Being bored Saturday

So, I'm staying at home for the third weekend in a row (shocker I know). Friday I was thinking it's going to be a weekend of me laying around doing absolutely nothing.

I ended up actually waking up and doing laundry - oh joy. Then a friend called, so we went and got pedicures and had lunch. Pedicures are awesome! After my blog about pore strips, I've gotten a lot of flack... so, good thing you can do for your skin? Pedicures! :)

After lunch my aunt called and wanted to hang out - so we went to a movie, dinner, shopping, got dessert... by this time I was literally falling asleep. Busy day, but good day. Got to hang out with people I haven't seen for awhile.

Now it's Sunday... and I'm going to church for the first time in I can't remember when. :) Have a great day, everyone!

What is THAT?!

Have you ever noticed the things we do for our skin? I was pondering this thought last night as I removed the pore strip from my nose for the third time this week. As a woman who's beginning to see things in a different light, I think skin is evil. It's evil and there are too many things to do to it, several of them painful! There's washing, moisturizing, waxing, exfoiliating, the infamous pore strips, and the list goes on and on...

I have never waxed a hair from my body and I'm not sure I want to experience that pain. However, I will never forget the first time I removed a pore strip from my nose. My exclamations of "What is THAT?!" and "Ewwwww" rang throughout my apartment. Seriously... according to this thing, my nose is an invisible porccupine...and it isnt cute.

What is the purpose? Well... I don't want to think of what my skin would look like if I didn't take care of it as much as I'm starting to. It's just that peeling paper mache off your face isn't appealing, but man my face is soft afterwards!

Maybe I'll get to that waxing thing one of these days...

"Let's get something"

I'm not sure where to begin this post, but when I said those three words, it immediately sounded like a blog title. Sad how things in everyday conversation are suddenly being looked at in a different way. Lately I've had several conversations and then suddenly think or say "That sounds like a blog title!"

At any rate, when I used these words today I got a sense of joy in my heart. Let me explain the conversation that took place. I have been trying for several months to find a job elsewhere (other than the state of Nebraska). One of my best friends and I were both hungry and I said "Let's get something." She said 'ok' even though the problem is that we live 3 hours from each other. So we can't just "go get something." I told her that I can't wait for the day when I can say those three words and we can be together in five minutes. YAY!

With my whole situation on jobs and moving, sometimes it seems as if God isn't answering my prayers. Well, of course He is, I'm just not listening. He is waiting for the right time for me ... for the perfect job so I'm not struggling ... and preparing my heart for this life-changing decision that I'm about to make.

The conversation with my friend continued later that night after I received a call about a job in her area. I suddenly was giddy and twitterpatted and on an all-time HIGH! I was suddenly thinking of something new-things we could do... and they all involved church. In recent years, I have fallen away from being involved in church. My home church is a country church of approximately 400 members. It was here where I taught preschool Sunday School, 5th grade confirmation, and helped out with VBS for several years.

My new church is over 2,000 members and I do absolutely nothing to get involved. It's not that I don't want to. I've always loved this church, but as of lately I have been attending somewhere else because I'm feeling like it's not what I need. My friend had gotten a call from a church in her town asking her to take on an important task. The church she attends now also wants her to take on a ministry...

As soon as I got the call on this potential job, I immediately thought "I can get involved in church again!" I am excited about the possibility of getting this job, but I'm even more excited at the possibilities I'm going to have at church! God is seriously working my heart. I know this because I haven't been excited about getting involved in church for a long time. If... ok, when, not if... God will have something awesome ready for me, plus I will get to be involved in some wonderful ministries.

It's time for me to say "Ok, God. I'm ready. Let's get something!"

Scenery

I've discovered I have a fascination with water. No, not water that comes out of the faucet. Like, bodies of water... water falls, fountains, and the like. I've been attempting to decorate my apartment. I decided to go with two themes. My dining room will be lighthouses (which are near water...) and my bedroom is baseball (this should come as no shock to anyone).

So I'm driving by the campus of UNL pondering my decorating. I think about adding fountains to the dining room with the lighthouses... and then comes the realization that I'm fascinated with water scenes. Photography can never show the true scene that's right in front of you... but man! They are surely amazing! To take this one step further (as if you even wanted me to), I began thinking about scenery in general. God has created so many wonderful things for us to see! No scene is ever the same, but how many times do we actually stop and enjoy it?

One Saturday I was making one of my many trips back to Lincoln from Kansas City (yes, this happens a lot). I had left at 5:00 a.m. to make it to work by 9 (this has been known to happen several times, as well), and as I'm driving, I see this beautiful sunrise that makes me want to pull over. Mind you, it's 6 am and I am dog tired, but how wonderful it would have been to sit and appreciate this work of God. It had been quite some time since I'd actually SEEN the sun rise and seeing this one, made me appreciate things a little more. God spent time... such precious time to create wonders for us that we rarely enjoy, even the little things like a fountain in the middle of the sidewalk. God put it there, stop and enjoy it.




Niagara Falls - One of the many wonderful scenes I have yet to enjoy.

Marriage

On my way home from my parent's house tonight, I was pondering marriage. Not me getting married, but the idea as a whole. I can't believe how something as sacred as marriage, has turned into this "thing" that people just "do"... like they woke up one morning and just decided they were going to get married.

Having been single, literally forever, I've often pondered how wonderful it would be to stand next to the man God has for me, celebrating the many milestones of life. Three years ago my family celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of my grandparents. This day was so amazing! My family together, leaving behind all disagreements, all arguments... for these two people, who in a span of 50 years, had 14 children, countless grandchildren, and of course, many trials and tribulations that come with it. I look at them sometimes and wonder what they talk about, but then realize that God has put them here for a reason, together, in this moment.

Then you see the couple who has been married for 20 years, three kids, and the wife has recently been informed that her husband has been having an affair for the last year. Being single, it's hard to trust that God will bring us someone that we're compatible with. It's even harder trusting God that we can actually trust this person; for the rest of our lives.

After all the thinking about marriage and weddings, I got to thinking about my relationship with God. Marriage vows hardly seem worth anything to some people anymore, but sometimes that's how I feel about my relationship with Him. I've made these vows... these wonderful vows, to serve, to praise, to worship Him... but am I doing that? How am I holding to my end of the vows? God is always faithful. He will never break His vows - always there to protect us, to guide us. He never said it would be easy, He said we would never be alone. Which is true, but we need to keep our end of the vows too. Before I can truly long for the one person that God has planned for me, I need to concentrate on keeping my vows to Him and truly have that relationship with Him... not just a "thing" that I decided to "do" one day just because...

Having so much to say...

I was listening to the radio the other day when a song came on that totally described how I had been feeling for the past few weeks. My emotions had been at all-time high and listening to country music was not helping me. The song I'm speaking of is talking about being able to live with certain things, but living with regrets in one's life... the chorus says something about "What hurts the most was being so close; having so much to say and watching you walk away..."

How true is this for my life? I can't help but think of every day occurrences that happen, when I don't speak what I'm thinking, but instead I merely let the moment pass. On the other hand there are so many moments when I have spoken what's on my mind and have ended up regretting it in the end. Words are so amazingly powerful... they can leave someone feeling like they're the greatest person on earth, but they can also leave you feeling like you're two inches tall.

God is slowly teaching me think about my words before speaking - this has never been one of my best traits - even now, 25 years later, I still haven't gotten the message, but He's teaching me to not let the moments pass...