January 2015 – Thoughts from Blue Eyes

Adventuring

Life has been full of adventures lately. Yet, they’ve all been marked with hard edges.

This past week, I’ve been out multiple times for multiple occasions. It started with a visit to my grandma’s. It was lovely to see her on MLK day, but the lunch was dotted with notes of depression — my grandpa is slowly fading from dementia and lies sleeping in the nursing home down the street. All I could do was hold his hand, really, and sit on the mat next to his bed that the staff keeps there in case he falls. My grandma puts on a brave face, but I know she is crying inside, too.

Donuts and coffee at Glazed and Infused on Friday. Eric from Massachusetts and I needed to catch up on life, and I’ve been trying to grip my mornings with a tighter hand anyway. We rode the El and it was

AdventuringKaitlyn2015-01-25T03:17:33+00:00

Marching

I marched today. No, it wasn’t in a band.

This afternoon, the 2015 March for Life Chicago took place at the Federal Plaza. There had to have been over 2,000 people, all crowded cheerfully and passionately together, yellow balloons stamped “LIFE” in black. Signs, posters, and shouts of “Stand for life!” punctuated the concrete jungle as speakers kicked off the march in support of choosing life for babies and standing up for women struggling with guilt from past abortion experiences.

The sky was crisp, sunny, and welcoming as we strode down Randolph. Police blocked off traffic as my friends and I chirped happily and raised our signs high.

Just as we were nearing the end, exclamations and police on the left side of the street caught my attention. It was a group of equally passionate, college-aged women holding up signs and shouting “Choice!” They were taking potshots and disparaging our march, stating that

MarchingKaitlyn2015-01-19T03:54:06+00:00

Starting

Tomorrow begins another semester.

Strange to think that it’s already been a year and a half since beginning this adventure called Bible college. I’m eager to see what the Lord has in store, but I also have reservations, because hey, it’s always difficult to start fresh. Granted, the roommate, friends, floor, and environment are the same, but there are big changes in the air. New classes, new trials, new news, the world turns and the beat goes on.

Starting can be scary or good, depending on who you are and where you’re at: starting a new marriage, starting chemotherapy, starting to move in, starting to forgive, starting to put away the old boxes of photos and move on, starting to walk in Christ, starting to have a stroke. Starting.

Part of Hebrews (class I’m taking this semester, which I’m pumped about) 12:1 states this: “And let us run with perseverance the race marked

StartingKaitlyn2015-01-12T05:41:21+00:00

Preferring

Peanut Butter S’mores. It may sound disgusting, but it’s one of my favorite ice creams.

Rose Latte. It may sound disgusting, but it’s one of Hannah the Traveler’s favorite coffee drinks.

We are all created with preferences. I like this, you like that, he can’t stand that, fill-in-the-blank. That’s part of how God made us, and it’s a wondrous thing to see how the Body of Christ fits together with the distributed uniqueness among us all. It’s beautiful how people are so different but need the same things: food, shelter, love.

God.

I wonder how many people think of God as just another preference, like an extra blurb to add to a biography or something to rattle off when we talk about mutual interests. “I like chocolate, watching classic films, and going to church,”

PreferringKaitlyn2015-01-09T03:41:02+00:00

The Reality of New Years

It’s an hour before the New Year.

Looking back on 2014, I can say one thing for sure: it was full.

This past year has been an incredible learning experience for me. Growing older never comes without its lessons, trials, joys, and challenges.

God has not given us another day and another year for no reason. Rather, he uses our time for a grand purpose. I think back this year to the ordinary days I experienced where nothing “significant” happened. It was routine: work/school, friends, food, sleep, prayer. I think about the big days where my whole life seemed to be impacted. These were the life lessons, the big answered prayers, seeing others come to Christ, being humbled more than ever by the knowledge that God was using me for something. Of course,

The Reality of New YearsKaitlyn2015-01-08T00:43:53+00:00