Monday

For many of my friends, today probably went something like this:
Get up super early, drive in awful morning traffic, walk a mile to class, sit in boring lectures all day, return home, fulfill social obligations, and do homework to prepare for it all again tomorrow.

My Monday, on the other hand, a Monday of a college graduate, went a little like this:
Roll leisurely out of bed at 10am, eat breakfast, read Classical Apologetics for two hours, go shopping, read aforementioned book in Barnes & Noble for an additional hour and a half or so, eat supper, read fashion blogs, and have an invigorating evening run at the park.

Yeah, I win.

The Ballad of the Goodly Fere

This weekend, I picked up the book Wild At Heart:Discovering the Secrets of a Man's Soul while visiting friends and couldn't put it down. This book describes the heart of the Christian man and why it's designed the way it is. In the book, the author John Eldredge quoted a poem by Ezra Pound that gave me a whole different way of thinking about the kind of a man Christ actually was. Before I leave you readers with the poem, I would like to explain like Eldredge did in the book that "fere" is an Old English term meaning something like "companion" or "mate," so here it is:

Ha' we lost the goodliest fere o' all
For the priests and the gallows tree?
Aye lover he was of brawny men,
O' ships and the open sea.

When they came wi' a host to take Our Man
His smile was good to see,
"First let these go!" quo' our Goodly Fere,
"Or I'll see ye damened," says he.

Aye he sent us out through the crossed high spears
And the scorn of his laugh rang free,
"Why took ye no me when I walked about
Alone in the town?" says he.

Oh we drank his "Hale" in the good red wine
When we last made company.
No capon priest was the Goodly Fere
But a man o' men was he.

I ha' seen him drive a hundred men
Wi' a bundle o' cords swung free,
That they took the high and holy house
For their pawn and treasury.

They'll no' get him a' in a book I think
Though they write it cunningly,
No mouse of the scrolls was the Goodly Fere
But aye loved the open sea.

If they think they ha' snared our Goodly Fere
They are fools to the last degree.
"I'll go to the feast," quo' our Goodly Fere
"Though I go to the gallows tree."

A son of God was the Goodly Fere
That bade us his brothers be.
I ha' seen him cow a thousand men.
I have seen him upon the tree.

He cried no cry when they drave the nails
And the blood gushed hot and free,
The hounds of the crimson sky gave tongue
But never a cry cried he.

I ha' seen him cow a thousand men
On the hills o' Galilee,
They whined as he walked out calm between,
Wi' his eyes like the grey o' the sea,

Like the sea that brooks no voyaging
With the winds unleashed and free,
Like the sea that he cowed at Genseret
Wi' twey words spoke' suddently

A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea,
If they think they ha' slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.

I ha' seen him eat o' the honey-comb
Sin' they nailed him to the tree.

SDG

Shopping Success

I went shopping today and made out like a bandit. I got three pairs of shoes, a pair of skinny black dress pants, a dress with a pretty black floral patterned bottom and a cream top, and a dressy maroon top for whenever I get a real job. All of these items were purchased for - wait for it... less than $50! Hurray for sales and coupons! Also, Saturday I got a new pair of dark wash skinny jeans to wear in the fall, but let's get back to the shoes, though. Through scoping out various online stores and fashion blogs, I have fallen in love with the Oxford. I love how they look with above the knee skirts and dresses and with skinny jeans. Today, I got these:

While perusing a giant pile of mark down shoes, I found some adorable yellow flats. One can never have too many adorable flats, so I got these:

Finally, you may recall my lament over the Clark wedges I couldn't find online. Well, today I found some similar in color (mine are brown, not black like the picture), but a little more dressy, for about 60% less:

Life lesson of the summer:

Just when you think you've got a handle on life, it swings you sideways, you do a couple of somersaults in the air, fall flat on your face, manage to somewhat sit up on your knees in kind of a hunched slouch position, and then violently throw up a few times before you can try to grab hold the next time it comes around.

Shoes!

I found some Clark wedges while browsing online.

They are pretty, and I can already see how beautifully they will go with numerous outfits I have already. However, no where online has my size in the color I want! So frustrating. I could cave and try to find them at a shoe store in town and pay the $80 - $100 they would inevitably cost, but knowing that they are out there costing half that, well, that's just really dumb to me.

So, either I must diligently keep watching eBay and other discount shoe sites or come to terms with the fact I will not get these shoes. Oh, shoes, so close, yet so far away....

Nanny Diaries

Started a new job today. I'm a nanny. I'll be working every Wednesday after school hours until September when I will start full time... unless I'm offered another job before then. There are three kids - super cute and smart, but they have a TON of energy. They run around all over this huge house, and I get really nervous if I don't hear anything for a while. Anyway, I help with homework, cook supper, wash dishes, make sure the kids are washed and that they pick up after themselves, and I'll be given more responsibilities in the later weeks. I honestly enjoy most of the stuff I'll be doing, but I know it's going to be very draining.

On a side note: I heart Pandora. My favorite thing to do for a while has been to set it to my Indie Rock station and read other people's life blogs - people with new babies and cool marketing jobs, and awesome vintage clothes and furniture, and a musician husband - and picture my future as turning into something just like that.
SDG

Dead In Our Sins

Ephesians 2:1-5

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--

This passage says we were dead in our trespasses. This simple statement is so significant. It calls attention to our complete helplessness to save ourselves, to go from spiritual death as "children of wrath" to adopted sons and daughters with spiritual life.

Many might argue that we have the capacity within ourselves to seek God to earn salvation -- that we, of our own desires, without the work of God in our lives first, have the ability to go to Him and be saved. However, if one is spiritually dead, how could this be so? Can a physically dead man breathe and come alive again of his own volition? This is obviously not possible, otherwise there would be a lot more people roaming around. Therefore, in the same way a physically dead man cannot live again, a spiritually dead man is helpless to gain spiritual life.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 illustrates this point. God shows the prophet Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones. God asks Ezekiel in verse three, "Son of man, can these bones live?" The answer, "O Lord GOD, you know." God then tells Ezekiel to prophesy, and as he does so, the bones come together, are covered with muscles and skin, then are given breath. God says in verse 11, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel." The bones represent God's chosen people of the Old Testament. God's chosen people of the New Testament - the church. God is showing how He works in the lives of the ones He loves to raise them from spiritual death. Verse 14: "And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.... Then you shall know that I am the LORD."

This second part of Ezekiel 37:14 shows us why God does this. He works singularly (meaning without any requirement on us) so that we may know from it that He is Lord. His working of our salvation is also a demonstration of his incredible love for us. Ephesians 2:4-5: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..." The most beautiful two words found in Scripture, "but God." We cannot raise ourselves out of spiritual death, but God can and does through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

In light of these passages, how can anyone argue that we depraved children of wrath have any hand in our salvation? To say so diminishes the death of Christ and the work of God in our lives. We were DEAD! God gave us spiritual life, He rescued us, to show His love and mercy and to demonstrate His authority as God.
SDG

Never Ending Math Equation

I'm the same as I was when I was six years old
And oh my god I feel so damn old
I don't really feel anything

- Modest Mouse

Growing Up

It's August. That means most of my friends will be heading back to school in a few weeks, and my cousins will be starting in a few days.


I don't go back this year.

I thought I would be sad about it when it finally rolled around. I thought I might feel like I was missing out on the fun of new classes, roommates, and all of the randomness at friends' houses, but honestly, I'm not. I will miss the socialization, but I am so very glad to be done with school. I'm happy I don't have to buy ridiculously over-priced text books. I'm happy I won't have to trek a mile across campus to arrive dripping with sweat to my classes. I won't have homework, and I'll have no more stress over silly classes required for graduation that barely qualify as remotely helpful to any future career I might have.

I'm ready to work. I'm ready to contribute all of the knowledge and skills I've acquired to an organization that appreciates them. I'm ready to get paid for my input, not paying to learn others views and ways of doing things.

My life is taking a whole different turn, and I finally feel like I'm ready to meet it head on.
SDG