B U I L D I N G A H O U S E

This is my friend Sein. I met her in an art class a few years ago and ever since then she has been a little ray of light and joy in my life. Whenever we hang out, we always get into good heart talks about where God is taking us and how we can live better lives for Christ. A little while back, Sein and I were talking about tattoos that mean something or display your "life message" and talked about what we felt were our life messages. Sein explaining her life message really stuck with me. She told me there was a quote by C.S. Lewis that God had spoken to her through:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. god comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominable and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation in that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wind here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

The idea that God is willing to build us into something a million times better than we imagined blows my mind. But Sein added something to this passage I had never thought of. She said she believed that God wanted to break apart parts of the house he was building her into--break parts off so that bits of her  experience and growth could be used to build up God's work in other people. She knows that God will use parts of her house to build his other houses. Usually, I'm pretty focused on what God is building in me. I mean, it's awesome to see what God is doing in other peoples' lives, but do I ever ask God to take parts of what he is doing in me to build up his work in someone else? Thinking about what Sein heard from God, that he wanted to break her to help others, and seeing how willing and ready she is for him to do that in her life, really got me thinking about the importance of relationships, and how blessed I am to have the people God has put in my life. I have to admit that relationships and investing in the people I have in my life isn't always easy, but maybe without them, we miss out on seeing not only ourselves being built on, but other people too. Maybe if we allowed ourselves to be broken for the work of God, we could see a kind of domino effect-- God working in us, in our friends, in their friends, and so on.

God is always building, through every experience and circumstance. Even when we can't see it, he's making us into something better and new.

C O U N T I N G

I have three days of break left, so I am spending all my time wrapping up odd ends and reading, because with the 17 hours I am taking, I have a feeling reading isn't going to be able to keep it's place on my high-priority list.

Currently I am reading I Wrote This for You, an anonymously-written book of free-verse poetry brought together with candid, black and white photographs. Apparently it's been on the best-seller list of poetry books for a while and I've just been living in a cave-- but it is great. Somewhat bittersweet, colloquial, but also poignant in a simple, relational way. Definitely worth buying. Here are one of the (many) verses I have loved: 

"And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling "This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!"

And each day, it's up to you, to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say "No. This is what's important."

Spending my time wisely these last few days of freedom. Break is been so good to me... But just four more months until summer! Not bad at all, in my opinion.

-Shelby

Grey Noise

"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives your life meaning and purpose." - Randy Pausch

Sometimes I fill my life with grey noise. I do things just to do them, trying to weave something significant into these places where I figure I'm lacking something. Instead of dipping into the well of Living Water, I pull from my well of self-sufficiency, looking for a balm to my insecurities. And always, I look back and think, nothing was ever missing. I was just creating grey noise. Distractions. Unnecessary little to-dos. Things that didn't matter to God or anyone else, let alone myself.

I'm learning life is all about perspective and righteous response... Seeing correctly and listening to the right things--or people--and acting accordingly.

2 Peter 1:3: Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God.

We have everything we need in God through the relationship he has graciously invited us to be a part of. No grey noise needed. No extra accolades or added projects or little things that make us feel better about who and where we are. I love that clarity. I love knowing that I don't have to worry about being 'good enough' on my own. He has provided everything I need.

#lifelonglesson
-Shelby