Of plans and rooftops.

Today, all of my building's elevators had a notice from management taped to the wall.

"The rooftop will be closed from 6:30-9:30 tonight."

I wondered why the rooftop was closed-we have a LOVELY view. I mean, seriously lovely. Why close it off? A friend of mine who lives in my building mentioned frustration at being unable to return home, because of a HUGE police blockade. We didn't know why, and it was a liiitle annoying, especially considering there was no explanation.

That's how our relationship with God is, sometimes. He puts blockades and announcements in our lives and we need to trust that those things have a purpose.  God has a plan, right?

Come to find out later, President Obama had a dinner meeting tonight, 476 feet from my building. This explains the closed roof, and the blockade around my building.

The structure on the right is my apartment building, and the one on the left is where the dinner was held.

Would it have been nice to know this bit of information earlier? Perhaps. But was there an intentional PLAN that I could not appreciate/see until after I had gotten home and checked my email that night? Yes.

I don't know where you're at with your walk with God. I don't know what you might be struggling with, or what season God has you in. I encourage you to live joyfully in the season in which you find yourself, and embrace the inconvenience you may experience, because there IS a plan. You won't always see it, and you might not know why something happened until quite some time afterwards. Just remember that there is always a plan.

"For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

I sit here in my apartment, not much more than a lovely list of cliches. Broke, college student, too much homework to do, a green clay mask on my face, hair in a bun, alone in a quiet apartment after an insightful day. Though they are TV characters and somewhat two-dimensional, Carrie Bradshaw, and Felicity both have fantastic writers who created fiction from reality, one reality that is my life right now. (Don't worry, my life is MUCH more Felicity than Carrie. Far more. Probably ONLY Felicity)

I couldn't be any happier here if I TRIED. If you could only SEE what I see, each day exploring a little more, going someplace new, seeing buildings as friends and people as beautiful and funny. You have to learn to laugh and walk fast, living here. Never be afraid to politely say excuse me, or weave around a person walking far too slow. Roommates and non-roommate friends drop by my apartment (my apartment! Never gets old.) to say hello and ask for chocolate, all of us complaining about classes, or reading, or gleefully noting those two friends of ours who are spending a LOT of time together. I walk down the street and pass movie sets, people walking dogs or holding babies, taxis honking from impatience and tourists doing silly things like taking pictures with the Statue of Liberty statues poised at the entrance to every commercial trap gift shop, advertising ten postcards for a buck, and four t-shirts for $10.

I guess that what I'm trying to say, is that while joy (I believe) should be found in a savior, and therefore internal bubbling to the external, there is something to be said about living in a place that also brings you peace and a sense of belonging. I'm here. Mom, I know you're getting teary reading this, so go get a kleenex already. As my friend Sarah (not roommate Sarah, other Sarah) pointed out tonight, as she chilled on our couch, the people and the things we do right now, in college, will be what we always look back on. Most adults discuss their high school days with some humor at their innocence (or lack thereof) and silly choices, while recollecting college as a time when they evolved into the adult they are now. These days are the foundation and building blocks for our lives. Without a doubt, I can say in the future that this person "was my college roommate." I keep thinking to myself, "I'm gonna be at that guy's wedding! I'm going to be there when she has kids!" and I can't wait to take it all in.