Church was great today, and I'm trying to be more positive about living here. Having a short layover in Denver this past week was so refreshing. The major bummer was not seeing everyone, but soon enough we will have more time when we visit again. Thankfully, I got to see family and a few friends and yeah - my heart is still in Colorado.
I was encouraged this week to try and be more open to others here in Chicago. Sounds so simple, but not exactly. Today I decided to take on the challenge, and sure enough, blessings come when we can let go of our own fears and misgivings and just let the Spirit guide. It worked. I talked to more people, I felt more welcome, and we left church feeling uplifted and excited for the upcoming week. One of the speakers in church shared this quote from C.S. Lewis:
The command "Be ye perfect" is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that
can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were
"gods" and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him –for we can prevent Him, if we choose –
He well make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.
Love it.
On a very different note, I found this book while in Seattle this week and couldn't help but spend the money to get it. I told Reid over the phone the title of the book, to which he laughed and said, "that is exactly you."
Guess I'm pretty far from perfect.