Quotable Moments

"It's a bad day to be a duck!" --Susanne Scott referring to the ducks on the frozen pond at Glorieta

"Get off the bed! Get off the bed! I need to do something." --Crumpy (I have NO idea what he was talking about!)

"I'm going to steal one of these." --Rita, holding a WWJD bracelet in the Lifeway Bookstore. (That is what I heard, she says she didn't say that!) :)

"I don't have many twenty-dollars." --Debby Adams, referring to the cost of her parking ticket. (See her blog for details.)

"You lost it when I met you." --Tim to me, referring to my personal space.

My Mentor, My Mirror

I love Jen Kelsey. There are people in your life that suck life out of you, and then there are people who breathe life back into you. Jen is one of those life-giving people. She encourages me so much I can get up and try again no matter how many times I fall on my face.

She lets me cry and talk and be honest. She asks me questions, lets me think, pushes me gently in new directions, corrects me, and loves me regardless of what I "do" or "don't do." She will listen; she will offer advice; she makes time for me. I love her, and she has my heart so I will follow her no matter how hard the road is that she asks me to walk down. When she rebukes me, I listen and cry and try again.

Each time I am around her, I am humbled by her love for me. I want to love like that. She has more health problems than anyone else I know, and yet you would never know that talking to her. I want to be selfless like that. Jen is selfless, optimistic, fun, wise, and more like Jesus each day.

She makes me think of 1 John 4:10 which says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

Jen loved me before I loved her. She wanted me in her life before I wanted her. She loved first, and because of that love, I have grown to love her and "follow" her example. It is because Jen loves me regardless of my behavior that gives me freedom to fail and be forgiven and to keep following and trusting her. What a great living example she is of 1 John 4:10.

Is it just me, or is it hard for anyone else to accept (in your head and heart) that God is the same way (but to perfection)? I know Jen is not perfect and I am not in any way "worshipping" her. But she mirrors this biblical truth so clearly, it helps me believe (in action of heart) 1 John 4:10 better. I see a human with weaknesses loving like that, I think, of course GOD can do that! He does everything perfect!

She is the mirror that reflects 1 John 4:10 to me. I know it is Christ in Jen that I see. It is not Jen in herself who can do that, it is Christ living in her that loves, that is sacrificial, that is forgiving. I look at my life and think, "What am I mirroring? What truth(s) do I display in lifestyle?" I need far more of Jesus and a whole lot less of me.

My challenge to you is tell people in your life what they are mirroring for you. What verse do you see them living out? What biblical truth do they help you believe and act on better? Let's all be life-givers.

"Are you my Husband? Are you my husband" (Girls, you will get this title)

Sometimes I feel like Toula from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. You know the opening scene when her father says in his thick, Greek accent, "You look so old! You need to get married!" Yeah, that scene is a chapter out of my life. I have bets with my dad each holiday which of my family members will ask me the dreaded question first. "So, are you dating anyone?"

In college it was kind of cute. Now, it is an annoying reminder that people just don't get me. It is like I am choosing to be "weird" and not marry out of spite or something. Like my dating life is in my control! (I guess if I was "in the world" it might very well be.)

This past week at Glorieta we had an amazing woman named Melody come speak to the girls. She was hi-larous and very much the kind of woman I want to be someday. She too was "single" and has to desire to be married. (By the way, she also said to be truly "single," you need to be at least 25. Check!)

She said something that was somewhat discouraging for us singletons who want to be married, but very true. She said in former years a speaker would probably say to a group like us, "You know MOST of you will be married someday" or "Marriage is what God has in store for MOST of you." Now, however, she doesn't think that is true. Instead, she amended the statement to something like, "MANY of you will be married, and MANY of you will not."

Ouch. It is probably 100% true, and the truth hurts. She also spoke of contentment....and that many times we try to kill any desire to marry so we can say we are "content." Instead of KILLING hope or the desire to be married, she said we have to learn to grieve it. Grieve the loss if getting married by x age, or grieve the loss of having kids, or grieve the loss whatever it is.

Americans say "I do" more than any other industrialized democracy with 9 new marriages for every 1,000 people. Idaho, where 60% of people over 15 are hitched, has the largest percentage of married couples (not moving there). New York, has the fewest marriages, with 50% of the population still single (hmmm).

Luckily, it is normal to marry a bit later in life. Today, the average bride is 25.1 years old with their groom averaging 26.8. At the age of 102, Minnie Monroe became the oldest bride when she married to Dudley Reid, 82. Hope still is alive.