It's a big world out there, and it's scary.
It's an even bigger universe in here, waiting to be known.

I am excited about the prospect of engaging with reason and responsibility. I believe that this is all part and parcel of the process of redemption. I am becoming more me. I like this.

An e-mail from Gladys, a post from her friend's blog:

"I thought about being betrothed to Christ. Do I believe that I'm utterly fulfilled in Him? Knowing that I'm preparing myself for an everlasting marriage gives me the hope to bear fear, loneliness and broken relationships. Knowing that my ultimate identity is in Christ gives me the perspective to see relationships between men and women romantic or otherwise not as sizing up someone's marriage potential, but as growing together as members of his family, learning to love one another as Christ loved us."

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

"...a world that has forgotten the love of God in Christ, and therefore can only imagine romantic or sexual attraction as its highest ideal. But that will never satisfy, will it?"

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

"So Tennyson's words are an inspiration. They seem to say, go, open your heart, love much and deeply. And in the process make mistakes, lose much, and have your heart deeply wounded. But turn it all for the glory of Him to whom our hearts have been dedicated. He doesn't want them flawless and untouched but brimming with the joys and pains of having known love.

And do all things knowing that your ultimate hope is Christ. Bear losses knowing that they are redeemed in Him. Tennyson said "Fear, doubt and suffering will find answer and relief only through Faith in a God of Love.""

Amen.
I was thinking to myself in the washroom at Lou's, that I'm not living for myself... and boy, is this fulfilling. I don't want to be doing otherwise.