July 2, 2013

Talkin’ ’bout the Weather

Tonight I’m going to attempt something difficult for me: small talk. Usually, I fairly suck at asking such common questions as, “What’s your name?” and “Where are you from?” and “What do you do?” Now, you wanna talk about Jesus? You got it. Books, philosophy, food, or politics? Sure thing. Discuss the Great Schism? I’m your girl. Just don’t get your feelings hurt when I don’t ask you how your drive here was.

As you can imagine, this has added incredible difficulty to my life. Wedding receptions and Christian women’s gatherings (which make up like 90% of my life I think) turn into exhausting ordeals where I try my darndest to talk about nothing. I’ve figured out, though, that I have an ace in my pocket. As it turns out, the very smallest of topics is something I love talking about: the weather.

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June 30, 2013

Blog Wars 2013

Some of you may remember August 13-19, 2012 as a week of intense blogging here on Act IV. Others of you may only remember being extremely annoyed by the copious posting. Most of you don’t remember it at all. But I will remember it as the birth of something beautiful.

One evening last August, after some sort of Twitter smack talk, my friends Kelcie, Cory, and I decided to have a week-long blogging competition. We had just a few simple rules, and whoever ended the week with the most posts would be named the champion. We called it Blog Wars.

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June 6, 2013

Old Friends

I’ve been pretty lucky in the friendship department, so one of my favorite parts about growing up is having “old friends.” Something effortless comes into a relationship with history, a settledness that does wonders for my slow soul.

I grin when I remember I’m approaching ten years of friendship with college friends like Elisabeth, Amy, Courtney, and Megan. The fact that they knew 18-year-old Erin, and have seen all the iterations since then, means I don’t really have to explain myself. It means one look or a familiar phrase can replace a paragraph. With them I’ve known some of the golden sessions C.S. Lewis talks about, when “Affection mellowed by the years enfolds us.” What joy.

I’ve been thinking today, though, about even older friends.

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May 16, 2013

Home

In the last two weeks I’ve looked on a few of the world’s most incredible views: I’ve gazed up at the magnificent Duomo in Florence, and down on lakes from an Alpine summit, and over fields of bright yellow French flowers I don’t know the name of. But looking up from this screen now, my eyes meet my favorite view, where outside my bedroom window the leaves of my tree have reached their fullest green. And even though my fortnight of whirlwind travel was the stuff of dreams, I can’t help but be a little sad I missed the last blossoms of Kentucky spring.

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April 24, 2013

Fellowship in the Light

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

I love John’s first epistle, and I especially love this verse. What a beautiful summation of a profound truth. It reminds me, too, of a sweet time in my life when I experienced this verse firsthand. I was nineteen, and in the midst of forming the friendships that are my dearest today. 1 John 1:7 was the theme verse for our residence hall, and it was perfect. Over the last year, the Holy Spirit had completely transformed my heart and mind, and He was faithful to give me friends who walked each step of the journey with me. The intimate fellowship we experienced as a result of our mutual transformation was, and is, precious.

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April 5, 2013

The First Warm Day

The first warm day is a new freedom—a surprise each year, as if it’s never been before, as if the bright sun has never called me round the bend to a bigger world. It calls now for the first time, and the breeze kisses legs that have never been bare. Feet that know only wall-bound paths fare farther, now their only boundary the horizon. It is the season of wandering. And wander I will, as each breath in blows dust from the corners of my mind, in this new, expansive world, this world of branches and blooms and bare feet on fresh-cut grass. Flung suddenly into beauty that commands my focus, I feel a grin take over my face—I know the binding frost has lifted. The world is new-born, and first warmth brings a thrill at the thought of freedom.

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March 6, 2013

Lonely Art

We read to know we’re not alone.

These words, uttered broodingly by a slacking and romantic Oxford undergraduate in Shadowlands, come to mind from time to time as I sit down with a new book, wondering just what it is that captivates me so. What calls me to turn the page, again and again? Why do any of us read? Why are you reading this now?

I’ve been blogging for just about eight months, and in that time I’ve written 47 posts (48 if you count this one). Some have been silly, others have been more crafted. Many have not turned out how I thought they would—the blank page turns out to be a rather surprising place. And yet, what has surprised me most has been the response from you, the reader.

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February 26, 2013

Brudders

Brothers are the best. I mean, I get sad when I think about girls who don’t have one. Who gives them advice? Who helps them with their cars? Who gives them a hard time when they say stupid girl stuff? I happen to have the world’s greatest two brothers—don’t ask me how I got so lucky, but it’s true. And if you’ve ever heard me talk about either one of them, you know it’s pointless to try and convince me otherwise.

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February 14, 2013

Missing Someone

And I have penned the words
I made a vow, my heart is yours
But we have yet to meet
You and I

-Blake Stratton, “Leave on a Light”

I didn’t want to write this post. Even now, I’m not sure this isn’t a dumb idea. Doesn’t it seem hopelessly predictable to write about being single on Valentine’s Day? Predictable and slightly pitiful. My plan was to play it cool, let this day pass like any other day, write about Harry Potter or something. But would you like to know what I’m really going to do this evening? I’m going to cook a nice dinner for myself, maybe read through some old Facebook messages from men who shall remain nameless (don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about), then lay on my back and listen to “Love Song for No One.” And I’ll wonder again just how John Mayer got to the bottom of my soul … but that’s beside the point.

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February 5, 2013

Anti-hipster Angst

Today I’ve been thinking about hipsterness. I mean, it may or may not be something I ponder on a regular basis, but today it was mostly because I watched this video (which my flippin’ awesome Cincinnati church created for their Super Bowl service last weekend) and spit tap water all over my keyboard at work. And I thought, I can laugh at that, because I’m not that girl.

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