29 marks my twenties made. [Part 2]

A week or so ago I began a series of things I've learned, reflections really, in my waning twenties.
Some of these are serious, others sort of silly. [Part 1] is found here. 

11. Paula Bonhoeffer, Dietrich's mother writes, "...faith without works is not faith at all, but a simple lack of obedience." My faith is demonstrated through my obedience. (James 2:14-26) And God's commands could be boiled down to two things. Loving Him and loving others. (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-40) Over the past few months I am learning that my lack of love for people proves my lack of faith in God. Loving is having faith; it is belief in God and His character, in action. And my only hope is abiding in Christ and His love for me. There's great joy there. (John 15:11)

12. Clutter complicates your life. The more you have the more you have to take care of. Get rid of things because the time you were using to clean up your stuff you could be giving to people.

13. Learn and discuss and haver and hash out. My favorite moments of my twenties have been at the dinner table or in living rooms with friends. Invite this, encourage this, facilitate this.

14. Read things that are hard and will challenge your mind. Don't always read the things that you know you'll agree with. But don't waste your time on trash either.

15. I've had a weird relationship with food over the decade. We eat tons of ice cream all in the name of girls' night. Skinny doesn't equal healthy. And the list goes on. But I've come to learn this: mostly eat foods that only have one ingredient - apples, carrots, almonds, rice, chicken, coffee - and occasionally eat things with chemicals, like Oreos. Oreo balls, namely.

16. Encourage older women to live out the pattern Paul laid out in Titus 2. Women teach the younger women. If they're not coming to you, pursue them and say, "I want to learn from you, because I believe you have something to say to me based on the fact that you've walked with God much longer." Our generation has been handed the moon by living on the cusp of discipleship, missional saturated teaching through resources like The Gospel Coalition and Desiring God, and sometimes I wonder if women in the generations behind us don't know that we want to hear from them.

17. Price per wear is a real thing. A $7 shirt at Target that you wear five times, or a $70 pair of jeans you wear 200 times - which is cheaper?

18. Fight for your friends - in prayer - against their sin, for the marriages, for their kids, for their ministries, and for their dreams too.

19. Pinterest is great, but find inspiration from the people and places around you; imagine it's like digging for gold.

20. Don't settle for cheap rest. Facebook is not rest. Other forms of social media are not rest. Watching movies on the couch is not rest. Real rest, true rest is found in abiding in Christ. Find times of concentrated abiding through prayer and meditation.


Numbers 21-29 to come...