Thankful

For all that You've done, I will thank You

For all that You're going to do 

For all that You've promised and all that You are

Is that all that has carried me through

Jesus, I thank You 

From last Thanksgiving to now, life has been very full. There have been times when it has been full of the good things: family, friends, love, laughter, strength, music, dancing, goodness and peace. There have been times when life has been full of the not-so-good things: heartache, brokenness, loneliness, sorrow, weakness, exhaustion, frustration, chaos and silence.

Life is a process of ebbs and flows. It seems like we just started fall, and winter is on its way. We've barely begun to appreciate all that has happened in a year, and it's time to ring in a new one. Sometimes it's hard to keep up.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the family and friends who cheer us on and lift us up during the good times, weep and pray with us in the bad, and walk with us through every change and transition.

But above all else, I am thankful for a God who never changes. When the rest of the world has moved on, He sees me. In a world that is constantly in motion, moving from one thing to the next, I am able to cling to a rock of salvation and truth. How blessed I am, indeed!

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

Taylor

TTF

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.   Phil 4:8

This past weekend my sorority celebrated 100 years of heritage on the University of Oklahoma's campus. There has been a lot of build up to our Centennial Gala, an all day event at the Embassy Suites, and the day definitely lived up to the hype. I spent the morning with 750 Pi Phi's and shared a special conversation with a woman who was from the pledge class of 1941! My heart melted as she grabbed my hands and expressed  her absolute joy at our active members- 254 strong. This was a far cry from her memories of 20-something girls with whom she shared her college days. 

After listening to her recount the best of her college memories, my initial thought was that sorority life to her generation was so much more than date parties, formal meals and chapter. It was her honor; it was her legacy; it was the definition of sisterhood, and it was beautiful. For the rest of the day, I thought about my own sorority experience. Had my college days lived up to her enchanting soliloquy? I attempted to wrap my mind around all that I had said and done in the last four years of my life. 

That night, 4 of my best friends and myself sat around a dinner table and laughed at past memories: U-Sing, volleyball ever Thursday night, Couch 12, sneaking into the Sig Ep Fraternity house to rescue a goldfish, countless date parties, football weekends, Scandals... the laughter, the tears and the sweetest memories that I have held very close to my heart. As we made our way to the dance floor, our heads filled with music, we laughed jumped, swayed, twirled and posed for pictures. I realized, that like my sister from 1941, I too, have met women who have changed my life for the better. We are miles from where we started four years ago and we have become more of who we are meant to be; each one of us refining the other. 

Although I may not have realized it at first, God had an incredible plan that began on Bid Day four years ago... I am forever thankful and forever a Pi Beta Phi. :) 

Taylor