It’s already halfway through November. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone, does it?! I’ll admit, I’m tired. The strange thing is that I’m actually physically laboring less–Colorado always had me running faster than I thought I could. Here, life is a different flavor. I can’t say that the workload has been harder than I’ve ever handled, but it seems to be the combination of academia, house work, relationships, tasks, ministry, and emotions that have been slowly added to intensify the mixture. I feel as if, in all of these areas, I’ve been feeling the heat. One person can handle the intensity for a while, but to have every area of life set to the temperature of a steady simmer, oh how the change begins! Every area slowly reveals the weaknesses that must be helped and the areas that need mending. It’s very painful to see that I’m weak. I’m not sure that this is what I was expecting or what I wanted out of our first semester at NTBI, but I’d never trade it for anything, even Colorado. I say that because this week of all weeks I’ve been missing Colorado, missing the mountains and the serenity of the outdoors. That’s why I know I’m in the right place. I feel satisfaction and peace here in Jackson–I know we’re in the right place. If we weren’t supposed to be here, I’d be falling apart instead of changing. God is at work inside my mind. The interesting part is that the world around us in all of it’s change, tears people apart and doesn’t bother to put them back together. God, in this relationship, this friendship, never takes us apart without putting us back together in a better way. But boy, is it exhausting! And I am not saying it’s all a piece of cake–or pumpkin pie (to fit the season). Peter wrote, “…shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; not for sordid gain, but with eagerness…” I realized, after hearing this passage expounded upon, that I can move toward God’s desires being pulled along by compulsion, or I can learn to be eager. I’m still working on the “eagerness”!
Besides the constant lessons in life, I have been able to make good use of the time in between. I did turn that pot of vegetables (above) into some zesty stock for soup. I couldn’t resist taking a picture, knowing the colors would soon leave the vegetables and turn into brown broth. We’re finishing up the last of the soup now, minus the avocados, which we finished yesterday. We cut up avocados and dropped them into the soup right before eating and topped them off with lime…oooohhhh so scrumptious!
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