about changes of habit

There have been some moments lately where I find myself stopping and saying "wait, when did I become this girl?!".  This happens particularly when I wake up at 5am or earlier like it's no problem (used to be a sleep-in-until-someone-drags-me-from-bed-and-I-will-kill-whoever-talks-to-me-before-getting-coffee type of gal) or when I make my car payment a week before it's due (literally ALWAYS had to be reminded about getting my rent in on time in college) or when I find myself making check-lists to organize my days or mapping out every working hour on my Outlook calendar (Me? Type-A? since when?).  But one of the biggest 180 degree changes of habit for me has been the way I listen to music.

If you've ever driven in the car with me you know I have this annoying tendency to either a) listen to the same one song over and over again until you want to open the door and jump or b) get a little trigger-happy with the "next" button and skip through songs the second they bore me.

But I'm happy to say that my musical-listening skills (I think that's a skill set?) have matured! I now listen to ENTIRE albums....ALL THE WAY THROUGH.  Yes, world.  It's true.  So in celebration of my newly cultivated musical habits, I'd love to share the top three albums that I think will rock your face off.  They are just that good.

1) Imagine Dragons - Night Visions

 

Favorites: Radioactive (this song is SIIIIICK and I never use that adjective) and Bleeding Out (love the lyric when he says "I will be your scarecrow"...what a great thing to be for somebody) and On Top of the World (makes me want to hold hands with someone and run to the top of a mountain)

2) The Oh Hellos - Through the Deep, Dark Valley



Favorites: Like the Dawn (this takes my breath away; the lyrics are so beautiful) and In Memoriam (again, the lyrics rock -- in the sense that they stab your heart in the best possible way if you know what I mean by that) and I Have Made Mistakes (so powerful, so true and beautiful and lovely)

ps. lucky you! you can download this INCREDIBLE album for free from Noisetrade. Click HERE.

3) Alpha Rev - Bloom 

Favorites: Lexington (sounds a bit like U2 in this song) and Sing Loud (a sing-loudly-in-your-car type of track) and Black Sky (hopeful and encouraging)

ps. props to my friend Britt for recommending Alpha Rev to me...and heads up to everyone going to see Ben Rector on tour -- these guys are opening! So stoked!

about being kept

I think I've put this song on my blog before, but I'm blogging about it again - because I LOVE this song.

I was driving home from work and it came on the radio, and when I hear it I get teary-eyed and sappy and emotional. I was just sitting (truly, the most appropriate verb to describe a NOVA commute) on I-66 crying like a baby... but then again, a contestant singing "What if God was One of Us" on The Voice also made me cry tonight, so my tears may be losing their street cred.

The point is - there is this one line in "Arms" by Christina Perri that KILLS me.  In the good sense, of course.

She sings "You put your arms around me and I believe that it's easier for you to let me go."

Sometimes I forget to think of myself as a person who is kept.  Sometimes I forget that despite my obnoxious tendencies, nagging doubts, selfishness, and self-reliance, the Lord has chosen to keep me.  When it would be easier for him to let me go.

When you lose a penny, you let it slide.  It's not worth the effort.  But when you lose a diamond, you tear up your house looking for it.  You retrace every step.  You won't let it go because it is of tremendous wealth.

The Lord keeps us, moves Heaven and Earth to keep us near, because we are of such tremendous worth.  That is the truth.

Sometimes I just need to close my eyes and say "Emily - You. Are. Keepable." and breathe a little and then everything in the world takes on beauty and hope again.

about business cards

  

It's official, folks - a few weeks I got REAL LIVE BUSINESS CARDS. I AM FOR REAL AN ADULT NOW. And obviously I've become incredibly mature and professional as well.

I like being a grown-up.  I like my job.  I like going into an office and using my brain until it hurts and working with awesome people and doing things that are significant and meaningful to others.  I like knowing that I am growing and gaining new skills.  It's a totally different phase of life than what I'm accustomed to, and the newness of it makes me happy and excited.  People always say that college is the best, most transformational time of your life -- but there is goodness and sanctification in this season, and I love discovering it.

about the moment we become celebrities

sort of.

I can't believe it's been over a year since the night that some of my college roommates and I took all our pent up energy, oodles of procrastination, love for pop songs, and Justin Bieber life-size cutout and made this video. Annnnnd somehow the song is still on the radio. (sadly, our fame didn't last quite so long)

just for the memz:

about the two h's

I know that as a Christian woman it's sort of cliche to say that Ruth is one of my favorite people in the bible.  But, it's true and I don't care.  I also don't care that sometimes I daydream about the two of us (Ruth & I, of course) just hanging out in Heaven, wearing matching pajamas or something and eating ice cream and talking about our feelings.  One day....

ANYWAY - Ruth rules.  She's amazing.  I love her story.  I love her character.  I love her history and her past and the path that her life took because of God.

Sparknotes version is that Ruth did not know the Lord . She was a Moabite, meaning she had a pretty pagan, ungodly background.  But then this family moves to her town, a family that knew the Lord but had left his land of blessing, and Ruth ends up marrying one of the two sons.  Tragically, her husband, his brother, and his father all die, leaving Ruth with a choice - she can either remain in her homeland, or she can go with her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to the land of Judah.  At a moment of beautiful, bold, courageous trust and remarkable conversion, she chooses to follow Naomi - she chooses to follow the Lord into a new land and new life.  And what happens because of that decision is remarkable in every sense.

I was laying in bed last night and for some reason thinking about Ruth's story and it struck me that Ruth does two things which I've never been able to emulate successfully: she walks a perfect tightrope line between her past and her future.

I have two tendencies - one is to get so caught in retrospective reflection about my past that I'm totally unable to have excitement for the future.  The other is to get SO excited for the future that I forget what was valuable from my past.  Neither extreme is ever all that helpful, and both tend to leave me feeling disappointed in one way or another.

But I think about Ruth, and how she tragically lost the man she loved, and as I pick apart her choices and analyze her character, I see two things she did very well: she honored her past, and she had hope for her future.

By choosing to follow Naomi, she honors the family she had joined in the past.  She honors the little glimpses of God that her husband had given her, and she honors the changes of her heart that the Lord had provided throughout her marriage.  She honors herself as a woman who has been transformed because of her history.

And by making that incredibly scary decision of entering a new land of strangers where she would be unwanted and foreign, she displays evidence of an incredible hope.  Even though she's just starting to know who God is, she has hope that he has a great story in the works for her.

The two h's - honor, and hope.

It wasn't easy for her, I'm sure, to balance between the two.  But it's encouraging that it's possible.  And I can't wait until my slumber parties with her in Heaven to tell her thanks for teaching me to be a woman who longs for both of those things in my life.


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ps. Mars Hill Church has a really remarkable sermon series on Ruth (that's where the top video is from); I 100% recommend it.  When I went through it two years ago I learned a ton and I find myself going back to it over and over again.  

about my good things jar

This is my good things jar.  And it's exactly what it sounds like -- it's a jar, and it's full of good things.  

I started in on January 1st.  I keep it by my door and next to it is a notepad and pen.  Whenever anything good happens, I write it down with the date, fold it up, and throw it in the jar. On December 31st, I'll empty it out and read everything I kept in there for the year.

Here are my qualifications for what counts as a "good thing": anytime your stomach hurts from laughing.  anytime you smiled at a surprise.   anytime you accomplished something.  anytime you get a sweet note from a friend.  anytime you see someone you've missed.  basically, anytime something happens and you're grateful it did, be it big or small, I would count it as a "good thing".  

Because that's what this little project is about for me - being a person who fosters gratitude and who recognizes every moment that demands it.  My good things jar reminds me of all the reasons I have to by joyful and gracious.  It reminds me of how good 2013 is, has been, and will be.  And when I forget, I like to reach my hand in the jar, pull out a good thing, and be washed all over by the memory (in essence, it's sort of my Muggle version of a Pensieve. and yeah, I just said that).  

If you're a person who needs to be reminded of all the good things in life, I suggest you get your very own jar and start filling it up! It's never to late to stock up your happy moments like treasure.  Never, never too late for that.