Hugs from Jesus

'Twas the day after Christmas, and one poor little blogger

was tired of presents, talking, eggnog or

wrappings and trappings and new things galore

when all she had wanted was to know her Lord more.

Merry Christmas, readers! M. here apologizing for the terrible poetry above, composed by yours truly. I was hoping it would combat the writer's block and help me to collect my thoughts a little better.

I've been thinking a LOT lately. I'm off school, so now I actually have time to think about what I want, when I want! I've been thinking about school next semester, scholarship options, job options, taxes and applications, living on campus, and all of that fun college stuff in my near future! I've also been thinking about Christmas (obviously) but I didn't really know how to explain what I felt.

This week, I was considering what I'd post about for Christmas time. This is the idea that kept forming in my mind: "Presents have been unwrapped, delicious food eaten, relatives welcomed, thank-yous yelled, babies completely spoiled with gifts, laughter and excited chatter heard through the house, new items tried out, gift cards and money spent, and at the end of it all I ponder these things in my heart... that Jesus is, and always will be. And He wants to know me."

Lately I've felt a pull on my heart like never before. I feel like Jesus wants to hug me! To literally embrace me and remind me that I am His, and I can never be taken away from Him. Yes, He loves me; He gives me hope and peace and joy, but at the end of the day, He just gives Himself. Completely, with no strings attached, He is there for me. 

The super busy lifestyle I live makes me forget that. I forget how treasured I am and that there is a higher calling than just meandering through life, when life is actually a marathon. I need to be striving for the ultimate prize, like Paul talks about. I don't think I'm doing that for two reasons: a) I stink at sports, and b) most of the time, I don't mind settling for less than the best. The first one's just a joke (though I am bad at sports) but I truly struggle to remember that I'm not running the race for me, and it's worth every effort that I can give. That Jesus that I was taking about, the one who gives all of Himself to be my Father and my friend, He is the one I should run for. And the best part? He's the prize, too! (I hate this race metaphor sometimes, but I think it works alright.)

Through the presents, food, relatives, and rushing... Jesus is. He waits with arms open, for us to run to Him for an embrace...  yet we open another gift and say "Thank you." We eat more food and chat with more people and go to more parties, and still Jesus waits. Christmas ends, we go back to our lives, yet He's still there. Sometimes I imagine Him saying to the angels, "I can't wait to talk to M. today!" We miss a quiet time, then two, then months have gone by without us noticing. He's still there. He'll always welcome us.

Do you ever feel guilty after not spending time with God? Do you go back to Him hanging your head and apologizing? Or do you avoid Him because you're afraid of the lecture? Or do you grow callous and just run through the motions without emotionally investing? I've done all of these (A LOT). Guess what? He's still waiting! He still is overjoyed to spend time with us. 

Do you ever feel like God just tolerates you? Why?

Take a look at these verses. This time, read them out loud. I know that you're tempted to gloss over the Bible verse section. I do it all the time. READ. EVERY. WORD. OF. THEM. OUT. LOUD. (Colors added for emphasis.)

Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

For this next set of verses, I've rewritten them (Go ahead, Bible thumpers; wag your fingers!) based on the 1 John 4:8 claim that God is love. I've also taken it out of stereotypical Bible verse format so that maybe you can see it in a new light.

God is patient.

God is kind.

God does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.

He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs.

God does no delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

God ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, ALWAYS perseveres.

God never fails.

The greatest of these is Jesus.

(Verses used: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13.)

Let me ask you again: Why do you feel like God just tolerates you? News flash: He doesn't!!! Stop believing the lie that you've been fed by your church, your friends maybe, and your own conscience. This lie you're hearing says that God thinks you're not worth His time if He's not worth yours. 

You are ALWAYS worth it to God. That's what Christmas is all about!! It's reminding ourselves that Jesus knew that it was worth it to give ALL of Himself to become a baby, to live, to die, and to rise again, because it meant that He could give us a great gift - a hug! And more than that, He could know us, and we could know Him.

Through this season and through next year, I want to follow the path God has for me. I want to trust in His love, because it's the love that truly never fails. I want to remember that God rejoices in me, when I obey Him and when I stumble. I want to be satisfied with Jesus, and with Jesus alone. 

Merry Christmas, everyone. -M. :D

Satisfied: The Day After Christmas

Hey people! It's L. again. With another fairly short but hopefully sweet post. Praying that God will use it!
I have started actually planning to post things strategically now so I scheduled this one to come out at midnight on the day after Christmas. Cool right?
So here is the post. I have been writing it for like two months.

 ----------------------------------------

Are you satisfied today? I am not wondering about how much food you ate last night... or this morning. I guess I am wondering if you are satisfied with your gifts. Do you think they were, cool enough, expensive enough, thoughtful enough, or just large enough in quantity? I have been thinking about Christmas gifts and how we often complain about not getting what we wanted for Christmas but the first Christmas gift should be plenty for every year. I mean seriously:
WE DON'T HAVE TO GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We get to be with God in the place he is preparing for us, because God came!
I guess He didn't have to do it the way He did. He could have just shot down from heaven as a full grown man and had the soldiers randomly decide to crucify Him, then risen from the dead, explained, and gone back to heaven or figured out some other way to get it over with. But He didn't! He came as a baby, grew up in the middle of the hardship his people suffered, was tempted, )probably pushed harder than most of us) built personal relationships with sinful people, argued about theology with religious leaders: Basically He was a human who had human problems and handled each of them perfectly. Then after living with the effects of sin we live with He took God's judgement for sin so that we would never have to go through it.
 
 What do you think? Do you feel satisfied with the original Christmas gift or do you want 'more'? I don't just mean Christmas gifts this time. Do you think other humans can give you something you need that God can't really give? Sometimes I do. That is why I wrote this song. Because I wanted a human to help me through the hard times but God was right there knowing that He is the comforter, protector, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father I need.
One more thought: A few months ago I was at Choir, and we read Hosea 2 (Not appropriate for all readers but it is in the Bible so it has a really good message) We talked about how we try to find what we need apart from God, we often think that others should give us what we need but really it all comes from God. He wants us to be near Him because He loves us like crazy! As you know if you have been reading my recent posts I am realizing how preposterously beautiful that is.
One way He showed us that crazy love was by coming as a Baby, another thing I don't understand (and a great tie in to Christmas) but hey, God can do anything so why couldn't He be a practically helpless baby in a stable and running the universe at the same time?
So not to be pushy but we should all be grateful this Christmas no matter what happens! Because Gods grace is a bigger deal than your problems... or lack of things to be happy about. Oh and if you want something to do, check out the Christmas Story in Luke 1 It is pretty awesome and this is a link so you can read it right now without even getting off the computer or using a search engine! If you want to know more about the gospel check out this post called: I am nothing.
God loves you!!!!!! Don't ever forget that please!!!
Praying for you!
L.

Christmas Eve

Hey Readers!

Our Family Book Tree

M. asked me to write something for Christmas eve. I guess I will tell you a little about mine. We finished wrapping presents, cleaned the house, went to Church for a pretty simple service which included a reading of the Christmas story from what I think was probably the Children's Story Book Bible, something my church is really into. It was pretty cool to hear the Christmas story told accurately in words meant for a child to understand. We sang some familiar Christmas Carols and my pastor shared about a few words that describe both his father and Christmas. The one that stands out to me is humility. It must have taken a lot for the transcendent Creator and Lord of the universe to be completely dependent on sinful human beings, grow up in submission to them and then die at the hands of his created beings for the sake of saving them from certain death.

Praying for a blessed and more importantly Christ centered Christmas!
L.

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the 

wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

(Luke 1:80 ESV)

Inner Dialogue and (Sort of) Christmas-ish Thoughts

Here's the inner dialogue that's been going on in my head the past month or so:

"M, you need to post something. It's the holiday season and you have so many topics to choose from."

"M, you should post something. You've got free time today and it's been a while."

"M, you have to post something today or your readers will think you've died."

And then there's the other side of my brain:

"No.
(That side of me makes such a good argument.)

Anyway, I'm back (sort of) to talk a little about Christmas. Because, you know, it's like (looks at calendar) A WEEK AWAY?!?! Oops. I probably should start my Christmas shopping, don't ya think? (sheepish grin)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In church on Sunday, we talked about Christmas, not just the first Christmas, but the second one! You see, for every time the first Christmas is mentioned in the New Testament, the second Christmas (literally, Christ-coming) is mentioned eight. That's a pretty significant ratio. I love thinking about what Christ's coming will be like, and there's a pretty detailed description in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18:

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encouragie one another with these words."

Unfortunately, I want to know EXACTLY what's gonna happen. Will we all disappear randomly? Will we have to wait to see Jesus? Are the people we know who've died already in heaven, or are they waiting somewhere? WHY DON'T WE GET MORE INFORMATION??? (Ahem. Sorry 'bout that.)

Unfortunately, this complaint I have is actually a pretty consistent problem of mine. I always want to know exactly what's gonna happen in life. What am I getting for Christmas? Where am I going to school next year? What career am I going to have? You know, simple stuff like that.  It shouldn't be that hard for God to just let me in on all of His plans for my life, right? When it actually comes down to it, this problem is me not only wanting to know what God's plans are, but wanting to be in control of these plans that God has. I don't want someone else to run my life!

As I've said before, this is a problem of mine... so I need to change, obviously. God knows what's best for me, whether I like it or not, and in the end, it kind of comes down to trusting that God is not a mean Father but a loving one. It's the same thing as a parent keeping their child away from the hot stove, even though the kid might scream and beg to touch it. The parent knows what's best for their son or daughter, so they will keep them from harmful things like that, and the child will develop a respect for their parents by their trustworthiness.

So what does all of this have to do with Christmas? Absolutely nothing. (Just kidding!) :D

I think what it has to do with Christmas is that Jesus came to earth so that we would know the Father. He came so that we would know the Father's love. And He demonstrated ultimate trust in God's will by being willing to do so much through His life, so that we could know that it pays to trust in the Father too. Jesus was a living picture of trust through His whole story:

He trusted God to give Him the right earthly parents. He trusted God to make Him into a baby and be dependent on people for His care. He trusted God through His childhood, not being able to show His deity to the world yet. He trusted God's timing even when His mother said He should act (John 2:4). He trusted God as He performed miracles, healed many sick, and gained a following during His three years of ministry. He trusted God when He knew He was going to die. He trusted in darkness and in fear. He didn't waver as He was beaten and mocked and crucified.

Which do you think was harder for Jesus: Leaving heaven for Christmas or fulfilling what He actually came to do?

That's what my problem has to do with Christmas. It didn't matter which was harder for Jesus because He trusted God enough and was willing to do BOTH of them! That's the Savior we celebrate, one who is trustworthy AND willing to trust. He's worthy of my worship and my trust in every situation, from an awkward Christmas party to a serious sickness in the family.

So, do you trust Him?

That's what I've been thinking about this season, I guess. Take it or leave it. :) I pray you all have a Merry Christmas, and I'll hopefully be back to post something before the New Year!!
-M

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord."(Proverbs 21:30, NIV)

Gods Remarkable Love! - A few things I learned from a mind blowing book.

Hello Readers!
So I (L.) started reading Crazy Love by Frances Chan.
And it told me to watch this video

which was super humbling.
And then this video:

which was like an awkwardly long hug that I almost wanted to stop early but it made my day.
Let me know if you want to read little updates like this as I continue to read the book. If you are interested in reading the book too you can check it out here.
Thanks for reading this super short post! (Actually I guess with all the videos it's pretty long.)
L.

Fall, Movies, Excitement, and Other Random Happenings

Hi everyone!

Well, it's been way too long since I posted, so here's the collection of thoughts, projects, and happenings in my life lately. :)

• I'm back in school! I'm doing online coursework for the year before I transfer to university on-campus next fall. I finished a Christian worldview course about a week ago and REALLY enjoyed the class. It stretched my mind in lots of different ways, which you all know I love. :D Right now, I've just started taking Old Testament History!
• I work full-time now!! At least almost full-time. I nanny/babysit for two different families and I absolutely love it! I can't even think of a better place that I'd want to work right now. 
• I CUT MY HAIR OFF. Well, I actually paid someone else to do it, but ya know. :) It's kind of a longish pixie now.
• I recently got the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan and have just started reading it. So far, it's really convicting and theological and just all-around awesome. I also recently read C.S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory and I really loved that, too. Have any of you read anything interesting lately?? Comment below! :)
• Fall is finally here, and Winter is in sight!! Fun fact: Winter is my favorite season, hands down.
• I've been thinking about grace a lot lately. God's grace isn't clean, it gets dirty. Grace has to cover every sin, not just the "little" ones. When we understand God's grace, we become free from fear of perfection, because we are no longer required to be perfect. We are free to just be ourselves and chase after God with all of our hearts!
• I changed the blog background! (Again!) I went with blue this time, and I really like the new fonts I found. :)
• My brain is about to die. I've watched a lot of movies lately and have been thinking a lot about the worldview in each of them, (big surprise!) so hopefully I can still put together a set of coherent thoughts when I need to. (Which, looking back on that sentence, probably won't be happening anytime soon...) Recently I've watched The Maze Runner, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Citizen Kane, The Patriot, (edited) and The Magnificent Seven.
• We have a new page coming soon to the blog!!! L. had a really cool page idea for us to add, and we're excited for you to see it! Stay tuned...
• My friends are awesome. Jus' sayin. :)
• I color-coded the apps on my phone. It's kind of relaxing to just scroll through and see all of the colors. :)
• I'm running out of relevant information to put in these bullet points...
• Our cars have all been dying!!! And our house has lost power three times in the last week. It's freaking me out. 
• I keep waiting for something really exciting to happen, but I don't know why. Maybe I've just had too much routine lately. (But if there's too much excitement, I completely shut down and can't function until I have routine again...)
• Last Saturday, I got 7 pies smashed in my face. L. and E. were responsible for two of said pies. I'm totally getting them back for that, but I haven't quite decided how yet. :D
• I went to a concert over the weekend that was absolutely amazing!! I got to see Colton Dixon, Francesca Battistelli, Jeremy Camp, and Hillsong United, along with others, but those four were my favorite!! (I also got to start sponsoring a little girl in Thailand with an international program!!! I'm super excited about that!)
• Here's a verse that I fell in love with the other day! At Bible study a few days ago, the teacher had us do something called lectio divina with verses we were assigned. (Look it up on google; it'll tell you what that means...) The verse I got was 1 Corinthians 1:17 - "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of of Christ be emptied of its power." The phrase that stood out to me was "words of human wisdom" because words are so meaningful to me. I was  thinking that maybe the way we preach the gospel is with a language of love and grace, rather than words. The cross kind of transcends the very limited power of words, which I find fascinating. My mind's been on this thought a lot for the past few days.
• There are pushpins in my bulletin board in the shape of a heart. Just in case you wanted to know. :D

There ya go! Enjoy trying to decipher my life! (Hint: Oh, wait. There aren't any hints. I can't even decipher my life!) I guess you could say it's kinda... simplex right now! (Hahahaha! I see what you did there!!) Oh, man, I'm laughing at my own puns. This is really bad. I'd better go and save whatever dignity I've got left. Bye!

-M.

i am nothing

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 
(John 3:16 ESV)

 

I am not sure what to say at this point. Does all this really need my explanation? 

Well, here are a few thoughts from my own head: Lets start with the most basic thing about me. My existence: God made me. So without God I would not exist. I would be nothing in the most literal sense possible. A few other things about me...: I am made in God's image. I am like a picture of God so I don't even have one original quality that is not from God. Then I messed even that up by sinning, so at this point I was separated from God. I was a marred image of someone I couldn't  even see clearly, because He is Holy, Holy, Holy; perfectly set apart, and incompatible with my sin. So, there I was, nothing worth while anyway. But God didn't make people in His image for nothing. He would restore that image and be worshiped by His people. So He sent His son Jesus to bridge the gap; to take my shame and give me His holiness. Because of His love he changed me from 'nothing' into 'His beloved daughter.'

This isn't just my story. It is your story too, but this is where you get to make a choice: How will yours end? You can accept what Jesus did for you, taking His holiness in place of your shame, and appreciating the love of the giver of all life, or you can reject it and remain nothing but a marred image separated from the only person who can give you true value. 

There is one more thing you should know though: God made our souls to exist forever, but because God is holy and we are sinful if you refuse to accept the gift of holiness from Jesus you can't spend eternity with God. Any human who dies without accepting the gift of holiness and eternal life from Jesus Christ spends eternity in Hell.

If you already trust in Jesus then please take this opportunity to thank Him for what He has done for you! I hope this post helped you to remember how awesome it is and how vital He is to you!!!!!!!!! For more on humility check out this sermon

If you haven't accepted The gift of the righteousness of Jesus you still can! If you trust Jesus to save you He will!

If you have just trusted Jesus to save you Praise God! I promise it will change your life for the better! Please share with us! We would love to hear about what God is doing in your life and help you in any way! Oh and if you don't have a Bible you should get one. It is a lot of things but one is a guide to being a Christian! You can also read or listen to the Bible online which I Love to do.

If you have questions comment away. We will do our best to answer.

If you disagree with me please comment! I want to hear what you think!

God loves all of you! And that means more then you or I know!

-L

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

(Romans 3:27-28 ESV)

Drawings

  Hey guys! Here's my most recent drawing/inking: dun-na nun-na nun-na nun-na...BATMAN!!!

I got the idea from a picture that my brother showed me. And I'm very pleased with how mine turned out..what do you think?

   I also drew this one from a series of books written by James Patterson, the Maximum Ride series

  And I'll end with this..it's a quote from a book that I'm reading..

"When we risk ourselves, our time, our careers for what we believe, we can accomplish things we never imagined. We can achieve the impossible" ~Bill Strickland

~E.

One Year Ago...

Guys...  

(*cough*and gals*cough* I'm apparently here to comment and fix any errors that M. made. -E.)

(BTW this is completely M's post! Don't tell her I'm here;))

Friends...

GUESS WHAT?! (What? oh hey people! It's L. I snuck into M.'s post:) (Oh hey L.! How's it going? M. doesn't know we're here, right?)  (Hey E. you can join me in sneaking around!  I don't know if she has caught us yet.)

It has been one (uno) (eins) (What??) year since Simplex began. Allow me to share the story with you....

"What should we call it?" E. and I deliberate as we sit in front of my computer. Ideas are tossed out quicker than bad cheese. "We could smush two words together and make a new word. It catches people's attention." (M.'s idea..) We go through a LOT of names... Something about a literary fortress? (M.'s idea..) Nah. We settle on mystery. (Also M.'s idea...) "Of what?"

"This is too complicated..." I say. Complex... hmmm. I thought blogging would be simpler than this!! Simple.. Complex.. "Simplex!" I call out.

"What...??" (I was more like: "whaaaaaaaaaaaa.....???) E. looks at me, confused. I explain. "Simplex is something that is simple and yet at the same time, it's complex. Like rain. Or God's grace." (M. literally thought of this in about 10 seconds!) That's M. for ya!)
"Just put something down!" (We have tried to make a name probably for an hour...) (ha! More like 'two' hours! :D it was roughly 11:00pm by then and we were both exhausted)

Here is a picture for you!

The story above may or may not be exact, (its pretty close;)) but the process for making the pages, first post, and design for Simplex went along those same lines of taking forever to make decisions...(like forever) :D But we made it. On October 12th, a year ago today, our blog went live online. And look where God has brought us today! (I'm still amazed at what He has done, and where He has brought me - all of us - since then;)) (I did not know that story until I read this. What troopers they are!)

We have a new author, L! (she mentioned me :)) We have published 58 posts ranging from random to theological (and just plain weird;) mostly by me:)). We've hit over 2,000 page views!!!! (Can I get a round of applause, people?! woot! woot!) The background has been changed multiple times... (mostly by M. once by me) and God's been glorified through it all. (AMEN!!)
Thanks YOU, readers, for making our last year of blogging a wonderful one! (Yeah thanks guys! Especially the three of you who comment! God loves you all though!)

Catch you later! Stay tuned for more Simplexities here! (Siml..sompx..coxcity...Whaaaaaa.....??? ;)) (What???)

-M. (and L.:)) (Don't forget about me!! Otherwise known as: - MOOO!! - *cough* I mean: - penguins are cool - AAAAHHHH I'm going insane!! -- insert evil witch cackle here -- E.)

THE AFTERMATH:

M: (scrolling)
M: (scrolling)
M: (scrolling)
M: (scrolling)
M: (scrolling)
M: (clicks)
M: (scrolling)
M: (gasps)
M: (viciously scrolling)
M: (screams; faints)
L and E: (high-five)

It's A Beautiful Day

  Hey everybody!! E. here. I know it's been a while since my last post...

ok correction: 'long' while, and you've been wanting to hear from me again(hopefully, 'cause if not...-insert whatever impending demise you wish-*cough* I mean..that's ok!! I still love you anyway!!) wow that just rhymed....weird...

   Anywho, I wanted to talk about rain. I know M. has sort of already done that..but rain is just soo cool that I just had to talk about it too! 

  and, also it has been raining the passed few days! Which is totally awesome!!(coming from the girl who has lived in AZ all her life) so basically rain is cool:) (no pun intended) and wet! And my favorite thing to do, is stand in the middle of it when everyone else(a.k.a. my family) is hiding under shelter. No matter what kind of day I'm having, as soon as it starts raining, my mood changes and I'm happy. 

('..because I'm HAPPEEEEEEEEE...')

   I remember when I was little I used to think about how, when there is complete cloud cover, even though I can't see the sun, it's still shining and as bright as ever! How cool is that?! I remember one time when I was younger, I though that the rain had put out the sun. I wondered if it would ever shine again, and then I figured God would light it again when the rain was over, and He always did! 

(Bunnies....my brother is obsessed with bunnies)

   I was never afraid of lightening, the explanation for this is simply that my mother always told me that the Angels where bowling up in heaven. It made me happy to think that they were having fun and probably laughing with joy:) sometimes I wondered if the rain was because they used cups of water, instead of bowling pins...hmmm...I wonder...

   I think that the main reason I love rain is that it brings back soo many memories!..how I would watch two rain drops roll down my car window, pretending it was a race..

(crunch)

asking--more like begging--my mom to let me and my siblings play in the rain, trying to reassure her that we wouldn't get struck by lighting, and then struggling to put on our swim suits as fast as we could, silently willing the rain to stay...jumping and sliding on the slick wet surface of our trampoline...

(crunch)

...scouring our house from top to bottom, trying to find an umbrella, just so I could say I used it that year, and look important while standing in the rain...

(crunch-*cough* oh sorry for interrupting 'food is good'!!) 

...jumping in puddles of water, trying to make a big enough splash to spray my siblings...these are just a few, happy memories I reminisce about when it rains. 

   The smell after it rains is one of pure happiness! And it's so refreshing! Sometimes I just stand outside and breathe deeply for a few minutes, and it always makes me feel better:)  rain is espe...

              *          *          *         *          

    Zig zag stripes are cool! And the amazingness of actually tying a shoelace!

              *          *          *         *        

     Penguins don't say "waddle..waddle"

     Cows aren't only black and white

     Ducks both fly and swim

     Goats don't eat just anything, they are actually very picky eaters (please don't ague with me on that one-I promise-you won't win)

              *          *          *         *

   ...cially amazing when it's cold out:) then I can bundle up in a bunch of blankets and read my favorite book! 

   Anyway, hope you've enjoyed reading this! And I hope you have many comments;) but for now..BYE!!!! And have a WONDERFUL day/week/month/year or whatever;)!!!!!!

I think my sister took this picture. -L.

~E.

Enough

"Dear God,

I tell you almost every day that I love you. I just forget a lot of the time that you love me too. 

You love me enough to make the right song play on the radio. 

You love me enough to give me a mind to stretch when I'm learning. 

You love me enough to give me a voice to sing about you. 

You love me enough to put people in my life that bless me all of the time. 

You love me enough to hurt me. It's kinda weird, but even though you cause me pain now, it will save me from worse pain later. 

You love me enough to correct me when I'm wrong. 

You love me enough to let me smile when I see a paper clip. 

You love me enough to let me rebel against you because you'd rather have a free will praise you than a puppet.

You must love me a lot. You died for me. 

Why don't I FEEL your love? I have to fake it sometimes. I desperately want to feel loved. Let me feel it. 

Amen. -M."

I wrote this in my journal almost a year ago. Lately, the thought that just keeps popping up in my head is that God loves me enough. 

Not too much. 

Not too little. 

Just enough is how much Jesus loves me. It's a lot, obviously; more than I can imagine, but it's the exact amount that I need. 

How do I even comprehend the love of Jesus? He created me, knows my past, my fears, and my scars. He knows who I was.

He knows the masks I wear and the true me. He sees me as I am today, not as a work in progress, but as a child of His, "holy and dearly loved" (Colossians 3).

He sees the things I desire, but He knows best what I need. He understands the dreams I have for my life, but it will be His story that turns out better than I could have ever imagined. Jesus loves who I am going to become in Him.

So, Jesus loves me with an incomprehensibly perfect love. Yet it's not too much. I think that there is no limit to God's love, and that's how much He loves me.

* * * * * * * * *

And you. (Yes, you!)

God loves you enough. Enough to time something just right in your day. Enough to give you the family, friends, home, and possessions you have now. Enough to write your story, however it may look like, exactly the way it is.

He loved you enough in your past to let you make mistakes and to learn from them. He loves you enough today to give you freedom to choose whether you will obey Him or not.

He will love you enough tomorrow to let you live the BEST life ever. I know it's the best because God planned it for you. :)

It's enough to bring a smile to your face or a tear to your eye when you realize He's using each moment in your life to say, "I love you SO much."

Why don't we believe this? Why don't we FEEL like God loves us so much?

Well, I don't know. (Really? SO HELPFUL!! Just kidding.) Some days I get it. I understand that God loves me and life is beautiful. Then some days I feel like God ditched me and ran to the other side of the universe. What's the deal with that? I have a few possible explanations.

Most of the time, when I feel distant from God's love, it's because I ran away. Not Him. Then I'd get mad at God and push Him away, and then I'd have to pretend everything was fine at a moment's notice when anyone asked how I was doing. So that might be one reason why, if God feels far away from you right now. But that's just from my personal experience.

The other theory I have was inspired by the a page in the book "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. This particular day I read about how Christians should have faith instead of emotion. The author writes, "If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again." So days like this one were truly a blessing from God, but we can't expect them to be the norm. Chambers goes on to say , "Never live for those exceptional moments - they are surprises... We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life - our work is our standard."

Sometimes, I think God lets us feel unloved (not become, mind you) in order that our faith might be strengthened. He still does love us unconditionally and watches to see if we'll believe that and continue to live in joy, even if we're not happy.

I know it's the song everyone's sick of now, but Oceans by Hillsong is a great summary of this idea. "Your grace abounds in deepest waters, your sovereign hand will be my guide," the song says. Trust that God loves you enough when you don't feel it. He hasn't left you.

Make sense? I hope it does. Thanks for reading!

-M

Welcome to Fall!

Hey ya'l!
Fall is officially here (at least as far as the school year is concerned) and that means a few things for Mystery of the Simplex.
1. I (L.) found a cool fall background. (and M. let me put it up:D) What do you think of it?
2. We have all started school again so we may not have as much time to blog :(
3. This doesn't really have to do with fall but I have some really cool ideas for posts and maybe even a new page!:D
4. The anniversary of M. and E.'s first post is coming up so hopefully we can do something cool for that!
So yeah, I am done for now. Have a great semester!
L.

It's the Little Things

Hi readers! M. here; it's been WAY too long since I've posted. Apologies, guys! I've been branching out into other types of writing lately, like spoken word poetry and songwriting (!) but I'm back now with a Simplex story for you today!! (Just a forewarning: it was really awesome.)

By the way, how are you liking L's writing? I'm so excited that she gets to blog with us!

The story kind of begins on Friday night a few weeks ago. I spent the night at a friend's house and we stayed up till 4 in the morning, which was super exhausting but so much fun! We got up around 8:30 that morning and my friends introduced me to a TV show called "Once Upon a Time." I'd never seen it before, but I did enjoy the first two episodes.

While I was watching the show, I checked my email and I'd gotten two pins from L! They were super encouraging and I knew that today would be a good day.

I got home a little before lunchtime and went to get our 15-month old up from his nap. He wasn't feeling too well and had a runny nose, so I sat down on the couch and got to snuggle with him. Now, this child is not a snuggler; he's always up and running around, so I was really suprised that he sat there with me for several minutes! It definitely put a smile on my face.

At 2:00, I went to a lady's house to discuss a weekly childcare job for her kids. I got to meet them and they were so friendly! I was so excited to start working for them next week!

When I got home again, I had a great conversation with my mom about college stuff and got to snuggle with the baby AGAIN!! By this point, I'd started to notice that God was "up to something."

Other things that happened on that Saturday:

The sky outside was GORGEOUS!!
I got compliments on the shirt I was wearing twice in one day!! 
I was able to read several chapters of "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, which I love!
I got to babysit a family from our church in the evening... 
When I drove home after watching the kids, I heard not one or two, but SIX songs on the radio in a row that encouraged me, blessed me, challenged me, and shifted my focus to Christ!! 
And I had to do dishes and shower when I got home, but I still got to bed before midnight!!!


By halfway through the day, I was starting to catch onto God's scheme. It was like he dumped a bucket of love on me, like never before. it was a day of lots of little things, but they sure counted!!

Lately, I've been using the phrase, "God chose." I've stopped asking God, "Why did you do this bad thing to me?" or "Why did you give me a bad day?" because I know the answer is always, "Because I did!" God doesn't need a reason for doing things in my life; he created me! And as a Christian, I gave Him control of my life, so questioning His motives is, honestly, really counterproductive!

I'm thankful. It really is the little things that make me feel blessed to be alive.

Thanks for reading! And I love hearing from you guys! Comment below!
Until next time! -M.

Summer Testimony

Hey!

So I (L.) have a really long story to share. I am really excited to share it though! Well here we go:

It all started............hmm.....well.... long before I was born actually; when God chose me (Ephesians 1:3-6) and the next big moment was in the garden of Eden when all humans were condemned  (Genesis 3). About 4,000 years latter however my sin and the sin of all others whom God chose was accredited to Jesus so that he could suffer and die in our place at the hands of sinful man. 3 days after that he rose from the dead, concering death so that we could be born again (1 Peter 1:3 and John 3:1-20).
Two thousand years past and I was born with a sinful nature like every other human baby (except Jesus). Then God accredited Jesus righteousness to me though the faith He gave me to believe it.
So there is the super important and amazing prefix. (If you didn't understand or believe any of it please look up the Bible verses and feel free to comment with your thoughts or questions. Also my wording may not be perfect because Salvation is a difficult idea but I hope this won't give any one the wrong impression)
Okay so skip forward a few years to the start of this summer; lets say May 4th. A self centered, teenaged, Christian girl is getting ready for a busy summer. The past three years (since her dad died) have been the hardest of her life and she wonders if the next will be any better.  She doesn't regret everything that happened these past few years and she knows that God has been and is still using it but she has sure done a lot wrong. In fact she feels very humbled and she knows that it is an answer to prayer but she doesn't know what to do with it.

 Right now things seem okay though. She has started blogging on Mystery of the Simplex and enjoys talking about life and theology with her fellow writers. She has a busy month ahead of her with the end of school and the beginning of summer. Fortunately, the next month is full of exciting things she can hardly wait for. Choir Camp is coming at the end of this month and she is excited to learn about Masks and spend time with her Choir friends again. Her sister and M.'s High school graduation is coming up and she has a few parties to go to. Oh yeah and she just got baptized. That was beautiful!
Okay no more third person:
I felt scared at first that I wasn't ready but when I got in the water peace returned and I felt like I was saying my wedding vows to God as I answered the pastors questions with confidence and was excited to proclaim my my love and faith in my Savior as he dunked me in the water and I came back up while the rest of the congregation worshiped God through song. Many friends and family found joy in my obedient proclamation and shared that with me after the service.
The next big part of this story that I remember well is camp. Click here to read the story of my sister's graduation and Camp from my perspective. If you want the short version just read the sections on Wednesday May 28th and Friday May 30th. I know even that is a bit long but it is a big part of this story.

Okay, so the summer continues and I spend several mornings trying to decide whether to wear makeup. I like the way it enhances my face but I hate that I can't take compliments as really about me when people are seeing a doctored up version. So I decide not to ware makeup regularly for now. (I was always looking for compliments and other affirmation to boost my self esteem.)
Now it is August 8th and I am watching my Preforming arts comanys  Kids camp concert. I watched them worship God openly and some even cry on stage. I heard stories from the director and her helpers about how great the camp was and how excited the kids were to honor God. There was even a video made for each child by their parents sharing about how they have seen God working in their lives. It all brought tears to my eyes at the realization that these 7-14-year-olds had more pure faith then I did. I shared my feelings with my sister after I got home that night and she listened patiently and shared some advice but I didn't know how to let go of my desires to be the best and my idea that I should be as good as if not better, then those around me. Anything less then the best had to be imperfect and I couldn't stand it. I knew that I couldn't be perfect in myself and that I had been given the righteous of Christ but I didn't know where to go from there either.
(Hang in there guys! We are now up to next Thursday and the conclusion is near!)
My sister and I got to go to a Christian concert with M., E. and a few other people. I was really excited to spend time with them and hear some of my favorite artists including Jonathan Thulin and Jamie Grace :D. We got there early and found seats where we waited and sang along with the music videos playing on the projector screen. I had trouble getting into the songs and I wanted to talk with my friends but I didn't have anything to say. I thought about praying and I did a little then I started a very forced conversation with M., but before we had really said anything the count down started for the concert.
At first it felt too much like a performance. Like the artists were preforming for their glory and not God's, but sometimes I didn't let it matter and I was real. I cried out to God with the words of the songs and I jumped with joy for the freedom I had. (I admit that often I was focused on the people around me.) Then we got to Jamie Grace. The last artist of the show. I was sad that it was almost over but God used her song "Every Bit of Lovely" to completely change my perspective. First I realized that a song like this wasn't what I was looking for to affirm my own beauty. It wasn't enough to hear a generalization about how we are all beautiful in Gods eyes. I wanted people to tell me that I personally was beautiful (remind you of my makeup decision?) The next thing I realized was that it didn't really matter if I was beautiful or if I felt good about myself.

I don't need the honest compliments I longed for because my life is not about me! Instead of self confidence I need confidence in God (faith). Rather then self esteem I need a better view of The Master.  I don't need to be a better Christian or have stronger faith then the Princess and Dunamiss kids because while that's God's decision and he has plans for those kids as well as me and I should praise Him for the work he has done in them even though it brings out my weakness. I also don't need to be the one to solve every problem or even be the first one to back away because life isn't my show! I don't need to be the best dancer or singer or even the one who understands why she didn't get picked. It doesn't matter if I have it all figured out because God does.
Then after the concert it rained! It was so beautiful!

On Friday I was thinking about it and I realized the application. If God is the master of my life and the very reason I am alive then I need to stop living life to please myself. While I knew this in my head I didn't really live it in my life. My whole life should be for His glory in every way. I really want to do this practically no more having fun for the sake of fun. I want to live my life truly all for Jesus. I should really do nothing just to satisfy my own desires. I want to really live all for Jesus. I want to surrender my life completely to Him! Whether that means waiting in the background while someone else helps one of my best friends through a rough time or washing dishes or reading the Bible when I could be reading a magazine or looking at pinterest.
After thinking about this I checked my Choirs Facebook feed and saw this video and it fit so well! Please watch and remember what I learned.

 Okay, one more thing. I bought Johnathan Thulin CD, The White Room at the concert. When I listened to the song I Am Nothing  I realized how much it has to do with this too.

I have so much more to share but I am sure you are ready for me to stop writing for now. I hope to continue to share about what God is doing in my life over the fall semester (if I can keep up with School that is.)
God loves you! Be His!
L.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33 ESV)
 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
(1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)

L's Random post

Hey everyone!
L. here with some random things I wanted to share.

1. You should check out the side bar to follow us by email and see if there is a question to answer.

2. I really miss your comments and would love to hear what you think on our surveys!

3. I am becoming less obsessive about what you think of us and how many of you read this because I am realizing that this is not about us. It is about God and however He chooses to use us.

4. I might be doing competitive speech this school year. :D

5. Wasn't our 50th post awesome? I was hoping we could do something all together sometime. I think you know us all a lot better then you would have from just reading our solo posts.

6.  I want to share a passage from the Bible with you before I go:

  When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
(John 6:25-29 ESV)

John 6 has been a huge part of my journey with God; He used it in a really tough time in my life to assure me that He could save even me though faith alone.
I hope He uses it in your life too!
-L.

Creative Writing Prompt #15 Part 2: The Pain of The Mask.

Hey Everyone!
L. Here I wrote part two of my first CWP :D Sorry it took so long! If you haven't read Part 1, you can do that here.  Hope you enjoy it!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Years went by and still my mask stayed on. As I worked hard to keep my mask up, my true face began to get worse. New pimples, bruises or scrapes popped up often, and the circles under my eyes got darker each morning. Whenever I dared to think of what was behind my mask it only made me work harder to keep it up. I didn't want people to see the bruises I wore from their careless remarks or "constructive" criticism or how deeply I had been wounded before. I didn't want them to see how red and puffy my eyes were from crying myself to sleep or that I wasn't even trying to fix these things.  Surely no one who saw that could love me or would even want to be around me.
Then I realized that someone did see my true face. God did. He knew every pimple, every scar, every line, and every bruise I had ever had and exactly how I got it. When I first realized this it terrified me! My mask had always made me feel safe and in control, but He knew... I felt so shameful, so broken, so... hopeless. Surely to please Him I would have to truly heal... but how could I do that from behind my mask.

My sister drew this.

I struggled with this for some time. To even try to fix my problems I would have to take off my mask and that would mean letting everyone know that I had been faking it for years and even if I did take the mask off I couldn't fix it myself. There were scars that might never heal and the bruises and pimples would take time and I had no idea how to stop the pattern of almost nightly crying which kept my eyelids so pink and swollen. Besides, who knew what it would do to my face to take it off?What if it tore my skin off with it?
That night I tried to pray. "God, I know you see my real face. You know I've been hiding. You know how messed up I am. But what can I do about it? I am so afraid and I don't even know if you can hear me. Do you listen to people like me?" I let out a heavy breath. I guess I should read the Bible, I thought, though not with much hope.

I opened my Bible somewhere near the middle and my eyes caught on these words:
"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit."
(Psalm 32:1-2 ESV)

Forgiven, covered, but no deceit?  How does that work?... "God?" I started to pray again.

To be continued...

---

 Read the conclusion here
-L.

50 POSTS!!!

50TH POST AUTHOR INTERVIEW-CELEBRATION-COOL-THINGY

(translation: I (M.) couldn't come up with a good title for the 50th post. You'd think we have this down by now, but noooo.....)

ACTION KEY:
(A word in this color means this author is speaking, acting, or being described)

M: purple

L: green

E: blue

M: Simplex is now a real word! I'm pleased to announce that "Simplex" has been officially added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary... Not really! We're not that famous. (and we probably never will be!)

L: BUT WE'RE AWESOME!!!

E: And so is the LEGO Movie!! (Breaks into song and dance) "Everything is awesoooome..... Everything is cool when you're part of a team!!"

M: (stares at E. with slight concern)

L: (begins to laugh hysterically)

M: And so begins our interview... and impending demise.

QUESTION 1: TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT ONE OF YOUR FELLOW AUTHORS.

E. M enjoys using parentheses in weird and crazy ways... (M ponders the opportunity(but doesn't do anything about it(or does she???)))

L: and E. never gets enough sleep! (E. yawns)

M: and L is secretly a pop star! (L breaks out in loud song)

QUESTION 2: DESCRIBE THE OTHER GIRLS IN ONE WORD.

M: L is pondering and E is Engaging.
E: M is a rainbow and L is twirly!

L: E. is Random and M. is thoughtful.

M: We make a make a good mix!

QUESTION 3: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERISTIC OF GOD?

L: The fact that He knows us perfectly and still loves us perfectly!

M: The way He has a perfect plan for everything; how His story is woven through all aspects of our lives!

E. HIS SENSE OF HUMOR!!

QUESTION 4: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO POST ON THE BLOG?

M: I like writing about Simplexities or something creative, fun, and engaging.

L: Well, I haven't posted much yet but I enjoy writing stories!

E: I enjoy posting my drawings and funny wallpapers.

M: For example, the picture to the right was drawn by E. during the early stages of the interview, in 5 minutes, on a simple dry-erase board. THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is called talent!!

QUESTION 5: WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO?

L: Simon Peter. He messed up pretty bad, but Jesus forgave him and he did some pretty bold stuff for the gospel.

E: Donald Duck. No further questions.

M: Well, most of my friends are taller than me. My neck gets sore sometimes.

QUESTION 6: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BLOG POST UP TILL NOW?

E: Creative Writing Prompt #6 or #15.

L: "A Lot can change in Two Weeks."

M: Creative Writing Prompt #13. (but now, probably this 50th post!!)

(Pause of awkward silence, but only for a moment...)

E: Moo, I'm a cow, and you can't do anything about it!!

M: Wow, ok....

E: MOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

L: I like M.'s responses to E.

M: It's getting late, can you tell?

L: In other words, I love you both.

M: AWWWWW!!

E: .......moo?.......

CAN WE GET TO THE LAST QUESTION BEFORE YOU THREE GO INSANE?

M: Too late! 

E: (rises and begins to walk around the room like a penguin)

M: (sighs dramatically) We are all insane already.

E: Moo.

L: (Laughs at everyone in the most loving way possible)

THE LAST QUESTION: (FOR THIS INTERVIEW, ANYWAYS)

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE, SAGE WORDS, WISE WORDS, HUMOROUS WORDS, WORDS OF QUESTIONABLE INTENT, OR OTHER WORDS YOU WISH TO IMPART TO THE READING AUDIENCE?

L: Jesus loves you!!! M. and E. are awesome! And eat more Pizza.

E: Don't get brain freezes reading the blog. And doughnuts are good.

M: Paperclips. 'Nuff said.

Sore Feet and a Cloudy Sky

Hi readers! M. here with a simplex story of my weekend.

WHAT HAPPENED:
1. My feet got sore, and 2. It rained. Fairly simple weekend. Sounds boring, you say. (Yawn) So why on earth am I blogging about such a dull weekend?? (Haha, silly question. That's what ALL bloggers do!)

I had a few realizations about my sore feet and the rain. I felt inspired, and I learned a few somethings about God and myself from them.

That's the simple story. Here's the rest.

On Friday and Saturday I attended a homeschool convention. For a few hours during the weekend, I ran the exhibit hall, serving the vendors in small ways. (getting water, coffee, etc.) I forgot to get some comfortable shoes before the weekend and had to borrow my mom's shoes, which didn't fit quite right. Hence, sore feet! Not very interesting, you say? Well, it isn't. The thoughts I had on the way home, however, were.

I was thinking about thankfulness. I want to be a grateful person, and I try to thank God for His blessings each day. I wondered how I could be thankful for sore feet, but soon realized that I was thankful.

I was thankful because the fact that I had sore feet meant I could walk.
I was thankful because the fact that I had sore feet meant I could walk and had shoes to walk in.
I was thankful because the fact that I had sore feet meant I could walk, had shoes to walk in and had the convention to walk around at.
I was thankful because the fact that I had sore feet meant I could walk, had shoes to walk in, had the convention to walk around at, AND the freedom to walk around in this homeschool convention in America.
I was thankful because the fact that I had sore feet meant I had feet!! Get the picture? It wasn't that I was necessarily thankful for the soreness of my feet, but rather the reasons my feet were sore and the blessings I had in spite of this annoyance.

Simplexity #1 - check. Let's move on to the second event of the weekend.

RAIN.

Like I've mentioned before (repeatedly and perhaps to an annoying extent) I really love rain. It always reminds me of God's love for me. I collect my "rain stories" and store them in my memory for, well, other rainy days. Or late nights. Or blogs like this. (Stop rolling your eyes!)

A few stories:

When I was about 9 or 10, my family and I were on a road trip. It was late at night, and I had finally thought that I had picked out the big dipper. Without warning the car was in the midst of a torrent for no longer than two minutes, but it stopped, also with no warning. My mom remarked that it felt like a bucket had dumped tons of water on our car, then ran out just as fast as it poured.

I remember when winter rain came once, my brother and I put on our heavy snow coats and jumped on the trampoline in the rain.

There was one time when it started pouring in the middle of class. A few minutes later, our teacher let us out on break, but the rain had stopped and the sun shone vivid through the clouds. The crystal reflections on the walls and pavement flashed brightly.

At a mission trip meeting, the first of our summer storms hit. We finished before the downpour did and went outside to party. Let's just say over 80% of the group left for home soaked.

Two of my favorites happened at camp.

1. We were at Bible lesson time, in a tin-roofed building. A pile of hundreds of muddy shoes sat near the door, and as a Dad in the group taught, the rains came. The sound was deafening, words no longer discernible. I thought it was beautiful.

2. Last August. We were about to begin a team-building exercise when the skies opened. Of course we HAD to be doing the rock-climbing activity right at that point! The rain stopped a few minutes later, but everyone and everything was wet and slippery. We finished team-building and headed back to camp about a 1/4 mile away, but the storm was far from over!! No one got back to the cabins with even an inch of dry clothing. I loved every minute.

Sorry for the memory dump. Anyway, back to this Sunday's simplex rain.

It was different. I had fallen asleep in the afternoon due to my exhaustion from the weekend. I woke to the sound of the skies screaming. Normally I delight in those moments, but this rain, this torrent was angry. It was sad. I was usually overjoyed for summer showers, but when I heard this one, I knew something peculiar existed within the deluge. I still don't really understand why this rain made me feel bitter, for a storm has never done that before.

The simplex thing about it was that I had a chance to open up my rain-memory book and tell myself the joyful stories again, the ones above along with others.  The peaceful recollections brought a sense of acceptance. This rain reminded me of the song "How He Loves," in which the lyrics say this:

"He is jealous for me

loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

bending beneath 

the weight of his wind and mercy."

God's creativity astounds me, reminding me that I've had hundreds of rain stories to collect and yet none are alike! AND I could be thankful about the rain too, the way I learned this weekend!! I don't think I've even learned the whole lesson yet, but these little thoughts were definitely part of it.

Thanks for reading, as always! I hope you enjoyed my attempt at making my weekend sound interesting. :) See you next time!
-M.