Not mine.

The new year has brought along not only a new number to try to remember to write on documents, but also fresh new struggles, lessons, and revelations.

Only 20 days into 2008, and already so many revolutionary changes have taken place in my life and the lives of those around me. Time seems to pass without me knowing it, and reflecting back to where I was a year ago feels like I am trying to reflect on a entirely different life. Seriously, who was that girl back in 2007? And why did her hair look like that?

But in all seriousness, with so much going on -- moving, new friends, family moving to town, etc. -- processing change requires inward reflection and time and unfortunately, as one can see by the lack of writing within the last couple months , I have let life here on earth spin me into a frenzy of busyness. This tends to happen when I'm not careful, and it is almost scary how easy I get caught up in "life" causing me to fail to live "LIFE," the real life that has an eternal shelf life.

Back during my time at the Institute, one of the main things that was engrained in my head was the fact that all things are made through Him, by Him, and for Him. So, our lives, our possessions, our jobs, everything should reflect this fact. However, in our consumer-driven society that we are saturated in, this principle largely falls on deaf ears. Yesterday at church, our pastor discussed the fact that we tend to worship the given as opposed to the giver, lending to lives that are lived entirely out of selfish-ambition under the guise of being "devoted followers" of the cross.

It really is frightening to think about how little I actually live out the idea that everything I have and will ever have, is never mine to begin with. This life, this physical body, this mind, this soul, does not belong to me. Wielding selfish control of anything is a direct slap in the face to the Divine Giver and the antithesis of His gracious personality.