places.

I am a ridiculously sentimental person.  I attach images, sounds, words, music, and things to memories.  Sometimes they rush back vividly, all at once, and I can almost go back.

I'm not much of a storyteller.  But the other night I got going when Mark and I were talking about the perfect summer night, and I couldn't stop.  I started telling him every detail I could remember about beautiful days and nights spent in the middle of nowhere (affectionately referred to as "the farm") with my best friends.  About picking blackberries in thorny bushes and then making blackberry cobbler, going mudding and ending up in mud-fights and on rope swings, long drives on gravel roads, "Covered in Rain" on repeat, watching thunderstorms roll in and light up a big dark sky, bonfires, burgers, beans, hammocking, sunsets and starry skies, homemade New Years Eve ball drops, quiet mornings with the Lord before my friends woke up and pancake breakfasts when they did.

I don't ever get sick of these stories.  If anything, I worry that at some point I won't remember them as well.  Life seemed simpler then.  We dreamed about the future, seeing only the endless possibilities in front of us.  We laughed a lot.  We savored our time, making the most of every silly idea or good conversation.

Life is different now.  We're all different too.  And I get sad thinking that things will never be the way they were.  But I'm so thankful for that place and those people.  I'm thankful for all the little ways the Lord used that season of my life to reveal to me more of who he is.  I'm thankful for the way he orchestrated friendships and brought together people that taught me about real fellowship in him.  And I'm thankful that He's not finished with us yet-- that even though my friends and I are all spreading out and moving on, I know he's continuing to mold us and teach us and sanctify us for his glory.

I'm praising God tonight for what he has done, but I'm also praising him because I know that's not all there is.
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24