The Pursuit of God

One of my goals for over the next couple of months is to read. A lot. I plan to post the tentative reading list soon, but until then, I want to share a prayer that is in the early pages of the first book I'm tackling: The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer. I bought this book a few years ago, and spotted it at the back of my bookshelf when I was packing things up last week. I decided it was time for a re-read.

Below is one of Tozer's prayers that I really loved, from the end of a chapter titled, "Following Hard after God." I found the prayer to be an amazing reminder that, as a Christian, I ought to be constantly striving for a deeper relationship with God. Here it is (with emphasis added)--

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me 

and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of 
my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. 
O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long 
to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty 
still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may 

know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love 
within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, 
and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee 
up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.

Maybe that prayer touched you, too, and maybe it didn't. In any case, happy last-day-of-January! I'll try to post that reading list soon!

~M

MM (15)

It's just another manic mindful monday...

Today (err....yesterday, when I typed this up and accidentally never actually posted it..) is going to be a super busy one as I get ready to relocate yet again (this one for a whopping 50 days). It makes me want to sing some of the Bangles' lyrics:

I wish it was Sunday (oh-woe)
'Cause that's my Funday (oh-woe)
My I don't have to runday (oh)
It's just another manic Monday....

My favorite aspect of that line is that Sundays are my "I-don't-have-to-run" day. It's perfect, because yesterday really was great, and while maybe I should have been running around getting things done, I didn't. I relaxed with my family for a delicious breakfast (we're big on those. In the words of Z: "You guys are the only ones in the universe who value breakfast over sleep."), went to a new-to-me church with Z, and basically spent the rest of the day lounging around with family and friends. These blessings remind me that:

God is good, and IMHO the grass is plenty green right where I am.

is the grass really that much greener??

(okay, so I was tempted to use this picture instead, but thought some might find it a bit vulgar...)

MM #14 (kind of)

Yesterday was a holiday (happy belated bday, MLK!), so we'll just pretend that's the reason for this relapse into "mindful monday on a thoughtful tuesday."

This week, this month, this semester, I'm working on simplicity. I am many things, but just ask Z: simple isn't the first one that comes to mind. I go crazy if I can't plan out every step of the day, let alone every step of my life. This comes in handy for staying organized, but sometimes it just really takes away with me being, as Z's s.i.l. puts it, content with where I am.

At the same time, I'm coming to realize that, for all the planning and organizing I do in my academic/social/aspirational life, I am quite a messy person. [This was something I was hoping to grow out of, but I think it's only gotten worse as I devote all my organizing energy elsewhere. Just ask my college roommate of two years. She'll concur.] But messy just won't do. This semester requires not only simplicity of planning, but simplicity of possessions, as I'll be jumping from place to place nearly every couple weeks this Spring. After a bunch of packing-and-unpacking thru my move back home, however, I've realized that I have a lot of stuff. (first world problems, anyone?) I thrive on being prepared for anything--read: I'm an over-packer--so this definitely won't be a simple task.

So...

hmm...

yeah, somethin jus don't seem right bout that.

our charleston detour

mom: well, we've had such a good time that i don't know how we'll make ourselves get in the car for seven hours.
jason: don't worry, you've done oyster shooters. now you can do anything.

[for the type A rule-followers out there: no, we did not drive immediately after having (shooting?) the shooters.]


In other news, Z informed me today that Mrs. Paula Deen has announced her [inevitable] onset of Type II Diabetes. Did anyone see this coming? (case in point)

speed-o-meter

There is absolutely no reason that I should squeal in excitement when I realize that my speedometer is in working function...

woot! (AND no check engine light?! successful day!)

Yet that was the case at 10:34am. Today, my '91 piece-o-junk decided to tell me how rapidly it was coursing the road, and I celebrated in my driver's seat. (and then immediately started driving various speeds and memorizing the RPMs at which they occurred so that when the dial stopped working [which it did, approx 1.75 hrs later] I would be able to estimate how fast I was going.)

The take-away here: I'm a really good gift-receiver. Anyone have an extra car lying around with which they'd like to test that claim??

atypical oatmeal.

i am an oatmeal fan.


and by fan, i mean i could probably eat oatmeal every morning for the rest of my life and never grow tired of it. (how could you, with so many flavorful possibilities out there?!).

but you're saying, duhhh, we awweady kno dat... 

okay, so i've posted about my oatmeal endeavors before.

this time it's different.

this time, it's savory oatmeal.

whaaaaat??? savory oats? impossible.

possible.

MM#13

woops, there i go again, forgetting about my whole "mindful monday" plan. well, i'm about 30 minutes late for this to count as monday, so i might as well just not attempt the mindful thing either. how about Mindless Monday? yes? alrighty then.

Sunday Funday

Nothing too exciting going on these days, so, taking inspiration from the blog of The Dardys [[a band that Z and I...er...grew close to(?) in Brooklyn last summer]], I'll conserve what mind juices I have left (not even one month out of school and I feel a bit dumber already) and simply post some muuuuusica to this here blog. It's never a bad thing. Especially when it's a sweet Jarle Bernhoft jig that my newly-24-year-old brother included on the annual Year of Music playlist that he gifted to us this year. Siblings. Gotta love em.



~M

gainesvegas

it's great. to be. a florida gator! 

school starts tomorrow, woot!

or should i say, one more semester, woot!

-Z

boo yah!

Last application to a school program, probably ever? Check.

PS- This is an actual screenshot, not evidence of how much time I like to waste creating images for this silly blog.

honest.

~M

Mantra 2012

It's like a campaign plea: Mantra 2012. Hey, maybe a guy (or gal) with the name Mantra will pop up and give us a real shot at propitious politics. I won't hold my breath.

Annnnyway, this year, 2012, I'm going to try and live by a single concept:  

No regrets, no excuses. 

 It's simple, it's comprehensive, and it's kinda catchy if I say so myself. Perhaps I should just go ahead and start a campaign afterall...

Nah, I'll just stick to my own, productive life.

This week, that means finishing my last doggone application. I really, really don't feel like going through the effort, but then I stumbled upon this sticky note... (Remember those?)

 Alright, alright, I'll do it. If I don't, I might regret it, and that's just not allowed.

~M

NYRs

It's that time of year. The first day, that is. So without further ado: it's new-years-resolutions time.

ZACK	MARIA
200 push-ups/20 pull-ups/ 10 mins of sit-ups errday Run errday. Be awesome. Errday.	Eat fewer desserts. Is ≤1 per day too unrealistic?? Be more punctual. Seriously. Gonna do it this time. Get back to having a daily devotional time. No regrets. No excuses. Minimize the occurrences of this:

Who says boys and girls are different?

Happy 2012 y'all!