Mi ancla tú serás

I would like to begin by saying,
I very much enjoy waking up, messy hair and glasses on, making a good cup of coffee and catching up on my blog reading/ writing. I tend to be a perfectionist with my appearance, so these days are a good break from that pressure I put upon myself.

Quick update on life: this describes me pretty well right now...

"You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things."

I am so thankful to be surrounded by people who both challenge and comfort me. I consistently struggle with the passions of my heart-- wanting to go to the sick, starving, and dying, bringing them Hope and love. I know beyond knowing that people right next door can be hopeless and in need, but there's an unsettling desire within me to go far away from what I know or what I'm comfortable with. To Africa, for example. Maybe it's a selfish desire, maybe I just want to travel and not deal with certain things or people in my life. I should take time to process through those possibilities. But anyway, besides that constant nagging, life is extremely good and I am so happy. I start nannying full-time in September, which means I am for sure staying here for winter. I will fight the desperation of wanting to hop in the car with some snow-birds going South. I can do this! Who knows, I might be really good at ice fishing or something...
So all is well up here. Friends will be visiting me soon, and I cannot say how grateful I will be to see them and have some sameness & familiarity around for a bit.

Last week or the week before, I really wanted Kip to read Don Miller's posts about relationships. To my great sadness, Don took them off his blog site! I respect him for it, because he felt he was too blunt, maybe unnecessarily offensive. So I hope he wouldn't mind if I shared a bit of what he wrote. I found great wisdom and conviction in his words, as usual. Hope you do, too!

[ This is to the ladies ]

Living a great love story doesn't look like winning the lottery, it looks like training for a marathon. It's hard work and you have to do the work long before you ever meet Mr. Right, otherwise you'll be the girl who shows up for marathon having eaten a gallon of ice cream every night, listening to Taylor Swift songs, and watching love stories about vampires. No good man can run with that girl, not for much longer than a mile...

Tell a great love story and you'll dazzle the world. Do the work and enjoy the benefits. The world needs some great love stories, but few people are willing to do what it takes to tell them. No wonder we all love them so much!

Do you want a great love story? Do you want to run the marathon it takes to be married to the same man after fifty years? Do you want him to look you in the eyes with so much respect it brings tears to his? If you do, start training for the marathon. No good story comes easy. A great love story is still possible. Go for it!

... It feels boring in the moment, but in twenty years you'll be crying your eyes out over this man who stuck with you through the thick and thin, and who honestly didn't care that you got fat. :)

[ This is for the boys]

Women don't just fall in love with flowers and chocolate. All that crap is fine. But what they fall in love with is dependability, strength, kindness, community, structure, and character. Being the leading man in a love story is, basically, aout being just that: a man that leads. Be a good man, a man with character. Have vision, lead the story, and be the man she's been dreaming about.

A man brings peace and order into chaos. You have what it takes to do this, I believe it firmly. You were designed to leave a wake of peace everywhere you go.

[ I've never heard that before, and I think it's very true! ]

You should want to make the world a better place, and you should be very focused and dedicated to making this happen. This means going to college, starting a company, coaching a team or teaching a class. If you want to make a woman's dreams come true, pick up your X-box and throw it in the trash, and start doing something with your life.

Most people think love stories only benefit women, but don't be fooled. There's a lot in this story for you. God designed it so a man felt his most powerful while guiding a woman through an amazing love story.

Stop falling for the romantic version of life and start realizing that a romantic story is told with an enormous amount of pain, sacrifice, suffering, and patience.

Isn't Don so good?! I appreciate his perspective on life and love and God and everything. Not that I always agree, but I appreciate him nonetheless. And I wonder what his wedding is going to be like?!
Anyway, I'm being challenged in what I've preached since I was a young high schooler-- the importance of seeking God over seeking a relationship, setting and keeping boundaries, not letting anyone have more of my time or love than Jesus. Yeah... it's hard. Snaps for everyone who abides by strict relationship rules. I'm needing so much grace in this time of my life! Which I think is a lesson in and of itself. I need to be reminded on a daily, hourly basis, that He does not want or expect perfection. Relationships are messy, even our relationship with God. And that is OK!

"I will give you this, my love, and I will not bargain or barter any longer. I will love you, as sure as He has loved me. I will discover what I can discover, and though you remain a mystery, save God's own knowledge, what I disclose of you I will keep in the warmest chamber of my heart, the very chamber where God has stowed Himself in me. And I will do this to my death, and to death it may bring me.

I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.

God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him unto us."