MMXI

January, Two Thousand Eleven.

It's true what they say, when you get older years fly by.  For New Years Eve, Ben and I celebrated with my closest, oldest friend, Kristin, and her fiance, Scott.  We took them to Reikyu, a place filled with memories for Ben and me- part a of our first New Years celebration three years ago, followed by the Big D NYE at Victory Park in Dallas for the countdown and fireworks (part deux of our first NYE, and the setting of Ben's first confession of his love for me).  It felt like just yesterday we were standing under the enormous jumbo tron at Victory Park, and as the entire crowd harmoniously counted-down the seconds to 2008, Ben yelled above the roar three simple words that have since then been engraved into my heart.

We were so blessed to be with some of our closest friends for the 2010-2011 transition, making new memories and traditions, and sharing in great experiences that helped bring one of the more eventful years for me to an end.

As momentous as 2010 was for Ben and me, I have a feeling 2011 holds more incredible and exciting new evolutions for us.  Kristin is getting married in June - and for the first time ever I will be playing the Maid (Matron) of Honor for her, a role Kristin and I decided we would each play for the other back in our elementary days. Come May, I should finally graduate from the University of North Texas.  I am hoping, and wishing, and praying, and waiting to get a much anticipated interview with Delta Airlines to begin a career as a Flight Attendant for the company.  Ben and I plan to take one memorable trip to somewhere outside of Texas for our first anniversary in March.  And I will become a coach for the 1st grade team at the 9 AM service for The Village Church: Flower Mound sometime in January.

Much to do, but with all this comes the hope that much will also remain the same.  We already renewed our current lease for an additional 15 months.  Despite minor hiccups here and there, our friends and family are generally healthy, well off, and without any knowledge of looming tragedy.  Plans are constantly being made to meet up with our loved ones for coffees, dinners, games, and movies to maintain and build our current relationships.  Books will be read, cars will be driven, and TV will remain mindless and corrupt.

As exciting as the promise of a "new you" can be with the changing of the years, I find peace in the constant and hope in the unchanging.  However, we are never guaranteed the constant, in fact we're guaranteed the exact opposite - and looking back into the yester-years, you can see just how quickly the unexpected comes upon you time and time again.  Unfortunately tragedy is ever-looming, so here's to taking each day as it comes, loving, laughing, and caring every chance you get, and finding true peace and hope in our constant and unchanging Heavenly Father.

early morning meditations

"The sky was made at the Lord's command.  By breath from his mouth, he made all the stars."

Psalm 33:6

 

These last few weeks have been rather different for us at the Eenigenburg house.  Ben's car has been unreliable, therefore we've been sharing the one Honda for every activity life demands of us.  It looks something like this:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday...

5:30A we both wake up

5:45A I drive him to work & drop off by 6:00

6:20A I arrive back home & try to fall back to sleep before class

9:00A I wake back up, get ready for school, leave by 10:00

12:00P I leave school to go home/ my dad's & kill time before I pick Ben up between 2-3:00

3:00ishP Ben & I have about 1.5 precious hours to spend with each other before I leave for work at 4:45

5:45P I work until 9

9:30ishP I get home, maybe eat dinner, relax for a bit.... go to sleep to start day all over again

 

But Tuesdays & Thursdays have become my blessing days...

(Repeat 5:30A-6:20A ritual, then pause)

6:30A I make breakfast, put a pot of coffee on, grab my Bible, my journal, the laptop, a trusty black pen, and my Village Church Women's Bible Study Guide.  For the next few hours I get to read, study, meditate, and begin my day growing in knowledge and understanding about my God.  My creator.

 

The study is over Genesis, and for the last three weeks I've been meditating and studying Genesis 1:1

 

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

 

Seemingly not much to study, until you break each word down within the sentence.  Then you begin to open up a new world of spiritual depths that have been hidden so delicately within the simple phrase of the first sentence of the Holy Bible, God's true word.  God created the heavens and the earth.  God.  Only God.  No other thing (creation, chasm, theory) can rightfully take credit for the world/universe we know today.  God created the heavens and the earth.  He created everything.  Everything.  Everything we know today; everything we use, see, touch, smell; every person, every animal.  Everything, God created.  He created it in the beginning.  Before the beginning, He was there.  He will be there when all is destroyed.  He is timeless.  He is brilliant.  He is powerful.  He spoke, and it was.  He wanted, and it was.  Everything works today because of Him.  All is His, we are just meager borrowers of His creation.

 

When you begin your day with this humbling meditation, with the understanding that this is just borrowed time, there's no way your day can be bad.

 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made.  Day after day they tell the story; night after night they tell it again.  They have no speech or words; they have no voice to be heard.  But their message goes out through all the world..."

Psalm 19:1-4