You've Got So Much Love in You!

"So Much Love in You" by The Rocket Summer

"Hats need a beat like awake needs asleep.
Like a pen needs a page, to re-write you need a mistake, oh yeah.
Hearts need a mind like a clock needs the time.
Like white needs black, if you leave I hope you need to come back.

Oh, I swear, I know I believe it
Oh, I can't stop hearin' all the singin'
Oh, my soul has never had this feelin'
And it feels like gold

You got so much love in you
You got so much love in you
I'm amazed that I'm talkin' to you
You look like the songs that I've heard my whole life comin' true..."

I don't know much about The Rocket Summer - this is the only song I know of theirs, but it's catchy. This song popped up on Pandora again today and I was just reflecting on how this is how my weekend felt - I've got so much love in my life, it's overwhelming! Sometimes I get down on myself because I focus on where I lack love - namely, that I'm not in a relationship. But truly? Really and truly, I am so blessed to have people who love me as much as they do.

I didn't do anything crazy this weekend - it was pretty much laid back games and homework - but I had some free time to catch up with my PP, my mom, Ashley, Ben, etc... and it was really nice! One of MLC's few drawbacks is that it is so far away from home and I am currently car-less, as well as I'm all tangled up in soccer commitments that hold me here - so instead of going home once a month or so, I'm going home... for Thanksgiving? I spend my summers at Camp Phillip but even then I get a break to go home in the middle. It sounds babyish but I don't think I've ever been away from home for 3 solid months before, and I really love home.

Even more, I love the people at home. So I wouldn't say that I'm homesick, but I really just want to go hug my mom, catch up with Madison friends and get coffee with Steph, and I can't. Not until November. When I can't see people in the flesh I get to think about them instead. I did a lot of thinking this weekend and came to flabbergasted conclusion that I am lucky to be loved by the people who do. Seriously.

Friendships can be tricky things - people start friendships with artificial grins plastered on their faces and slippery motives clutched behind their back because they're trying to use you for some superficial reason or another. Some friendships can be highly enjoyable, but if they're built on the shaky common ground of being annoyed by the same teacher or acquaintance, what's stopping that "friend" from turning on you and being annoyed by you instead? People can befriend you because they want to date your brother, because it will look good to be in tagged photos with you on Facebook, because you're "convenient" at the time, or, more positively, they could grow out of genuine commiseration and honest commonality. There's a quote I really like about friendship by C.S Lewis:

"Friendship is born at the moment one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one".

Writing about friendship is making my heart feel warmer and fuzzier than it already did. Here are a couple other quotes I really like about friendship:

"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget" - Author Unknown

"We are friends and I do like to spend the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up next to you, dusting next to you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you, and think of you very often" - Jeanette Winterson

"True friends stab you in the front" - Oscar Wilde

"The difference between love and friendship is how much you can hurt each other" - Ashleigh Brilliant

"True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides the evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real, good friend in life is a fortune; to keep him is a blessing" - Baltasar Gracian

The best thing about a lot of the relationships I have in my life and firmly and surely founded in common faith in God and devotion to Him. Common faith is unlike any other kind of friendship bond; it's the best kind of glue. Even if I hurt a friend, I know I can go talk to him or her and be forgiven because of our shared Savior. Friendships founded in God are not easily blown over in the storms of adversity that pummel stronger and stronger as the years go by - in fact, the exact opposite reaction happens. Faith-filled friendships grow infinitely stronger when facing challenges. Being able to be there for someone and comfort them with God's amazing gospel in tough situations is a confidence that is just harder to find in relationships where God isn't present.

The best part? Even if all of our friendships (even faith-filled ones) fail here on earth, we still have an eternal Friend who always hopes, is always there for us, is the best listener in the world, and gave a thick book full of advice on how to live our lives. He did even more than that - He died for you! You have a friend who gave up His life to save yours. We hear that all the time... but no matter how many times you hear it, it's spectacular. "Greater love has no one than this - that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

So I just wanted to say that I love you guys! Thanks so much for putting up with all my quirks and oddities - without all of you, my friends, life would be so hollow. So empty! You bring color and life to all corners and aspects of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart - YOU'VE GOT SO MUCH LOVE IN YOU!! (And I have so much love in You too, Lord. Thanks)

Never forget to live like you're loved - because you are!!