Good To Me

I went for a much needed walk in "my" park tonight. Just time for me and Jesus to chat about some stuff. It wasn't a planned thing. But it was oh so good. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a few of the pictures I took as I walked.

But for tonight, this song came up over and over as I walked and prayed.

He is good. And I am crying out for healing and freedom from Him. He is my hope.

Friday Smile List

Well, it's Friday again, and we all know that I like Fridays. However, sometimes they start out really great, and by the time I make it home in the evening, I'm starting to feel lonely, crabby and exhausted. So, I thought I'd start the process of gratitude and choosing joy nice and early today, and share a few things that are making me smile.

• Jeans at work
• a mug of passion tea, a leftover donut, and a tin of canned peaches for breakfast
• sunshine outside my window
• a great quote for the day (see my earlier post) on the calendar that was a gift from a friend
• the memory of a greeting card I purchased recently. (I'm sure one of you will get it in the mail from me.) The front has a picture of some trees and a large grey "hill" and reads "Everyone should believe in something bigger than themselves." You open it and discover that the "hill" is a part of an elephant, and read "I believe in elephants." This is my rather twisted and deadpan sense of humor. When I saw this one, I had to purchase it.
• the large raven that just flew by my window
• the fact that I have an office window
• hemp lip balm from the body shop
• the audio book I'm currently listening to as I drive to and from work
• a very cute and comfy hoody
• the prospect of a long weekend
• plans to do a bit of shopping after work, and then head home and engage in my favorite decadent pasttime by hanging out in a nice hot bubble bath with a mineral mask on my face, watching last night's season finale of Grey's Anatomy on the internet
• owning an ipod, which lets me listen to such a wide variety of things while I'm driving to and from work
• a fun conversation this morning with a coworker
• plans to go for a nice long drive and listen to a much more heavy audiobook tomorrow while enjoying the scenery of the mountains and foothills.
• the fact that I was actually sort of hungry to eat breakfast this morning
• the memory of a prayer a friend emailed to me the other night, where she asked God to arrange for me to get some hugs this week - I have gotten a few - a few really heartfelt ones, and one really awkward one, but I'll take them any way they come!

And with that, I'm off to start what promises to be a very full day!

Today's Quote

I loved this quote that appeared this morning on the calendar that my friend recently gave to me.

"Lord, you are my lover, my longing, my flowing stream, my sun; and I am your reflection." (Mechthild of Magdeburg)

And one more thing...

Is nepotism some sort of really uncommon word? Because it's a word I've heard fairly commonly used, but at least twice (and I think a few more times than that) this week I've used the word to describe a situation I'm aware of, and the person or people I was talking with looked at me blankly and asked "what's that?"

Seriously, is this not a commonly known word?

Hmm...

I'm trying to decide what to say.

A few minutes ago I was chatting with my roommate J., and the words were tumbling over themselves in their rush to make an appearance.

But just at this moment I'm not certain how to phrase them.

It's been a busy few evenings.

Dinner last night with a dear friend who I only manage to connect with every few months. Such a blessing to laugh and cook together. To eat and talk and share life. There aren't many friends like that left in my life, and even fewer left here in the city, so time with her is always special.

And then tonight I reconnected with M. She's just returned from 8 months overseas. That connection was a bit weird. But it was fun in many ways to do some errands together and chat about the more mundane stuff of life.

And with those things said, I think I'm going to leave it here for tonight. I need to pray and journal and read for a bit before sleeping, and I need to try to be turning my lights out within the next hour or so.

Tomorrow is Friday! And then a long weekend. I'm ready for the break!