Currently Listening Lead Me On By Amy Grant see related

voices like thunder in a mighty roar

cry to the LORD

lead me on, lead me on

to a place where the river runs into Your keeping

lead me on, lead me on

the awaited deliverance comforts the seeking

lead on

Currently Listening Birds Flying Away By Mason Jennings see related

have you ever listened to Mason Jennings?

beauty sale

Walking into CVS in Lillington yesterday, I noticed a huge sign in the window reading "BEAUTY SALE!"  The poor women of America.  They have spent all their lives searching for that elusive beauty, going on diets and starving themselves, buying the latest Mary Kay product and investing all their money in plastic surgery and push-up bras.  They have sat for countless hours in front of the television and behind magazine covers, scrutinizing the wardrobes and hairstyles of Angelina and Paris and Keira.  How many tears have they cried, wishing for the love, acceptance, admiration, and self-worth that they know will come to them once they unlock the mysteries of beauty??  Well, ladies, the secret is out.  The long, long wait is finally over.  Beauty, in all her glory, is on sale at CVS in Lillington, North Carolina.

sweet

Well here I am in cyberspace!  I have decided it's high time I had a go at it.

I have a small story to share as my first attempt to "blog".  I imagine the sort of people who won't appreciate this story probably aren't aware that I am out here in cyberspace yet anyway, so I shall indulge myself.  Here it is:

This evening I went for a walk.  I stepped out my front door, past the row of abundant pink petunias of which I am rather proud, and onto the road.  I passed the track and thought of leapfrog and cartwheels and Coach. But alas!  There was no one to leapfrog with , and the middle-aged ladies powerwalking around the track would have taken me down the street to the Mental Health Center if I had attempted on my own.  So I walked on.

I crossed the highway and walked down the side of Burkot.  I thought of dead mice and secret admirers and diamond-studded boxers and late-night Valentine's Day sings.  But alas!  All the secret admirers are married off, and the boxers long since buried in the dumpster, and the Valentine's singers scattered to the four corners of the earth.  So I walked on.

I crossed the street (never quite at the crosswalk), and entered the Circle of Academia.  I passed THE tree, and the study tree, and thought of freshmen summer camp days and Ruby and Worlds Apart.  But alas!  The freshmen have grown into adults and Ruby has undergone surgery and Worlds Apart seems an ironically applicable title.

The sun sank in the sky and I walked on and thought of many, many pleasant memories.  Snowball fights and Parent's Day Shifting Sand concerts and fountain wadings and the FAB and Bible study on the steps of Taylor under the stars and the hidden waterfall and Dead Poets Society and a million other beautiful and heartbreaking thoughts.  And I sighed and was very heavy with sadness.

And then I saw it.  Standing strong and trustworthy on its four iron legs, beckoning to me with its shiny black bars in the sunset.  And it came to me with resounding clarity: The Bench changeth not.  The buhddies are scattered and the freshmen are no more, the whole world has come and gone and yet here is the Bench.  And here am I.  And I put my foot on its sturdy frame, and I walked the Bench.

And I still felt a weight in my heart and a lump in my throat, but it was a sweet kind of a pain, just enough to swallow the bitter parts without choking.  And I walked home in the darkness, swallowing the bitter and savoring the sweet.