Honestly??

Well folks,

I hate to be that girl who always says the same thing... but again, while listening to Sara Groves... her lyrics explain my thoughts better than I could on my own. Yesterday, I talked a little (or a lot) about how I have been rejoicing in the "little things". Today, I visited Saragroves.com and listened to these words sung by a voice that only God could create:

It's the everyday miracles that keep my hope alive
It's the way You move in little things that help me survive
And I know You move in greater ways
But this is great enough for me
What You do with my everyday is amazing

That woman, I tell you! Does she know me?? Do we talk ever?? Are we friends, and I just don't really remember ever meeting her?? Who knows... but I do appreciate the fact that she shares so much of herself and that so much of herself is similar to me.

Well, I have quite a bit on my mind tonight. If you know me, you know that's not out of the ordinary. Since I don't think that discussing how I should wrap my best friend's Christmas present would interest you at all, I'd like to talk a little bit about desire. No, not like animal-instinct sexual DESIRE. More like human-instinct societal desire. You know the kind of desire I mean. The kind that makes you start choosing names for your first-born child during high school trigonometry. The kind that causes you to create wedding notebooks from magazine cut-outs your junior year of college. The kind that makes you even the tiniest bit envious when you hear about others engagements or positive relationships. Yeah... THAT kind of desire. It is THAT kind of desire that get us, especially us girls, in the most trouble. We play house as children, we spend weeks (sometimes months!) planning for our proms, we begin to feel unwanted if our left hand isn't diamond-clad by the age of 23, and we spend countless wasted hours planning for a future that may or may not be ours. All this because that's what we have grown to know. That's what society tells us. Well...although society is often useful for choosing fashion trends and pop icons... it's not ideal in deciphering what's best for our lives. For that... I'd recommend a little book you can get almost anywhere called The Bible. God tells us a lot about desire, both positive and negative. In Deuteronomy, He tells us not to desire anything that belongs to our neighbor. This is a tough concept to grasp considering our neighbors stuff somehow always seems to be a bit nicer than our own. Our friends' lives always seem to be headed in the "right direction". Our friends' lives always seem...well.... better. Their relationships are better, their careers are better, their families are better. I could go on... but I think you got my point. In Jeremiah, God tells us that he has a plan for our lives. A plan for us to prosper and a plan for success. We're not gonna make that plan happen with our neighbors stuff, that stuff is for THEIR plan. My stuff, no matter how mundane or dingy it may seem, has been given to me with purpose. Continuing on in Jeremiah, The Lord tells us that when we seek His truth with our whole hearts, that plan is put into action. Psalm 37:4 states "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." I'm beginning to fear that this rant is becoming mostly miscellaneous thought placed into verbose sentences. With that, I will leave you with a verse that has become a part of my nightly ritual. I'm one that wrestles with this whole desire thing (Yes, I did make that wedding notebook from magazine cut-outs just 2 short years ago) and these verses have given me a bright glimpse of what's to come.

"You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. " Psalm 145:16-17

Love in the little things~
Tempa

Song of Solomon 2:7