Lately...

Lately.

Lately, life has been crazy. And being crazy people, this is usually the norm for us, but lately it’s been like a cray-cray kind of crazy. 

Lately, Kevin and I have been thanking the Lord for his faithfulness as we look forward to a major milestone in our marriage—can you believe it’s been almost a year?! As we wait on the Lord and pray for his provisions as we look into the future, we are reminded that His ways are greater than our ways, and we trust the things he is preparing for our family.

Lately, the change of weather and time has taken a toll on my middle school students and their sanity.  Middle schoolers go though enough changes as it is in 7^th grade, why must we suffer the wrath of their sleep deprivation, too?? We have been focusing on state testing and preparing our kids for a change in format along with the wacky class schedules every day in order to accommodate for test times. Pray for me.

Lately, the movie Catching Fire has been playing non-stop at our house; Kevin used our March Entertainment Fund to buy the three-disk extended edition at Target the first day it came out--obsessed much? Yes. Yes we are.

Lately, I have been jamming to this song on repeat in my classroom.

Lately, we have been jamming to this song on repeat at home.

Lately, we have made trips out of town almost every weekend—you should see my planner. Between meetings, teacher trainings, holidays, volleyball tournaments, and celebrating and anticipating our first baby nephew, I have been and will be gone almost every weekend of March and April. Let’s hope gas prices go down, or I might have to start siphoning gas from my fellow teachers… 

Lately, Kevin has experienced a schedule change that has us working very similar hours—yay!! (For those of you who don't know, my man would go to bed around 7:00pm and wake up at 2:30am for work) It’s been amazing having him home and being able stay up later and to go to bed around the same time and wake up at the same time. Errr.. wait. Ideally we would wake up about the same time, but this girl has been flirting with her alarm WAY too much lately. Starting next week (or maybe the next) I will start waking up at the same time as Kevin… 4:45 hold me accountable, people!

Lately, 1 Timothy has been on my heart, especially chapter 4 and especially this: “…train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come”

Let’s be honest. When life gets crazy (which it currently is), the first two things to get bumped to the back burner would be my time spent in the Word and my time spent in the gym. Lately I’ve allowed myself to slack off in both of these areas, and I am definitely noticing the effect they are having on my already chaotic life.

Without reading my Bible in the morning and throughout my day, I’m a monstar (why yes, that was a shameless Space Jam reference).  Kevin and my students could probably both attest to this. When I go a day, or two, or three without a solid fix of God’s Word, I start transforming into this vein popping, tongue-lashing, malicious disaster of a person. Dramatic? Probably not. When crazy, foreign things start to slip out of my mouth, my eyes immediately bulge out of shock—did that really just leave my mouth in that tone?! Oh my.

“Train yourself to be Godly” This is not something I can really do on my own; I can’t make myself do good things or say the right thing. I can try, but I know I’ll fail miserably. I do, however, believe that this verse is commanding me to coach my heart, my mind, my mouth, and my body to seek and delight in God’s ways and His righteousness. It’s allowing the Holy Spirit to convict me when my words cut my neighbor, when my mind wanders to idle thoughts, or when I find myself engrossed in fruitless activities. It’s responding to that prompting, and it’s actively learning to turn my eyes to Jesus. I know I will never achieve a godly demeanor, but through the continual process of  seeking Jesus and undergoing sanctification, I know that it will hold true value in this life and the life to come if I train myself to be godly.

This is what I’m learning lately.

I found Kevin in Mendards like this--dreaming...
I love his dreams and his spontaneity.