A friends recent blogging revival has inspired me to start blogging again...we'll see how long it lasts this time.

I didn't go home for Easter because we only had Friday and Monday off and it seemed too complicated to try to figure out how to get home for four days. So, I went home with Sila(Lisa) instead. It was a lot of fun! Her family is super sweet and made me feel right at home. They do a lot together. They eat lunch and dinner together, they go for walks together, they play games together, they watch movies together, etc. Every day I was there we did something where we got to spend time with each other. It was so much fun! I got to talk to and bond with Sila a lot. It was fun to have a sister for the weekend. It was interesting, too, to see how they functioned. Everybody's family is so different and it was cool to be a part of something so entirely different from my own life. I really enjoyed my time with them.

I have been thinking and praying a lot about my future life, especially my future husband. I am realizing more and more everyday just how special and intimate I want our relationship to be. Sure, there isn't anybody now, but I have faith that God will put us together in his perfect timing. In the mean time, I've been learning what personality traits I want him to have and developing those traits in myself. We had a chapel speaker two weeks ago who talked about this. He said that the first traits we should look for in a partner are the fruits of the spirit, so that is what I am starting with. I have a list in the back of my quiet time journal that I refer to and have made a commitment to work on one every day. When the time comes, I want to be the best girlfriend, fiance, and wife that I can and in order to do that  I need to start working on myself now.

More to come later (maybe). Right now, it's dinner time! ^_^

So last night Dr. Ball and Dr. Anderson had their annual piano recital. (I'm assuming it's annual because they had one around the same time last year...that's all I'm going off of, though.) It was absolutely spectacular! They are both magnificent players (and wonderful people)! It was highly entertaining and rather educational (more-so than most recitals I've been to). They played some classic piano literature, some hymn arrangements that they wrote themselves (they were amazing!), and a final piece that was variations on Yankee Doodle in the style of different composers (Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and Gershwin) that was a whole lot of fun.

Both Dr. Anderson and Dr. Ball are amazing musicians but what really gives them an edge is that you can tell that they are fully aware that their talent is a gift from God and they use that talent to glorify God. There is just something about the way they perform that always points to God. I'm sure it starts with the attitude of their heart and that shows through with everything they do. It's as if nothing else matters except giving God the glory. That's the way it should be, right? I think as performers, a lot of times we get so wrapped up in the details of our performance that we ultimately forget why we are doing it in the first place. We get so worried about "Is it good enough for the audience?", "What will so-and-so think?", "does it meet the requirements for (insert recital here)?", "I hope I don't mess up this part I've been having trouble with", etc. We should be concerned with "Is it my best for the one who gifted me with this talent?" We should be playing for God. I've heard it said that we should play for God and if some other people just so happen to hear it then so be it. We should always be concerned with giving the glory to God. That is our top priority. Audience, teachers, judges, etc. are not as important as playing our best for our creator.

I've been thinking about this all night last night and all day today. This morning I was reading in first Corinthians and I stumbled across a verse I've always liked. I think, as of this morning, it has become my new favorite. "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1Corinthians 10:31 I thought it was neat that I came across that this morning. I've been thinking a lot about the "whatever-you-dos" (Dr. Quanstrom preached about this at a Chapel last year. It was a wonderful sermon) today. Whatever-you-dos include everything we do. Sitting in class, practicing, brushing our teeth, doing the dishes, etc. Everything we do should give glory to God. And why not? He deserves that and so much more...

Just some things I've been chewing on...figured I'd share. Hope you all are having a wonderful day. Try to make a conscious decision to give glory to God in the whatever-you-dos.