Towards a Joyful Soul

A year in the life... First night in the Big Green House with Canadian David and Davis Crying with new friends at orientation My birthday was our first full day in the city We spent a week developing our community covenant and had our first fight Our first time volunteering at the Presbytery Meeting Halloween was when Canadian David let us know he was leaving Emily and I bonded over exploring our storage unit Eden House had its annual fundraiser,  Building Dreams Spent Thanksgiving with my host family, Sarah and her husband David Went to Celebration in the Oaks with Emily My best friend in Austria, Leah, and her friend, Marie, visited for New Year's Eve Performed my first liturgical dance over MLK weekend Had some bonfires with the house community with some dramatic neighbor instances My small group babies from Elon visited me I went to a Mardi Gras Ball with my boss, Susanne (sorry for the terri

Dear Kristina from the past, Buckle up because you have no idea what you're in for. Living in the Big Green House will be like living in a soap opera and you'll be in the center. Working at Eden House will be like running around like a chicken with her head cut off. You will love deeply and cry with abandon. Your heart will break for those around you and for yourself. You are not prepared and there's no way to fully be prepared, but that's life. You have people around you who will offer their support: Dan, your parents, your small group, your therapist. But most of all, you have strength within yourself. When you get in touch with yourself, you will come to know a raw, fierce, vulnerable, deeply caring, beautiful, wonderful, whimsical soul. Discovering her will be the hardest work you do this year and the biggest blessing for your future. In all things, stay true to yourself. God will be with you through it all: through the peaks, when you're riding the high

In my undergraduate career, for my research, I interviewed many activists around the country about the influence of their faith on their social justice work. Additionally, my faith significantly influences my own advocacy. So naturally, when my friend Janay Tyson  hosted a Zoom meeting with her friend on how we can fight for justice in this moment as Christians, I wanted to be part of that conversation. I was honored to be able to listen to two Black women speak so eloquently and honestly about how they see God speaking into their lives and to the social movement at this time. In this blog post, I will not be speaking on their behalf. Rather, I wanted to share with you my own reflections and takeaways from that Zoom meeting. But, I preface with the context of these reflections to give them credit for speaking their truths and giving me spiritual food for thought. Working towards justice is not a task that will be accomplished in a week. It will not be accomplished in a

Most, if not all, of my blog posts focus on the internal. Generally, I do not write about society or politics. I think these topics are best reserved for in-person conversation so there is less possibility to misconstrue and so that you can see that there is a human on the other end of the conversation. At this moment, I think it would be irresponsible to not address the current social moment. I have friends and family who think I'm too conservative and friends and family who think I'm too liberal. My hope is that all of my friends and family will continue to engage with me in respectful and loving conversation. My hope is that you will challenge me to think deeper, reconsider my assumptions, and offer me your experiences and perspectives. I believe that spirituality is not completely separated from how we see and engage with society. I believe that no actions by a person of faith are secular. Jesus challenged social norms (speaking with and lifting up tax collectors, pro

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:4-8 Two memories. In February of 2019, I was choosing how to rate the different sites that I had interviewed with for the YAV program. As I did more research, I read the ethos of the New Orleans site, "Seeking God in the tension of joy and sorrow." I heard a little voice inside me whispering "I want to feel joy." My desire for joy was the deciding factor that brought me here

After performing a liturgical dance in January at the request of the pastor of that church, I decided I wanted to build a little repertoire. I enjoyed the process of creation and performance so much that wanted to do it again! Maybe inspired by the melody that the church bells next door chime each day, I decided that my next dance would be to "Be Thou My Vision." While talking to my housemates, Nate told me that he used to love playing that song on the guitar. I invited us to collaborate and perform for the summer Presbytery meeting. While we couldn't perform at Presbytery because it was virtual due to COVID-19, we were in charge of the FPC Hammond Pentecost service, so we had another platform! See our performance here! Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.  Psalm 149:3 Working on my dance turned into a spiritual discipline for me. It was often difficult to make the time to work on it. Also, as someone not trained