On openness - Too long I have stayed closed up inside, desperately trying to protect myself from discomfort and any form of danger. I've tried to clench joy and peace in my hands, but really the only way to live fully is to fully open day after day. I'm learning this slowly: you can't numb pain without also numbing joy. To laugh, to cry, to really feel can feel like you're standing on the edge of a cliff. But that is courage. And there, His arms are open to catch you - to hold you.
On thanks - A sign in Sac City's library reads, "it's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." Thankfulness opens my eyes to see good...to see God. It pries open my hands to receive the gifts I would otherwise miss. Being grateful is not a feeling - it is an action that completely alters my perspective. It changes me. Naming gifts every day turns my eyes toward the One who never stops giving.
On giving - Forgiveness and thanksgiving - two of the most powerful actions a person can choose to engage in - both involve the word "give." From texting encouragement to a friend to praying for people on the streets of San Francisco, God has heaped blessings upon me as I step out to do what is hard, scary, even "mundane." The world teaches us to take...Jesus modeled ultimate sacrifice. Which will I choose?
And finally, the truth that carries me from one moment to the next: He is with me.
Yes, fullness of God here...now. And there too, He will hold me. There in my college decisions. There in my work. There when I meet "the one." There...wherever life takes me.
Thanks be to God.
*For the inspiration behind these thoughts, I have to thank authors Ann Voskamp, John and Stasi Eldredge, Sarah Young, and many other people I have known directly or through their writings. Thank you!