Speaking of British Literature

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes!
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise!
My Mary's asleep by the murmuring stream --
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream!

Thou stock dove whose echo resounds thro' the glen,
Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den
Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear --
I charge you, disturb not my slumbering fair!

How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,
Far mark'd with the courses of clear, winding rills!
There daily I wander, as noon rises high,
My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye.

How pleasant thy banks and green vallies below,
Where wild in the woodlands the primrose blow:
There oft, as mild ev'ning weeps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.

Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides!
How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,
As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave!

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes!
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays!
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream --
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream!

<3

Loving Fathers

Mark Driscoll's facebook update last night:

"My 6 yr old girl sat on my lap for dinner, snuggled, held my hand continually, prayed for me, & ensured her photos were on my phone before my flight. Daughters are amazing."

Why yes...(part 2)

I spent almost all of the daylight hours on the computer with Jesus and my boyfriend, listening to sermons and talking.

Doesn't everyone?

Living on love

Sometimes sleep needs to be sacrificed. Sometimes you have to sleep thru your first class and have your Spanish prof ask if you're okay because you can't keep your eyes open in class. Sometimes you just have to buy that cup of coffee. Sometimes you have to sacrifice sleep for more important things.

And it's always worth it. <3

Never say never

Oh how I'll be glad to turn twenty. Perhaps my teen-aged "no one understands me/ what I'm going through" angst will magically disappear. (We can hope, right?)

~For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15)

~And that same high priest knows what we're going through, and (whether or not we know it) puts people around us who are experiencing the exact same thing.

"There's no one I can talk to, because no one is going through a similar situation." = so very not true.

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one.

Crazy faith

You're not asking if I love this man
I know you don't, you don't believe you can
Yet I've seen love open like a dancer's fan
It's crazy I know,
But my faith says so:
It tells me.

Why?

Why do I spend so much energy in mixing with the freshmen? Why do I break my shell of introversion and start a conversation when I'd just as soon sit in silence? Why bother? Why try?

Because I was first loved by Someone who didn't have to do what He did for me.

Christ didn't have to die on the cross to bring us closer to God. God didn't have to send Him to do so. But He did. And in so doing showed us love.

And sometimes freshmen, I think, know what it means to be unloved more than most people our age. They're in a new place, with new people, and they haven't found people who care enough to love them.

Without love, life is not much fun to live. It's kind of a drag to look around a room full of people and think "Wow, no one in here cares enough about me to even say hi."

Why?

Because someone else did it for me, and in so doing pointed to the One who loves more than we can ever imagine.

That's why.

A lament

I had a disturbing conversation with a friend today. He was talking about his ex-girlfriend, and how things had been since the two of them broke up at the end of last semester.

The conversation, in paraphrase:
Yeh, after we broke up she started dating another guy. And after 3 months of dating him she says she loves him just as much as she loved me before. Which tells me one thing: she never really loved me as much as she thought she did. And the thing is, she said she's breaking up with him before she comes back to school because she doesn't think she'll be able to stay faithful to him...

What?!?!

again, i say

WHAT?!?!!??!?!?

Does the word "love" mean nothing these days? I mean honestly! How can you say that you love someone, but not enough to be faithful to them? Isn't that contrary to what it means to love someone??

*sigh*

Oh college. Here I am. Back for another fun-filled year. By God's grace, I'm getting to see this friend that I was talking to make some serious changes in his life. Turning towards God after years of being an atheist.

I pray that God continues to make such changes in people. That more may come to know Him every day.

Goodbye, goodbye. Parting is such sweet sorrow...

It just caught up to me. I just sat down and thought about it, and realized that this summer completely flew. Not just in the sense that all summers go fast.

No. This one whizzed by at lightning speed.

All good things do I suppose. We were looking at those English books today (I'll tell you what was up with that if you like...) and I couldn't help but think that was the longest summer ever. Because it was (not completely...but mostly) awful.

It seems like I just got a job at Ruby's yesterday. Though my bank account would say differently.

It seems like we just had our first lotr meetings last week. But we've got a movie to prove otherwise.

It seems like May was not long ago, and yet...

It's good. I'm excited to go back to school. Ready? Maybe not. But I'm excited!

Here I go again...but not alone.