One of those random posts that became not so random at the end

Why, it IS that time: time for a random post of nothingness that surely will have no message behind it by the end!! Although the last time I tried that one, I ended up coming out with some sort of message...but that's besides the point.

I signed in today thinking, "Yay, I'm going to post something that nobody will read, just so I can write. Because I like to write. Yes." But then I get to my dashboard, and what do I see?

I actually have FOLLOWERS?! What is this madness!? Do you guys have nothing better to do than read my mindless ramblings that sometimes have a point behind them!?

I love you dearly.

Moving on.

I happen to have a weird fascination with snow. I hate how cold it gets here, I hate the wind chill, and I'm not a particular fan of ice (except in indoor rinks where it's nice and smooth and I can wear skates). But snow is different. Sure, it's cold and icy and hurts when it gets thrown in your face (had that happen one too many times...), but it's snow. It's solid precipitation that you can pack or dust or dissolve. It covers the roofs and ground and trees in a sort of fluffy, glittering blanket.

Maybe I like it because I feel like a snow princess whenever I walk through the falling flakes and get them stuck in my hair (see Royalty post for a digression on that). Maybe I like it because it relates to a time of year when people are generally more generous and warm and loving, even if sometimes for the wrong reasons. Maybe I like it because it's so hard for me to imagine how the God of the universe could ever come up with such an awesome thing (I know I never could).

All I know is that whenever snow falls from the sky and starts collecting on the ground, I consistently am overwhelmed with a feeling of "God, you are so INCREDIBLE!!! This is BEAUTIFUL!!! I LOVE YOU!!!" And then I become a little child again, like the one Jesus says we need to be to enter His kingdom, forgetting the people around me and laughing giddily and dancing around in the snow. Maybe that's why I like the snow the most. Maybe the reason I actually enjoy this time of year is because it causes me to forget that I am technically an adult, a college student, with responsibilities and goals and such. I am once again reminded that in His eyes, I am always a kid, and I always will be. And when it comes down to it, His eyes are the only ones that matter.

(...well, I thought it would just be a random post...guess not, once again.)

Earth = playground

Almost exactly a week ago, I was in a Young Life leaders meeting, and we were praying before the end of the meeting. This girl who I had briefly discussed with started to pray, and something she said that caught me momentarily was something along the lines of this: "God, thank you for making this world so that we can play in it." It struck me a bit at the time because I had never heard something like that before, but then I forgot about it and went my own way after the meeting.

This morning, after a rough, stress-filled evening, I was walking outside after my chemistry class and really taking in all of the things around me: the perfectly clear, blue sky; the trees reaching up to the great expanse above them; the countless birds and chipmunks and squirrels chattering and running from here to there; the tall residence buildings, the old frat houses, the grassy quads. And those words came back into my mind: "God, thank you for making this world so that we can play in it." And I nearly stopped mid-step as I was walking back to my dorm. Suddenly I looked at everything from this perspective. The world around us, all of the trees and animals and buildings and sky and everything else, is a playground. We are running around in a playground larger than we could ever imagine. It's a strange thought, I'll admit, but what an interesting outlook! I could barely keep from grinning ear to ear as I walked back to my dorm with the perspective that I have been placed in the midst of Creation to play in this playground of a world we live in. It's so hard to describe the feeling. Try it for yourself! It really changes how you see everything around you.

It also brings with it the reminder that God loves us simply because He does. It doesn't matter what our grades look like, what jobs we work, how good at sports we are. That stuff matters in society, sure. It usually ends up determining our next steps in life. But God looks past all of it and into your heart. He sees beyond the letters and the drama and the practices. He sees us as we truly are, and He sees us as incredibly beautiful, even in the midst of our messy lives. Don't forget about living in society, but don't be of it. Let go. Be different. Take each day as it comes, and enjoy each bit of it.

Matthew 6:34 = "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today" (NLT).

Open your eyes

I was talking to a new friend at an all-nighter event that the high school ministry held, and we were all at the beach watching the sunrise. He said something that struck me, that I thought was such a good point, and something wise amongst all of the randomness bouncing around in my head in this 12-hour period...

As the sun cleared the low clouds at the bottom of the horizon, scattering its light across the waves as the lake rolled back and forth, one of my sisters in Christ makes a remark along these lines: "How can anyone not believe there's a God, after seeing something so amazing like this?"

To which my new friend replies, "They have their eyes closed."

Reader, whoever you may be, how many times have you walked around with your eyes closed? Not just literally speaking; I mean, how many times have you been moving through life too fast to take in the world around you? How many times, even, have you simply just chosen not to open your eyes to the life all around you? I will freely admit that yes, I am guilty of doing this every now and then. I like to say that I love stopping and admiring the beauty of nature everywhere I go, and my friends will even attest to this by saying things like they always have to wait up for me when we're hiking through the woods or something of the sort. But there are definitely times when I'm just "too busy" to marvel in all of God's creation (i.e. having a poor frame of mind when I'm running errands, spending hours upon hours doing nothing on Facebook, making excuses for not setting aside that precious time to be completely alone and quiet with God in nature).

Opening my eyes to that gorgeous sunrise and meditating on how God brings new mercies each day really opened myself to God's presence this morning. The intimacy of sharing with God in those 20-ish minutes of that golden ball of fire rising above the vast waters of Lake Michigan was really something remarkable that I had never done before. How long have I been walking with my eyes shut to such a marvel? Eighteen years of my life?

Perhaps if the world slowed down a bit more and took more time to stop and really take in everything around us, our eyes would all be opened...opened to uncontainable joy, to true beauty, to pure love, to satisfying peace, to the King of Kings.