being about the Father's business

This convicted me, challenged me, and blessed me oh-so-much. And that's all I'm going to say about it.

"Stick with your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil’s dogs; do not fool away your time chasing the devil’s rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let critics malign, let enemies accuse, let the devil do his worst; but see to it nothing hinders you from fulfilling with joy the work God has given you.

He has not commanded you to be admired or esteemed. He has never bidden you to defend your character. He has not set you at work to contradict falsehood about yourself which Satan’s or God’s servants may start to peddle, or to track down every rumor that threatens your reputation. If you do these things, you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord.

Keep at your work. Let your aim be as steady as a star. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted slandered, wounded and rejected, misunderstood or assigned impure motives; you may be abused by foes , forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men. But see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose for your life and object of your being until at last you can say 'I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.'"
- author unknown

perspective

i could think like this:

tomorrow will be the first of eight consecutive days that i have to work. kill. me. now.

i still have two research papers to write. they were due monday. whoops.

my skin is breaking out.

my butt is getting bigger methinks.

my cat hates me.

 i wish i would have majored in something fun like graphic design.

my room sucks and it's stacked high with wedding crap.

...or i could think like this:

i'm going to have ample opportunity to show Christ to my co-workers this week.

i'll drop to part-time and focus more on school.

my skin could be worse.

B will like my big butt. when we get married, i mean.

i still love my cat.

egalitarianism and complementarianism are fun to study.

i have a cool new rug under all that crap...
that i'm going to use.....
at my wedding....
because i'm getting married...



perspective.
who knew.
-c

ten ways

diy: place cards

i've been working on these pretty babies all evening. i think B would be proud that i actually came up with something original for our wedding--  rather than just recreating some else's genius that i saw on pinterest.

-c

normal

two days before the biggest meltdown of my life, i sat down at the dining room table and jollied in how easily the wedding was coming together. it was almost too easy. i had the photographer of my dreams booked, my mom's renovated wedding dress to wear, a pair of discontinued seychelles shoes that i scored on ebay, a caterer (who doubles as my best friend from high school), musicians (who double as B's friends), an officiant (who doubles as B's dad), and a cabin in the woods (which makes our whole wedding double as a week long family vacation).

and then it was time to tackle the guest list. HANDS DOWN the most daunting thing about planning a wedding y'all. just the thought of having a ton of people there on my wedding day sends me into a hyperventilating frenzy; and on the other hand not inviting them and disappointing them sends me into a hyperventilating frenzy. so either way, there's a hyperventilating frenzy in store. for me at least. i begged brandon all night that night. i begged him to not make me have a wedding.

in a lot of people's eyes "it's not normal" to have such a small wedding, but to me, small is the only normal thing. him, me, our immediate families, and a few of our closest friends hanging out together at home is normal. i want things to be normal as i walk into the new normal. i don't want to be frazzled about a strict schedule of formal & traditional whatevers, and i really don't want a dance floor. i want to sit down at the dinner table with my family and laugh and have conversations together. i want our friends to grab guitars and play music out on the balcony all night. i just want a chance to be together and actually really be together.

contrary to popular belief, a wedding day is not all there is. it just happens to be the first day of even bigger and better days. every day i spend with B as my husband will continue to be the best day of my life, even if it's not all fancy-schmancy and perfect.

because life's not that way.
life is rather normal.

and i'm excited about it.

-c