To church

David and I had the chance to attend church with our friend Aaron and his family. After the service, we walked to his sister's house and were served a huge lunch. On the way, one of the little girls started singing the name Jesus over and over. She looked up at David and said, "That man looks like Jesus." Then she turned to me and said, "And you look like Mary."

Whales and me

The other night, Nicole from church had a dream with me and another girl from church, Ashley. Picture this. In the dream, Ashley was the worship leader. She ran up and down the aisles pumping up the congregation, singing "Superfreak." The deacons stood in the front row, embarrassed, shaking their heads, trying to figure out how to get her to stop. Then I went up to preach the sermon. The topic: whale migration. It was very interesting and informative, despite having nothing to do with Jesus. 

Whales?! Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a strange connection to whales, or rather, they have a connection to me. They come to me in dreams. I've dreamt about releasing two humpbacks into the wild (appropriately named "Hump" and "Back"), flying evil orcas, a friendly winking humpback, a kamikaze beluga who jumped onto a boat, etc. The morning of my wedding the news reported that a pod of humpbacks was hanging out in a cove near the wedding site. And then, on my honeymoon, I saw a mommy humpback with her baby. David had planned a whale watching boat adventure before the dreams even started. I am not sure what it all means, but I imagine it's pretty special.

And the most interesting thing is that Nicole had no idea about whales and me. It just came to her in a dream. 

(Nessie and me with Hump and Back in Maui.)

(Mama humpback in Costa Rica. She's there, just far away.)

Lent

This is the first week of Lent, a time of preparation for Easter. For forty days, Christians attempt to recognize their own sinfulness so they can fully appreciate what happened at Jesus' death and resurrection. Easter is meant to be a celebration, full of life and light and not full of bunnies and chocolate and terrible pastel colors. I'm not saying these are bad things (except maybe the pastel overload), just that there is a little too much attention paid them during the holiday.

Though it may sound strange, I find so much comfort in knowing that I am broken and entirely dependent on God. At the end of my life, whatever I did that was good was only because God was merciful. It was not by my power, but His power working through me. I will not look back on my life and say, "I should have done more," or, "I wasted my life." If I live in my own power, those statements will always be true. But if I recognize that any good I do is a gift, I will be appreciative rather than regretful. 

Jesus said that children will inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is not because they are pure and innocent, but because children cannot do anything on their own. They are dependent, and they do not fool themselves into believing that they can accomplish great things on their own. 

Let me be like a child.