I came across a really neat verse this morning as I was reading through Amos of all books.
Amos 4:12-13 - ...prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn into darkness, and treads the high places of the earth - the LORD God Almighty is his name.
Wow, what a verse. the part - and reveals his thoughts to man - just really struck me. Our God, who is so powerful and can form mountains, create the wind, and tread the high places of earth, chooses to reveal his thoughts to man. That's just so amazing.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
The flip side
This morning I was thinking about my post on how other's opinions matter to us, and we (or at least I) don't want people to think badly of me or misunderstand where I was coming from. So that got me thinking about the flip side. What are my opinions of other people, and what am I critical of in others? Am I critical of things without knowing the whole story, and do I criticize just based on the outward actions, or based on the real intentions of the person? I was talking to someone the other day and made the comment - evaluate the person and the actions separately - you don't know how that person got to that place. Sure, you may decide the action is wrong, and you may even need to tell them that, but don't be overly critical and judgemental of that person, because you don't know what was going on inside of them at the time, or the circumstances. I've been feeling a real burden lately to be compassionate towards others and really trying to find out the reason behind why they do certain things. It's kind of a desire to really get to know that person and what makes them tick and what makes them do certain things (both good and bad). Someone in church a few weeks ago preached on how C.S. Lewis' book The Weight of Glory is all about being known by God and that is the weight of glory, knowing that someone knows you inside and out and still loves you intensely anyway. I've never read the book, so I don't know if that's what it's really about, but that is such a great thought, and makes me want to live my life in such a way that I get to know people and love them for who they are and not reject them or judge them for things they do. It's so hard to do sometimes (especially at work, where it seems like everyone is critical!) but I think in the end it's the right and the best thing to do.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Other's good opinions...
I've been thinking lately how much we care about other people's opinions. It creeps in to our lives in so many ways and can have a significant impact on what we do or how we do things. I was riding my bike this afternoon along the trail, going up the fairly long hill by our house. There were people walking, and I kept thinking - I hope I can make it up this hill, or they are going to think - what a wimp, she can't make it up the hill the whole way! Why do I even care what they think or don't think? I have no clue who they are, and will probably never see them again. Yet I was trying to avoid having them think less of me. When I finally got home, I was thinking about a book I wanted to order from Amazon. So I was thinking I should read the other reviews of the book online to decide whether I really wanted to get it. Then it struck me how silly that was! Here I am, basing my decisions on what other people think, and I have no idea who they are or if they even like the same things I do! They could be 90 year old grandmas or 15 year old teens, or atheists or monks or whatever! Yet I am again basing my decisions on what other people think. Granted, this is kind of a trival example, but it will be interesting to see how many other ways people I don't even know influence me...
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Violets, violets everywhere!
I have a confession to make... I'm a violet addict! What is a violet addict, you might ask? It's when you can't help but get more violets, even though you already have... shall we say... several? A person posted an offer on Freecycle for free African violets, and this is the thought that went through my head - oh, wow, that's neat, I should see if she still has some! So...yeah. Before tonight, Joanna and I had 12 pots of violets, 13 actual African violets, if you count the pot with two plants in it. So I told the lady - I'd like 2-3 plants, if you had any pink ones, that would be great. I show up, and she's given me a box with 9 violets! I mean, it would be rude to refuse, besides, who can resist violets with names like "sparkleberry" and "rainbow's quiet riot"? After I left the lady's house, I was laughing all the way home. Let's hope Joanna can laugh too when she gets home...
Anyone up for pot shopping? :)
Anyone up for pot shopping? :)
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Trust
Trust is a hard thing. I just looked it up online, and the definition according to Merriam-Webster is:
Trust: a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b : one in which confidence is placed
2 a : dependence on something future or contingent
I think the hard part for me is part # 2: dependence on something future or contingent, especially when I have no control over what happens or the direction something is going. If I can't depend on the outcome or even trust that the way to get there was valid or makes sense, then I get nervous sometimes. It's been interesting the last few weeks to learn more about myself and to take some of the initially hard to swallow thoughts and comments and just chew on them awhile (there's a good old central PA-ism there for ya). I guess not being able to trust in the sense of not being able to depend on future results shows a lack of trust in the sense of #1. If I can't trust that the outcome will be okay, even though the way doesn't make sense, then I'm not having assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of God. I think my lack of trust comes sometimes from not wanting to give up control, or the semblance of control. Making decisions without all the information is extremely hard for me. I've been trained to research all the information and then make the best decision given my amount of knowledge and experience and training. And then you revise your decision if new info comes along. But people aren't like that. You can't always just go back and take back what you've said or done. So if I don't know the answers, then I have to "let go and let God". Which is kind of crazy if you think about it. People who hear other people or voices talk to them and tell them what to do are generally called crazy and put in insane asylums!
It's also interesting thinking of how God gives us a choice on many things, yet we've been taught that He knows what's best for us. And he does. Sometimes though, praying feels kind of pointless in some respects, because if he knows what's best for us, then why bother asking for something that's not the best, if he's going to give it to us anyway? And why, if he's given us intelligence and made us in his image and put his spirit in us, can't we ever know what's best for us? I'd think that at least once we'd get it right, just by statistical chance. But I guess it goes back to limited sight, and seeing through a glass darkly. If you're a kid and you have only ever tasted vanilla ice-cream, you're going to ask your dad for vanilla ice-cream. But what if he gives you chocolate chip? It's still ice cream, it's still vanilla, but oh so much more tasty! And now your horizons are expanded. Or what if he gave you mocha almond fudge or peanut butter cup or moose tracks or rocky road? wow! that would be incredible :) By the same token, sometimes if we ask for mocha almond fudge, he might only give us vanilla. Because he knows that we've had 4 shots of espresso that day and 2 cokes and 2 pieces of birthday cake! and if we ate mocha almond fudge, that would be too much and we would get sick. So what am I saying? I don't know exactly. I just want to be able to trust Him more, and not feel that last little bit of reluctance in my heart which prevents me from complete relenquishment of control....oh that I might get there soon and not be afraid. Because I'm my beloved's and he is mine...and his banner over me is love.
Trust: a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b : one in which confidence is placed
2 a : dependence on something future or contingent
I think the hard part for me is part # 2: dependence on something future or contingent, especially when I have no control over what happens or the direction something is going. If I can't depend on the outcome or even trust that the way to get there was valid or makes sense, then I get nervous sometimes. It's been interesting the last few weeks to learn more about myself and to take some of the initially hard to swallow thoughts and comments and just chew on them awhile (there's a good old central PA-ism there for ya). I guess not being able to trust in the sense of not being able to depend on future results shows a lack of trust in the sense of #1. If I can't trust that the outcome will be okay, even though the way doesn't make sense, then I'm not having assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of God. I think my lack of trust comes sometimes from not wanting to give up control, or the semblance of control. Making decisions without all the information is extremely hard for me. I've been trained to research all the information and then make the best decision given my amount of knowledge and experience and training. And then you revise your decision if new info comes along. But people aren't like that. You can't always just go back and take back what you've said or done. So if I don't know the answers, then I have to "let go and let God". Which is kind of crazy if you think about it. People who hear other people or voices talk to them and tell them what to do are generally called crazy and put in insane asylums!
It's also interesting thinking of how God gives us a choice on many things, yet we've been taught that He knows what's best for us. And he does. Sometimes though, praying feels kind of pointless in some respects, because if he knows what's best for us, then why bother asking for something that's not the best, if he's going to give it to us anyway? And why, if he's given us intelligence and made us in his image and put his spirit in us, can't we ever know what's best for us? I'd think that at least once we'd get it right, just by statistical chance. But I guess it goes back to limited sight, and seeing through a glass darkly. If you're a kid and you have only ever tasted vanilla ice-cream, you're going to ask your dad for vanilla ice-cream. But what if he gives you chocolate chip? It's still ice cream, it's still vanilla, but oh so much more tasty! And now your horizons are expanded. Or what if he gave you mocha almond fudge or peanut butter cup or moose tracks or rocky road? wow! that would be incredible :) By the same token, sometimes if we ask for mocha almond fudge, he might only give us vanilla. Because he knows that we've had 4 shots of espresso that day and 2 cokes and 2 pieces of birthday cake! and if we ate mocha almond fudge, that would be too much and we would get sick. So what am I saying? I don't know exactly. I just want to be able to trust Him more, and not feel that last little bit of reluctance in my heart which prevents me from complete relenquishment of control....oh that I might get there soon and not be afraid. Because I'm my beloved's and he is mine...and his banner over me is love.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Praise for the little things
This was so cool and encouraging today... it's kind of a little thing, but it means a lot somehow....
I had been working on this thing since approximately January at work. It was pretty simple and shouldn't be that difficult. Yet for some reason I couldn't get it to work, no matter what I tried! I felt so dumb, because I couldn't get it to work, and thought I was just missing something, etc... and I have been really discouraged about it. I've been avoiding doing this or anything like it, because I felt like I was stupid and it would never work because I can't get it. Then today I was "randomly" talking to another student who used the DNA that I had been working on, and he told me that the DNA was shorter than I had originally thought. Which means that of course I couldn't get it to work, because I was trying to do things with the piece of DNA that was missing! So it's not that I can't do this after all, I was just missing some information, and incorrectly thought I had something I didn't. So that was so encouraging! And it gives me renewed energy and focus to work on a bunch of things like that which I need to do in the near future. So thank you God for showing me that - I feel like it's a real "breakthrough"!
Please keep praying for my research and me as I try to finish up - things like this are so encouraging, and I pray that I will be faithful to work diligently and finish up in the time frame that's needed. I want to be honoring to my boss and to God, working as unto Him, and by doing so, being a witness and a testimony to God's grace in my life.
I had been working on this thing since approximately January at work. It was pretty simple and shouldn't be that difficult. Yet for some reason I couldn't get it to work, no matter what I tried! I felt so dumb, because I couldn't get it to work, and thought I was just missing something, etc... and I have been really discouraged about it. I've been avoiding doing this or anything like it, because I felt like I was stupid and it would never work because I can't get it. Then today I was "randomly" talking to another student who used the DNA that I had been working on, and he told me that the DNA was shorter than I had originally thought. Which means that of course I couldn't get it to work, because I was trying to do things with the piece of DNA that was missing! So it's not that I can't do this after all, I was just missing some information, and incorrectly thought I had something I didn't. So that was so encouraging! And it gives me renewed energy and focus to work on a bunch of things like that which I need to do in the near future. So thank you God for showing me that - I feel like it's a real "breakthrough"!
Please keep praying for my research and me as I try to finish up - things like this are so encouraging, and I pray that I will be faithful to work diligently and finish up in the time frame that's needed. I want to be honoring to my boss and to God, working as unto Him, and by doing so, being a witness and a testimony to God's grace in my life.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Friends
In case you haven't heard, the last few weeks have been craziness with moving/not moving/moving/not moving... throw a dart and see where it lands, moving/not moving.... you get the point. But it's been awesome to have felt the love of all of you, my friends, from near and far. You make me laugh, the thought of leaving you has made me cry, we've shared late night talks and early morning walks, and so many experiences and journeys together. Who can forget Men's Cooking Night to late night sleepovers to Pride and Prejudice to "girly conversations" to just being silly with each other, to encouraging one another and lifting each other up. Who could ask for anything more? God's love has been so evident in the way each of you has cared for me, sent me encouraging e-mails, given me advice (both good and bad!), teased me about being short, done things for me. I feel so loved, and am blown away by God's gracious gifts to me. It's going to be so crazy and sad to leave when God calls me on. So I guess it's a good thing I get to stay right here in Hershey and can continue this incredible journey and friendship with each one of you. That's right, you're not rid of me yet.... :) Stay tuned for more details.....
Love, Kel
Love, Kel
Saturday, July 22, 2006
sleep is overrated
I just have to say 3 things:
1) 2 am
2) flip-flop spades
3) doritos and m&m's
Do you know where your friends are? :)
1) 2 am
2) flip-flop spades
3) doritos and m&m's
Do you know where your friends are? :)
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
good things
I've been thinking lately about all the good things in my life, and how they add so much to my daily life and who I am. Yet at the same time good things can be really distracting, and if there are too many of them they can be really draining. Sometimes saying no to good things is what we really need, even though it's difficult. It's especially hard for me to say no to good things sometimes when they involve relationships with friends and other people, since loyalty and being a good friend are some of my highest priorities and make me who I am. Tonight I was supposed to go to EPIC, but there were a lot of things that have been distracting me lately, and a lot of things I had been pushing off. So I stayed home and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. And I realized that's a good thing too - both the saying no, and the cleaning of the kitchen. And now I'm just sitting in the livingroom, with a clean kitchen, one lamp on, the fan blowing and the windows wide open to the gorgeous night, listening to my favorite mix of songs, letting the peace and rest wash over me. And that is truly a good thing.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
contentment
today was interesting, as I would randomly realize I was content out of the blue. A lot's been on my mind lately, personally and with work, which kind of makes me preoccupied all day, as I tend to think about it and try to figure out what's going on or what to do. Stuff tends to cloud my mind also when I'm tired, and I was very tired today, as I haven't gotten much sleep in the last few days. But all of a sudden I would realize I had a very full and content feeling, which was neat. One was when I was in the pool at my friend's house, just sitting there doing nothing, having fun sitting in the water and enjoying the people sitting around me. (and I realize I need to get to the pool more, that's one of the things I really miss from being a kid! We used to go to the pool every night in the summer - it was great :) Then I went to church to help in the nursery with VBS. I had signed up a while ago, and didn't really want to do it today after all, as I was super tired, and preoccupied with what I have to do tomorrow. I really didn't have much energy to play with a bunch of kids! But my friend's daughter Ann was kind of fussy, since she wasn't feeling well. So I just fed her crackers, and then we just sat on the couch as she laid against my chest, and I rubbed her back for most of the time. And I found myself really content, sitting there with her fitting perfectly in my lap, with the fan blowing on us, just taking it easy since we both had a rough day. And I was being useful, just sitting there holding her. And I felt content and full and happy, and wishing I could just hold her more often. I love her Ann and her sisters so much, and they aren't even my own kids. It's going to be so amazing to be able to just sit and hold and enjoy my own daughter someday. It's so amazing how God makes little kids so cute and with such ability to trust and love and be loved. Well, I'm going to sign off now, as I have to get up early tomorrow, and I need sleep!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
walking by faith, not by sight
2 Corinthians 5:7 - We walk by faith, not by sight....The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Some verses you just know, since you've memorized them and heard them your whole life. Somehow they take on a whole new meaning though when you're actually living them. Funny how I reach back for comforting verses to reassure myself, as we often do. Give me a verse to comfort me and reassure me that everything's going to be okay. Funny how that's exactly what these verses do. And yet, stopping and thinking about the meaning, and realizing that's what you have to do right now. Somehow it's easier to say these verses and feel totally comfortable with the meaning when you CAN see what's ahead. Oh, yeah, walk by faith, not by sight, no problem! But sitting and wrestling with the practical, down to earth, immediate consequences of those verses when you really can't see...wow. not such an easy kind of thing anymore.
This has me thinking about our witness too. How many times do we rattle off verses to non-Christians trying to comfort them or witness or whatever, just because we've memorized them and those are the verses we are "supposed" to say, without truly wrestling with the implications of those verses? Do they truly have meaning in our lives? Do we remember the struggles we went through later on and what those verses really mean when things are okay again?
Some verses you just know, since you've memorized them and heard them your whole life. Somehow they take on a whole new meaning though when you're actually living them. Funny how I reach back for comforting verses to reassure myself, as we often do. Give me a verse to comfort me and reassure me that everything's going to be okay. Funny how that's exactly what these verses do. And yet, stopping and thinking about the meaning, and realizing that's what you have to do right now. Somehow it's easier to say these verses and feel totally comfortable with the meaning when you CAN see what's ahead. Oh, yeah, walk by faith, not by sight, no problem! But sitting and wrestling with the practical, down to earth, immediate consequences of those verses when you really can't see...wow. not such an easy kind of thing anymore.
This has me thinking about our witness too. How many times do we rattle off verses to non-Christians trying to comfort them or witness or whatever, just because we've memorized them and those are the verses we are "supposed" to say, without truly wrestling with the implications of those verses? Do they truly have meaning in our lives? Do we remember the struggles we went through later on and what those verses really mean when things are okay again?
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Business card briefings
so another of our many somewhat random topics of conversation this afternoon was about making business cards for our personal use, and what would be on them to be representative of ourselves. So of course I thought of putting a penguin on mine, because that would be something that would represent me, and when people think of me and my favorite animal, they think of penguins. (Plus I think it would be so cool to go to Antarctica sometime! and it would help me round out my goal of traveling to every continent in my lifetime.) BUT, giving out my business card with a penguin on it doesn't seem very...professional, or businesslike, or whatever a business card is supposed to represent. So there's this dichotomy between who I am and my interests and what I like and what people expect me to present myself as, or what they think an aspiring professional, educated, straight-laced graduate student should be! And that's precisely what I hate! Having to represent myself as something other than who I want to be just to satisfy the conventions or stereotypes of society. We even discussed that this afternoon, how I don't want to be "pegged" as anything and I'm continually trying to do things that will totally surprise people, and they would never imagine in a million years that Kelly would do something like that. So I don't know what to do with that. A lot of times I feel like I should just accept that - it's the way society is. And then I feel like I shouldn't have to accept it, because it just feels wrong.
honesty
So one of the things that really stood out at me from this afternoon's conversation was about blogs being honest or being only what you want other people to know/see about you. So that really got me started thinking about honesty and what it means. If you only reveal parts of yourself to someone, is that not being honest? I mean we often say that you have to tell the whole truth to be completely honest. But that often refers to someone conveniently leaving out information that could change the situation if it was known. Is it not being honest to not share information that doesn't necessarily change the picture? Can you be honest, especially about yourself if you don't tell everything? what exactly is honesty beyond not lying or intentionally misleading someone?
The other view from wood road...
wow, what an amazing evening. I'm sitting on the back porch writing this post, and it's the perfect temperature with the perfect humidity, the sky is clear and there's an amazing sunset. The lawn is polka-dotted with flashing fireflies, and the air is punctuated with the hum of the haying machines....I'm actually quite amused again. it's one of those "all's right with the world" moments, and one of those moments where oddly enough, all these random things seem to come together. Like being out in the fields watching the haying machines at 9:00 on a saturday night. It's funny and amusing and randomness coming together all at once! I have never known much at all about any sort of farm stuff, but a couple of weeks ago in my business class, we had a guy from Case New Holland come over and talk to us about farming equipment. I never knew it was so sophisticated and complex! It was intriguing, and one of those things I filed away in my mind for later. And now, just a few short weeks later, I can see it in action in the field next to my house! It's also funny, because the haying machine is John Deere, not CNH, which amuses me too (yes, only I would be amused by that!). It's just so perfect sitting out here, in this house, with this view, looking at the freshly cut lawn, and OH - earlier this evening I heard a rustling in the little thicket we have out back, thinking - that's a HUGE rabbit, and out ran a deer! Probably an early teenage deer, if it was a person. Quite cool! The first time I've really seen a deer here. Hmm, what to do next? Take a walk? Lay on the lawn and watch the stars?
almost anything on this perfectly perfect evening.... sigh.
almost anything on this perfectly perfect evening.... sigh.
Mt. Gretna musings
Okay, so here we go, my first foray into the world of blogging... :) I was sort of talked into it by my roommate Joanna to begin with the other day when she started her blog. I wanted to comment on her postings, but couldn't unless I signed up myself (which she has since changed). But anyhow, I decided to create a site but wasn't planning on posting anything, since I don't know what to write, don't know many people who would be interested in reading it, and generally didn't want to feel like I had to post anything on a regular basis, just for the few people who might actually read it! but that's digressing.... so this post is a specific response to somewhat of a challenge or an interesting idea that came out of this afternoon's discussion at the Jigger Shop in Mt. Gretna. John and Joanna and I were chatting, and the subject of blogs came up. I can tell that John has a really high opinion of blogs (ha ha :) and the joke evolved into seeing what a person really thought of something, someone, or some event by reading their blog. So then it was decided that each of us should post our thoughts on the afternoon via blog. Of course I can't resist a good challenge, so I figured I'd take up the task at hand. Plus, we had a really great conversation on the way home, it's a nice evening, and I'm home by myself sitting on the porch, so I'm in the mood to just chill out and discourse on the discussion of the afternoon :) And, amazingly, the past 15 minutes have flown by, since my spinach casserole is now beeping at me from inside. MMM, Spinach Fandango! An amazing recipe courtesy of my Messiah roommate Suzanne. Yum!
Okay, so I'm back. How to distill this afternoon down into a blog posting.... it started out as an idea Joanna had of going hiking this afternoon. I've never been to Mt. Gretna, though it is not too far outside of Hershey. She insisted that I had to go, since it was a cute place, and she couldn't believe I'd never been there! And I'm glad I went :) It is a quaint little town, very New Englandy feeling to me. Reminded me a lot of upstate New York, and the cabins that are around Lake Ozonia that my dad's family goes to each year. It really reminded me a lot of summer vacation for some reason, probably because of the way the houses were, the fact that there was a lake to swim in, and the little walking paths and stone steps going places. Oddly enough, it reminded me of an artisan community I visited in Taiwan! There were a lot of places with steep stone steps leading places in that town in Taiwan, which might be why I was reminded of it.
The whole afternoon was really nice, and I enjoyed walking around the lake and everything. But for me, the afternoon really picked up soon after we had finished walking on this little path that was connected to the main parts by those stone steps I was mentioning before. When we came down and out onto the main part again, we were by the Mt. Gretna Playhouse, which was performing a musical review of Cole Porter. For some reason, that just really tickled me that we were outside of it, watching part of it through the curtains. A lot of the places looked Victorian/dollhouse like, and it just highly amused me for some reason! Then we went to the gift shop, which was also fun. I like poking around in them and looking at all the different stuff they have. So I went inside, and when I came out, I found that Joanna and John had discovered a rack of puzzles! Wow, how funny! We have a thing for puzzles, and it was just so much fun being random and looking at all of these old puzzles and the comments written on them. So we ended up buying these puzzles, since they were only like a buck apiece. The funny part looking at these puzzles is that John and Joanna bought puzzles that had no picture on the front of them! while the one had an interesting name (golden harvest), I'm not sure I could have bought a puzzle with no picture on the front! Of course I had to look it up on google also, just to satisfy my curiosity! :)
so then we went from there to the Jigger shop to get some ice cream. John and Joanna were completely "puzzled" as to what to get (of course bad puns are par for the course, at least when John and I are around...) But they finally settled on something, and we sat down to commence quite a long but interesting conversation, about everything from Rachel's going away party to what we're doing on the 4th of July to blogs themselves to what we would put on our business cards to what would be something to define us, to the discussions and meetings that have been going on at Hershey Free - you name it, it was mentioned!! But that was the cool part about the afternoon, and it's just what I'm all about. Friends sitting around and having a good time with one another, giving each other a hard time but not too hard a time, discussing what's important in our lives, whether it be what to do for a good friend that's leaving, how to make a potato themed meal without potatoes, or how do you walk as a leader of the church and discern God's calling as well as remaining sensitive to and taking into account the church's feelings in the matter as well. It was just really neat. This evening when I was talking to Rachel, she was talking about leaving the group and she said "this group has a different feeling to it than other groups of friends I've had. you just feel peace when you're with this group". Wow. that really meant a lot to me. It's so true for me, and it's what I wanted God to accomplish through this group when it got started. I don't know that I could have articulated it that way back then, but it's so amazing to think that's what He's done for us. It will be hard to move on whenever God calls me to move on, but right now I'm just so thankful and so humbled by what he's done, that I'm just trying to enjoy every moment that I have while I have it.
Okay, so I'm back. How to distill this afternoon down into a blog posting.... it started out as an idea Joanna had of going hiking this afternoon. I've never been to Mt. Gretna, though it is not too far outside of Hershey. She insisted that I had to go, since it was a cute place, and she couldn't believe I'd never been there! And I'm glad I went :) It is a quaint little town, very New Englandy feeling to me. Reminded me a lot of upstate New York, and the cabins that are around Lake Ozonia that my dad's family goes to each year. It really reminded me a lot of summer vacation for some reason, probably because of the way the houses were, the fact that there was a lake to swim in, and the little walking paths and stone steps going places. Oddly enough, it reminded me of an artisan community I visited in Taiwan! There were a lot of places with steep stone steps leading places in that town in Taiwan, which might be why I was reminded of it.
The whole afternoon was really nice, and I enjoyed walking around the lake and everything. But for me, the afternoon really picked up soon after we had finished walking on this little path that was connected to the main parts by those stone steps I was mentioning before. When we came down and out onto the main part again, we were by the Mt. Gretna Playhouse, which was performing a musical review of Cole Porter. For some reason, that just really tickled me that we were outside of it, watching part of it through the curtains. A lot of the places looked Victorian/dollhouse like, and it just highly amused me for some reason! Then we went to the gift shop, which was also fun. I like poking around in them and looking at all the different stuff they have. So I went inside, and when I came out, I found that Joanna and John had discovered a rack of puzzles! Wow, how funny! We have a thing for puzzles, and it was just so much fun being random and looking at all of these old puzzles and the comments written on them. So we ended up buying these puzzles, since they were only like a buck apiece. The funny part looking at these puzzles is that John and Joanna bought puzzles that had no picture on the front of them! while the one had an interesting name (golden harvest), I'm not sure I could have bought a puzzle with no picture on the front! Of course I had to look it up on google also, just to satisfy my curiosity! :)
so then we went from there to the Jigger shop to get some ice cream. John and Joanna were completely "puzzled" as to what to get (of course bad puns are par for the course, at least when John and I are around...) But they finally settled on something, and we sat down to commence quite a long but interesting conversation, about everything from Rachel's going away party to what we're doing on the 4th of July to blogs themselves to what we would put on our business cards to what would be something to define us, to the discussions and meetings that have been going on at Hershey Free - you name it, it was mentioned!! But that was the cool part about the afternoon, and it's just what I'm all about. Friends sitting around and having a good time with one another, giving each other a hard time but not too hard a time, discussing what's important in our lives, whether it be what to do for a good friend that's leaving, how to make a potato themed meal without potatoes, or how do you walk as a leader of the church and discern God's calling as well as remaining sensitive to and taking into account the church's feelings in the matter as well. It was just really neat. This evening when I was talking to Rachel, she was talking about leaving the group and she said "this group has a different feeling to it than other groups of friends I've had. you just feel peace when you're with this group". Wow. that really meant a lot to me. It's so true for me, and it's what I wanted God to accomplish through this group when it got started. I don't know that I could have articulated it that way back then, but it's so amazing to think that's what He's done for us. It will be hard to move on whenever God calls me to move on, but right now I'm just so thankful and so humbled by what he's done, that I'm just trying to enjoy every moment that I have while I have it.
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