For the Start of Autumn (updates + songs)

Although this blog has been quiet, life has been full (as usual.)  At the beginning of September, I ended my job working at Sheetz.  I really enjoyed my coworkers and many of our regulars, and I was very thankful for the steady income God provided through it (despite me initially saying "No way!" when my dad suggested I apply to a gas station!) and shifting to working from home felt a little bit like stepping out of a nice, solid boat and onto a very uncertain body of water.  Cool?  Foolhardy?  Incredible?  Anyway, it was time -- working overnight shifts was alright while I was single and lived a few blocks away, but it was much less ideal when married and living miles away instead.

So I quit, Jason and I went camping with some friends from our small group, and I came home and plunged into new jobs -- working for Uncommon Universes Press and for Write At Home.  It has been a delight to get to deal with books and students and my heart is so happy with that shift.  Not only do I now have time to do things like meet up with friends for coffee and a walk during the DAY! (it's amazing what not needing to be asleep for the bulk of daylight hours does...) but I have the time and brain space to work on other projects, like rearranging furniture and building websites and talking through things with Jason as he gets his coaching certification.  It's fun.  I'm a big fan.  ^_^

I've got a few ideas for blog posts simmering in the back of my mind, but today I just wanted to bop on here and share a few of the song lyrics that have been reverberating in my heart recently.

On the final day I die, I wanna hold my head up high 
and tell You that I tried to live it like a song. 

(Switchfoot, Where I Belong) 

And it can feel so cold

But I'm holding on to hope

That one day your heart

Will make it home. 

(Gray Havens, Go)  

    Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces.

(Sara Groves, Add to the Beauty)

Oh come to the feast; there is room at the table

Come let us meet in this place

With the King of all kindness who welcomes us in

With the wonder of love and the power of grace.

(Buddy Greene, Vagabonds)

Do yourself a favor: Turn up the volume and listen to the entirety of Vagabonds.


Happy fall, friends!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not in Vain

Image
Recently I've been listening a lot to Your Labor is Not in Vain (lyrics here ) , and yesterday I realized that I love this song not only for the reminder that it is to me, but because it makes me think of friends, dear brothers and sisters all over the world, and how faithfully they labor, and what a joy it is to be co-laborers. As many of us celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I hope that you all know how much I'm encouraged by the work that you do.  I see a fraction of what makes up your lives -- teaching, parenting, dealing with medical needs, listening to the people around you, fighting for justice for those who can't speak for themselves, making art, making meals, writing books, being willing to travel across the world, being willing to stay in the same hard place. I need to be reminded frequently that the work here is not in vain, that my students are learning how to be better thinkers and growing in their confidence to communicate in English, that conversati
Read more

Waiting in the Rain (and Loving the Weather)

Image
Photo by Hannah Domsic on Unsplash I'm not a very serious gardener as of yet, but moving into an actual house this past spring opened up some possibilities for me to invest a little more in dreaming about growing things and cultivating our outdoor space as we do with the indoor.  Between wedding gifts and a church full of avid and generous gardeners, we soon found ourselves well equipped with a variety of containers, happily started plants, and abundant advice.  I set up a row of containers along one side of our yard and we got to enjoy some cucumbers, a few cherry tomatoes, quite a few peppers, and fresh herbs in everything .   My dreams for next year involved rototilling up one side of the yard (conveniently partitioned off by the sidewalk.) We broke down cardboard boxes for a month or two and now have that space pretty well covered with a layer of cardboard weighted down with a motley assortment of heavy junk -- pots, Adirondack chairs, an old shelf that's destined for the
Read more

Hard to Find

Image
[So, by way of prologue, this post is maybe a little different than my norm -- maybe a little more personal, maybe a little more in-depth, and maybe not something I would bother posting on my blog if life was different and more friends could have already observed for themselves the underlying themes of what I'm about to say.  One of the tricky parts of a long distance relationship is figuring out how to honor the relationship and let it be a reality even when most people can't see what's going on in it.] It's a confounding thing to me when I simply can't find the words to even begin to express what's in my heart.  Yet that's where I've been for months, my mind full of different ways to begin but with no idea what to say in the middle or at the end, because it feels to me that there aren't enough words in the world for this story. Let me begin here: When I was a child, I loved Little Pilgrim's Progress  with a vast and fierce love.  My pare
Read more