we went down to the may parade, muttered words under my breath

Another week of work has started. It's my first week of working completely by myself at the bookstore, which is overwhelming, creepy, but also sometimes lovely during the more peaceful moments. It seems this is what my summer will consist of, selling textbooks Monday-Thursdays, babysitting Fridays, and working at the coffee shop most Saturdays. It's a bizarre shock going from being within a mile of hundreds of friends 24/7 to not seeing those friends for 3 months. But it's also kind of lovely to have a break from drama and school for a while and have a chance to refocus and get ready for next year. (But let's be real, I love school. A lot. So having a break from school really doesn't matter to me.)

I'll leave this completely useless and uninteresting post with some of my favorite things from the past week, and some thought-provoking or challenging quotes that I've re-discovered lately.

Recent Summer favorites:

Rain, long drives to work by myself every day, shoe sales (20$ Pumas!), paychecks, the church in Plant City, Glen Hansard, chocolate-covered almonds, and talks/catch-ups with my high school best friend Paul :)

Food for meditation:

‎"It comforts me to think that if we are created beings, the thing that created us would have to be greater than us, so much greater, in fact, that we would not be able to understand it. It would have to be greater than the facts of our reality, and so it would seem to us, looking out from within our reality, that it would contradict reason. But reason itself would suggest it would have to be greater than reality, or it would not be reasonable.” - Blue Like Jazz

And another thing I've thought a lot about lately is this: 

Sin is the manifestation of pride, and grace is unmerited favor, so it's interesting to think about human pride and the fact that to get past our pride (sin) we have to humble ourselves and accept that we need favor that we don't deserve (grace). Maybe that doesn't blow anyone else's mind, but God's plan and forgiveness kind of makes my head spin.

Also, READ CRAZY LOVE. Seriously. It is incredible. And hopefully will pierce your heart as much as it has mine (over and over). It's honest and clear and so needed.  "God's definition of what really matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love."

Thank you for allowing me to spill my tired, cluttered thoughts.

Home is where the heart is. Set your mind on things above.

-EB