i've been learning a bunch lately about this idea of being a gracious friend.  i've mostly learned, in various ways, specifically through dear friends afton & ally & austin & justin, this idea of being gracious with people.  each of them have demonstrated this to me in really beautiful ways.  i still remember justin saying something freshman year that i still think about every once in a while:  he said "i don't think that the things people say or don't say or do or don't do should affect the way we treat them or love them."  when i think about the kind of person i want to be, it is that kind of person!  a person who people feel at rest around, like they can breathe and be exactly who they are and do not have to alter themselves... even their dorky or weird parts!  afton also said something to me the other day that really meant a lot.  she said "it doesn't matter what we do together, i just want to be with you, alexi"  wow!  i'm so thankful to have so many examples of this in my friends!  how beautiful.  i want to be that kind of person. 

i want to be gracious with people.. when they're crabby or sick or tired or happy or dorky or awkward or even rude. 
when they believe the same things as me and when they don't. 
when they talk about themselves all the time and when they don't talk at all. 
when they're sad and struggling and when they're not.

and it's interesting to me how the first characteristic given of love in 1 corinthians is patience.

just some food for thought.  let's love people well, friends.  i believe these are steps in unconditional kind of love that Jesus is so good at. (:

"So often I thank Jesus for enjoying beauty.  How much more lovely is it to serve someone who likes and creates beautiful things?  I was humbled to realize that if He is the Creator of all we see, then beauty originates from who He is.  He is beauty.  He is light.  He is art.  He is color.  We serve a God who makes everything of worth eternal.  When He is passionate about something, He doesn’t hold back.  He made our souls eternal, our relationship with Him eternal, and beauty eternal."                   -a post i stumbled upon

this quote really got to me because i simply couldn't agree more.  praise God for beauty!

my prayer for the day is that we would see God as a beautiful one... that we would be constantly surprised by His beauty throughout the day, and that we would have eyes extra open, aware, and sensitive to the ways that He is beautiful and has filled our lives to the brim with it all around!  just too many beautiful people and food and sunsets and colors and sounds and little glimpses of Him to let them go unnoticed.


& ohhh i love that He's that kind of God.

so God, show us Your beauty.

You are everything good, You are everything beautiful, You are everything, You're everything...

juice doesn't quench...
family doesn't gladden...
food doesn't fill...
cozy homes don't comfort...
movies don't enchant...
instagram doesn't boost...
facebook likes don't affirm...
painting doesn't delight...
music doesn't entertain...
great outfits don't beautify...
people don't please...
friends don't gratify...
art doesn't cheer...
holiday hubbub doesn't brighten...
sleep doesn't restore...

...enough.

never enough. 

with all of these things, there will always come a time when we are empty or longing again,
only be filled for a little while,
and then empty again.
and again.

these things are good, they are not bad, but the minute they become where joy is found, as in, where we turn  to to find joy, is the minute we feel lonely, disappointed, hurt,

and empty.

breaks from school and holidays especially can be really hard times for me because I am tempted to indulge, to do whatever makes me happy.  and whenever that happens it's sort of crazy how fast things can spiral to God feeling so distant, and i've been finding myself empty at the end of these last couple days.

so it's time for me to do some reevaluating of where i'm drinking from, and, friend, i would encourage you to do this with me.

"..but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I
give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
john 4:14

one thing that i have learned throughout living life is that the human spirit was made for adventure.
it comes out from within me more and more each day, it seems... this craving for adventure.

even if adventure means traveling to eau claire's neighboring town of the great altoona with family to go to altoona family restaurant because i'd never tried it (: or driving through minneapolis on a summertime night, or seeing the minnehaha waterfalls with a dear friend, or going to perkins late at night with friends for pumpkin pancakes on the weekend of homecoming, or days like today, when  i had about forty-five minutes before i would meet with a group for a project and had already done quite a bit of homework, so i sat down to just do some reading and journaling, but then i had the thought that this is prime time to sneak away and do something spontaneously adventurous with this joy-filled God that my heart beats for.  this thought made me visibly giddy... a spontaneous get-away adventure with this God who loves me??  i almost started skipping and jumping!  why don't i do this more??
and this little half-hour adventure of singing my silly heart songs to God in the snow-filled woods in the middle of the day did more for my heart than i can tell you! 

and i have learned that i am not alone in this.  i think this is a human condition.  i think this is a God condition, too.  i think He is a very adventurous God.  i think that's why He made the world so big and beautiful, with so many people... for us to discover & explore & find each other, and relish in creation and ultimately find Him through & within our exploration.

sometimes, you just need to take a big gulp of air to remind yourself that you are ALIVE, that God is good and life is beautiful.

so may i challenge YOU, this week, and for the rest of your lives, to GO... seek and explore and venture out into this big world that God has designed to bring you closer to Himself. <i honestly believe it revives the human heart more than anything else> and it brings you closer to other people, too... i learned this summer that taking risks and being in nature builds relationship and trust more than almost anything.

and here, my friends, are some of my favorite adventure pics to get inspired and GO!

happy venturing! (:

"i've closed my eyes, i'm taking His hand and i hear Him say... 'oh darling, let's be adventurers'"
-my dear friend, coral, an adventurous soul.

I have been avoiding processing through what happened within me at IVLI.
I have been avoiding my journal and just won't even crack it open.
being home has been a tough transition this past week, and I don't know why I am so afraid to look within myself at what God has done and ask him about what he wants to continue to do, but I have realized one thing..
one very important truth, that keeps popping up in my head that I learned from IVLI:

we need to rest IN God and not FROM him.

I have been resting FROM him.

I don't yet know what this means for me and what I need to change and how to actually rest IN God, but

hey, he spoke this to me!  Even in the midst of avoiding him;
He speaks!  He pursues.  He convicts.  He wants my heart!
Over this I rejoice.
And realize my need for his forgiveness.

And also would like to ask you to join me in looking within yourself to see where it is that you may be resting from him, instead of in him.
He wants your heart, too, friend.

Because this song just gets me.