the good that is not the best

Really quick, I just wanted to explain that this photo stands as visual proof of two things:
1. There is sunshine in Seattle...see it streaming in on the left? Beautiful.
2. My life is still very much unpacked, unless you see nothing wrong with keeping your earrings with your sister's records.

On a completely different but more worthwhile note, I've been attending Bethany Community Church in Green Lake—two blocks from our house. I thought I'd spend a month or two "church shopping"—and maybe I still will—but so far I've really benefitted from the Scripture-based teachings, the pastor's approachable demeanor, the people...and the location.  :)

Two Sundays ago the pastor focused a bit on Sarai and Abram...and God's covenant with them that they would have as many offspring as there were stars in the sky. Even at the ripe ages of 90 and 100, the God of the universe promised them children.

So Sarai threw herself a baby shower.

No, but she should have.

Instead, she got bored. 

Or at least that's how I translated it. Sarai basically said, "Thanks God, that's thoughtful, but in the meantime..." And then she had her slave girl sleep with her husband so that she'd finally have a baby to play with. Not exactly what God had in mind.

I walked away from church that evening realizing that, while I'm not pimping my friends out, I still tend to circumvent God's original plan a lot like Sarai. I too quickly jump at the second best option (or third best, or fourth...) because the results will be quicker or it makes more sense in my tiny human mind at the moment. Yet the whole time God is simply asking us to be patient and trust him a day at a time because he has created the best way for us—if we would only walk in it faithfully.
A friend suggested I apply this theory to my past dating life. Ahhhh, the taste of conviction.

Praise the Lord for being faithful to us even when we are not as faithful to him. 

"Beware of anything which would sully that mirror [of Christ] in you; it is nearly always a good thing—the good that is not the best." —C. S. Lewis