And so it Goes

Packing always seems to be exciting to me. I can really only remember one time when I can recall feeling terrible about it. Even now looking back on the situation, it was for the better and I'm happy it happened.

Tomorrow three of my housemates will be departing, one being my roommate. I mean it's odd because we'll be returning in January. At the same time though we will be new people. Different than today. This next month and a half will be a huge growth period for all of us. Processing while we are home or in another country. Growing, learning and experiencing all that is around us. In these short 2 months I have become a completely different person. I am both excited and nervous to see what the next 2 months will bring.

I have been worrying a lot lately. I have been feeling very positively influenced by all that is around me and letting it all soak in to me like water to dry sand. Yet I wonder what Pennsylvania will bring. I don't want to fall back into the laziness of the life I grew out of. Like trying to put on a pair of old dance shoes that no longer feel familiar to me because everything is so different now. My eyes are so open. However I don't have a very strong Christian community back home. I do have friends and family that support me, but not like here. Not in the sense of understanding and comfort in conversing the way I do here. To think that before I came out here my thought process about church and worship and devotional time was not a huge part of my life even after I had returned from school as a new born. However now my heart longs for it so badly. Just like it did during CRUX. Those Wednesday nights where I began to fall head over heals and have continued to ever since.
I want to continue this. I want to continue to glorify Him in all that He is. Just like Phillip explained:
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever
separate us from God's love.Neither death nor
life, neither angles nor demons, neither our
fears for today nor our worries about tomor-
row-not even the powers of hell can separate
us from God's love. No power in the sky above
or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all cre-
ation will ever be able to seperate us from the
love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans8:38,39 NLT

Influences from what I've grown out of are things that I no longer aspire to be.

At the same time I am very excited to venture home for a few weeks. I am excited to see good old friends. I'm excited to be in their company and truly listen to them more than I had before. I am excited to smell the crisp air of snow and leaves. I'm excited to feel the warmth of old familiar hugs with warm cheerful voices. I am excited to see myself in these situations and to see how I adapt and how I will bring all of this NEW and BETTER with me. At times I wonder how I'll get it all on the plane. This NEW state of mind. This NEWER overwhelming passion. This NEW life. The BETTER more developed me.
I pray that through all of this new light I have experienced, when things begin to dim, my rhodopsin will continue to be "superior". (That last part was an inside joke. I don't believe in any way shape or form that I am superior to anyone or anything. Just to add that in there.) I don't want to loose sight of what I have been understanding and plan to take away from here.

It will be strange to leave Glen Iris even for a little while. It will be odd to not be surrounded by the community I appreciate so much on a day to day basis. I also know that they are all still there and that this is a chance for me to do some possible gardening of my own.

Traveling is always exciting, destinations known and adventures in the process unknown. How exciting...How blessed.
This life is divine.