My soul is roving, waiting for a flash of opportunity, to feel excited and passionate about something with true meaning. My soul has been like this for years, and I have just received the diagnosis in one word: restless. 

My pastor took me out for lunch the other day and we were discussing life. I was describing to him my feelings about being a student and where my life was headed, etc. He broke the news gently to me when he said that he felt that I was the type of person to always feel restless. [Insert mental breakthrough here]. There it was! It wasn’t news that I was particularly happy to hear, but my condition had finally been named. 

I am full of dreams. I am curious. I am adventurous. I am always wondering what’s next. And I am frequently met with disappointment. I desire my life to be a National Geographic moment, but instead I receive an assignment to read a book about somebody else’s enthralling life. What does that mean, when I reach for the sky and all I get back is a tiny snowflake? No wonder I feel restless; I am flailing and exhausting my efforts without taking time to acknowledge and receive the details that make up the bigger picture. 

And I thought that I was good at sabbath. 

It’s impossible to appreciate milk when you’re trying to chug the whole gallon because your body flat out rejects it. But think of taking the first sip of milk after eating, say... a christmas sugar cookie: appreciation for milk and its refreshing quality skyrockets and makes you want to come back for more. 

I should tell my restlessness to take a back seat so that I can focus on the little things, including the mundane daily routine, and learn to appreciate them. My hope is that I will be surprised by meaning found in unexpected joys. Especially this Christmas season, I hope to be blindsided by the most unexpected miracle of all: Jesus, who is the flash of passion in the night sky of my soul. Take a breath with me now, and we can rest easy together. 

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Ella Fitzgerald. 

Merry Christmas! 

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Oh, Seattle.

This past saturday I had the pleasure of attending a house concert. This is a clip :)
The girl on the left is Emily and I work with her at the Greenbean, her mom is in the middle and the dude on the right is Mark, who I know from church and the Greenbean also.
Enjoy this talented group of musicians!

I love working at the Greenbean. Being able to walk into work and see several familiar faces is really cool. The customers are great! Just recently, a customer went to Turkey and bought me a souvenir. I felt really special that a customer would do that for me.
Just as I feel like I've developed a routine and a community is when I leave, of course.
Almost daily, someone (if not just one person, then two or three) asks me how much longer I have here. Followed up with "don't leave! we'll miss you." This is a little sad as I will be leaving people that I have come to care for, but encouraging because this makes me realize that my presence here as been received well.

close your eyes. (not literally).

just imagine yourself standing
with your arms at your sides.
plain & simple.
doing nothing but being.

Jesus loves you.



this essentially summarizes a meditation we did for church last Sunday night.
I think it's great because it focuses on the very thread that Jesus loves us.
And for some reason, I feel like that thread can get overlooked quite often.
There are so many distractions throughout our day that call our attention more demandingly.
He sure is humble, that guy Jesus.
Just being patient and all, waiting for us to take a breath and feel content in Him for just a moment. {at the very least}.

Just be. No
phoniness* please.




*The Catcher in the Rye reference to the storyteller, Holden.


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bubble tea.

I absolutely love bubble tea. Smackin on the tapioca pearls is my favorite part.
Grand Rapids, I hope you have some bubble tea joints.

This is day three of awesome weather right now.
Not a cloud in sight. It gets warm on my back. I'm donning shades. Way to go summer!

I have recently taken a short trip to Vancouver, BC.
Spiro and I drove up Monday night and stayed through Wednesday morning. The weather could not have been better! On our drive back we could spot every mountain.

Someone just told me of this today... kudos to her!
www.onedressprotest.com


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