What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
I’m 2 weeks into summer. Here’s the plan for this most perfect of seasons.
1. Build an adirondack chair. Preferably with the help of my papa.
2. Paint my room white, the color of clarity. And of avoided regret.
3. Develop all of my film that is hiding in drawers and bowls and purse pockets without going broke.
4. Write music. Ukelele and lyrics included.
5. Find focus.
6.Cookie butter. On everything.
7. Fall in love with Lake Michigan. Again. And again. And again.
8. Find my stolen bike on Craigslist. (Ok, I’m definitely setting myself up for failure here, but this would be MAJOR)
9. Keep Joy and Tracy close. Like, in-my-ears close. Totes burrits.
10. Play with my nephew until I forget which of us is the 4 year old. And then, obviously, play with him even more.
11. Reap the benefits of the sister working at The Ice Cream Junction. Sprinkles! Soft serve! Mini cookie dough pieces!
12. Chase the sun.
13. Visit friends, near and less near.
14. Be bold in my faith. That’s terrifying. But God reveals Himself so clearly in the most dangerous of moments.
15. Adventures! Along the shore. In hiking boots. In canoes. In backyards. In treehouses. In unsuspecting moments.
16. Continue torturing myself with photos of baby pandas.
17. Have my cake/pie/cookies/candies/creams/other things involving sugar + butter and eat it too.
18. Suck it up and get a DSLR.
19. Ride on a Vespa. This is more bucket list-ish, but ideally this will happen this summer.
20. Give the ice cream maker a work out.
21. Give myself even harder workouts.
22. Cuddle with my cat + avoid its demon tendencies.
23. Reduce the amount of trash I create. As in, avoid perpetuating the American average of 7lbs of trash per individual per day. We are but stewards.
24. Get to know C.S. Lewis via his writing.
25. Grow + harvest the garden.
26. Spend too much at the farmers market.
27. Get off the grid.
28. Pratique mon français.
29. Twintime.
30. Be intentional.
Despite the rain and gray skies today, there are many an evening like this ahead.
candlelight s’mores
The fruits of summertime are just over the horizon.
Loveliness in list form.
May I cherish simplicity and Godly sincerity of character. Help me to be in reality before Thee as in appearance before men, to be religious before I profess religion, to leave the world before I enter the church, to set my affections on things above, to shun forbidden follies and vanities, to be a dispenser as well as a partaker of grace, to be prepared to bear evil as well as do good.
“So put immediate gratification to one side and cultivate your higher sensibilities; learn the arts of nuance, subtlety, humility, and grace.”
Sometimes more than others, you wish the Santa legends were real.
It snowed today. I can’t ask God to keep winter from coming. But I have a prayer:
Make my heart soft. Give me opportunities to effortfully choose joy. Put love back into every one of my actions. Strip me of fear and of selfishness. Weave your grace through all of these fragile relationships. Remind me to seek your face and then your hand. Bless my friends as much as I feel blessed by them. Give my mind and body rest. And really, just please hold off on the snow.
It was all serious.
Something glorious is happening here.
My name is Aysha. This is a collection of beauty, thoughts, & celebration
