greener pastures

Friday, my day off: pancakes, cameras, beach. :)




Today I ran more than I’ve ever run in my entire life.
That’s a cool feeling. It’s always exciting to do something completely new. At least I think so. I’ll get a few more of those days during the rest of my training. Ha…may not feel so “cool”!

So I’ve been thinking about a few different things. Ready for em?

Structure
So, by nature I’m not the most “structured” person. I don’t like planning things out and I’m a little cluttered. I hate routine. Throughout college I lived in an unorganized little chaos, but it worked really well for me. Everything got done, I spent time with those I care about, I did well in school, etc etc.
But recently I’ve been learning a lot about being organized and planning (within reason) and having a little structure in my life. Here’s my conclusion:
I’m all for living spontaneously. Fly by the seat of your pants, take chances, blah blah. But when it comes to other people, I think we need a little structure. Let me explain.
When you work with others, live with others, have a family, whatever the case, I think you need a little organization. In order to best love someone or show them respect you must be mindful of their time and their resources.
I guess what I’m saying is I think a little bit of my disorganization or clutteredness can be somewhat selfish. If I really want to put others first, I’ll plan or get things sorted out so I can work effectively with them. It’s just funny. I think when we begin to ask God to show us areas we can improve in or show us ways to really love others – often times they can be things we just dismiss as “oh that’s just my personality” or “it just makes me who I am”. Which is good and fine to an extent…but just because I may have impatient tendencies (for example) doesn’t mean I want to be an impatient person.
Yeah? Yeah.
I mean let’s face it, I’ll never be an Ashley A. and I’ll probably still lose my dayplanner, and I’ll never have a color-coordinated closet…but every little bit counts. Right? ;)

Other thought:
So this isn’t my thought, but these next statements have really been messing with me:
(speaking of Israel)
“He wanted his people to ‘loose the chains of injustice’ and not just go to church on Sunday. He wanted His people to ‘clothe the naked’ and not just attend midweek prayer meeting. He wanted His people to ‘spend themselves on behalf of the hungry,’ and not just sing praise music.
Personal piety and formal worship are essential to the Christian life, but they must lead to lives that ‘act justly and love mercy’ (Micah 6:8).”

Trying to understand what this looks like day to day.

Looking forward to being home with my family this week.
I miss them.