Sunburnt and at peace

The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. Psalms

There is another translation of this that says "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." I just wanted to share both because I think they're equally and distinctly beautiful.

This verse played in my head like a melody for the whole duration of an adventure I took with Molly (same friend I found the BK ice cream with). We wandered around the orchards and trails behind the Alhambra. 

Specifically "the fullness thereof" just came to mind over and over. How full the world is.            #nofilter #italy #actuallygranada

The sun came out in all its brilliance.
I got sunburnt yesterday, actually. I made a comment during orientation about how I need to buy sunscreen and my profesor was like "No, the sun isn't very strong in Granada. It won't burn you." Haha, well I knew she underestimated the fairness of my skin and I bought sunscreen. 

And then the day the sun came out, I forgot to put it on and went hiking. Nice one, Megan. 

When we came down out of the Alhambra area and back onto the streets, the city was so full of life- street venders, dancers, little bands and string quartets.

This particular band stole my heart immediately because 1) they had two flute players and that was just super neat and 2) the guy talked a little in between the songs and he said <<no es prohibido ser feliz>>

<<Being happy isn't prohibited>>

I'm not sure why I liked that so much, but I did. Maybe because...

No, literally no idea.

Also random thing: I started reading through the Psalms- out loud and in Spanish. I realized that now I can more or less understand all of the Spanish that is spoken to me (listening to Spaniards talk to each other is still so fast and pretty difficult) but I still do not feel comfortable talking much. 

So, weirdly, my next thought was The Notebook. 

Noah had a stuttering problem, so his dad made him read poetry out loud. Applying that to my situation, I decided I just need to practice speaking out loud. I can do that through conversations, but I still end up listening more and speaking less. And instead of buying poetry, I decided the Psalms would work perfectly.

In Psalm 17 David is talking about how others prosper with worldly abundance and then says :

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with your likeness.

Still struggling with dreams, but this verse has encouraged me a great deal. I can be satisfied in who Jesus is when I wake.

And when I awake, you are still with me.

Psalms 139

Pretty sweet how scripture works together, and how the Lord uses it to encourage me. Today I opened a letter from my mom (from a stack I get to read throughout the semester!). She had written that the more precious something is, the more effort and cost is involved. 

She had no idea how that would apply today. Resting in the Lord takes a lot of effort, and it is so precious. 

Man, this is already like a whole post. I always intend to sit down and "start something" and then I have a whole post's worth and so many more thoughts. Well, until next time!