives, and your stories. i love being able to connect with you through your words. whether you are 2 blocks, 2 states, or 2,000 miles away. 

i love reading your words, listening to you wordsmith. listening to you wrap and weave words with the skill of wise craftsmen. and you all use them so differently. so beautifully. some of you use raw words. writing allows you to escape, to say what you want to say. for some of you, your writing is thought out, detailed. every word is carefully chosen, exchanged over and over and over until the right combination is found.

your words. i read them all [although perhaps a little too often]. i love your words. i value your words. so please. please. please. please. please. please. write. write a little. write a waterfall of words. but please, write. because if you don't, who will? who will tell the world of your dreams? who will tell the world of your travels? who will tell the world of your stories, your struggles, your anger, your beauty, your sorrows, your joy?

please continue writing friends. 

i like your words.

it's a brand new day

this song came on pandora 2 minutes ago.

It’s a brand new day
The sun is shining 
It’s a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know I’ll be ok

Most kind of stories
Save the best part for last
And most stories have a hero who finds
You make your past your past
Yeah you make your past your past

It’s a brand new day
The sun is shining 
It’s a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know I’ll be ok

This cycle never ends
You gotta fall in order to mend

It’s a brand new day
It’s a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know I’ll be ok

"there is nothing more sacred and profound than this day."

"I don’t want to wait anymore. I choose to believe 

that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this 

day. I choose to believe that there may be a thousand big 

moments embedded in this day, waiting to be discovered 

like tiny shards of gold. The big moments are the daily, tiny 

moments of courage and forgiveness and hope that we 

grab on to and extend to one another. That’s the drama of 

life, swirling all around us, and generally I don’t even see it, 

because I’m too busy waiting to become whatever it is I think 

I am about to become. The big moments are in every hour, 

every conversation, every meal, every meeting."

-shauna niequist

to ally and kelly:

thank you so dearly for so many lovely. honest. day-to-day. meaningful moments these past few weeks. and truly, the big moments are in every mongiamo's pizza, every milkshake, every vegan cupcake, every oven explosion. 

you are more deeply loved than you know.

these are my vital signs

i stole this idea from amelia.

these are the things in my life that remind me i'm alive. these are things that make life worth living. these are my vital signs.

longboarding on a windy, beautiful fall day with incredible friends.

playing guitar by myself on a rainy day.

watching dead poets society with good friends.

driving in my car with the windows down and trees changing colors and a warm breeze and good music.

running in the rain.

having real conversations. about life. about the joy and the suffering. and about the God who makes all things new.


worshipping in chapel.

heart-to-hearts.


the first snow.

good coffee with good friends.
books. good ones. books worth reading.

hot apple cider.

best friends. one in particular who reminds me to breath.

humility

"What makes humility so desirable is the marvelous thing it does to us; it creates in us a capacity for the closest possible intamacy with God."
-Monica Baldwin

heavy heart.
bitter heart.
hardened heart.
broken heart.
pride laid down.
wholesome heart.
softened heart.
joyful heart.
light heart.

healing. growth. rejoicing. rebirth.

oh joy.
oh joy.
oh joy.

need we be reminded.

"are you suffering?
if so,
then why are you not rejoicing?"
-God


joy.
it's been on my heart this week. not so much that i've been joyful, but rather that i haven't.

you know, perseverance is hard. so hard. but sometimes i worry so much about persevering, that i forget to take joy. we are a people called to joy. a people called to great joy in the face of great difficulty.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything."
-James 1:2-4

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."
-1 Peter 4:12-13

i must confess to you. i haven't taken joy. oh, no doubt, i've been persevering. but taking joy? praising God? if i have at all, not nearly as much as i should be. i'm quite convicted of this. its easy to just get by, to scrape through the fence. but if you get to the other side, and that's all you have, what have you gained? i want to have joy when i arrive at the other side. i want to have joy when i struggling under the fence. i want joy.

no more just getting by.
no more barely breathing.
no more pride.

joy.
i choose joy.