The best of "Keep Calm" :)

There are some silly things that make me happy. What silly things, you might ask? Okay. It's confession time. I am currently in love with:

"Keep Calm" pictures

Here are some of my favorites! :D

The best! :D

Precisely.

Brilliant advice--only, I love sneezing!

Need I say more? :)

You wouldn't get this one unless you'd seen a certain news clip... :D

Have a great evening--I hope you are getting some of the gorgeous weather we've had around here. :) I declare it feels like Spring--I'm wearing a light, brown cotton dress and loving it. :)

"...No fits, no fights, no feuds and no egos..." ;)

 "...Amigos....together!"

I had a perfectly beautiful, amazing, fun-filled, sweet-memory'd weekend with a very dear friend. It was so good that it was terrible to end it, so I thought I'd cheer us both up [and applaud all dear friendships] with a mass of quotes and pictures. :)

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid around them."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored, and sorrows end."

 -William Shakespeare

"The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had." -Author Unknown

"Love is like the wild-rose briar;

 Friendship is like the holly tree.

The holly is dark when the rose-tree blooms,

But which will bloom most constantly?"

-Emily Bronte

"But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest, as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh the comfort--the inexpressible comfort of being safe with a person--having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with a breath of kindness blow the rest away." -Dinah Kraik

Not Glass-Threads or Frost-Work...

Dear Girls,
     Prepare yourselves for a ramble. :)
I have been thinking recently on the various kinds of friendships. I have many friends who I am very fond of, and several who I have termed "dear friends". These are the ones that I can pour my heart out to, who are such kindred spirits that I feel they sometimes know me better than I know myself.
What is it that makes such friends? I cannot quite say. I seem to have a homing instinct for kindred spirits--I will see a person and immediately know that she and I would be good chums, given the chance. And sometimes I am given the chance, as was the case with one of my dearest friends now. A real "soul-sister", if you will excuse a cliche. :)
But again, what is it that makes a friend? Certainly it is not only a person who enjoys the same things as you. I know many girls who I am not on intimate terms with who have similar interests as me. I think that friendship and companionship are two different things. There are many people I could happily be friends with, but there are fewer that I could choose as companions--people to live with day in and day out.

I have come to realize that, contrary to what I has thought for a long time, the best companions are not always those that are most like you. In beliefs, of course, it is important that your intimate friends and equally yoked with you, but in all other categories (situation, personality, likes, dislikes) it can be extremely beneficial to have your dearest friends be quite different than you. In the same way that two dull objects, but brushing and colliding with one another may grow to be sharp in time, so two friends, clashing in amiable difference, may become all the stronger for those collisions.
"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," Solomon said. And I have found it to be so. You see, it is pleasant to have a friend, a walking companion if you will, who agrees with you on every point, can share the same sensations over every view, every situation, every book and film and music you hear. But after a time such things can loose their luster if not coupled with a degree of originality. After all, what is it we seek in a friendship? Isn't it--to a certain point--to get outside of ourselves?
I have found it to be gloriously refreshing to make an observation on a point and see a friend smile and frown both, and say, "Really? I don't think so--" and then off they go making an indecently brilliant remark that would never have crossed my mind in ten years. Such friends are some of the best kinds, I think. After all, if we haven't a particular way of thinking (in my case, I am not exactly sensible or logical) mustn't we be taught? It's presumptuous and vain to think that we could happen upon all discoveries on our own. Sometimes we need to get a new perspective, a sparkling vision other than our own, and I bless the buttons of all my friends who provide that for me.
Of course I have some "dear friends" who are so much like me, it's ridiculous, and I treasure them as much as my gunpowder-girls. I just think that challenging, marveling friendships are precious. Please girls, never assume that because someone is bold and you are shy, or someone is quiet and you and merry and blithe, that you are incompatible--you might be missing out on a huge blessing!
In closing, I find that no words fit my thoughts any better than Emerson's. Therefore I will be quiet and let him speak:

"I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know."

Hilarity, Plain and Simple. :D

Well, I have never really made any sort of button before, but this Period Drama Button contest over at Yet Another Period Drama Blog was  too hilarious to pass up. We are supposed to couple pictures from period dramas with quotes from another part of the movie (and/or) different period-drama movie. :) These are my entries. Even if I don't win, I had loads of fun and giggled myself silly. :P

(And yes, if you are wondering, all of these quotes are from period dramas. :)

...because Lizzy was a bit too hard on poor Darcy...

...because the poor girl looks tormented here, rather than madly in love...

...because this fits Mr. Collins far better than it does Emma. :)

...because of the expression on Lizzy's face...

...because Miss Bates mashes her sentence so amazingly...

....because I can so see Mr. Knightley saying this to Emma with the exact same smile! :)

...and last but not least, [and though I hate to mix Sir Percy up in *any* of this sort of thing] it was too good to pass up, in this fellow's case. So... because you know it's true... ;)

Man Cannot Live on Daydreams Alone...

I have already confessed that I am a Romantic. Entirely. I like nothing better than to hear a good love-story, or watch a BBC period-drama. My favorite dreams are those in which I get married. I've always been that way, and I assume I always will.
My greatest desire (second to living for Christ) is to be a wife and mother. A wife to a man who will undoubtedly have his fault and foibles, but to whom I will be a help-meet and encourager, a companion and the love of his life. A mother to a host of children who will go out and do Kingdom Work. Our home will be a castle and I'll be queen.
It's a fond wish of mine, and I admit, at times, to spending too much time daydreaming about it. But since I graduated the Lord has been convicting me of a certain area we single daughters too often overlook. And it is this:

It's okay to have a life. It's good to have a life.

Now let me explain. In the words of an older woman I was talking to about this topic:

"The godly men are looking for a woman who is living a joyful, vibrant life. They don't want the girls sitting around waiting for a man to complete them. They want to marry a whole woman who is living life to the fullest, not a mousy day-dreamer who mopes through all her single days."

And you know, it's true? Think about it from a guy's perspective. What sort of woman will be the better help-meet? The girl who sat knitting and sighing over the thought of one day being a help-meet, or the girl who was gaining new skills, meeting the needs of those around her, helping out in any way she could until her man arrived?
Who does he want? A girl who can't exist in any productive and profitable way without his constant attention and affirmation, or a girl who knows the nitty-gritty and is content to aid her husband's plans and dreams even when he temporarily forgets her need for tenderness and loving attention?
That's a skill that we single daughters have plenty of opportunity to learn. We can practice and train to be joyful, vibrant women with full lives in this season when we don't have our man here to love us. This is prime time to grow in our walks with the Lord and learn to rely on Him and only Him for our contentment and unwavering love. Let's not waste these precious years, girls. If we can learn how to live now, we will be a double-blessing to our husbands in that Someday. Cherish your dreams, and don't cast romance aside entirely...I know I don't. :) But truly girls, I think we could all do with a little less daydreaming and a little more living. After all, we don't want to be the woman who, in her old age, looks back to her youth and sees a life of empty yesterdays. This season is the only one like it in life. Let's not spend them playing Fancy's Fool. Let's live life to the hilt, and trust in the Lord to bring us our man in His timing.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.   

God tells us to delight in Him and He will give us the desires of our hearts. He was the One who put them there, and He'll follow through. As my dear friend, Abigail said, "God doesn't give us empty desires." :)
  In closing I wanted to share a quote that I found in a very unlikely place, (The Civil War Diary of Sarah Morgan) but that has been such a comfort to me in the Hard To Wait times:

"If I am to marry, some blessed man is destined for me. He may be at my elbow, or at the antipodes. It matters not for go where I will, do what I will, sooner or later, at the time appointed by Heaven, we will meet, and nothing will prevent it."
   ~Sarah Morgan

Have a blessed day, dear friends! ~Rach

A Dose of Elisabeth Elliot

  ‎"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." -C.S. Lewis

Do you ever feel this way? I know I do. Too often, in fact. :D I think Jesus understands our human dilemma...not having minds big enough to realize His vastness. But sometimes our fear, perhaps, of the unknown [unknown to us] can cause us some consternation. Especially when we are seeking Him over a particular issue, trying to understand His will and hear His voice. In moments like this, after we've turned to Scripture and are continuing in prayer, it helps to consult some brothers and sisters in Christ who have walked this road before us. Some of my favorite ways are rummaging through quotes from these Greats in the faith. Elisabeth Elliot....you are a blessing to me and so many other young ladies striving to live in the Lord's will for our lives. Here are some amazing quotes from this great woman of faith on discerning God's will:

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.”
     ~Elisabeth Elliot

"The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it's going to be a lot better and a lot bigger." ~Elisabeth Elliot

“I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts. Its easy to talk oneself into a decision that has no permanence – easier sometimes than to wait patiently.”  ~Elisabeth Elliot

“It is God to whom and with whom we travel, and while He is the end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place.” ~Elisabeth Elliot

“Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you”~Elisabeth Elliot