Thursday, November 28, 2013

Giving Thanks

Around Thanksgiving, I enjoy watching my news feeds fill up with people's lists of things for which they are thankful. From family and friends to the blessings, great and small, that we have in our lives, I appreciate and echo the grateful sentiments of my friends and loved ones.

But on Thanksgiving Day, there is one thing in particular for which I am most thankful.

It's this guy:





Happy 3rd anniversary, my baby. I'm so thankful (thank You, thank You, thank You Lord!!) that I met you three years ago today.

Best Thanksgiving...of my life!!! ;)

Thursday, November 21, 2013

All Quiet on the Western Front

If you wondered where I went this past month, it's here:



And no, it wasn't to shop. I got a job!

While working in retail at the mall isn't exactly my dream job (I don't know what that is yet, because I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up...), the Lord provided the perfect opportunity at just the right time, and here I am! I wear a suit, I work 35-40 hours a week, I'm eligible for "benefits" and 401K's and other things I don't really understand. I accrue P-T-O.

In other words, I'm a grown up. :)

In case you're wondering where in the mall would require a suit, let's just say that it's an upscale-ish mall, and I work in a store that's pretty faincy. The name of the place doesn't really matter. I've never been a brand person, and I'm even less so now that I'm constantly surrounded by labels and people who worship them. Romans 12:2 has become a daily prayer and reality. Suffice it to say, my real job is living to the Lord, and learning to live Him in this new environment has proved to be not only a salvation but a joy. An exhausted, aching-feet-and-back, making-dinner-the-night-before, getting-home-late kind of joy, but a real joy nonetheless.

Remember all those lofty goals I wanted to accomplish before my next birthday? Well guess what.

I now have a routine! I get up at the same time almost every day--6:00 a.m. baby! I have to, otherwise we eat fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and that is NOT acceptable (and also not affordable).

I spend time with the Lord almost every morning! Even if it's just a few minutes of quietly breathing His name while still half asleep, and/or staring at a page of the Word until a few of them come into focus (literally, and spiritually), this one thing alone feels like the greatest victory.

I exercise on a regular basis! Yes, it's only a piddly 5-minute ab routine plus a single 15-minute mile (don't laugh) on the treadmill 2-3 times a week, but after a couple of years of doing NOTHING, it feels so, so good. Take that, 31-year-old metabolism and cellulite! 5K this winter, 10K in the spring, and half marathon next summer! I can totally do this! Who's with me?!? (No, seriously. Who wants to be my running/racing buddy? I don't think I'll actually do any of the above without an accountability partner...)

I check social media less, because I simply don't have time anymore. And I love it. Instead, I find myself reaching for the Word, hungry for the ministry, and seizing the few precious opportunities I have to get together with the saints. I feel liberated. The cage of a job has actually set me free from the prison of isolation and idleness (yep, having nothing to do can be a prison) to enjoy and pursue the Lord in a richer, clearer way, and I am more grateful every day for His wisdom, mercy, love, and grace.

Even when my feet and back are killing me and I'm eating dinner at 10:00 p.m.

In everything give thanks! Thank You, Lord.

Also thank you to Aaron Morgan, aka the #besthusbandever, for cheerfully appointing himself the de facto dish washer, bathroom cleaner, laundry do-er, and my personal sanity manager while I figure out how to do this housewife/full-time-worker juggling thing. You deserve all the cookies. ;)