Why I Still Cross-Stitch

I started on a new cross-stitch today! I actually have not finished my last project, a "sampler" of sorts with my favorite poem, but I was only working on a border, and bored out of my mind. So I began this one which I bought at Irish Fest a few years ago. I'n it pretty?!

I know that cross-stitches aren't that useful, and I'm generally a rather utilitarian person. You can really only hang them as wall decoration. But it's an extended project with which to keep busy, especially when watching tv or movies. It's a good exercise in patience. More to the point, I like making cross-stitches for other people, and praying for them as I work. I did it with the cross-stitch for my niece, I'll do it for my nephew, and I'm doing it with this one, which, I just decided, has a very special purpose. But I can't really say what that is yet. :-)

A Different Kind of Adventure

Keeping this blog has a certain amount of irony for me. Usually people start blogs to report on their adventures; you know, the amazing journeys they undertake during summer or after college. And I know that I started this blog a long time ago, but now I have to reevaluate why I keep it.

I'm not doing anything terribly exciting this upcoming year (I still think in academic years, btw). I have friends going to Japan, China, Rwanda, doing Teach for America, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, getting real jobs in real places that aren't Madison, getting married. I thought for a long time that I would be one of those people and have those opportunities to do crazy awesome things. And for a while after this summer began and God put it on my heart to stay in Madison, I was bitter. Bitter that everyone was having adventures and I wasn't. I'm young, unattached - this is the perfect time to go off on my own. And yet, that's not what's best for me after all.

I know that I don't always want what's right for me; God does. When the decision is not between right and wrong, but a bunch of different rights (as is almost always the case with hard decisions), God knows which path will bring us closer to Him and make us more fully the person He created us to be. I'll take that path any day. It might not always be what I want to do, but I know that God knows best.

So I'm not going abroad, moving across the country, getting married, or even starting a full time job. I'm staying in Madison, living somewhere (still a mystery!), working just enough to pay the bills, volunteering my time away, being around families, and falling more in love with God. It's hard to explain to people how ridiculously excited I am for the coming months. As long as I can pay the bills, I get to live a flexible lifestyle and give of myself more than I ever could with the demands of being a student. Every day will be different. I'll never get bored. And while God is asking for a huge amount of trust, I know that He will never ever let me down.