:D

Pesto for lunch with Kimberly and hopefully a pedicure, some therapy at Dollar Tree, and finding some patio lights on the cheap. I'm thinking of doing something on the curtain rods in our bedroom to dress up the $4 Target sheers. Haha. You have to be creative on a rice and beans budget, but this pedicure has been needed for, oh, probably two years. Yeah, I'm hardcore like that.

That, and I'm going to be meditating today on what it means to live a more intentional life. I have been horrible in some of my relationships. With time slipping through our hands like sand, it's better to invest time in what matters. Simply put, I need to be better at loving people and growing my relationships. This doesn't come naturally to me.  Though a sanguine by nature, I sometimes shirk away at the prospect of putting myself out there. I think I'm slowly figuring out that I'm not as awkward as I think I am and that I have more to offer than I give myself credit for. I'm one of those people who's constantly annoyed at themselves. Seriously. 

Trying to weed out the important from the not-so-important.  Naturally, my creative outlets need to stay. Without them, I think I'd shrivel up and die. While they have changed forms over the years, they're still there. I need them desperately. Reading, writing, crafting, decorating. 

I need to be more gracious and more lavish with encouragement. I need to let the people in my life know how I feel about them. If I love them, I need to tell them by actions, not so much words.  I need to get off myself.  At some point I have to realize that my preoccupation with my low  self-esteem is nothing but narcissism. If God has told me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, who am I to question that and wish I looked like this, that, or the other? 

I need to be sincere. Sometimes, beneath the surface, I am a snarky troll.  I need to dismiss my prejudices and just love, pure and simple, even if it's against everything in my body. 

I need to be open to change and movement and God's stirring. I need to help people who are hurting, seek them out and love them the way that I am loved. It could be a stranger, a friend, someone in my family. Pete talked about the prodigal son at Cross Point this past Sunday. We've all heard the story and know the metaphors if we're in the Christian circle. 

prodigal son- lost or new Christians

older son- long-time Christians/excessively righteous people

father- God 

Stricken by the fact that we should be the ones running to find those who are hurting and just wanting to curl up on the porch with my very dusty, neglected bible. 

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This has nothing to do with this post at all, but I am listening to Brandon (who is very commanding in his speech, wow) talking to a perspective client on the phone in the next room, and I am SO proud of my husband.