January 2009...and so it begins...

So this blog has been brewing for quite some time, which some of you may know... but really waiting for "the moment of inspiration to birth my blog" was ridiculous. I admit it. Truly, inspiration could be found in many things, and articulating them well might not be as important as I seem to think it is. Honesty and the sharing of life's adventures can be more stimulating and impactful in and of themselves than simply being artistic or trying to impress....

I am new to this whole blogging world, from this side of things at least. I am excited for the adventures that will happen this semester, the learning, the growing, the challenges, and the moments of community and fellowship which are so precious. In the midst of all the reading and writing papers and speeches and such, I want to continue to strive for my own personal spiritual goals and to enjoy the time that I have left at this place in my life...my last semester at this institution, of undergrad level of learning...and the like. Discovering more and more of who I am in Christ...and what that means. Of choosing what to do with what I have been given...making new friends and loving on the ones that have stuck close by.

There are times when I am overwhelmed by the places I have already been and the things that I have experienced.... the range of friends that I have is about as diverse as the music that I enjoy or the poems that I write. The vastness of it all sometimes makes processing it all in an attempt to make decisions, label, or analyze a bit difficult. Where I grew up...who I have been and am now... and being so far from the places my heart is.

I have spent perhaps too much time thinking lately. I choose to say it like that because I feel that thinking which produces nothing is not very beneficial ... for anything really. And although I have spent much time deep in thought, pondering the mysteries of the gospel, of the universe, of time and of grace and love and I could go on and on...but all my musings have not truly produced anything but more questions and seemingly more confusion...which leads to more prayer. And that is good. Much needed.

There is much more I would love to share right now, but most of it escapes my mind at this point in time. Please keep checking back, there will be much more to come in the very near future... x

Below - one quotation of much deliberating thought discovered last semester:

"Shining is always costly. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shinning. We can not be of great use to others without cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering. We shrink from pain..."The glory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery of today." Many want the glory without the cross, the shining without the burning, but crucifixion comes before coronation." - Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert.