On Love and Memories

So this semester I've started this new thing where I carry a mini journal around in my pocket wherever I go. In doing this I've been able to write down thoughts, feelings, etc. that strike me when they strike me, rather than struggling to remember them until I get back to my room. The product of these scribblings are sometimes incoherent and often random, but two have stuck with me more than the others:

1) Love is a spiritual gift that God has given all his children. God loved us and because of that we love others, or at least we should. When we withhold love we do so because we are afraid that giving it away will leave us vulnerable. We doubt that this is what's best for us. But the reality is that our strengths shine most brightly when we accept God's love and in turn give it away to others. I find that most often when I lack joy it is a result of either not dwelling in the love of God or not loving others. God's love feeds our joy, but for our joy to be full we must turn around and love all those around us.

2) Good memories are funny things. They are funny because it seems like there are two kinds. One kind is recollected with nostalgic fondness, often evoking a smile or something of that sort. Yet, there is another kind of good memory, one that is twinged with sadness, because in so much as you remember it with fondness, there is a longing in your chest to resurrect that memory and make it present again. In many ways the second kind of good memory is almost worse than a bad memory because it involves us desiring something that we can't reclaim. Since C.S. Lewis is the man, I am going to go ahead and compare this longing to his theory of longing, which asserts that we long for things because we see in them echoes or foretastes, of the Glory (Heaven) to come. If this is truly the case then we can check our longing to resurrect certain good memories with the knowledge that God has something better in mind for us, if not in this life, then certainly in the one to come.

Thoughts for the Day:
~I feel a bazillion times better after I run
~I should never let my laziness convince me not to run ever again
~I own far more Lifehouse albums than I have any business owning
~God's timing is perfect. Fruit is not always ripe. Only in due season.
~As cliche as moleskins have become, they're classy and I like them
~I need a haircut real bad, but true confession: I'm super paranoid that a haircut will reveal a quickly receding hairline. Lord, deliver me from Rogaine.

Songs for the Day: Distraction #74 by The Avett Brothers and Learning How to Die by Jon Foreman