clean

I am a pretty messy person.  I leave my laundry in the washer for too long and sometimes have to wash it a second time. Also, I wait until I can't stand my cluttered desk anymore before I tidy it and sort all my homeworks.  Until I can see the dust on my tile bedroom floor, I don't sweep it.  But, I'll tell ya: I think I feel an extraordinary amount of extra pleasure when I settle in to sleep in my newly clean room, more than most people.  The floors swiffer mopped and swept, rugs shaken out; my ceiling fan is turning the nice, clean air.  Sweet satisfaction.

When I think of God, I feel so much wonder and amazement in my heart.  I get overwhelmed because there's no way for me to wrap my mind around the things He has made and how He keeps this universe in order.  Well, some would argue it's not in order...but at least the world is still spinning and we are alive.

There's a phenomenon in God's huge overwhelming-ness.  I feel like that overwhelming, huge "being" that I see God as, is not who He is...not entirely.  How can He not be entirely infinitely huge, when He is???

He's infinitely big but He can also be part of the smallest, most beautiful moments.  It's wonderful.

He made us to experience abundant life and embrace joy.  God is in the simple, small things.

The moments of relaxation, rest, happiness and excitement.  When we are overwhelmed, and think we don't know Him, we're forgetting who is putting their hand on our shoulder and smiling with us when we finish frosting that last yummy cupcake we just made for a friend.

Or when I finish a homework assignment, He's there smiling so proudly!

God is all about wrapping our arms around the ones we love.  He's all about feeling the wind in our faces on a sunny Sunday bike ride.

He wants us to stop sweating the small stuff.  Because face it, we're small!

But, our big God is so big that He can fit in our pocket and experience small joys with us along our path of life. Silly and wonderful to think about, isn't it?

So next time I take a sip of delicious coffee, or see a cute flower.  I want to remember to thank my big God for putting perfect little joys in my everyday, ordinary, but also extraordinary life!  

dreaming of your face
I can see your beauty
through ten-and-a-half-thousand
yesterdays
-JASON MRAZ

Let it all go, whatever it is
- Dierks Bentley



It's funny how sometimes we get so absorbed in what we're doing that we have to almost slap ourselves or get a legit massage to calm down.  "Snap out of it!" I sometimes tell myself.  I'll be thinking so intently about how such and such is going to be so hard, or how I seriously do not have enough money to get through the next month.  Or I have this horrible guilt for something stupid like leaving my clean, dry laundry on my bed for three days instead of folding it right when I brought it from the dryer.  Stupid stuff!  
Sometimes it's nice just to have moments.  Either by myself or with people, where I am sincerely happy.  Nothing else matters and I am not thinking about anything but how content I am.  And, even if someone asked me what I was thinking in those moments, I might say "nothing!".  I'm simply happy.  Those moments when I say to my friends, "Hey, let's take a picture!" 
I'll catch myself looking back at those happy pictures on my phone.  I think it's just to somehow relive those happy, carefree moments.  Those moments that I somehow knew should be remembered with a simple touch of my iPhone (no camera sound, my phone was probably on silent).  
I love life and I don't want to forget to let stress go and embrace happiness.   
Today, someone special texted me and said "We're all lucky to be breathing and walking." Yes.  We are.  We need to breathe and smile and keep letting things go - they don't mean a darn thing if they don't make us smile.

surrendering to what is

Today I read this cool little poem/inspirational paragraph ;) 

 "Always say "yes" to the present moment 

What could be more futile, more insane, 

 than to create inner resistance to what already is? 

What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, 

which is now and always now? 

Surrender to what is. 

 Say "yes" to life 

and see how life suddenly starts working for you 

rather than against you." 

- Eckhart Tollc

It's not hard for me to love you!

raconte-moi une histoire M83

SOOOOOO CUTE! I love this idea! The video version is kind of strange but I love the song. 

I heard about this frog
it's a very tiny frog
but it's also very special
you can only find it in the jungle
so far away from me
but if you find it and if you touch it
your world can change forever

if you touch its skin
you can feel your body changing
and your vision also
and blue becomes red and red becomes blue
and your mommy suddenly becomes your daddy
and everything looks like a giant cupcake

and you keep laughing and laughing and laughing
nothing is ever quite the same really
and after you finish laughing
it's time to turn into a frog yourself
it's very funny to be a frog
you can dive into the water
and cross the rivers and the oceans
and you can jump all the time and everywhere
do you want to play with me?

we can be a whole group of friends
a whole group of frogs
jumping into the streets
jumping into the planet
climbing up the buildings
swimming in the lakes and in the bathtubs
we would be hundreds, thousands, millions
the biggest group of friends the world has ever seen
jumping and laughing forever
it would be great, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrzLe6eKgk

Further the sky

by: The Gabe Dixon Band

When you don't know where you're going and you don't know why
It feels like another day's beating into the night
Lay your head on my chest while my beatin' heart pounds out the secret of this life
The higher you reach
The further the sky
The more miles you walk
The longer the road
The steeper you climb
The harder you stand to fall
The stronger you get
The heavier the load
I wish I could give you the answers and paper and ink
I wish I could stop all the tears before they start falling
But we're feeling our way and we're always beginners
We're all cuts and no scars
The higher you reach
The further the sky
The more miles you walk
The longer the road
The steeper you climb
The harder you stand to fall
The stronger you get
The heavier the load
The higher oh, the higher oh, the higher that you reach
The further oh, the further oh, the further the sky
The higher oh, the higher oh, the higher that you reach
The further oh, the further oh, the further the sky
(Well the further the sky)
The bigger the dream
The rougher the ride
The truer the love
The deeper the ache
The blinder the faith
The tougher the go
The higher you reach
The further the sky
The more miles you walk
The longer the road
The steeper you climb
The harder you stand to fall
The stronger you get
The heavier the load

I heard recently, that some random person (a pastor maybe?) believes America has so much depression because we focus too much on ourselves.  It makes a lot of sense.  How can a person be happy just focusing on their small existence.  Being self-absorbed never did anyone any good.  The minute a person stops focusing on what's going wrong or could go wrong in THEIR OWN life and they simply reach out to someone else, their entire outlook can change!  I cannot remember a single experience where I was helping someone yet at the same moment felt sad or worthless.  Doing things for others, no matter how small the gesture, is always going to bring positivity and joy.  I want joy!! :) I want to do more for others. Giving feels good, no matter what the gift: big, small, secret or out-in-the-open. 

feeling the love today!

Fountain

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;

How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

-Robert Robinson



I can't really think of a time I've felt more connected to God and more in-tune with His love than when I sing or listen to hymns.  They are so beautiful!  The words and the melodies just make the message so clear to me.  I am so thankful this Sabbath...for everything!  Reading these words and listening to this hymn, "Come thou fount of every blessing" is perfect for me.  God has blessed me beyond belief and I trust that He has my life in His hands.  I feel loved and happy and free to live!  How refreshing :) 

One step closer

If everything "works out" like people say...then why can't people sense what is to come?
Why is it that people can't feel the immense attraction and meaning that someone 
will soon have in their life?
In my life...
I meet someone, and a friendship develops.  
That person becomes so valuable to me.  
Kind of like beautiful marriages that develop from a chance meeting. 
Or that best friend that used to annoy you in high school. 
It's as if every encounter was orchestrated to form the bond...just the way it is. 
Why can we not sense that HUGE potential that the person has in our life.
They're going to become so important to us and we simply cannot see it yet!
When I first met the people that I cherish today, I had absolutely NO 
idea what they would mean to me in the future. 
I guess it's kind of similar to the idea of "love at first sight" and how a lot of people "don't believe in it". 
Love at first sight is kind of what I long for in life.
To see the beauty and meaning and potential that each person has. 
I want to remember that each person that I know, each moment that I experience, has 
SUCH POTENTIAL! I just don't see it yet...