as my good friend annie has noted, “God and I–we work in themes” and our current theme seems to be wisdom. in the past few weeks, i have heard two different people preach on gaining wisdom–who did in the bible, who listened to the people with wisdom, and how the whole thing turned out for God’s glory, even when it looked rather desperate for the person/ nation at the time–and have come across three bible verses about wisdom. interesting…

andy stanley preached on wisdom being one of the main messages he would give in his series, letters to the next president–an extra-earth-shatteringly-awesome sermon series… love it.

and these are the verses i’ve come across in my quiet times lately:

solomon’s wisdom:
“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man… and his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life… He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fist. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”
1 kings 4: 29-34.

Wisdom with a capital “W”:
“Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as Understanding raises her voice!… Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For Wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.”
proverbs 8:1, 10-11.

prophecy of jesus:
“And the Spirit of the Lord with rest on him–the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited… He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.”
isaiah 11:2-5.

and my personal favorite:
“The Lord our God hasn’t explained the present or the future, but He has commanded us to obey the laws He gave us and trust in Him.” Deuteronomy 29:29.

i feel like in this world and in school and in the socio-political circles we exist in, it’s often viewed as stupid or ignorant to just admit “i don’t know” so we people create and invent things–statistics, plans for the future, relationships, conflict, even fake-resolution–to convince ourselves and others that we have it together, that we are intelligent and well-educated, and that we are in control. but we’re not. we never were. what i’m realizing more and more is that God doesn’t think we’re stupid for saying “i just don’t know,” “i don’t have all the answers,” “i’m not in control of that [insert here]”–He chooses to see us as obedient, waiting for His will in our lives. we still, of course, must be proactive in discovering his will (not potato-couch-slug-christians), but simply accepting that we don’t know and submitting to God brings him glory. and when we do it, other people notice. waiting on the Lord, fearing and trusting the Lord, being submissive and obedient to a God i haven’t met in a world that is not The Kingdom–these are my toughest spiritual battles. and they involve a lot of mental debates that i usually lose with myself, as well. i’m sick of trying to reason it out or out-think God. and this–admitting that “i don’t know”–i think is the beginning of Wisdom. so i’m currently cleaning house, throwing out all the things i thought i knew, and relearning the spiritual lessons and disciplines again with a focus on gaining wisdom. we’ll see what happens. i’m kinda excited, but what do i know 😉

i still don’t know where God’s taking my with this one, but i’m open to instruction and ready to learn of this obedience, knowledge, truth, and, of course, wisdom.

so my classes don’t totally suck. in fact, i found out by talking to many of my friends in the program who chose their classes based on content and professor (not by time slot) that the classes i picked haphazzardly are actually AMAZING. they’re with three professors that “everyone says” you’re supposed to take your last semester and “you’ll totally love”. yay. so God’s picture really is bigger than my time-slot-class-schedule. good to know.

i’m really excited about every single class. in one, students from last semester are on their way to being published (my next goal) and in another past students are presenting a presentation at national conferences (HUGE! and a good way to network and find funding for fun projects, etc). so i’m pumped. i’m gonna be the student they talk about next semester who…(fill in the blank)… [maybe if i’m lucky].

i’m exhausted, but the drive is not all that bad and gas is so cheap in tuscaloosa, grant and i are hoping the commute won’t put the incredible divot in our budget that we initially dreaded (again, God is good and so much bigger than our little stresses).

quick happy updates:
got to SEE NIDA WEDNESDAY. like face to face. in person. got to hug her neck and hangout on my bed chatting for hours like we did in college. loved it! my little nids! what a treat!

got to talk to ashers in the midst of her present chaos: mason leaving/ Fay distroying everything/ beginning grad school/ classes cancelled. she’s a blessing as always.

hopefully going to lunch with jen garrett friday (LOVE that possibility)

and having the altmixes over on monday!

broke bread with allison and drew last week and am hoping to catch up with many more friends very soon.

friends from germany are in town and grant and i are hanging with them at the LAKE this weekend! yay!

long time family friend mary catherine caldwell and her fiance syman stevens are having an ENGAGEMENT PARTY in huntsville this weekend, and we’ll be heading up from the lake to enjoy their company for the night, too. CONGRATS MIMI AND SYMAN! love yall!

grant’s cousin (and my own good-good-friend-turned-family) evan duggar, a freshman at clemson, is coming in town next weekend for the alabama-clemson game! i think it’s being played in the georgia dome! she’s bringing friends and we’re so excited! it’s like college all over again mixed with family! yay!

that reminds me, you should all come visit and play asap as well. and on that note, i’m out. between readings and driving 4.5 hours today, i’m exhausted [but excited]. peace.

two quick things, both GOOD:

1. i got into my other class that i needed, you know, the required one. yeah.

2. the prof’s forcing me to leave my husband TMRW…. “it is in your best interest to be here…Lucy, I really encourage you to locate reasonably-priced accomodation for tomorrow night. You will miss a lot of material if you are not in the first class.” grrrreat.

yay, academia. woohoo

heheh jk. ps. who goes to class during drop/add…?!

the world of academia is a total crock. i’m a little perturbed at present because the university of alabama dropped my schedule, cancelled my classes for the fall, and nearly dropped me out of fall enrollment. after a whole day of freaking out and calling the school, the dean, the secretary, my mama, and grant, i got two of my three classes back, and am hopeful to get the third (and REQUIRED class) by tmrw. here’s hoping.

O Academia
you are so full of it
you dropped all my classes
and left me with no exit.

O Academia
you really tick me off
and sometimes when i think of you
i laugh so hard i cough.

O Academia
I can’t wait ’till we’re through
but then again i might be back–
to law school! ‘touchet!’ to you.

that was so so bad, but it kinda perked up my stupid stressful day.

ps. anyone else hate school? anyone?

ok. so i have a new addiction… twitter.com. please, if you love me, you’ll join me in this.

it’s just like sending a text to all your friends letting them know little snippets of your day between blog posts and emails, but it’s online instead of cell phone.

find me and follow me. it’s really fun, and really addicting [i believe this is the sort of justification high schoolers use; disregard this and do it anyway. if you love me you’ll do it… wait, that’s another one. shoot.]

twitter.com/lucyduggar

oh, no. i’m hooked….