The Blessings of Living With Others

There is a degree, I think, that every person wants to live alone — to have an apartment, a house, a dwelling place of some sort where it's theirs, and theirs alone. It holds the idea that we can do life successfully by ourselves. Living in your own place has benefits of being able to be tidy or not, to decorate to your own tastes, come and go with no one to report to. There's a great feeling in that, sometimes. There is also a void in it. I speak from experience as I've lived alone for the last 3ish years and now that item on my bucket list has been completed and I'm not sure I want to go back to it.

As I have come into this new environment and culture here in Northern Ireland, I've never felt more ready to accept the blessings of living with other people. It's time to not seclude myself in the protection I create.

I now live with 3 lovely girls, Kiki, Anna D, and Anna B in a cute little hillside home. Each of us are very different from one another but it works. I've been here in this house for a week and a half now and already I can't imagine living alone. When you live with people there is built in friendships and conversation. Even if the conversation is mundane it is still someone to talk to. There were times I lived alone and felt this missing piece, but I didn't know how much I really craved it.

There are many things that I already love about this house. For starters, we all love having people around. Many times I've come into the house and there are people around that don't live here and its great. It means people feel safe and comfortable here. Then there is the bond that is growing. I of course am the last to join in the house, so I don't know the other girls as well, but I'm getting there. The kitchen is sort of the gathering place, as we cook, make tea, use our computers, and while we are in this room there's laughter and insight, hope and seriousness. There maybe times when we all are sitting in the living room and we're all on our laptops, but someone will throw out a random statement or question and there is people there to respond. It's silence when you live alone.

There has been some adjustment getting used to the sounds of other people around. The fridge isn't full of the food I chose. I might miss the opportunity to get in to the bathroom first. Electricity and heating takes a group decision. But it's worth it.

This week there was a Halloween party that a couple of the girls went to, and being around as they were getting ready was so funny to watch. They dressed as grannies. Another night we all got into the car to drive out to Aghadowey (A-ga-doo-i) to watch a movie at another friend's house. The ride was an adventure. It was a downpour in the darkness, Anna D is on the phone trying to get directions, Kiki and me were trying to see street signs through foggy window and with our blind eyes. I hopped out at one point to open a gate that was definitely not the right house. We got there, but we wondered if we would. Last night Anna B and I, and Paul, an intern who lives around the corner headed down to the Coleraine House of Prayer (CHOP or The Hop) for a worship night. Afterwards we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed back to the house for a movie. When we got home there was the other two housemates and 2 other friends already watching a movie with a fire burning. It turned it to a great night of conversation and quality time.

Opportunities like this just don't happen when you live alone. It takes effort and it occasionally turns out how you want it to. But living with others, it just comes. I love feeling like I want to go home, because I want to see what is happening. I can add to the culture of the house, but all four of us do collectively. I love that there are people who are here to ask me about my day, or wait for me to wake up to decide what big breakfast they should make for us all. It's a warm feeling. It's a blessing.

Think Different

The Year of the Lords Favor

I'm amazed how there are always messages that the Holy Spirit is trying to speak into our souls. In the last 6 months or so this passage, various parts and the entirety, have really been highlighted in my life. Others are also having it placed on them. There are commands, there are sources of delight, there is beautiful imagery,  there is a promise of hope all wrapped up in the passage. I'm really excited to see how it's going to unfold in the people and situations around me and in my own life. Take a moment to really soak it in and hear what God is speaking to you as well.

 

Isaiah 61, NIV

The Year of the LORD’s Favor

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
   and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
   instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
   instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
   instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   a planting of the LORD
   for the display of his splendor.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
   that have been devastated for generations.
⁵ Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
   foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
⁶ And you will be called priests of the LORD,
   you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
   and in their riches you will boast.
⁷ Instead of your shame
   you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
   you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
   and everlasting joy will be yours.
⁸ “For I, the LORD, love justice;
   I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
   and make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their descendants will be known among the nations
   and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
   that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
¹⁰ I delight greatly in the LORD;
   my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
   and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
   and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
   and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
   and praise spring up before all nations.

I do enjoy some awkwardness, but not today.

Tonight I'm sitting in the kitchen of my new home. I'm alone in the house. I'm typing on my own computer. A steaming cup of coffee is sitting near by. There is heavy wind and rain outside in the darkened sky and I am content.

I didn't wake up this way, and most of the day my mood has gone back and forth. When I woke up, I had this idea in my head that I wasn't good enough to be where I am- in my house, with these new housemates, in Coleraine, in university, in Northern Ireland. I just felt out of place and like I'm standing around awkwardly in the way of others.

My nephews have learned the word awkward. They some times understand where to use it appropriately, but often it just not quite right. Yesterday, I spoke with my sister on Skype and my youngest nephew sat on her lap eagerly trying to see my face in the window on the computer screen. He sat there listening to his mom and I speak, and something was said and he said "Aaaawk- waard." I don't know what it was but he had the sense to say it was awkward. But it was misplaced.

He calls me by name.

I can't believe how much time has passed already for me being in Northern Ireland. Yesterday marked one month over here. Also, I can't believe how unexpected everything has been. I don't know what I expected really. A sense of clarity?  Perhaps a big explosion of answers to the many questions I had? Or at least a settled routine?

I didn't realize how much I was a creature of routine or how much I would be craving one now. I had a routine in Arizona. Rising most days before the sun, I would make a pot of coffee, prepare breakfast and settle in to read the Bible and pray. Then I would get ready for work. I knew when my meetings would begin. I knew when to expect a coffee run. I'd return home the same time every day and the evening event would begin shortly after.

Getting up and starting my day now, I just don't know what to expect. Surprisingly, I think there is an awesome lesson that I'm being taught in that.

I've really been absorbed in the story of Mary and Martha lately. How one woman, Mary, sat at the feet of Jesus and just absorbed all that he was saying. I imagine her taking note of the way his hands moved, or the looks he gave to others in the room when he spoke. I bet she even was noticing smells and sounds that would forever be ingrained in her mind. All of these details, when she encountered them again would bring her back to the exact moment of sitting at Jesus feet. But then there was her sister, Martha, who was caught up in busy work (Luke 10). These same sisters are mentioned later in John 10 and 11 when their brother Lazarus was sick and died. I'm struck that Martha again was eager to get details. She ran to Jesus asking questions. Where Mary waited and knew that comfort was in the waiting. Jesus came to her. It says he asked Martha if he could see Mary. He asked by name to see Mary.

My tendency has always been a planner.  And there are two ways I see that changing. 1) I joke that I'm more productive when I'm busy. 2) I try to have things in order before I get some place. The first area, I'm a student again, but it's all independent studies. There's not much in the way of formal expectations on any of my work, there's not structure which is killing me. Then the details I planned out before arriving, my housing and locale, sort of blew up in my face.

There is a transformation that is starting to happen in me it seems. Martha is being taken from me, and Mary is being instilled. Jesus is calling me by name. He's asking to meet with me. He desires for me to sit at his feet and absorb all that is going around me so that I too can come back to this period of life and know it was defined by him.

It's only been a month but I'm in the process of packing up to move again. And my only expectation - God is walking through it all with me. I don't know what life is going to throw at me. A routine may never be in my future again, but can I stop to hear him call my name? I'm certainly trying to and I am excited to hear what he has to say to me.

The Classroom and the Culture.

Well I am in Northern Ireland to complete my Masters of Design Communication at the University of Ulster. So far I'm noticing quite a few differences between school in the States and school in Northern Ireland, or maybe the difference between undergrad and postgrad work, or both I suppose. Anyhow, it's a whole new learning environment.

First off let's talk the titles of things that I'm still trying to get right so people understand me and vis versa:
American Term/ UK Term:
Course / Module
Class / Lecture
Professor / Lecturer
Major or Minor / Course

The terms seem simple enough, but I keep saying them how I have learned them, and I get confusing conversations in return.

Also, maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but being at home there isn't a need to reference ourselves or our country as a whole very often. Here, I hear "In America" or "Americans". I guess I'd never thought much about it but it seems odd. I find myself wondering what to say, because I have the tendency to say "In the US" or "In the States" and America alone seems awkward. I don't know what to say.

But I digress from my real point.

Opportunities in heartache

About 6 months ago I remember having a discussion with myself on whether I'd ever read the book of Job. I knew I hadn't in it's entirety. It scared me. Everyone said it was about sorrow and loss. Come now, there's a lot of chapters to Job, it scares you too. But had I read even portion? I don't think I had really. Funny how I finished a "read the bible in a year" plan and began another since then and I've had to read the entire book twice since this inner monologue. This prepares you the rest of the blog.


We never want to experience heartache, loss, extreme difficulty, anger or any other negative feeling but the truth is we do. We do. We simply can't always avoid it.

Sometimes in the moments we think should be our most joyous, we actually find ourselves so distraught. Though there is pain, God can and will bring his light into our dark world.

I hoped that when I arrived in Northern Ireland that all of my posts from the first month would be marked with hearts and rainbows. Well, no. Not hearts and rainbows. I'm not a hearts and rainbows type of girl, but you understand the happy mushy stuff I am talking about. Instead they veered more towards Eeyore's grey cloud.

However, there are happy moments that I am choosing to find. It is a big choice because  I'm facing a lot of gray clouds and it doesn't reference the Northern Irish weather.

Let's just say, housemate situations became sticky and uncomfortable and then escalated to sharp and unbearable. I knew my home held potential for new experiences. Those experiences anticipated were not feeling severly intimidate and trapped, calls to the police station, or a need to evacuate my home for a few days, but it's what I got

But God can do immeasurably more...(Eph 3:20)