Philippians 4:10-20

This is the quietest I have ever heard this floor...I think there might be two other girls still on the floor. Today we all get to leave for our wonderful Thanksgiving break. Most everyone has already taken off to Tulsa for the National Missionary Convention or to their homes...but here I am, waiting.

Something I have realized in the past hour...or really in the past month, is that I love this floor. We have so many freshmen, not a lot of upper classmen...but it's a great mix. Just this past Sunday night we had a floor deocrating party (plus a few surprises along the way). It was a blast. I feel that it was a good moment in my life because I realized that as we came from our opposite ends of the halls, we meshed. It doesn't matter how well I know each girl individually (although I always wish to know some better...), but when we we are together it feels like we have known each other forever. Those are the best kinds of friendships. The same goes for individual relationships I have been able to build on this floor this semester. I couldn't be happier with my living situation. I know what it is like to be in a bad situation, and now a great one... But I know I can make it through both. I am thankful for both situations.

So. The last couple sentences of that paragraph are somewhat...okay, they are identical to verses from my Principles passage. I guess you could say I learned a lot.

Contentment is rough! But I learned so much. In my passage, Paul is writing to the church of Philippi to thank and encourage them. The portion I got to study all semester was about Paul's needs being met, but even more so than that it was about being thankful in all circumstances. Did you know that even when you have plenty, you might not be content? I never really thought about that. I figured that when I have enough and don't "need" anything, I am automatically content but that's not the case...because I still want things. This very moment, I can think of a lot of things I want... even though I have enough. It's really hard to find contentment even when I am amply supplied. More, more, more... that's always what is on the mind. It's not necessarily hard to be thankful, but just hard to be okay without always having more.

It was a great lesson. Studying it for a whole semester, doing 70 pages worth of research, and constantly having this project on mind really embedded what I needed to learn.

Anyway, I am going to continue packing as I continue to wait and get really excited about being home for awhile...hopefully during this time I will find plenty of contentment in being with family and friends, but missing Tyler, and my Dennis 3rd family...(ESPECIALLY Kara and Melissa/Melrose)

Have a lovely, cold day!