Diligence.

I need more of it.
Today I took the whole day off.
Please help.

Goals:
1. Never, ever bring my debit card to campus.  And stop buying food in general, unless it's from the grocery store.
2. GET UP EARLY TO READ.  This is something I have never been able to accomplish in my life.  I always read before bed.  The time has come to read in the mornings.
3. Do my homework to the best of my ability, not just the bare minimum of whatever I need to get done.  And hey.. maybe get involved in some things?!  Whoa.  Yeah.
4. Be a better friend, be a better friend, be a better friend.

Basically, I need to have better time management.  And money management.  How do I do this?  Probably not by blogging about it, huh.

"My rest is a weapon against the oppression of man's obsession to control things."

Stand on the shores of a sight unseen, the substance of this dwells in me.  'Cause my natural eyes only go skin deep, but the eyes of my heart anchor the sea.  Plumbing the depths to the place in between the tangible world and the land of dreams, because everything here ain't quite what it seems, there's more beneath the appearance of things.  A beggar could be king within the shadows of a wing.

And wisdom will honor everyone who will learn to listen, to love, and to pray and discern.  And to do the right thing even when it burns.  And to live in the light through each treacherous turn.  A man is weak, but the spirit yearns to keep to the course from the bow to the stern, and throw overboard every selfish concern that tries to work for what can't be earned.  Sometimes the only way to return is to go where the winds will take you.  And to let go of all you cannot hold on to.  For the hope beyond the blue.

Yellow and gold as the new day dawns, like a virgin unveiled who waited so long to dance and rejoice and to sing her song and to rest in the arms of a love so strong.  No one comes unless they're drawn by the voice of desire that leads 'em along to the redemption of what went wrong.  By the blood that covered the innocent one.  No more separation between us.

So lift your voice just one more time.  If there's any hope may it be a sign that everything was made to shine, despite what you can see.  So take this bread, and drink this wine, and hide your spirit in the vine where all things work by a good design for those who will believe.  And let go of all we cannot hold on to.  For the hope beyond the blue.

A couple few thangs

1. I am BUSY now.  I really want to write an organized blog post with an actual purpose to it, but I am not sure when I will find the time.
2. As a quick summary, my life now involves things like: Amanda Jorgensen, Christina Lopez, Kristina Emerick, running a mile every other day, half-hour long bus rides to campus every day filled with lecrae in my ears, remembering how much I actually enjoy my major (!) and am kind of good at it even, skyping and missing Holly Janecke, coming back to Cornerstone/Salt, missing Des Moines and everything in it, missing LINZI SHEROD, trying to learn more about cooking, filling out job applications, waiting for Emily to give me skate lessons, reading through 2 Corinthians, learning climbing lingo with Amanda and asking everyone and their three pets to teach me how to belay, learning contentment learning contentment learning contentment, resisting buying chai every day, healing the 15 bruises that were on my legs, actually doing my homework, anddddd being in a newly-formed relationship.
3. God is putting really random people in my life, and I'm trying to figure out what He wants me to do with them.
4. Quick story that you probably already know: Last spring, salt gave a message on giving that really changed my heart about how I spend my money.  They said "give more than you think you can manage, and then see how God still provides for your needs".  I was kind of unsure, but I decided to be as give-y as possible anyway.  I went through a TON of money over the summer, and I tried to help out my friends and family and give to people I know doing mission stuff a lot.  By the end of summer I was in the "okay, let's see how God will provide, because I kind of need Him too now" point.  Then, my dad did something that hurt me both financially and emotionally, but let's not get into the details of that.  The point is I was worried about whether I would even be able to go to school this fall.  So I was freaking out for a few days, but I got to meet with a financial aid guy and (very miraculously and only by Jesus) I am now financially set for the whole year!  And then some!  And the guy said he would help me out a lot next year when this same kind of situation comes up.  It's kind of a big deal.  PTL.

And now, I leave you with this:

I got to see all the sheep at the state fair, and it made me even more excited to own my flock of sheep in the future.  The only bad thing was they were all already sheered!