Peacefulness 

There is a certain peace that comes from being outside before the sun has risen; before everyone has woken up, when the birds, the ducks, and the rabbits have full reign of the earth. It feels like a completely different world: a calm and peaceful world without the busy everyday life commitments of work, busy schedules, and requirements of life.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ –Romans 5:1

I'm not someone who regularly ever gets up before the sun, but today, when I had to wake up at 5 to get to work, I experienced this sense of peace. The weather was mild; a perfect balance of the fresh feeling of morning mixed with the beginnings of summer, and for a person who is usually cold, there was no sign of any cool-weather induced goosebumps or shivers.

I imagine that this is what God experienced when he 'hovered over the waters of the earth" in Genesis 1:2. This is a sense of peace that I want to experience more in my life. As I have been studying the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22), I have been looking for examples of application of these fruits to my life. And today, I felt PEACE. A peace that was necessary. A peace that made me thankful to have experienced when I left my room at 5:45 even though it was early. A peace that got me through the 11 hours of work ahead of me that I was so anxious about before.

Thank you God for Peace. I needed it.

What is.. Love?

Recently I've been having a tough time getting to sleep. I don't know what it is, (maybe the fact that I've been sleeping in lately, or using the computer before I go to bed), but it really has taken a toll on me. I'm pretty sure I yawn in class at least 20 times every hour (which is awkward when the teacher glances in my direction).

Anyways, a friend recently reminded me of something that my pastor had recently said that helps him when he can't sleep. He suggested taking a passage from the bible, a Psalm perhaps, and taking it word by word and just meditating on each word; thinking about what that word really means. So, a couple nights ago I tried this, and I can't remember when I fell asleep, but it did help. I don't even think I made it through the whole verse. As I was reading 1 Corinthians 13 today, I mulled over the verses about Love (the ones that are often cited at weddings- the 'Love is patient, love is kind' ones) and I think that it is important to break down these verses and really look at what the words mean. I think that this passage is often used without really digging deeper into the meanings, and I believe that there is a lot behind these verses that can be applied to our own lives. 

Before the 'Love is patient, love is kind' verses, 1 Cor 13:2 says that "...if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing". The bible emphasises love so strongly as something that we cannot live without embracing. In verse 4, it (as some of you probably know) says, "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." And stop there, for a minute. I, for one, know that I definitely struggle with all of those things. I am not patient or kind all of the time and I can definitely think of times when I have envied, boasted, and not been humble. In fact, I struggle with these things on a daily basis. The other day when I was at the grocery store,