31 Flavors

Have you ever though about the individual variety of the friends and people in your life? They provide the individual with the same sensation as walking into a Baskin-Robbins store and being confronted with 31 flavors; each different and each serving a unique purpose. I have a friend who is like bubble gum ice cream; fun, colorful, and always able to cheer me up. Then, another friend who resembles vanilla; simple, sweet, yet straight to the point and able to point out areas in my life still needing growth. Yet another friend is like Rocky Road; at times we have butted heads and had disagreements yet our friendship remains rich and strong. There are times when I’ve thought that I haven’t needed these individual flavors in my life and times I haven’t appreciated the contribution of these individuals to my Christian growth. With my Goo Goo Cluster personality, how would I make it through the lumps and bumps of life without strawberry to add some sweetness or mint chocolate to bring clarity and perspective to the situation? But, as with ice cream, too much of one flavor in the bowl can stifle the effects of the other flavors on one’s tongue. A balance among the time spent among friends creates richness in one’s life. Just as too much double fudge ice cream can make one sick to one’s stomach, so can too much time spent with a negative friend leave you feeling discouraged. A balance must be found between all the flavors and personalities of the individuals in one’s life. Have I made you hungry yet? If so, go enjoy a bowl of ice cream with one of the flavorful people in your life.

Until next time,

Nancy

Waiting

Yep, I’m still here in the US waiting for my work permit to go through. After the permit is approved, then I will still need to wait up to 4 weeks for my work visa. Initially, I thought of all this waiting as an annoyance. I thought I was ready to finish school and move right away. But, over the past week I have begun to realize that this waiting time has allowed me a time of much needed rest. We become so accustomed to our hectic schedules that we accept it as the norm to feel tired and stressed. Not only in our physical lives, but also in our spiritual lives do we experience these feelings of “go, go, go!” Go to the store, go to get the house cleaned, go to get paper work done, go to help out at church, go to get up earlier to have time to pray and read God's word. We forget that we are called to “be still” before God in our spiritual walk and also in our physical everyday goings. When we become so busy, we often feel that God is not speaking to us but in fact we may be so busy that we forget to listen to His voice. We look for God in our crazy schedules forgetting that He is the God of peace and order. These past couple weeks have helped me to rest physically (yes, 10 hours of sleep/night is wonderful!) and also reconnecting with God through His word. I want to encourage you to understand that we are not called to a life of chaos and to take time to be renewed spiritually and physically.
Until next time,

Nancy