cœur pur

god calls me on the payphone, tells me there aren’t enough magnolia trees in the garden. asks me a question. i spend my whole life answering it.

“Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely. Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief! Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in his beams. Feel his all-seeing eye settled on you in love, and repose in his almighty arms. . . . Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh.”

i know it's hard. but i so firmly believe the strongest antidote to loneliness is reaching out first. and continuing to reach out. again and again and again. excise any scrap of shame you hold about being the person who texts first or pitches the plan or asks to get lunch. everyone is tired and busy and struggling. and afraid of feeling unwanted and unimportant. don't let the people you love feel that way. reach out first. don't be a ghost in your own life.

imagine falling in love and it works out for the rest of your life

Estival (adj.) — "belonging to summer" feels like the memory of sun lingering in your bones, the quiet comfort of light late into evening, the ease of summer unfolding all around. A a word for bare shoulders, warm wind, sticky fruit, and salty skin. For long days, slow nights, soft sunsets, and ocean air. The adjective estival comes from the Latin word aestivalis, meaning "of summer" from aestas (summer).

God’s timing is always worth the wait.