Grilled Cheese Friendship

Today I had one of those quintessential fall days where I walked down a street in St. Paul which was perfectly lit with fall colors.  I was walking with Briana.  She is a friend for life...one of those people who has been with me since the first day of college.  And a little before.  When we met for the first time, we had grilled cheese for lunch.  I love this memory.   I, since this time, have become friends with Jamie Koch, who loves to MAKE grilled cheese for her friends.  She does it so well, and this is the best.  Once, we had our Bible study at her house and she made a whole bunch of them for us.  There is nothing like a grilled cheese and good friends at the end of a long day. 

Jamie Koch, if you are reading this, I want to eat grilled cheese with you again soon.  I'll bring the Tomato Bisque soup.

Sleeping and Waking

I woke up in a really nice way today to songs on Cities 97 that spoke to me.  However, before this, let me say before waking up, while sleeping, I've been having crazy dreams this week...really imaginative, strange ones that don't line up with reality.  I think this is because of all of the grading required this week just to keep things going.  I've spent a lot of hours poring over the writing styles of my students, and the dreams I have just feel wordy.  I love words, but not in dreams.  In the dreams, it just feels like chatter, and we all get enough of that in our day, right? 

I'm just glad that the settings in these dreams have stayed in modern times.  When they happen in other periods of history I wake up and have to analyze what would or wouldn't be historically accurate.  I HAVE to.  So that's annoying, even for me.  

The night before last, the dreams I had were just really silly things....saving a talking groundhog (with long, flowing hair) from his home business when people were trying to find him.  (And kill him?  Run him out of town?  Respond as another small business in these tough economic times?  Who knows..it didn't get that far.)  I threw him over the porch railing into bushes, and then I saw my sister there, eating biscuits.  It goes on and on.  I will spare you the details as they would prove to be quite the run-on sentence and I am in no mood for run-on sentences at this time of day.  

Middle

Over and over again, whenever I have tried to land on something to explain my life, I have come up with the very prominent thought that I am in the middle.  At least lately.  In the next breath I say, 'In the middle of what?'  If I try to pinpoint it and come up with something, I am only slightly successful.  I can think of elements of my life that are in progress, but it goes beyond that this week. 


There's a very different vibe going on when God is the Author and you really, for a lot of days and weeks and hours, relinquish the beginning and the end and stay present.  This week I have remembered again that I believe that God is in my heartbeat and my breath and my words.  When you mean it and don't just say you believe it, and the minute to minute continues to feel like middle ground, things change.  It's kind of thrilling...all avenues open when that kind of thinking is paramount.  This is where I see God's sense of humor, the importance of people, that the world is beautiful, etc. etc. 

But it's also very uncomfortable. 

Yes

Today is another day for putting up pictures and letting them say the words instead. 

Context, Brilliance, and Humility

I used to skip the forewords in books but now I don't.  I think I am learning the patience for the process in general in life, and it includes reading the very beginning of a book.   This morning, coffee in hand, and blissful silence all around me before a day in middle school, I was struck by the first sentence in the foreword of Mere Christianity. 

"This is a book that begs to be seen in its historical context, as a bold act of storytelling and healing in a world gone mad."

My Common Business

Throughout life, I have always felt best when I have a desk in my home that sits in front of a window.  There is something holy for me about sitting down in front of a view to sit and think and write.  It is where I feel most like the self that I am, and where I love to meet with God.   

Once in college, an ed professor I had gave our class 'The Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence.  It's short and beautiful and inspiring.  Brother Lawrence was a monk in Paris in the 1600s who believed that every common thing can be done to express love for God.  He washed dishes and felt God's presence there while he worked.  He says that meeting with God is simple and men make it difficult.        

A Collection of Mismatched Thoughts

Earlier today I posted some pictures of words that have inspired me.  I chose them because it felt like I was living them, or learning something about them.  There are some seasons in life when all avenues are open to learning and things just come to people very quickly and assuredly, I think.  I've been experiencing life like that, and it's sweet.   I'm going to make a list of thoughts on my mind.  There is no theme here.  I just have a lot of thoughts rattling around in me.  Lists always help. Here, today, the list is about LIFE. 

Quotes in Pictures that Make Sense to Me - Part II

It feels like it's about time for more quote pictures.  Words artistically written are the best!  I believe in these things. And they feel true about life.