i love people and their quirks

A friend in a strawb patch // Pungo, May 2018 // 35mm 

Was going through old journals this morning, and found this list, probably from 2014.

I had compiled little facts and quirks about friends....

-J. hates pickles. And anything else you might find in a deli.
-P. loves animals.
-H. sometimes laughs like an artillery gun. Or she's laughing so hard that no sound comes out.
-Che. once ate brussel sprouts every night for months. That may or may not be an exaggeration.
-Chr. is obsessed with personality theory and can pinpoint anyone's Meyer's Briggs after meeting them.
-M. has never pierced her ears.
-____ sometimes holds her pee when hanging out with people just so she won't miss anything while she's in the bathroom.
-H. hates the sound of ankles bumping together.
-P. has never eaten an egg (unless it's baked in something).

we are not accidents

And sometimes you find beautiful pictures in a friend's attic.

"you are wrapped in                                                                                                             endless                                                                                                                                   boundless                                                                                                                               grace."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    [morgan harper nichols]  

this is what I know

35 mm // Northside Park - Norfolk, VA // spring 2018

I'm fumbling my way, groping towards authenticity. I want to live sacrificially, and honestly. But I am seeing my weakness more and more. This is growth, to realize how dependent I am on God, community, family. And my failing belongs. It all belongs. 

Flying back from Boston a few days ago, I finally finished Walking on Water. A friend recommended it this past spring; I've been drinking from a slow drip of L'Engle's insight since then. Mostly while stealing a few quiet minutes in the half dark of my room before dozing off to sleep at night. But this time, above New York City. There's nothing like being suspended in air with no distractions to focus my heart and mind. 

As always happens, her words resonated:

To know deeply is far more than to know consciously. In the realm of faith I know far more than I can believe with my finite mind. I know that a loving God will not abandon what he creates. I know that the human calling is cocreation with this power of love. I know that "neither death, nor life, nor angels. nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."