Thrive

Saturate

Jessie

Poets

Real poets are artists - they can slice down an experience to its elemental parts. They are powerful, as they could use many words, yet deliver their meaning with conciseness and style. It's like dried fruit; much of the superfluous stuff is purged, bringing a heightened awareness of truth.

Letter to a Student: Confessions of a Nerdy Free-Spirit.

I took an unusually demanding college class. I spent every available moment working on the class, bleeding myself into it. I felt guilty and panicky if I took too much “unnecessary” time away from it (eating and showering were allowed as necessities, but just barely). I was committed to doing well in that class, sometimes to the neglect of family and social time. I have a strong inner drive not only to do the work, but to do it in exemplary fashion. What a concept. You see, it isn’t merely a hyper-nerdy tendency in me that compels me to spend such energy on important projects. It is also because I learn best by working through the process. When I’m switched on, it’s go time. I’m not a machine – I did break down (once or twice) and exhibit characteristics of a typical American college student (and suffered the grades of one). But in the long run it is time, attention, and serious study that yield good grades and success. Your professors will notice. Ask them for help if you need it. Talk to them after class to clarify a point, confirm deadline dates or assignment details. Take the extra steps and learn discipline. It pays. Promise.

Eyes on the Prize by Sara Groves. So earnest. Also one of my new favorites - it gave me goosebumps.

No Turning Back - Audrey Assad

Love the soaring and thoughtful aspect of this one. It's one of my anthems for the week.

Snowfalls at Night

I used to love when, on a cold dark night, it began to snow. I watched it with my nose against my second-story window. It was a safe feeling, knowing how cold it was on the other side of the glass and being snug inside. Sometimes, from downstairs in the kitchen, Pop would flip the switch and turn the flood lights on. The light illumined each snowflake as it fell against the blackness. I love this memory.

Photo courtesy of kitisconfused at photobucket.com

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Snow

The first thick fluffy snowfall of the season :-)

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The LightKeeper

"And God saw the light." --Genesis 1:4

This morning we noticed the goodness of the light, and the Lord's dividing it from the darkness, we now note the special eye which the Lord had for the light. "God saw the light"--He looked at it with complacency, gazed upon it with pleasure, saw that it "was good." If the Lord has given you light, dear reader, He looks on that light with peculiar interest; for not only is it dear to Him as His own handiwork, but because it is like Himself, for "He is light." Pleasant it is to the believer to know that God's eye is thus tenderly observant of that work of grace which He has begun. He never loses sight of the treasure which He has placed in our earthen vessels. Sometimes we cannot see the light, but God always sees the light, and that is much better than our seeing it. Better for the judge to see my innocence than for me to think I see it. It is very comfortable for me to know that I am one of God's people--but whether I know it or not, if the Lord knows it, I am still safe. This is the foundation, "The Lord knoweth them that are His." You may be sighing and groaning because of inbred sin, and mourning over your darkness, yet the Lord sees "light" in your heart, for He has put it there, and all the cloudiness and gloom of your soul cannot conceal your light from His gracious eye. You may have sunk low in despondency, and even despair; but if your soul has any longing towards Christ, and if you are seeking to rest in His finished work, God sees the "light." He not only sees it, but He also preserves it in you. "I, the Lord, do keep it." This is a precious thought to those who, after anxious watching and guarding of themselves, feel their own powerlessness to do so. The light thus preserved by His grace, He will one day develop into the splendour of noonday, and the fulness of glory. The light within is the dawn of the eternal day.

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(This is Spurgeon's devotion for this evening. I needed it.)

"Do what God asks you to do; God will do more than you can ask Him to do." Andrew Murray

Don't envy the folks who seem to prosper as they follow their own path. Follow God's path. He does not forget you.

"Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace." Psalm 37:37

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