a perfect brand new day...and we're the next in line

i was woken up at 12:30 AM by people yelling and horns blowing on the street below my window. in my sleepy stupor i could only make out the words "Obama" and "President" and that's how i learned who won the presidential election. i loved it.
i said yesterday that i'm not writing about politics, and i'm still not going to...but these other people did, so i think you should check them out. don't worry, most of them aren't super political, they just worded their thoughts better than i can:

Brian talks about poverty vs. laziness. To him, "poverty has a face and a name."

Pete reminds us that "today is a new day...a new era." Let's (let US) join together and pray for our new leader.

Jennie from She Likes Purple puts it so well when she says, "I hope we all choose belief and faith over fear, and I hope we celebrate our differences instead of continuing to let them divide and define us."

Anne has five things we should do, since we shouldn't "rely on Obama to guide this country into the future."

and finally, Leah congratulates America on being "all growed up."

EDIT 11/6
TWO MORE:

This one by Heather B. made me cry.

So did this one...YES WE CAN.

it's the small things

"There's a kind of peace in tiny moments like this,

you know, a quiet happiness that's inexplicable

unless you know what you're looking for."

Both Holly @ Nothing but Bonfires (quoted above) and Jennie @ She Likes Purple wrote posts based on this – the little things in life that make you happy. I mentioned this briefly the other day and the concept has remained in the back of my mind...it might be the big moments that you remember as the best days of your life, but joy comes from the little moments, in the monotony that is life and if we blink we will miss them. they both wrote eloquently in paragraph form but i’m much better at lists:

1. eating lunch outside – in high school we sat on the sidewalks, in college we moved up to tables outside of restaurants, and here i head to bryant park when i can. there’s something to be said about drinking diet coke with my eyes closed and feeling the sun beating down on my [sunscreened] face. it’s a moment of peace, where my phone is on silent and i’m not attached to a computer so i can simply just be.

2. the morning commute - walking through the subway station in times square and God of This City comes on my iPod and i actually LOOK at the faces of the people around me [you’re the God of this city; You’re the King of these people] in wonder and awe that God knows and loves each and every one of them….and just as i burst forth onto the streets the chorus swells [greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city] and i get teary -eyed and overwhelmed with love for my Savior and love for this city.

(photo of times square by brett gullborg; ironically, i don't have any photos of times square)

3. quality time with any combination of roommates – when you live with 4 girls it’s both rare to have time with only one or time with all five. i intentionally try to spend time with each of them and cultivate a friendship that is one-on-one. also, on the rare occasion that all five of us are home, i walk away from the conversations feeling refreshed and encouraged.

before our impromptu trip to jersey--target + p.f. changs = bliss

4. airports and airplanes – i love the anticipation of sitting in the airport, knowing you’re going somewhere different even if only for a few days. i love that airplanes have been such a constant in my life for the last 4 years. i love sitting on the plane and having those 2, 3, 4 (sometimes more!) uninterrupted hours where i can listen to music and pour my heart out on paper. i love landing safely and knowing it’s only going to a few minutes until i get to see someone i know and love.

this is what i do on planes: write, listen, and take photos when i get bored

6. dinner with old friends – sitting across from people who have known me forever, people who have watched me grow up and become. listening to their stories and realizing that the very core of us never changes [and in most cases that’s a good thing]. knowing that after all these years i can still trust them. loving them for who they were and for who they are, and knowing they feel the same about me. belly laughing with them at things only we understand. realizing that we are all so different that if we met now we probably wouldn’t become friends, but grateful for the circumstances that brought us together so many years ago.

7. surprises – i get this from my dad – he loves to surprise people. he shows his love by giving gifts, especially to my sister and me, and he will go to great lengths to find the best gift he can to surprise us – one day i’ll write about the car i got when i was 14! this past weekend my sister and i gave our dad the best surprise ever. we conspired to fly me down for his birthday, and when she took him out to eat i showed up at the restaurant. the look on his face when i walked in and he realized what we’d done is one i will never forget! the trip only lasted two days, but knowing we made my dad feel loved and important is something that will last forever.

birthday dinner!

9. porches – i grew up spending Sundays at my grandparents’ house on their farm. after dinner all of the adults escaped to the porch to sit in rocking chairs and continue their conversation. they always seems relaxed and young and carefree, a contrast to the busy weeks they all had. to this day, porches are one of my favorite things ever. drinking a cup of coffee on the porch in the morning with nothing but my Bible, a journal, and a pen, or in the evening equipped with good friends and great conversation (and bug spray), sitting on the porch is just good for my heart.

10. getting mail (not bills but the fun kind) - there's nothing quite like getting home after my 45 minute commute and wearily walking up the stairs, through the door, and into the kitchen and seeing a letter or card or package addressed to me! knowing that someone took the time to write something or put a package together, address it, and go to the post office or mailbox so that i can have something tangible to read or enjoy makes me happy.
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this quote hung on my wall during college and now is taped to my shelves at work:

"How simple is it to see

that we can only be happy now,

and that there will never be a time

when it is not now."

- Gerald Jampolsky

So, all three commenters of mine - what little things make you happy?

great moments

"We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware - beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one."

- Kent Nerburn

(via Dooce)

shadow feet*

Dear Jesus,

Walking, stumbling
on these shadowfeet
toward home, a land that i've never seen
i am changing: less and less asleep
made of different stuff than when i began

four years ago we left for China, and one year ago i wrote about how my life has changed since then. this past year has perhaps been one of the most difficult. some days i think i have it all together but some days it's all i can do to hang on to anything. but after this year, i believe even more that You have it all together, that You have my life together, and i'm trying to learn how to simply rest in You.

and i have sensed it all along
fast approaching is the day...

You are continually refining me and renewing my spirit. You are showing me more about myself than i wanted to know, but in doing so you are showing me more about Yourself, and who i am in You. You are healing me from the depths of my soul. You are asking me to reveal parts of myself that i never wanted to face, much less share with other people. You are teaching me to live out loud, to be authentic, to be the same on the outside as i am on the inside. and at the same time, You are teaching me that Your opinion is the only One who matters, that what You think of me is the most important.

when the world has fallen out
from under me
i'll be found in you
still standing
when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
when time and space are through
i'll be found in you

there have been times that i have wanted to give up, throw it all away, to walk right back over to that pit and jump in. but i can't.

There's distraction buzzing in my head
saying in the shadows it's easier to stay
but i've heard rumors of true reality
whispers of a well-lit way

i can't, i won't, because the life You've created for me is better than i could have ever written for myself. you have changed me irreversibly. i committed to follow you whatever it took, and i would be lying if i said it was not a sacrifice. i have sacrificed the very things i thought i never could, and i'm still standing. everything that i clung to is slowly being removed, changed, reshaped. and the sacrifice doesn't seem like a sacrifice compared to knowing You love me. i know that when we get to the other side of all of this, that even if i have nothing left, i will still have You. and You are all that i need.

when the world has fallen out from under me
i'll be found in you
still standing
when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
when time and space are through
i'll be found in you

recently You've reconciled some things in my life that needed reconciling, and for that i'm grateful. You're bringing me full circle. You're teaching me to forgive myself and forgive others. You're teaching me how to talk to people and how to really listen. You are teaching me how to feel appropriate emotions and instead of allowing me to continue to build up walls You are knocking them down one brick at a time. You have placed trustworthy people in my life who will hold up a mirror and show me the repercussions of my actions.

you make all things new.

It's still an adventure, Jesus...and I will follow you with reckless abandon.

love,

elizabeth

* by brooke fraser

today.

And it is the single, most beautiful lesson I have learned in life. I have learned that when you want something--when you really want it--you will wait for it. You will be patient and you will hold on and you will wait.

- Jennie at She Likes Purple

[...this is a blog I read though I don't actually know her in person. It's really good. And I emailed her once to tell her how much I love her blog, and then she emailed me back, so I feel like I can quote her because we had an email conversation :)]

all i want is just to hear that i'm okay.....

last night i went to hear a band play, and you know those stamps that let everyone know you're [way] over-age? yeah, and this is where they put it at this particular venue. i spent the evening going back and forth between laughing at it and feeling like I AM OK!

in conversation

E: And by the way, I really admire how you asked everyone for advice on Sunday. That’s something I’m not very good at, so I admire it when people do!
R: Oh geez! Asking for advice was seriously a desperate plea. Of course, in the end, I just had to have it out with JC in the park.
E: Isn’t that like God though? We can ask everyone for advice, but in the end you end up having it out with JC in the park.

...you can breathe, you can breathe now. you can breathe but the air is running out...

...changing my perspective

A while back I was filling out one of those social networking profiles, and I wrote that I hadn't found good sushi in New York yet. I guess somewhere in the back on my mind I didn't want to find good sushi. You see, I love sushi at home in Tennessee. I love going to my favorite local place with my dad and my sister (and sometimes good friends) and getting the Las Vegas and Yum Yum Rolls. I love the good conversation and the familiarity. Good sushi equals home and comfort; bad sushi equals not home and discomfort. So I've only half-heartedly looked, because I wasn’t ready to become comfortable here. I wasn’t ready to call New York “home.”

The last few weeks—months if I'm really honest—of my life have been a series of uncertainties mixed with a heavy dose of discontentment. I have realized (again) how terrible I am at committing myself to anything for longer than a year. Since graduation three years ago, I’ve made two major moves and two extreme career changes. One day a friend called me and asked me what exactly I was running from. I'm sure I made up some excuse or probably attempted to justify my actions, but she was right. I was running.


I guess, in a way, I've always been running. From what, I’m not quite sure—I've got a great family, the world's best friends, a fantastic home church, etc. To some girls (especially single, 25-year-old girls) settling down is crucial. And yes, one day I'll probably want that. But I'll be the first to admit, the idea of doing the same thing every day for the rest of my life scares me. And that's not to say that owning a house and having a real career and getting married means the adventures stop—I know this is totally untrue. I just think I have a fear of monotony. I am your classic escapist.

I've known this about myself for a long time, but hadn’t quite grasped it until recently. When I’m visiting Tennessee, I want to be in my beloved city of New York. When I’m in New York, I feel like I’m missing so much in Tennessee. I've always been one to focus on what's next, what adventure God's going to bring me (or send me on) after this one. While that's not inherently bad, I forget to enjoy the moment. I focus on the future so I don't have to think about the present. Some days I get so consumed with my job and my life (which is surprisingly monotonous—oh, the irony) that I forget where I am. I forget to look up. I forget to be grateful that I got exactly what I asked for, and I need to enjoy my stay in New York City while it lasts.

In “Chocolate,” a song by Snow Patrol, the band declares, “All these places feel like home.” I realized that “home” is relative. The only stability in my life is my relationship with God, and He must be enough. If I can become content with Him, my surroundings don’t have much bearing on my perspective or attitude. I am in the process of understanding what Paul spoke of in his letter to the people at Philippi when he claims, “… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:11b-12, TNIV). Paul was arrested and beaten and broken and homeless and hungry all for the sake of following Christ, and yet he was still content. He knew his security was in Jesus, not any outward circumstance. More than anything, I yearn to find my satisfaction in Him—not my home, job, money (or lack thereof), relationships, dreams or anything else I attempt to control. Jesus is my refuge, my solid ground, my only hope.

This morning I woke up and felt that something had shifted. My perspective had changed—I was happy to be alive and happy to go to work. I walked up the stairs from the subway, and I just stopped and looked up. Surrounded by metal and tall buildings and hordes of people with their own agendas, I was delighted.

"Be here now," He whispered.

Today at work we ordered sushi for lunch. And it was incredible.