happy monday morning! yikes - i'm hearing the weather forecast right now, and it's all about "snow, sleet, freezing rain, snow!" i kept hoping spring was here... but it is a beautiful day, after a good weekend of nesting in columbus with daniel. it was one of those weekends that seemed made for snuggling up with good movies (spellbound and intolerable cruelty), playing lots of chess and mancala (and getting soundly beat repeatedly by my brilliant boyfriend and his dizzying intellect), and the occasional dinner and morning chat with the bells and random landing place friends who dropped by. (and cat, who was visiting from cincinnati.) so i've been realizing how much the amount of time i invest in spending with God really does affect the rest of my life. (duh.) i grew up in a culture that emphasized the importance of "quiet time" and "devotions," and sometimes it made me pretty cynical. but the truth is, when i'm not being intentional about listening and talking to Christ, then my ability to listen and talk to and love others begins to deteriorate. i start to see everyone through my own eyes, instead of the eyes of the holy spirit. i start to become self-absorbed, and more concerned about defending myself than about understanding others. i get caught up in thoughts of how much i need a new wardrobe for my new job instead of how can i develop my spiritual gifts... now. i know that a number of my favorite friends who read this are a bit wary of words like "learning to live in the holy spirit..." but this is what i find to be true in my life, constantly throughout the years no matter how much i indulge my cynicism, this is what i come back to. the fact is that i am most fully myself when i am actively dying to myself... a new blogger of note: kendra barrow back to work again. (only 2 1/2 weeks left!)