On the Lookout

"Knowing that your future is absolutely assured can free you to live abundantly today. I have prepared this day for you with the most tender concern and attention to detail. Instead of approaching the day as a blank page that you need to fill up, try living it in a responsive mode: being on the lookout for all that I am doing. This sounds easy, but it requires a deep level of trust, based on the knowledge that My way is perfect." -Jesus Calling

Being on a YoungLife team allows you to go on weekend getaways to have bonding time with the team. Our team decided to go to Lake Allatoona and stay at one of our fellow team members lake house.  I wasn't really sure what to expect and I wasn't really sure I wanted to go. These past couple weeks have been extremely tiresome, and have almost made my body ache because I have been so busy. I started to develop headaches for no reason. I would try to sleep them off, and they just kept coming up. All I wanted to do was to rest. Rest, but not have anything on my mind while I rested.  This wasn't going to happen, because I have been swimming in work & outside projects. I felt almost as if this "getaway bonding trip" was just another thing on my schedule I had to take part in. I didn't have a lot of emotion about the upcoming weekend as Friday rolled around, and we were headed for Atlanta. I packed up, loaded up on gas, picked up a friend, grabbed lunch, got my bangs trimmed, forgot my purse at the salon, went back and grabbed it, was scared to death by an innocent homeless woman that knocked on my window, drove through atlanta, got my emissions done, surprised my mom at work, took a quick trip to the mall, and then it was smooth sailing to the lake house.
(2011 YL lake trip)

Okay, so maybe I had a lot of things to do before I finally arrived, but I don't go home very much so I thought I'd check it all off at once. When I arrived, I was greeted with smiling faces, loud music, and the smell of yummy food. We spent the night eating, playing embarrassing games, and spending quality time with each other. The next morning came, and I came across my devotion that said the excerpt I wrote at the beginning of this post. My day changed in an instant. My view of the day changed in an instant actually. I went on a morning walk around the lake with a really wonderful friend of mine, and it was absolutely breathtaking outside. The air had a morning warmth to it. You know when you walk outside, and you can feel that it is going to be a warm day, but there is a slight chill in the air? That's how it felt. It was such a refreshing feeling spending my morning in the fresh, warm air.

HOKAY.
Some of you might be thinking: (if you're on my younglife team) "We didn't go to the lake this weekend", or (if you're my hair cutter) "I didn't cut your bangs", or (even my mom) "You didn't surprise me at work." welllllllll....all of these things happened, but back in March. I know you're probably wondering why this is just now being posted, but I was going through my blog and realized I had never finished/published this post. So I read through what I had written and thought...interesting, I really really needed this. You know when you read a letter from someone, or read an old journal entry, and you think, "Wow!", if that wasn't God's perfect timing, I don't know what is. So here it is, my post about my younglife team's getaway that ended with stronger friendship and deeper understandings of each other. The more I dive in to this year, the more it is easier to get too busy for the important things. Important things are different for everyone, just make sure YOUR important things are what is held high in your day to day routine.

Now on to some Pumpkin carving!!!! Happy almost Halloweenie!!