Let's just have fun.

I'm discovering what it really means to live like a child. Completely abandoned to living life alive.
It's interesting how free we are as kids, and once we grow up the pressures of life...what we should become, what is expected of us, paying for bills etc., it can totally overshadow life in general.

Lately, I've been waking up and saying, "this can not be my life." As much as I say it jokingly, I really have been pondering this very thing with Jesus. I am finding I hate repition (which is probably why I am a fashion major) I need adventure, excitement, new challenges. It's hard for me to wake up and go through the same 'ol routine every day--it drains me, and sucks the life right from me.

Alas, I find myself in a season where there is much repition involved. So the only thing I've been faced with doing, is figuring out how to make it exciting ;) I am around kids a lot, so I get to observe them. They are very matter of fact. Their imaginations run wild. They don't think about what tomorrow holds, they are all in the moment. It doesn't matter what is going on, they tend to choose fun above all.

Then, I started thinking about Marilyn Monroe, and how she was noted as being "fun". This very thing is why she is still so prominent in our culture years after her being gone.

I can choose to be stressed, overwhelmed, working tirelessly to try and figure out the "pefect" plan for my life. Or, I can have some fun, jump at every adventure, and discover all there is to find in this beautiful world....and, trust that the rest is all going to be sorted out by Abba.

So, here is to a new journey of implementing fun in every aspect of my life...to endless adventures, and trying some new and crazy things!

Gracias, Marilyn.

Peace. Love. Joy.

Real Rest.

I think one of my strengths is that of being able to be busy and have grace for it. I have an ability to be a workaholic, and not allow it to overwhelm me...or at least I thought. This probably stems from the fact I grew up in a home with parents who work their butts off, and take on way more than the average person would dream about doing. So, in a way I grew up knowing what it was like to have so much going on in your schedule.

Last year, I spent 9 months in a very life changing place. I learned a lot about my heart, about life, and a lot about rest. Life slowed down for me, and I had plenty of time to spend with friends, but also plenty of down time. I soon fell in love with my down times, of not having to do anything but read, write, and even catch up on the latest blockbusters. I would look forward to it, and I learned that this place of rest was what charged me for living life alive.

I came home, started a new season of life, and jumped right into a 45 hour work week (sometimes 60 depending on the week), on top of college. It was an extreme shock at first, not having the ability to unwind at all. The first couple weeks, I was a mess adjusting back to this pace of life. But, soon it got quite normal again, and I even questioned taking on more (I know! I am crazy!)

I began to get swept up in the "workaholic american dream". The ability to have no life, live off of dozens of cups a coffee a day, have no time for real, deep relationships, and make lots of money.

I came to a conclusion though, through many amazing friends, and a quite brilliant sister, that it really wasn't worth it. Yes, I have things I need to pay for (college--debt sucks, therefore I won't be participating in it!), but living life NOW is so much more important. Yes, I can work my life away--I am quite capable of it, I assure you. But, at the end of my life when I look back will it have been worth it? I think not. I would have no real friendships, no fun moments, and no pleasant thoughts of my restful times spent in solace.

I want to look back on my life one day and know I lived it to the ultimate fullest. I had so much fun, I worked hard, but I also rested much. That is what I want. So from now on, rest will be scheduled into my planner, for it is the "bliss" of life, and the thing that makes life, well, life.

At the end of the day, I want to live life alive. That is the bottom line.

Soooo, here is to embracing rest. AND, making sure I do.
Hooray for life.
Peace. Love. Joy.

Vulnerability.

Vulnerability.
The place of being transparent.
Holding nothing back.
Taking off the mask.
Letting people in.

Easy? Hardly.
Maybe the biggest battle of all.
The choice everyday to fake it,
or to be real.
Reveal yourself to the world around you.
Open up and let someone in...
they may hurt you,
but if you don't take the risk you'll just hurt yourself.

By locking yourself away, and guarding your heart,
it grows cold; lifeless.
Life stops pumping through.

Taking the chance.
Being vulnerable.
That's the battle we face everyday.

Choose life.
Choose vulnerability.

Peace. Love. Joy.