Mother Love

Good morning, friends! I hope you all had a great weekend, spent with the people you love and doing the things you love.

Our weekend was pretty great! Ben and I celebrated our one-year anniversary and took a short weekend getaway to one of our favorite towns in New York. I know this is probably cliche, but I find it nearly impossible to believe that it’s been a whole year that we’ve been married. In so many ways, it feels like we were married yesterday…but in a whole other ways, it feels like we’ve been together forever. Cliche, yes…but true.

It has been the most incredible, fun, life-changing, and beautiful year of my life.

There is nothing I love more than being married to this man, and living life with him, and building dreams with him, and doing his laundry, and cooking his meals, and laughing at his funny jokes. Sometimes I sit and think about Ben and our marriage, and I get this overwhelmed feeling in my belly. Like, I hardly know how to take it all in. It feels too good to be true. Sorry for getting all mushy here, but I can’t help it: I just love that man so much.

So one year together, and so excited about the next fifty!

I know so many people look at newly married couples and hear of their exuberance at being married, and say something like this, “just enjoy it while it lasts.” Please don’t ever say that to me. Please don’t ever tell me that the love and joy and fun and commitment won’t last for us. If you feel that way, ok. If that’s been your experience, ok. But if you can do nothing else, inspire hope in young couples. Inspire them to fight for love and covenant marriage. I understand things will change in our marriage and relationship. I actually want them to…because they can change for good. We can grow together, not apart. It won’t just happen, I know this. Covenant marriage requires being intentional and fighting for connection and being honest and repentance and laying down our life. And it’s something we want to fight for…something we want to protect more than anything.

I had the wedding of my dreams one year ago, and I believe with all my newly-married heart, that the marriage of my dreams is a reality, and can be a reality.

Now some links:

– So simple, so good.

– Packing tips from a friend.

– Encouragement for those who create.

– Read this.

– C H O C O L A T E.

– Our next project!

– Get your spring clean on.

– I love eggs.

Cheers to a gorgeous week, my friends!

What about you: what are your thoughts on having the marriage of your dreams?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I tend to be a little repetitive sometimes when it comes to Scripture. I get stuck on a certain book or passage, and read and re-read this particular section for days or weeks at a time. What is so interesting is that the more I read something, the more I see and understand…the more it comes alive.

I’ve been stuck in Psalms for the past while. I know probably a lot of you have handy-dandy reading plans for Bible reading and read a Psalm a day or something like. I find it a little hilarious that I am a huge planner in every other area of life, but in Bible reading it doesn’t work for me. I make grand plans or print out a schedule, but inevitably I will revert to just picking something at random and going with it.

I think the important thing here is to do it, plan or no plan.

Psalm twenty-three is a familiar one. We’ve read it and memorized it. We’ve let it comfort us in times of darkness and trouble. I think it used to be too familiar for me to fully appreciate. It used to be one of those chapters I just read without realizing what I’m reading…but the past few weeks, it’s become something that has taken on a whole new life.

What I’ve come to know and love these past few weeks in being stuck on this chapter is this: Jesus is the gentle Shepherd. So I’ve thought a lot about shepherds, and what they do, and what they are for, and what makes a good one. And I’ve come to see that having a shepherd for my life is a good thing, a truly good thing.

Because of this Shepherd, these are true of my life:

– I have what I need (not always what i want).

– I have a good leader (that’s what a shepherd is).

– I have a shepherd that leads me to good things (green pastures and still waters are good things).

– I can be in the middle of really hard things, but without fear.

– I have Someone with me, always, all the time.

– I have Someone with me all the time Who has authority and strength to help me find victory over my enemies (a rod and a staff are meant to fight off enemies).

– I have Someone Who gives me good things, even in the midst of my enemies.

– I am pursued by good things (it follows me…i can’t get away from it).

– I have a beautiful promise of a glorious future.

Goodness. This is the theme. This is the core nature of this gentle Shepherd. I don’t know about you, but this overwhelms my soul. It gives the greatest feeling of peace. It gives the greatest feeling of freedom! We have this Shepherd Who is good and kind and gentle and strong and fierce, Who is with us always, Who leads us, guides, gives us direction. He is there to lead us to where we need to go. He is there to lead us to life.

He leads us, and then He follows us with goodness and mercy. What a perfect picture of safety…what a perfect place of comfort.

This doesn’t mean we won’t experience the valley of the shadow of death…the Psalms doesn’t say anything about not going through hard things. But it does say that when we do, when we’re in the valley or surrounded by enemies, we have a Shepherd there with us to lead us to the meadows and rivers. Maybe we won’t arrive to that place quickly…maybe it’s a journey of many weeks, months, or years. But the promise is this: He will lead us, because He is good.

What about you: what are your thoughts on Jesus being the Good Shepherd?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!