Pain free

I am sitting in the apartment after what might have been the most pain free Christmas decorating affair ever.

There are lights - green, white and red, lining the porch window, and lights on the tree, which S was nice enough to engineer from the ground up, by organizing the fake pine branches by size and commandeering me to "make them fluffy."

There are stockings, and the most adorable sweater print letters "O," "D" and "S" hanging from the knobs on our entertainment center.

Where a vase once was on our breakfast bar, now stands a glittery silver Christmas tree centerpiece, and where the Buddha stood happily beside our TV, now grazes a reindeer.

Last but not least, Frosty the Snowman is under the tree, completing the perfect picture of the holiday.

Oh yeah, and there's a cup of eggnog by my side.

Pictures to come soon, but suffice it to say I am extremely grateful for our savior, and extremely fortunate to celebrate his birth in peace, comfort, and with the love of family and friends (and O the cat) around me.

I'll enter into this advent season not only with appreciation, and lots of excitement, but also thinking through what a personal hero of mine said recently:

The more aware I am of the work God has yet to do in me, the less aware I am of what He has yet to do in those around me.

May I love with even an ounce of the ability with which I have been loved by God.

The month of November

Wow. It felt weird and old-fashioned signing into the blog, after essentially a whole month away.

What was I doing in November? While quite sequestered in my own little world, I still feel like the answer should be - everything.

I was re-reading Twilight and re-watching Breaking Dawn, visiting Maryland, Illinois and Georgia, saying goodbye to two Great-Uncles and meeting a swarm of new cousins, presenting at a conference of Latin American schools, and despining surveys at home. I cooked my first ever Thanksgiving Day turkey, and bought my first ever pair of skinny jeans. I met Pinocchio the alligator and celebrated Ladies' Lunch Out with a dude (my boss). I waited for more snow, which did not come, except on the first day I ever spent in Atlanta.

Generally, autumn has been my favorite time of year. This year, I have to keep reminding myself that this is what I wanted. In theory, my life is how I wish it to be - down to the very details of day-to-day living and including bigger and broader achievements and circumstances. In practice, though, if I don't reflect on how lucky I am, how much grace has been poured out onto my life, and how hard work and prayer and the support of others has given me this idyllic existence, I am not sure I'll have recognition of my blessings at all.

I feel a bit like a pharisee. The outside of my cup is clean, but what about the inside? Patience, industry, honesty, and well-balanced meekness and boldness are still goals that elude me. The peace that surpasses all understanding is so simple to feel when times are bleak, but harder to achieve when the outside world indicates that there might in fact be an abundance of stability, even in the absence of the Almighty's guiding hand. I need to keep looking within, to challenge myself, much more so now than when times have been tougher.

I've been bounced around alot in the past month, and come out of it all on the other end. I'm feeling a burst of hope from the possibility that as the outside world turns cold and withers away, my inner self is reawakening.

Daylight Savings

I’ve been waiting for snowboarding season for a long time. In fact, I was rueful last March, when I took my last run on the mountain, to leave that space knowing the grass would be green, the weather would be warm and there’d be no more opportunity for me to enjoy the sport until next year.

I’ve done everything I can think of to anticipate the coming season. My season pass was bought months ago. I’ve watched instruction videos, learned terminology, and focused on fitness routines which will expressly prepare me to be a better rider (think core work, strength training of my legs, and the endurance achieved through the half-marathon schedule). I’ve traveled to snowboard Mecca and back, all while the seasons slowly changed and Shaun White won medals on his skateboard.

Now we’re looking at a month and a half to go before the mountains open up again. And each time I lament my cold feet (poor circulation) or the necessity to wear a bulky coat outside (my least favorite part of winter), I have to remind myself this is what I’ve been praying for all year: Cold. Dark. Snowy. Amazing December through March. When I get to progress in this sport and have the time of my life.

Then the nor’easter happened. Now I’m from the mid-Atlantic, and so I secretly think NE is a bit wimpy for inventing its own kind of storm. If it’s not a blizzard, and it’s not a hurricane, guys, I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal. But I thank God for this nor’easter, whatever it is anyway, because it allowed me to go snowboarding, in my front yard, in October.

Let me just say this winter is going to be great. My snowboard is fantastic. Not only is it set up for a goofy rider (imagine trying to learn this sport upside down – that’s pretty much what I did all last season on my rented board), but it’s an ideal length for me and much more flexible - for carving, jumping and turning in general. Four runs on the new board, outside my house in October in two inches of “nor’easter” snow, and I didn’t fall once. In fact, I pretty much flew.

This winter, I know I am going to need something just for me to keep me sane. To get me in a zone where I can just be. So snow, sleet and cold, I welcome you all. Let’s get down to business!

Purgatory

Today S and I ventured to Purgatory Chasm in Sutton, MA to do some hiking.

It was the best kind of fall day to be outdoors – cool, but not freezing, so sunny, and full of sounds without too much wind.

The chasm was technically closed because of downed trees from last week’s nor’easter, but there were plenty of people out and about on the cliffs anyway, so we joined in.

It was a great hike around to “little purgatory.” We saw The Majesty’s Cave, the Devil’s Coffin, Pulpit and Corn Crib along the way. There were gorges, waterfalls and fresh greenery (and orangery, yellowery, etc.) all around us. Even though it’s so late in the leaf-peeping season, I think this may have been one of New England’s finest fall weekends yet.

I am thankful that S planned this day trip for us. He knows I love a good adventure and likes to show off his manly moves when we hike. What I most appreciate is having time to walk, talk and just enjoy one another in a different atmosphere.

The Word Becomes Flesh

John is my favorite gospel, by far, and for good reason. I think now, looking back, when I was instructed to read it during my high school years about a decade ago, that it very well may have had a forming effect on my faith.

The more I read John, the more positively earth shattering it becomes. Tonight I realized something others have probably seen countless times before me - that the mysteries of the universe, and the reality of our God, are held within the beautiful first chapter of the gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him, was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

I believe with all my heart and soul that the entire course of history is written in this verse.

There is a beginning to history, in which God speaks into us as created beings through the insertion of his Word as our authority and father, his spirit through the animation of the universe, and his light, as our hope in Christ. More important than the beginning is the end, which is never ending, because the darkness has not overcome the light.

Most importantly, though, is the middle. Because this is where we are. Let me be redundant for emphasis - we're in the middle. We didn't start it, and we can't chose when to finish it. We're in the middle trying to stake our claim somewhere. And our lives, middlers, are not in our flesh. They never were and never will be. Our lives are therefore not where we would place them. They are not in our bodies, the temples where our lives might seem to reside. They are not in our brains, where we feel pain, pleasure, and seek to form our assumed identity.

Our lives are safe within him, in his word and his light, which, into perpetuity, the darkness has not overcome.

Happy Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween from the S, O and D crew. I think we make a pretty snappy (okay, motley) bunch of dressed-up funny boneses. S is a "nameless warrior," according to him, I am a party rocker, according to me, and O the cat is my little flower. 

Since Monday is a work day for these sometimes grown ups, we had our Halloween party on Sunday. It included a "scary supper," apple bobbing, card decorating, and of course a costume contest (our cat won, right?).

We also pursued the joint venture of pumpkin carving, whereby I carved and S served as the "aesthetic engineer," drafting the design for our "Batman - the masked avenger" pumpkin on paper.

We topped off the night with lots of Halloween candy and the movie Perfume, which we've been looking forward to seeing for a long time, and which was...weird. I think I'd recommend it, but don't say I didn't warn you.

I hope you're enjoying the festivities of this silliest of holidays too!

Before Halloween...

...Let there be snow!