Despite the 3 large bags that are sitting, unpacked, on my dorm floor, I've deemed writing more important than unpacking for the moment.
I didn't plan on doing a "2013 in review" post, but tonight I decided instead to write down some of the small Lessons I learned over the past year. Each comes from deep in my heart and they are all lessons that I plan on cultivating in the months (and years) to come.
I didn't plan on doing a "2013 in review" post, but tonight I decided instead to write down some of the small Lessons I learned over the past year. Each comes from deep in my heart and they are all lessons that I plan on cultivating in the months (and years) to come.
The world is my oyster, and I will explore it.
There is so much to be learned from those in other lands and cultures. I shouldn't remain isolated in my own state or country, in my comfort zone, because it is in exploration and growth through travel that I learn more about who I am.
Emotions are good.
God gave them, Jesus felt them, and we're weaker without them. Although it's sometimes difficult to allow others to see into the emotionality and reality of our hearts, it's by that vulnerability that friendships are formed.
Friendships can be maintained over great distances and periods of silence.
No matter the number of miles separating friends, nor the number of weeks that go between actual conversations, if a friendship is true, it will continue.
The hard words are often some of the best.
I have truly learned the value of words over the last year. I have shared my heart and been given the gift of a view into the hearts of others through both pen and paper and through conversation. Many of these words have been hard to say or receive, but it is by way of those hard words that I have discovered the depths of relationship.
Home isn't where I sleep.
It's also not where most of my belongings are, or where I am comfortable. Instead, home is where you decide it's home.
I have felt at home in the middle of the vastness of Rome, and in a small church in London. There is so much more to the idea of "home" than we often think.
I have felt at home in the middle of the vastness of Rome, and in a small church in London. There is so much more to the idea of "home" than we often think.
My strength is weakness if it is not of the Lord.
Countless times during the past year, I've told myself to be strong, to hold on, to do or not do x thing, but each time that I didn't lean on God for my support, I inevitably failed. It happened in both small and large ways, and I learned that ultimately, although I obviously need to be proactive in my faith, it is only through His grace and strength that I will succeed in anything.
I wish I could say that I have finished learning the above, but unfortunately, it takes a long time for God to drill things like these into my head. But I am learning, gradually, that it's always in His time that I'll learn. Even when I think my timing is better. I've resigned myself to the reality that, yes, the Creator of everything knows better than little Allison does.
So in 2014, I will allow Him to teach me His lessons in His time.
And that is the biggest lesson of all.