isaiah 12

you will say in that day:
“i will give thanks to you, o Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
behold, God is my salvation;
i will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. and you will say in that day:

“give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
shout, and sing for joy, o inhabitant of zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of israel.”

THE MONTHLY CHALLENGE.......CHALLENGE

(disclaimer: this would have been much more appropriate if i had posted it in january.) greetings earthlings! happy new month!!
so this year, instead of doing new year's resolutions, i've been inspired by my supertastic friend kara to do (cue the snl voice over guy) *MONTHLY CHALLENGES*.
now you may ask, what is a monthly challenge? it's a challenge that you have to complete every month. obviously.
basically, the game plan is to set a challenge at the beginning of every month, and if you complete the challenge, you give your self a prize. *arrested development quote of the day* "a lovely, lovely prize."
my january challenge was to do yoga every day. i never thought of a reward for myself if i completed that one, so i failed. shame HOWEVER, it was good for me to do, because now i know what realistic monthly goals are. and i know to give myself a prize at the end. it IS the most important part of this exercise.
as today is the first of february (the day when charlie went to the chocolate factory, in case anyone was wondering), i have my monthly challenge; i am going to read THREE spiritual books. a chance to die (a biography of amy carmichael) by elizabeth elliot, a praying life by paul miller, and either just do something by kevin deyoung or worldliness by cj mahaney. my prize will be to go to borders at the end of the month, and buy myself a novel. i'll probably read it too.
the reason i'm blogging this is so i have massive amounts of accountability on the matter. cuz, ya know, accountability is good.
oh yeah, and i'm going to tweet nothing but bible verses. henceforth, february shall be known as "the holy month".
thank you, and good night.

ps february is also wes anderson character profile picture month. please plan accordingly.

a visit back to childhood

FAVOURITES OF THE TRIP

song: let her dance - bobby fuller four
movie: breakfast at tiffanys
night: tuesday
day: sunday
drink: watermelon bubble tea
food: super fake pancakes
place: georgetown
activity: hair dying
show: arrested development
conversation: music/movies/life with emily and danny
hug: molly's hello
moment: at panera, listening to my old, dear friends laugh

won't

sometimes i want to feel
special
so i do things to impress
sometimes i want to feel
priceless
so i look at my great worth
sometimes i want to feel
significant
so i see my own distinction
sometimes i want to feel
unique
so i go against the grain
sometimes i want to feel
something
then i remember that i won't

so when does real life start?

there are nights when i can't sleep
and nights when i just don't
i'm just saving my sleep for real life

sometimes i try hard to think
and it doesn't always work
i'm saving my thoughts for real life

the moments i breathe are fixed
and they're short-lived and sweet
i'm saving my breath for real life

i gravitate towards living
and it's harder than it looks
i'm saving my life for real life

plain, common, regular, normal

most people are ordinary. they're born into ordinary families, go to ordinary schools, get ordinary jobs, and live ordinary lives. they meet other ordinary people, have ordinary relationships, ordinary marriages, ordinary children. they meander through their ordinary existence until they do their final ordinary thing; die. it's so strange that we ordinary people tend to look at the extraordinary among us and wish we had what they have. [if only i had this extraordinary singing talent, if only i had this extraordinary acting talent, if only i had this extraordinary athletic talent] until we vicariously live our ordinary lives through extraordinary people.

but the truth is, we're all ordinary. we're all so terribly ordinary that we make it a game to see how far from ordinary we can get. and the person who gets farthest from it honestly doesn't get very far at all. so i can crave a different lifestyle, i can pursue my talents with reckless abandon, i can work at something until my strength gives way, but within myself, i will never be extraordinary. hm.

.

what do you do when you fall in love with your best friend
what do you do when you break just as you start to bend
what do you say when your words always get in the way
what do you do when the hardest thing is best for you

what do you think when your thoughts always come from your heart
what do you think when the one you trust tears you apart
what do you say when your words keep getting in the way
what you do you think when you know you're standing at the brink

when you took that leap you knew you'd fall
you just didn't know it hurt so bad
when you stopped falling and hit the ground
when you loose something you never had
but you thought you had