Thursday, August 16, 2007

relentless

"Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it."

Song of Solomon 8:6-7

i love that His love is relentless! and i love that i'm finally beginning to understand that!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

i am loved...

so yesterday i was at work, texting a friend back and forth. i asked him how he was doing and he responded that he was blown away by God's amazing knowledge. i thought about that for a bit and responded how I feel God's amazing knowledge of my heart and desires, but have a hard time remembering how well he knows what loves me after the moment passes and life gets more complicated. His reply, "write it down...do whatever it takes! What he is doing should never be forgotten". it seems elementary, and slightly foolish but i figured it was worth a try. some are pretty random, so be fair warned. for your enjoyment (and my remembering), here is some of my list...

*getting hit on though a post-it note left on my car
*falling asleep to the sound of rain (it's my favorite, second to waking up to the sound of rain-ps i really love rain)
*frozen pizza, diet coke, and nerds for dinner EVERY night for the last month (and probably the next coming few as well)
*the fact that my friends only tease me a little about my eating habits
*getting a free pair of oakleys right before running on one of the hottest days of the summer so far
*roommates who listen to me talk about the same things incessantly (and still love me)
*chats that last until 2 am (it wouldn't have been that late if i wouldn't have said the same things over and over-see above)
*physical touch
*encouragement from friends exactly when i need it (that whole perfect timing thing)
*wearing a man's white v neck undershirt to my corporate job today (i am slightly rebellious at times-what can i say)
*being able to see my tattoo through said shirt. it made me smile when i noticed it. :)
*playing volleyball with some pretty stinkin awesome friends every week!
*compliments (even though i'm still learning how to really receive them, they do bless me!)
*early morning texts and emails at work (seriously, want to make my day, this is a surefire way to do it!)

so yeah. that's a random smattering of how I am loved. When i stopped and thought about it, i too was blown away at how well the God of the Universe knows my heart and exactly what makes me feel loved. As i've focused on that, the things of the world have seemed strangely dim. thanks friend!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

does this mean I'm an adult?

I'll be the first to admit that although i work in the financial industry and am dealing with the stock market every minute of my day, I know virtually NOTHING worth anything about it. Buy low, sell high is about all I got. It used to not be a huge deal. My coworkers were mostly women in their mid-30's who were more worried about their kids homework than how much their stock tanked that day. so I could evade my whole lack of stock market knowledge, and just talk about their kids. My plan to hide my ignorance was working. That lasted until 2 days ago.

About a month ago I got a promotion, and last week I started my new position in a new group. My new group consists of me, a spunky grandma, and 4 guys from 22-35(we'll post more on the boys another day). Liz (the grandma) used to be a for real trader for some big company in nyc before coming to where we work now, and the other guys, well, they are pretty heavily invested and watch the market like hawks. I think I used all my market knowledge within the first 5 min of our first conversation. They were being sympathetic with my apathy until they found out I hadn't started my 401k.

You would have thought the world was going to end in 5 minutes by their reaction. Oh man. when I first started working here, I was planning on being here no longer than a year, so buying into retirement was the LAST thing on my mind. 2 years later, I had maybe a passing thought, but that's about it. So after a crash course in Roth vs. traditional IRA's and quick assessment of how much i could actually afford to invest in them, I am now planning for retirement?!?!

Crazy I know. Who thinks about that at 25 for real? But according to this handy graph they showed me, I'll be a millionaire by the time I'm 85...