on grace

"here, my friend, take some of mine.

it's freely given and will cost you everything you have.

but drink, my cup runs over."

(ace troubleshooter should never have broken up. just saying.)

things [that shouldn't be] left unsaid:

"Don’t buy the lie that cultivating condemnation and wallowing in your shame is somehow pleasing to God, or that a constant, low-grade guilt will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity. It’s just the opposite! God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned. It’s only when we receive his free gift of grace and live in the good of total forgiveness that we’re able to turn from old, sinful ways of living and walk in grace-motivated obedience."

-C.J. Mahaney

dear february,

you are sucking the life out of me and now have me contemplating going to bed at 8:30 on a friday night. you make everything so drab and dreary; frankly i can't stand you. please go away and don't come back. march will be here soon, no thanks to you.

yours affectionately,

megs.

six-fifty-six.

[656]

I started Early - Took my Dog -

And visited the Sea -

The Mermaids in the Basement

Came out to look at me -

And Frigates - in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen Hands -

Presuming Me to be a Mouse -

Aground - opon the Sands-

But no Man moved Me - till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe -

And past my Apron - and my Belt

And past my Boddice - too -

And made as he would eat me up-

As wholly as a Dew

Opon a Dandelion's Sleeve -

And then - I started - too -

And He - He followed - close behind -

I felt His silver Heel

Opon my Ancle - Then My Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl -

Until We met the Solid Town -

No One He seemed to know -

And bowing - with a Mighty look -

At me - The Sea withdrew -

-Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was such an interesting woman. Frankly, she's just a little wacko, however I love her poetry. Lindsay and Lili know of my high dreams to visit her museum this summer.

PS- Dear gas prices, please do not get so high that you crush and destroy all of my dreams.

PPS-We just sang #340/"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" to "Amazing Grace." Yes, my classes are that cool.

make war!

"the only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all out war. i hear so many christians, murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their short-comings, and i see so little war! 'murmur, murmur, murmur... Why am I this way?' MAKE WAR! if you wonder how to make war, go to the Manual! don't just bellyache about your failures, MAKE WAR! there is something about war that sharpens the senses...there is something about war that keeps [you] vigilant...violence against whom or what? not other people. not other people. not other people...not atheists. not nominal christians. but, on every impulse in our soul to be violent to other people...setting in with sin-make war on that! enslaving desires...make war!" -john piper!

it seems like a lot of the time we do exactly this. we sit around and murmur and complain about the sins we are entangled in, about how we cannot seem to have victory over them, and then as soon as the coffee is finished and the conversation ends, we move on and never make war. we are so not called to complacency, rather we are called to fight. philippians 2:12b&13 tells us to "work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." yes, everything is by God's good grace, but we cannot expect to show-up sanctified merely by sitting on our behinds and practicing laziness, apathy, hypocrisy, selfishness, complacency, wasting time, perfecting tetris (don't ask me what i have done on and off all night, i'm guilty!), etc. we are called to work out our salvation. to be prepared to do the work Christ has in store for us. we cannot do that if we're lying around in sin and not bothering to do anything about it. we cry out for change, and then cry when it doesn't happen. mystery? not so much. this is more rambling than anything else, but i have really been challenged lately to make war against the things that distract me from Christ, and i wish it would not have taken me twenty-one years to realize how essential this practice is. making war is more than just talking about our struggles (although that does have its time and place), it is going to a solid church, actively seeking out time to spend in worship (corporate or individual), reading the Word every day, and spending time in prayer.

just my two cents worth.

love,

m.

"i can't endure this life without Your wisdom being heard."

-background

--lecrae

SNOW DAYYY.

yep, that's correct. my school finally called a snow day. i am ecstatic. ecstatic! good thing because it's 11 p.m. and i still have a lot of homework to do. this means NO 7:50 tomorrow and now i can stay up late and finish everything up and sleep in!!!!!!!! yes! score! ahh! and guess what else? my boss is on vacation this week so i don't work at all which means i get ALL of tomorrow to read, relax, study, and catch up on things i don't normally have time for. oh, and i get to play in the snow!! praise Jesus for silly little things like snow days.

"i'm amazed by a Love that cannot be undone."

on melville

he is the most boring writer in the history of the world. i was going to give moby-dick a chance this summer, but after taking nearly two and a half hours (and counting!) to finish on of his monotonous and excruciatingly painful short stories he has lost his chance. too bad, so sad, melville.