As Seen on TV

One of my favorite Friends episodes is the "one with the proposal" at the end of season 6. My favorite, favorite scene is the one with Phoebe and Rachel are sitting in Central Perk, talking about how happy they are for Monica and Chandler. They're 90% happy and only 10% jealous, then 80% happy and 20% jealous and so on and so on.

That's a little of how I've been feeling these past couple of days. I am so wondefully and mysteriously happy for my two friends, Jenny and Jamie (maybe it's a j-name thing), who are now engaged and beginning to plan their lives with their significant others. I'm so excited to celebrate with them their end of the separate and the beginning of life together. I am so thankful that God has placed in their lives such wonderful men who copmliment and strenghthen them in ways that show me that God is truly in their relationships.

I'm also a little sad (that 10% jealousy) that this isn't something that I'm experiencing right now, yet, or maybe ever and it leads me to wonder what exactly God has in store for me, and for my life as His child. I know the things I desire and I pray that they are Godly desires and that they one day will be fulfilled. I know that I have prayed and continue to pray for God to make his path very, very clear to me. I pray for the someday that my friends are currently experiencing.

Still, I am little impatient for these somedays to happen.

Finally!

I can finally type it! Congrats to Jamie and Philip on their engagement!

The best part of one of my best friends getting married is that I was a implicit accomplice in the whole scheme. Jamie's boy, who we refer to as "the manly" contacted me a few months ago via facebook asking if I was a secret keeper of all secret keepers. After sending in my secret keeper resume and finding out my "mission," I've been secretly scoping out engagement information from Jamie so that she was sufficiently shocked when he asked. Hehehe.

I am so, so happy for my good friend Jamie and her new fiancee, Philip. Congrats again!

Grief

It's taken me some time to realize that I am a crier. It's obnoxious that my first go-to response is tears: for frustration, for anger, for helplessness, for stress. Sometimes I'm able to marshall that a little bit, but most of the time the tears are as suprising to me as to the emotion that accompanies them.

This March has been, like the previous three,a piling upon of bad news on bad news. Last week, the mother of my little sister's best friend has been diagnosed with cancer. This week, a much loved member of the congregation dies, leaving his family (several of his children and grandchildren who I am close to) and friends grieving.

And so I've cried. I've cried because people that I care for are hurting. I cry because I know that there are harder times coming for the my little sister's best friend and her family. I've cried because I know that there is a lot of grief and a family that is hurting.

In all this though, I know that there is the comfort that Christ gives, and that on Easter Sunday, he welcomed home his own beloved child. I know there is comfort found in the strength of my sister and her friendship. I remember the promises found in 2 Corinthians...

"All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too."

Good.

"But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last. At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What's more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus' resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, "This has to be the Son of God!"
Matthew 26:50-54

Today is Good Friday. The day that we remember Jesus' Death. Jesus finishing what was started in the garden.

The reading above is one of the most dear to me on Good Friday. The Jewish temple was divided into three parts, the most sacred being the Holy of Holies, which was divided from the rest of the temple by a curtain. Only one high priest once a year was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies because it was seen as the place in which God lived.

When Jesus dies, the curtain blocking off the Holy of Holies is ripped.

I think that is beautiful. Through the tearing of Jesus' flesh, God is accessible to everyone. Through Jesus' death, we are given that most precious gift.

And it is good.

Ugh

Ok, ok Jamie... I'll blog.

These next few weeks are going to be completely manic. I'm looking to them slowing down at the end of June. If one thing is happening, a million things are happening and I'm starting to get very, very, very stressed.

Buckle up folks, it's going to be a crazy, crazy ride.

'Tis the Season

For Engagements! Congrats to Kira and Eric!

The more things change...

The more they stay the same, I guess.

Good News

Here's to this week starting out MUCH better than last. Congratulations to Jenny and Michael on their engagement and to August 2009!