Been around the world...

You know the P Diddy song, "been around the world and ay, ay, ay..." While I cannot cite it quite as my inspiration for my past week, it certainly could of been. After our wonderful girls weekend I had the opportunity to hit the skies for a little multi-city tour. First, I went to Denver, CO and stayed with two different folks. One was a cousin of sorts, and the other a girl who had just moved from Nashville to Boulder, CO. Mostly my intention was to ski, as it was my first time back to CO since I left my ranch in Spring of '05. It is so strange how parts of us lie dormant for periods of time, but they are still there waiting to be expressed...my dormant characteristic is desiring to be challenged physically and in risk-taking by my external environment. What a rush it was trying to tackle black moguls rather than just cruising down the blues comfortably...an older man even took me under his wing and was teaching me some techniques to the give and go of getting down the hill. What respect I have for older men who have mastered a craft and now the joy becomes helping others do the same...sometimes think I could marry a 50 y.o. man who has reached this point of humility in his life.

My next leg took me to Seattle, WA to visit with our recently engaged friend. I found myself waking up every day saying, "Lord, I love my life". I have been reading The Shack and it has really rocked my world and feeling that great sense of intimacy and greater understanding of the Lord's character has allowed me to feel so much more settled. I encourage every person I know to read it. Also, I was so blessed by the generosity of all my hostesses...giving so fully of themselves and finding joy in serving others. Yet, aware of how do you receive with gratitude, knowing their joy in serving and yet in such a way that those people do not feel taken advantage of...such a balance.

The last few days of my trip were spent at a Student Affairs conference in Seattle. Here I found myself completely rejecting the career mindedness of my surrounding environment. The social networking and agendas of all the various people was hard for me to engage with. My agenda right now is to live a balanced life full of relationships, challenges (emotionally, socially, physically, academic) with significant time to rest in the beautiful presence of the Lord.

All the while my soundtrack for the trip was a cd recently made for me by a dude in Nashville that has been on the radar. My recognition of my desire to love and serve a mate has been very real as I get to know said "dude". The excitement of doing thoughtful things and sharing ones life with sometimes overwhelms me as I know I need to cautiously proceed in the "getting to know" you phase of the process. As I live more and more into the person the Lord made me to be and the freedom associated with that, without extreme controls or constraints, I pray for the Lord's protection rather than the false security I have constructed for myself.