WOW....2017, you've been a good one!!
Filled with lots of laughs, lots of adventures, lots of Thomas Rhett, tons of hugs, a little bit of tears, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I can say that this year I've truly come to learn that the joy of the Lord is our strength. This kind of joy is not based on circumstances, solely on the love of Jesus. His love is mighty, reckless, all powerful, & sure is a pretty darn good reason to smile....even in the roughest of times!!
So here's some of my favorite memories of 2017 that I hope to never forget!!
1. New Years Day in SC
2. Hiking in the rain- still one of my favorite adventures of the year!!!
3. Sadie Hawkins Dance
4. The day spent with Grace (aka g-swizzle!)
4. Birthday dinner for my sweet mama :)
5. Spring break- waking up to see the sunrise & go shopping with Grace.
6. Painting pottery
7. HIKING!!!!
8. Dinner @ Osaka with Alyssa and Grace
9. My first time tubing, slightly terrifying but overall pretty fun!!
10. Turning 15!!!!!
11. Camping at Hanna Park for my birthday w/ the boos!!! Definitely one to remember!
12. Any adventure that consists of ice cream or Popsicles.
13. 4th of July
14. Pool party before nationals
15. The day we dressed up as cows to get free chick-fil-a & got free slushies because it was 7/11. I'll do anything for free food.
16. Trip to Washington D.C.
17. Bubble Run
18. First day of school!!!
19. Homecoming!!!!.... IT WAS THE 14TH OF OCTOBER!!!!!
20. Going to GA to surprise Kala for her birthday!!
21. All the football games!!!
22. Mud run
23. Decorating the tree!!
Can't wait to see what 2018 has in store!! You know what they say......the best is yet to come.
I have this mental checklist in my head. It goes something like this- once exams are over I will be able to relax and spend more time in the word of God; once competition season is over I will be able to breath; once this busy week is over I won't be so stressed; once I can drive, making plans will be sooo much easier. This list goes on to bigger things too like, once I get accepted to college all the worry will disappear or once I get married and have kids life will just be a bubble of happiness. I get it in my head that once I reach a finish line my worries will just fade away.... some how just magically poof away & i'll be free. Honestly it doesn't even make sense why I think that because every time I reach a finish line, another one pops up.
I want to look at everything and see it like I've never seen it before. I want to approach everything in life with excitement and an eagerness to love. I want my eyes to be filled with wonder. I don't want to miss a single detail of life because I looked at something like I've seen it a 100 times. When you look at something a 100 times, on the 101st time you just briefly glance. You miss the good stuff....the real stuff, the stuff that our hearts are craving to find. Yet we continue to crave it because we blind ourselves to beauty that's all around us. We will never see how wonderful God made this crazy life until we look at everything with wonder in our eyes.
This past weekend I was at a church retreat. Our whole theme for the weekend was to live a life without filters, to be real. We live in a filtered society. We try to cover up every ounce of ugliness and turn it into something beautiful. Truth is sometimes things are just ugly. We just need to accept that we are broken people that live in a broken world with broken relationships & broken perspectives. Brokenness does not need a filter to fix it, brokenness needs healing.
Okay is it odd to anyone else that right now you are reading this with 2 little round things in the front of your head that we call "eyes"? or that we stand on two legs that are oddly longer than any other part of our body? or that attached to our odd shaped feet are 10 stubby little things we call toes? like whattttt, why on earth are we like this?? here's the one that really gets me, hair. I mean besides that fact that I would look like an egg without it, why is it there? When I really think about the detail & intricacy put into each and everyone of us, I have nothing else to say but WOW. God truly is hands down the greatest artist ever. We are all so detailed & unique, it's crazyyyyy. I forget this truth a lot. Society makes us believe that we have to think a certain way, look a certain way, & act certain way. Often times I get caught up in trying to pursue this "certain way" & by doing so I cut out a lot of the beauty & potential God has for my life. Our beauty is found in the name of Jesus, and the name of Jesus is heard when we live a life true to ourselves. By trying to form ourselves to the standards this world sets for us, we are just saying that we're normal. Normal can be a good thing if we are talking about something like our health, but as a person, I don't want to be normal- that's boring. We are all so oddly unique & interesting, yet we still label ourselves as normal. If God wanted normal he would have made us all an army of identical robots, but he didn't. Instead He made you & no one else comparable to you- so stop striving for normal because your better than that.
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