I am the happiest I have been in a very long time, and I think it is because I am busier than I have been in a long time. There is something about running around til I collapse into bed that is satisfying to me.
Though I am exhausted and wondering if it is possible to die from lack of sleep, I am lighthearted and feeling filled. It is often the times that I pour out all that I am and all that I have that I feel the most refreshed and replenished.
Shouldn't it work the other way around? Finals are next week, and I should be frowning all the time, but I am not. I actually look forward in anticipation to getting up each morning and seeing what the day has in store.

I am learning Lindy Hop, and though I am by NO means "good," I know I am improving simply by the fact that I did not feel quite as "thrown about" when I danced with some of the better and more knowledgeable leads tonight. It is starting to feel quite comfortable, and I enjoy it much more than the simpler East Coast swing we had been doing for a while. Lindy moves much more quickly, and I love being tossed about, as long as I have a fairly good grasp of what I am supposed to be doing. (which isn't much compared to what a lead has to think about!!)

I am buying a guitar this weekend! I want to jump up and down at the very thought. I found an Art and Lutherie baby that just turned to butter when I found her last Saturday. Or maybe I turned to butter, but as the case may be, I think she's the one, if the store still has her when I go back. Her sound is gentle and mellow and sweet, and on top of everything acoustically, she's pretty: a deep grey solid wood, unlike any guitar I have ever seen in the stores. I'm sure they're around... I've just never really seen one. So my hopes are all up that she'll still be there on Saturday when I go home.

The other day as I was driving back to school from home after my glorious break, the air was crystal clear. No cloud cover whatsoever, and so clear that I could see the mountains stretching away to the east. But the marvelous thing was not that I could see them, but HOW I could them. The air was like polished glass, no fingerprints from clouds blocking my view. The foothills had snow from the peak to the crinkly line where the cold air must have met the colder air. What glorious beauty and majesty! Last night I was answering questions to the Desiring God study guide (by John Piper, of course) and this is a little excerpt, both from the book and from my own thoughts:

Piper writes, "Glory is not easy to define. It is like beauty. How would you define beauty? Some things we have to point at rather than define. But let me try. God's glory is the beauty of his manifold perfections. It can refer to the bright and awesome radiance that sometimes breaks forth in visible manifestations. Or it can refer to the infinite moral excellence of his character. In either case it signifies a reality of infinite greatness and worth. C.S. Lewis helps us with his own effort to point at it:

'Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one. I do not see how the "fear" of God could have ever meant to me anything but the lowest prudential efforts to be safe, if I had never seen certain ominous ravines and unapproachable crags.'"

A year ago I reflected on this passage, and wrote in response: "God's glory is found reflected in all creation. It is the captivating beauty of a sunset over the ocean with pastels and muted tones splashed throughout the sky. It is the majesty of the thousands of mountains and it is the perfection of the eardrum. These are all miniscule reflections of God's great glory. But to define it - much more difficult. It is amazement and awesomeness, power totally embodied in One Being."


Without finding the previous reflection until today and having forgotten completely about it, this is what I wrote in response to Piper and Lewis yesterday: God's glory may be likened to the radiance of the presence of God. It is an indescribable beauty, but cannot be defined as mere beauty. It is the breathtaking splendour of a perfect sunset over water. It is the majesty of the looming mountains. It is the roar of crashing waves. It is the terror of a crack of thunder. It is all these things in a way, but infinitely grander. A glimpse of it causes a mortal to choke up, to forget to breathe. It stirs a longing in the soul for things impossible to pinpoint, things of an eternal and infinite nature.

I rather laughed at the sameness of the two, down to the order of things that I feel display God's glory the most to me.