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Stoplight.

Posted on by oliviaharmony

~ Rushing into dating or a relationship is like trying to make a traffic light that is about to turn red. ~

You know when you’re not going to make a light when you see that burnt yellow glow fade in the distance. You still try to make it anyways. You will not, under any circumstance, wait 1.5 minutes for that green light.

Go! Go! Go!

We don’t like to stop. We don’t like to wait. I think most Americans are impatient… Seriously. Am I wrong? The line of 5 or 6 people at Starbucks is too long and we definately cannot go the speed limit when we could go at least 10 mph above it.

My piano teacher noticed that in her life. For lent she gave up speeding. When she told me that, I respected her much more than I already did. Her reflection of her fast-paced life spoke into mine and brought me to think about a different kind of speeding: speeding into relationships.

Why speed ahead and run a red light when you could most likely crash? Why date someone when neither of you are ready and it could end up with hatred and heartbreak?

You could also get a ticket. Sometimes in life, God may send us a “ticket” or a reminder that what we are doing is wrong. What we are doing may not be the best thing for the path set out before us and all He wants is for us to take the right “exit”. These tickets that He sends us have a price, just like real tickets. That price isn’t necessarily cheap either.

I think this comparison can deal with other things as well. Maybe a job. Maybe a big purchase. Maybe a big decision that needs time for thinking. Whatever it may be, some things simply need time to grow and become what it needs to become… for what you need to become.

So just wait. Don’t worry. Before you know it, you’ll get that green light to GO.

Matthew 6:33-34: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Romans 8:25: “But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.”

Every Moment

Posted on by oliviaharmony

Sometimes when I’m writing, I think about the next few words I’m going to say and then I start wrting the next word instead of the word I am writing at that moment. If that doesn’t make sense to you, I basically write: “I am gone in life” instead of “I am going nowhere in life”. Or something like that…

I think this is how many of us live our lives as well. If any of you are like me, you like to plan your whole days and weeks out in advance. I like to know what is next and where I am going. Always. Sometimes, it feels like nowhere. I think that is because I think about the future too much. Thinking about the future too much makes me look forward to certain things or events more than what I am actually doing in the moment I am in. I can live life and walk around with this one future event in mind and wait for that future moment for a sense of completeness and happiness.

The truth is, that future moment is like any other moment. It will pass as quickly as the rest. Then what? Hope for the next big thing in your life again? Focus your sense of happiness on those few things? Why?

Why only allow ourselves a few moments of happiness when we can thrive on every moment every day?

At the moment, I can’t stop thinking about college… what I’m going to do with my life… getting a job… and if I will move far away. I’ve realized how silly it is worrying over this. I am so worried about what I will do with my life and that one special moment when I’ve “made it” and got that perfect job, perfect guy, perfect life put together in the future… But God has opened my eyes to what my life is all about.

While I’m so focused on what my life will become, I’ve realized that what I do with my life is a decision I make every morning when I wake up. Life is not just one moment, one job, on place, or one event. It is who you are in every moment and who you are becoming in that moment. I know that you hear this saying all the time, “How do you know how many days you have left?” So true. But how many days do you have left with the people around you? With the place you’re currently living? Those questions have hit me hard because I have two little sisters that I love so much. I just don’t really know the answer to those questions.

This next year will be my senior year and that is still sinking in. That process is as deep as the ocean and the anchor of realization is slowly falling to the bottom… But it is not quite there yet. This year will be memorable and stressful. It will go by fast and soon I’ll have to make a decision regarding which path I will take after high school. There are so many roads to take. But I know for a fact that I have a God that will lead me to the right path in His perfect timing.

His timing is something that humans tend to have a hard time adjusting to while it always works out in the end. He knows. He is in control. And this is what He has taught me through this process of learning to living in the moment:

Thrive on every day with a thankful heart for another day. Do not wait for college, money, the dream job, or that dream spouse to fufill your life. Those things can just walk into your life on any good day to make it even more special.

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Isaiah 46:4- “I will be your God throughout your lifetime-
until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you.”

Isaiah 46:13- “Form I am ready to set things right,
not in the distant future,
but right now!”

Summertime Madness

Posted on by oliviaharmony

So most of my friends know that my summers are not the normal stay-at-home, maybe get-a-job summers. I don’t sit around and get a tan or see my friends everyday. Last summer, I went to the beach maybe once. But I would never trade my summers for the world. I get to be apart of an awesome adventure thats new and radical everywhere I go. 

My family and I travel across the country to go to Never the Same Camps. My dad, the person who inspires me everday, stepped away from his job about 5 years ago to live by faith and answer God’s calling for his life. He is now the founder and director of Never the Same Camps, Claim Your Campus, and the Grand Rapids Mud Run. 

The Grand Rapids Mud Run ( http://www.eatdirtmudrun.com/events/grand-rapids/ ) happens in August, right after we get back from traveling all summer (when we’re all tired and ready to hybernate? Yeah, that’s when). This awesome event supports the rest of Never the Same’s ministry with its profit from thousands of runnners that run, climb, walk, and crawl this adventerous race. 

Claim Your Campus ( http://www.claimyourcampus.com/ ) is something that I’m involved in at school and have a heart for. It is the idea of students all across America praying boldly and unashamedly for their schools at their schools. My family has a heart for prayer and it’s awesome to see what God has been doing at schools through this ministry.

Never the Same Camp ( http://www.ntscamp.com/ ) is what my family does all summer long. We pack tightly in our car to drive to five different locations across the country for a weeks-load of fun. Churches bring their youth groups in buses to experience God in an amazing and different way and to connect with their youth groups like they never have before. Its a week long event full of team competitions (each church is a different color), unbeleivable worship times, awesome messages from guest speakers, a very competitive talent show, and more. 

 

This is what I am going to write a lot about this summer. This camp that uses up so much of my June and July. I love it. And there are so many more stories to come from this journey. 

I just got back from the first 2 of 5 weeks of camp. The first in Indiana, where I attended the camp with my church, and the second in Chicago, where I babysit the sight director’s kids. Both were different experiences with which I will continue my story later. 

Today is different. Today starts a restful period. My family is home for 2 weeks until we load back into that jam-packed car for another 3/4 weeks without sleep. So I’m going to take my time and slow down for awhile. If you choose to read what else I have to say about my experiences at camp already, you’ll see why this restful time is so helpful. Right now, I’m living in this moment with the meaningful memories I took from these past two weeks. 

Right now I need to reflect and be still. 

 

 

Psalm 46:10

New International Version (NIV)

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

 

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