Becoming an adult...

Everyone always says that when you turn 18 you are officially an adult, but I don't buy it.  Looking back I see a major difference between my 18 year old self and my (almost) 20 year old self.  I know being able to vote and sign your own papers without a parental signature is all big stuff.  But is that what makes you an adult?  Isn't the word "teen" at the end of 18 and 19?

That being said, as I am about turn 20, I have decided to look back at all the memories of my teenage years with a warm smile.  Although these may have been hard times, they have been a long six year term of growth.  Things change, you obtain more responsibility each year,  you learn who loves you the most, dances, late night movies, walks, laying out with your friend, shopping, sleepovers, getting ready, school games, deciding where to go to college, graduating, going to college, dates, staying up WAY too late, dreaming of what is to come...

I know age is just a number, but age is a result of time, precious time.  And even though I would dream about being 20 when I was young, now I want to take my time, and soak each moment up, because my time here is short compared to what is to come!

So, thank you Lord, for a sweet 20 years of life here on earth, and thank you for the time that I still have left!

Weeding and other things

Today I decided to embark on my summer project, the garden.  I am not an experienced gardener so I wasn't sure where to start, but once I walked outside it was obvious where to begin. WEEDS! Not just weeds, tree weeds! If that is even a real technical term.  Anyway, after an hour of taking out leaves, fallen branches and twigs from our many storms, I began to weed it out!  Not my favorite thing to do, but I was happy to do it for my future flowers, vegetables, fruit, and whatever else I decide to plant this summer! So, it may not be pretty now, but at least it is weed-less!

Let me know if you have any wonderful gardening tips for me! I am eager to learn more!

It may not be our favorite... but look at what comes with it!

     The rain, as Ohioans we are long acquaintances with this particular portion of the water cycle.  Although I love the sun more,  I can't help be recognize all of the green rain produces.  So as for you May, the month of my birth,  as long as you bring pretty flowers after your showers it is okay if you take on a part of April's job!

The wait...

    I found this picture of a girl sitting and waiting behind a curtain she can see through a little bit, but she can't make out everything... It intrigues me in many ways and I will tell you why.
I am sitting waiting behind a sheer curtain myself, most girls around my age are.  We are all sitting, finding only glimpses of what is to come, what God's plan really is for us.

   But then again, are we really sitting as calmly and peacefully as this girl in the photo?

   Are we being patient, trusting, and hopeful?

   I don't know about you, but if we are being honest, I sincerely have not been sitting. I have not even been standing. I have been running around in circles without looking anywhere around me, focusing only on myself.  And truthfully instead of rejoicing in the fact that my Maker already has it figured out, I have been scrutinizing, devising, and speculating ways that I can trick Him into letting me see the future.  I heard a quote once and it struck me...
    
    "If you want to make God laugh... tell Him your plans."
And let me be the first to say, God has been cracking up at me for years!!
  
    Recently I borrowed the book "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers (even though I just started I will tell you it is a MUST READ! And if you didn't know already, because I didn't when I got it, it is a devotional) and yesterday's devotion struck me even more.  The title of it is "The Passion of Patience"... the PASSION of patience, not the technique, not a "how-to", not the discovery of, but the PASSION of... patience.  Chambers discusses the passion revealing itself through the glory, or knowing, of God.
  "Though it may linger, wait for it." Habakkuk 2:3

   My faith has been a waiting game, a game full of demand and expectancy of knowledge that I may never come to have.  So, if you are in the same boat with me, let's stop running in circles, let's stop our tunnel vision, let's stop standing once and for all...
   Let's sit, and rejoice in the vision of God, He is the only future I want, what else matters after Him?