Blog Return?

I just wanted to announce that though we thought this blog would be over when Ashton graduated PC, it possibly isn't.  Because...(drum roll)...Ashton's working at PC this year!   Wahooo!  So for all of you hopeful readers, there is definitely a chance to catch a few more glimpses into life in the smyth lane from your favorite bloggers.

Graduation

To the faithful readers of Life in the Smyth Lane, here's a pic of me and my beautiful roomie Ashton at graduation in front of our beloved (or sometimes not so beloved) Smyth. 

As they say in show business, thanks for the memories.  Keep tabs with me and Ash on our new blogs.  Until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

me too!

check out my new blog: http://ashtonyount.blogspot.com

amanda's new blog

http://www.sutker.blogspot.com

grab bag

a few things worth noting:

1. amanda and i have been very proud of the fact that our blog inspired at least four other blogs. however, i am sad to report that none of these blogs have had a new post in over a month. one of them hasn't had a new post in more than four months! apparently, not everyone has as much to say as the residents of smyth 114.

2. i'm still trying to get a job for next year. if you have any connections in greenville, holla at me. i can use all the help i can get. hoping to start working the first week of june.

3. only 8 more days until graduation, and i'm spending them at the beach with some of my best friends! i'm hoping to return at least three shades darker.

4. my new (and solo) blog will make it's debut on may 9, so look out for the web address in the near future.

end of the semester

a few special things about the end of second semester:

• study breaks in GDH!  every exam week, PC's student government hosts nightly "study breaks" in the dining hall for us to get some breakfast food, participate in a few food fights, and jam to our favorite tunes.  i will admit i successfully participated in a couple of food fights tonight, going so far as to flick a few grits and some eggs.  though i hear the fight is on, as of now, there is no sight of retribution.
• moving out...so sad to see smyth 114 totally broken down.  ash's dad came this afternoon and our beds are in different rooms now.  i can't imagine living differently from how we did this year.  ash's and my room was so special--we went so far as to put our desks in the closets.  makes me sad to leave such a sweet roommate with so many memories, but excited for a fresh summer and new year as a JUNIOR (whoop!!)
• after i complete my exams I'll be headed to the beach!  not just 1 beach but 2!  the fertile myrtle for the first few days then hilton head for the second few days.  who could want more?
• once again I'll be going to the LP this summer!  Last summer was very challenging for me so I am apprehensive to get pumped for this summer, but I really am learning to trust God...that He can redeem my uneasy feelings and show me more of Himself for the 8 weeks I'm spending in Myrtle Beach this year.  I am praying that God will show me more rest, treasure, and joy in the Gospel this summer!
• thanks for being such faithful readers!  ash is moving out in 2 days :( but be on the lookout for links to our new blogs :).

Peace and Love!

Beauty

I can't begin to express the joy I feel when I pass bright pink and purple magnolia bushes on my way to Neville during the spring.  These flowers, somehow, lift an ungrateful, heavy spirit that accompanies me when my tired eyes can hardly stand to stay open for the last few classes of the semester.  I can't begin to express the joy I felt last Sunday, when after four stanzas of a beautiful, old hymn, the resounding sound of the organ stopped, and only the pure, worshipful chords of a congregation echoed throughout the church.  I can't begin to express the joy I feel daily from inexplicable, aesthetic gifts from a God who created beauty itself.

It's true; beauty, like all things, is created and defined by a perfect God whose mere words created the only world we know.  He not only heals and comforts our broken souls, but he does so with grace: a tender, sweet gift from which all human concept of beauty can never compare.

When God created the world in the first chapter of the Bible, He reflected on His creation and declared it good 6 times.  God's intentions for mankind's first pair was for the two to live forever in a blissful, beautiful garden.  And later, even when His created ones hurt him and His justness required for Him to punish them, even when generation after generation of Isrealites cursed the God who had delivered them from Egypt, He promised His grumbling people something better: a restoration of the same blissful, beautiful life initially enjoyed by Adam and Eve.

God manifested this beauty through Jesus Christ, a man who didn't just satisfy people's hunger or heal their disabled children, but gave them true life.  Yes, God declared, man had sinned.  Yes, God declared, because He is fair, they could not experience the same beauty from the garden without price.  But God's promise for restoration was so great that He did whatever He could for man to know Him again, even if it meant sacrificing a part of Himself.  And this perfect Christ, this promised Messiah, whose every action was the will of God, was scoffed by the very people He came to save.  He loved them anyway.  He died for them anyway.  That is a beauty I don't deserve to know.

There is a false beauty permeating the world.  Or at least girl world.  A beauty that claims that manufactured, made-over, underfed women are the closest glimpse of Eden we'll ever know.  A beauty that claims that our worth comes from a 4.0, athleticism, or the attention of men.  My friends, the beauty we are settling for is child's scribble instead of a Van Gough.  I would be lying if I said I sometimes didn't buy into this beauty myself.

But the grace of God changes people through Jesus.  "For the Lord comforts Zion.  He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord." (Is 51.3).  We don't have to strive for beauty.  We don't have to give up meals to manipulate our bodies; we don't have to give up sleep to receive a 4.0; we don't have to give up respect to get a boyfriend.  The greatest and only sacrifice needed for our satisfaction comes from God.  And it doesn't require any strife.  It comes freely.

"Come to me," Jesus whispers.  "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest."  (Matt 11.28)

In this rest, He changes our souls.    He even changes us to reflect some of the very beauty He reflects through Christ.  He transforms our visions from worldly beauty toward heavenly beauty.  We wait to see the fullness of this beauty.  But our hope is not in vain.  

Why? Because our God is not an imaginary friend.  The 66 books in the bible aren't fairy tales.  They are real, because Christ is real.  Christ died for a reason: to ransom us from our sin.  He lives now, too, because He has overcome Death.  Every day, Jesus, would your beauty be real in my heart...would you let me celebrate your beauty, not the world's beauty...would I be more overwhelmed by the beauty of Christ.