25 - Too Early for a Mid-Life Crisis???

I think I must have a familiar face. People are always coming up to me saying I look like their cousin… or daughter… or best friend. Often, I even have people mistake me for others and actually call me the wrong name.

But usually, people mistake me for other girls my age.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana this past weekend, I had an incredible time with Lisa, Hannah, and the other women of Healing Place Church! It was one of those trips where I came back truly refreshed and excited about all God is doing all around the world! When we landed on Friday, the sweet women who picked us up drove us to Whole Foods Market, our favorite ‘quick lunch’ place – where we ate yummy gelato and salad (obviously gelato from Whole Foods is healthy… right???). While perusing the rice bowls, a woman behind the counter came up to me and said, in broken English, ‘do you live in New York?’

Here we go again.

I smiled and said no, hoping that would be the end of the conversation. She conversed quietly with her friend in Chinese for a moment and then came back to me saying ‘you the girl from Taken!’ I turned to Lisa and said ‘oh… she thinks I’m the girl from Taken… namely Shannon from LOST.’ However, then she corrected me… ‘NO! Not girl from Taken… MOM from Taken.’

Yes, that’s right. She didn’t think I was the daughter, she thought I was the mom.

In her defense, Famke Janssen had been in that particular store the day before, visiting Baton Rouge for some Southern hospitality. However, for the first time I started feeling…. Old! Have I crossed the proverbial threshold from childhood to womanhood? Are there invisible gray hairs or wrinkles obvious to others, yet oblivious when I look in the mirror?

Forgive my girlish rantings, but this has followed me the past few days and I really do need to share my burden with the blogging world before me. Now Tuesday, I found myself looking up her ACTUAL age online. I quietly gasped as I read she is… 43. That’s right, almost 20 years my superior.

Before I go out and do something drastic – such as Botox – I’m going to take a deep breath and remember… she IS a celebrity after all. She played in X-Men so she must be viewed as powerful and attractive… and I need to stop taking to heart what I hear Whole Foods Rice Bar women saying about me. I’m only 25 and am not yet ready for a mid-life crisis.

And with age comes wisdom… and I am SO ready to be wise!

Valentines Day... Not for the single?

I remember when I was about 8. I was obsessed with the idea of my dad sending me flowers on Valentines Day. But they couldn't be just ANY flowers. They had to be the kind of flowers with baby's breath. Yes, baby's breath. When I get something in my mind, I won't STOP until I see it actualized.

My dad has always been so good to me. His unconditional love has showed me that I don't NEED the affection of a guy to be happy. His love has made me content with being single and being faithful to who God has called me to be, whether single or otherwise (oh, and he did, of course, send me those flowers on vday... I got them in the middle of class and felt like a QUEEN!).

Valentines Day is one of my favorite days of the year. With the sudden declaration of that fact, most single girls look at me like I have just grown a second head and mumble something about it being singles awareness day. Isn't Valentines Day a day to celebrate romance? What if you don't HAVE someone to romance? Then deduction would conclude.. it is merely a day to remember that fact!

However, today, February 14 of 2009, I want to blow this theory out of the water. Valentines Day is a day to celebrate LOVE. My mom always made this day so special growing up, with a candlelight dinner during the evening, complete with gifts for everyone, and a nice meal and lots of chocolate! It was a reminder that we were loved.

THAT, my blogging friends, is what Valentines Day is about, just a reminder that you are loved. So be thankful today, hug someone you love, eat lots of chocolate, and revel in the fact that above all, GOD is LOVE. He will love us unconditionally, no matter who may or may not love us on this earth!

Ok, I'm going to make a big brunch with all the girls. Happy Valentines Day! *muah!*

Finding Life in the DMV!

I hate the DMV. When I say 'hate'... I mean HATE. I heard a statistic the other day which made me squirm in my seat: the average American spends 29 hours in front of the TV PER WEEK! PEOPLE! I am completely outraged. Although I don't spend NEAR that amount in front of this life-sucker, it still makes me want to throw mine out the window.

Sometimes I feel that way about the hours I've had to spend in the DMV.

Also, since I'm on this subject, why is it that EVERY TIME... no matter HOW much of an expert you are at what they do and do not need in order for them to process your request, do you ALWAYS have to come back? Hence the next several hours of my life recorded as sitting yet again in the Department of Motor Vehicles. Not exactly the way I am hoping to go down in history.

Maybe it was God's way of rewarding me for being a good citizen and registering my car in the State of Colorado. Or maybe it was His way of making the point that He can speak to us anywhere, or maybe it was a good combination of the two. Whatever the case may be, I was sitting there, reading my pocket-sized Bible I carry in my purse, when this scripture almost jumped off the page:

"There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting." --Phil 1:28 (Message)

I was sitting there in a nice warm room, 'suffering' in my padded chair, waiting for my number to be called. And there was Paul, in jail, telling the church in Phillipi that suffering for Christ was a GIFT.

Trusting completely in God is such a beautiful thing. Giving Him my everything, even in moments which are painful and times when I just don't understand. But suffering? Didn't Jesus already do that on the cross so we don't have to suffer?

I fear in our culture, where 'happiness' is equated with 'easiness', we have lost the true art of sacrifice. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew that if they were to come after Him, they were to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow after Him. He fulfilled His calling in life by dying and paving the way to God. Now it is our turn to sacrifice our lives daily, and follow after Him.

I strongly believe that the term 'martyr' is not merely reserved for those who are beheaded or lose their physical life for the cause of Christ. Sometimes I think the harder life is to be faithful, to be obedient. To be steadily following God, no matter how rough or windy the road may be.

What a liberating concept. Merely the fact I can CHOOSE every day to do what He has called me to, not because of some obligation, but because it is a gift. It is because I am in love with Him. It is because I want to become just like Jesus. And as I remain faithful, an inexpressible joy fills me, for as I lose my life, THAT is when it is truly found.