Shadows by David Crowder Band

Life is full of light and shadow
Oh the joy! And oh the sorrow. Oh the sorrow.
Yet will He bring dark to light.
Yet will He bring day from night.

When shadows fall on us,
We will not fear, we will remember.
When darkness falls on us,
We will not fear, we will remember.
When all seems lost,
And we're thrown and we're tossed,
We'll remember the cost:
We're resting in the shadow of the cross.

This song and these lyrics are just rocking me right now. To some, it appears that the lyrics don't actually say much that we didn't already know. Ok, so we're resting in the shadow of the cross... I guess so.

But I interpret something deeper. When life IS full of more shadows than light, struggles that seem to be hopeless and the sin of this world crushing us, we must not despair. We will NOT fear! We must remember that Jesus told His disciples that, if they wanted to follow Him, they would have to follow Him to the cross. The cross is our inheritance. It brings us eternal life, but it also brings struggles and shadows. The most beautiful thing about the cross to me is that, while it represents the greatest suffering, it is also the blessed vehicle of our salvation. This is why we Catholics cross ourselves, to remind us of our inheritance, both joy and sorrow. This is why we wear cross necklaces, to keep this great mystery close to our hearts. This is why we kneel before the cross on Good Friday in veneration.

I take such joy in this song. Yes, it is about the darkness in life, but there is no darkness too great for Jesus. The most beautiful darkness comes from the shadow of the cross.

Must See!!!

First, a marriage of two of my loves:





Second, a lovely, lovely surprise that makes me sooooo excited! I apologize for the horror movie trailer at the beginning, and open it up to fullscreen; my format cuts half of it off.

Simple Joy

I'm not sure that many of you know this, but I am ridiculously happy right now. God has given me such joy that I sometimes can't remember life not being this good, all the time. Well, more correctly, it probably has been, and I've been too blind to see it.

Sure, I'm making very little money. Sure, I don't see people my own age very much. Sure, I actually only work about 20 hours a week right now, anybody would be happy with that.

I LOVE being a nanny. I have truly grown to love these children (from several families), and they teach me so much about how to love. I really enjoy being with these kids in their home, and also working with their parents. It saddens me to think that I really won't be able to nanny after starting my own family. There are some hard days, but I never leave thinking about how horrible of a day it was. I just think about how I get another try tomorrow. I'm not going to run off and work for a daycare - I don't think I'm cut out for it - or become an elementary ed teacher. I like the one-on-one and knowing the family dynamic. I'm learning so much right now. I'm not worried about the future, because I can feel deep in my soul that THIS is where God wants me, and that's all that matters.