can't get enough, shaking me up, turn it up

Lately life has been just peachy-keen.

I wake up (late) every morning excited to face the day. I eat good food, I go to work, I get my job done while chatting with my friends online and posting blogs, I go back home for lunch and wade in our pool, I go back to work and eat gumballs, I go home and do whatever I feel like doing all evening long.

I guess that's the same as usual but these past two weeks, I've been enjoying it. Maybe it's the weather, I don't know. Maybe it's just that for once in my life I don't have anything weighing on my mind, nothing to worry about or stress over. I've kind of just been refusing to let things become a big deal. I find a way to process the things that happen and deal with them once and for all the minute they come up instead of agonizing over decisions.

And so far it's working quite nicely for me. It sounds really lame, I know- me drifting along merrily merrily merrily merrily, because life is not a dream and lots of people have miserable lives. That does bother me. But I think it's important to learn how to deal with the valleys in life without letting them get you down before you can start really making a difference in the world. I'm not saying I've figured it out completely, just that these last two weeks have been a taste of how I want to live all the time, if that's even possible.

Without trying to sound too hyper-religous or superior here, I'm really really excited about my devotions right now. Most of the time when I come to read the Bible it's out of obligation or guilt or even desperation (I NEED something to get me through today, maybe this will work? That kind of thing). And- does anyone else ever feel this way?- when I pray I often feel like I'm groveling before God, trying to show myself humble and broken enough for my prayers to be heard. This is me trying to stand based on my own merit instead of Christ's.

It just occured to me the other day, if the gospel message is really true, and if I really have a share in it, why wouldn't I be inright outright upright downright happy all the time? Why shouldn't I come before God with complete confidence that my prayers will be heard, crying over the awesomeness of the sacrifice that was made in my behalf and giving thanks to God for it? Instead I come to him saying, yeah, well, I've been kind of undevout lately, so I know I don't really deserve much, so I'll only ask small favors. It's like the ultimate way to get around facing my mistakes. More faith, more faith, more faith. I'm constantly realizing how pathetic my faith is.

I get to drive to highline today. Yaaayy. See me jump for joy. Woohoo. :-P