Meeting God in the Middle

In the morning, when everything in you wants to stay home and drink tea,
but church is what you need, what you crave, you go.

Up the street with your sister and cousin, into the building with faces familiar and new, you go. Sit down, stand up, sing the songs, hear the Word being preached, take a breath. Feel the weight of your problems rattle in your chest, race in your thoughts even as you try to sing. Take another breath. Listen as someone shares their heart.

I wrote recently on my side blog that sometimes it feels like I'm waiting for the next phase of my life, even when I'm supposed to be enjoying this one.

And interestingly enough, today's lesson was about that, that feeling of being in the middle. It's when you're not quite at the beginning of a new season, but not quite at the end of the current one, either. Just..in between. And that's how I feel right now. Waiting for the Lord to provide and answer prayer and trying to keep my heart soft to Him and connect even when it feels like He doesn't hear me. Because in my heart of hearts, I know that He does.

"I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago."
- Psalm 77:11

If you're in the middle, too, know that it gets better. And sometimes, the middle is the best place to be! The pastor today brought up the great point that most of our lives are lived in the middle. In the waiting, in the in between, in the pauses and silences between seasons. And that's okay. That's how we build our faith and cry out to the Lord. And when a new season starts, it's all the more beautiful.

What about you?

Do you ever feel like you're in the middle? Is there anything that you're waiting for God to provide that He hasn't yet? Look back and remember what He has already done. I'm trying to be more grateful and enjoy this current season. Have a great week, friends! ♥

What I Learned From Spending Time Offline

Hello, friends. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Lately I've been trying to spend my weekends as offline as possible. (Hence more of a tumbleweed-zone around the blog, my bad, my bad.) I owe this in large part to my lists. I've always loved to write lists - lists about my favorite things, lists about books I want to read, grocery lists, you name it. But I also love to write lists about my goals and how I can improve the quality of my day to day life. A recurring theme? GET OFFLINE.

I don't know about you, but the more time I spend online, the more I turn into a less than desirable version of myself. As in, I start falling into the trap of comparison and end up wasting time and draining myself. #Bleh

As amazing a tool as the Internet can be, for me, it can also be harmful. So I've been trying to unplug as much as possible starting each week after work on Friday. This isn't always easy, but I've been largely attempting to avoid social media and instead spend more time in the real, physical world.

Side-Effects of Living an Offline Life

More coffee shops. The beauty of being online is that you can have community without having to speak, but the same thing can be true of coffee shops. Writing and reading over an iced green tea while listening to good tunes and the sounds of people all around you = instant inspiration and peace.


More Jesus. My prayer life definitely gets stronger when I'm not focusing as much on notifications or comparing myself to people on the 'Gram.

More reading. My number one go-to when I can't be online? Reading books. Take some time to unplug and grab a good book. Depending on the book, it can feel like an instant adventure.

More walks, more tea, more music...More everything, really.

What about you?

What are your thoughts on spending time offline? (You know, this is all very ironic, since I love keeping up this blog and I can't do that without the Internet.) What are your favorite things to do in real life? Any tips for unplugging?

Have a great Monday and start to your week, friends. You've got this.

Why Did You Start Blogging? {Plus Announcement!}

Hello and welcome back to the blog, friends.

First off, I wanted to say thank you for all the kind birthday wishes! I still have to go through and publish all my comments and reply on my last post, but I have to say, y'all are the best. But look at me, getting off topic...

My thought for today's post is, "Why did you start blogging?"

For those of you who don't know, Acoustic Erin isn't my first blog. I've had several before this one, but Acoustic Erin is the first one that really seemed to stick with any degree of permanence. Interestingly enough, I don't remember exactly what sparked my interest in blogging back in 2012. I do, however, remember that one of my first posts was about Pi Day. An entire post. This was my premium content, folks. #NoRegrets

Then I created a music blog for a college blogging course, and even though it was for class credit, I still found so much joy in blogging about music. I might revive it one day. Music blogging is too much fun!

When I discovered blogging, I think the draw was always the writing, and then the love of the design and photography elements came later. But I never imagined the community that existed, and was even more amazed and delighted to find other people who loved writing and who were also writing novels, or music. And I think that what keeps me blogging after all these years is connecting with that community and also having a space to say anything.

Enter the announcement portion of this post: Now that I'm 25, it feels like it's time to start a new project.

Groundbreaking title, eh?

This may sound bafflingly like a blog breakup post, but it's not. I'm still going to be blogging at Acoustic Erin, but I'm also going to be posting more frequent thoughts to a new side blog, The 25 Project. The idea is to post snippets of my 25th year in a more candid journal form. The project reminds me of what I love most about blogging - sharing bits of life - and I wanted to chronicle my 25th year, anyway. More on that here.

What about you?

Have you ever had multiple blogs? What sparked your passion for blogging, and what keeps you writing? And what is one thing you're excited about this weekend?
Thanks for reading!

25

When I was young, I wrote a letter to my 25-year-old self, to be read when I was older and wiser.

Yesterday, the day before my 25th birthday, I went looking for that letter, hoping to find musings from middle school me - but alas, no luck. What I did find, under my bed, in no particular order: Letters from campers, lunch box notes from my mom, a fuzzy stick-on mustache, old songwriting notebooks, doodles from high school friends, all of my old journals and an exclusive interview, written on my old typewriter, with my best friend from first grade. 

I have always suspected I had a hoarding problem, but this confirmed it.

Even though I don't know what my younger self had to say,  I do hope she would be proud.

I guess I always thought 25 was super adult, super mature. (To be fair, I resisted wearing the stick-on mustache.) So maybe we always think that we will have it more together at some future date. I've come to realize that everyone's always learning. 

One thing that hasn't changed at 25? My love for red velvet cake.

So far the lead-up to 25 has been wonderful: Outback with the family, pink vinyl, quiet weekend mornings, cups of green tea, surprise cupcakes (the best kind of cupcakes). 

And now, it's finally here.

LET'S DO THIS, 25.

Odes to 24, 23, 22, and 21 also available for your viewing pleasure in the archives.

But wait! I need your recommendations!

Y'all, I need all the recommendations for books and movies and music to listen to in September. Enlighten me with your knowledge! And thanks for reading!