The Bones, They Sing For Joy

Some words and paragraphs to ponder, written by Ann Voskamp in the book One Thousand Gifts:

"In the moment of singing that one line, dedicating the work as thanks to Him, 

something - the miracle- happens, and every time. When service is unto people,

 the bones can grow weary, the frustration deep. Because, agrees Dorothy Sayers,  

"whenever man is made the centre of things, he becomes the storm-centre of 

trouble.The moment you think of serving people, you begin to have the notion 

that other people owe you something for your pains...You will begin to 

bargain for reward, to angle for applause."

When the laundry is for the dozen arms of children or the dozen legs, it's true, 

I think I'm due some appreciation. So comes a storm of trouble and lightning strikes 

joy. But when Christ is at the center, when dishes, laundry, work is my song of 

thanks to Him, joy rains. Passionately serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant

 to all. When the eyes of the heart focus on God, and the hands on always washing 

feet of Jesus alone - the bones, they sing for joy and the work returns to its 

purest state: eucharisteo. The work becomes worship, a liturgy of thankfulness.

"The work we do is only our love for Jesus in action," write Mother Teresa. 

"If we pray the work...if we do it to Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, if we do it 

with Jesus...that's what make us content."

[image via Whimsicalities]

This Was My Weekend.

Shout out to Lizzy for the idea of a music video and corralling all those kids into participating. Shout out to Emily for welcoming us to the camping trip in the very first video clip I took on my iPod (when I was really just showing her that Lorenzo has a video camera) , which then inspired us to record the rest. And a shout out to all of the superstars featured in this video, because we had a fun weekend and I like them a lot.

p.s. This is the first time I've edited a video like this...which explains why it's not perfect. But I hope y'all enjoyed it!

Gone Campin'

Currently Listening To: Ho Hey by the Lumineers (thanks, Kath)

Well I am off to camp in the Rockies with a motley crew made of majority eleven-year-olds. I plan to see a million stars and to play a lot of card games and hike a lil and be okay with the fact that I won't have coffee and, mostly, have a lot of fun with these middle schoolers. Be back Sunday!

[image via Pinterest]

Summer Jam #1

Because apparently Carly Rae is here to stay. Let's just not fight it. (And besides, could a song sound more carefree-summertime-like? That's what I thought.)

When In Colorado...

Quote Love: "God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us." - Martin Luther

It would certainly be a shame if you didn’t hike any mountains or climb to the top of any waterfalls, wouldn’t it? Thankfully, I got the chance to go exploring in the Rocky Mountain National Park this past weekend. Along with a six-mile hike, I also:

   

• Got to hang out with and get know a new group of people

• Squished with eleven other people in a mini-van to get to the trailhead

• Shared some fudge with a park ranger who was super nice to us

• Drank the river water (and didn’t get sick…yet)

• Saw some elk (…in the town, not out on the trail.) and

• Was amazed at how beautiful Colorado is -- and what a different kind of beauty it is than the kind I usually see.

   

Next adventure: camping. This weekend. With middle-schoolers.

[pictures courtesy of Emily Nichols]

Hey Christian Girl...

Because, really, I think this website is the funniest thing. So enjoy!

 

   

 

Happy weekend!

Some Disorganized Thoughts

Currently Listening To: Knee Deep, Zac Brown Band

Here are some disorganized thoughts about week one on the job in Colorado (for more details about what I'm doing here, read this), to tide you over until I can give you some more organized thoughts:

 

- These are great kids that I get to work with. Twenty-six of them, at that. And they make me laugh with the things they say. (Luke, age 5, for example, first said that he had 'Blue Moon' ice cream last night (questionable?), and then that it tasted "like Superman, but a little bit blueberry.")

- My TCK (Third Culture Kid) upbringing is a big deal in my life, and I feel valued for it here. I've mentioned before that sometimes I feel like I compartmentalize that part of my life. Today, though, I got to be part of a talk about TCKs in general to all XTrack participants, and then be on a panel to answer their questions and share my experiences. And it was really neat.

- I have two great team-mates and basically an adopted family. We laugh a lot and I couldn't ask for a better team to work with.

- 8am - 3pm is a long time to spend with a group of kids. I'm kind of glad that I'm ultimately teaching secondary, where I'll get to rotate through different classes of kids. And I have huge respect for all those elementary teachers, who work with the same group of kids all. day. long.

- Our teen program is middle and high school, and this year our "teens" are majority eleven-year-olds going in to sixth grade. As my student teaching placement for the Fall is in a sixth grade classroom, this has been amusingly eye-opening in terms of the age/maturity level of the kids I'll have in the Fall. And I can't wait.

- Summertime, being 21 and carefree, and it only costing $5 is plenty of reason to get a purple feather extension in my hair. Am I right?

- I love that I get a teaching experience like this -- one where we pray at the beginning of each day and are encouraged to love on and build relationships with each of the kids -- to pave the way for all my future teaching experiences.