Katie and The City

I think the longest I have lived in one place since I left home when I was 18 (left to go to college) was two years. I have seriously moved almost every year for the last 10 years. I'm a nomad. The good part about being a nomad is that you learn to be flexible not only in where you live, but in life in general. It teaches you to not only accept change, but to seek it at times and appreciate it. I made the decision that I am going to move to DC last week after a particularly craptastic week of commuting 4 hours a day to drive the 24 miles between Germantown and DC. I don't think it's a coincidence that my best friend just so happend to ask me if I would like to stay at her apartment in DC for two weeks while she was away right as I am trying to decide about where to live. I immediately fell in love with the area...Glover Park/Upper Georgetown...and decided to rent an apartment in my BFF's building. I know, I know..it seems hasty..but I've actually been thinking about it for a long time. So I will be an official city girl starting November 15th. I'm currently an unofficial city girl because although I spend most of my time in DC..I do still technically live in MD. Staying in DC over these last few days has been so awesome. I can't wait to be able to walk to work.

I'm a little Teapot...

Short and STOUT
Here is my handle (I'm putting my right hand on my hip)
Here is my spout (I'm putting my left arm out)
When I get all steam up (I'm doing some crazy dance)
Then I shout!
Tip me over and pour me out...! (I'm pretending to pour something out of my left arm)

YAY! Interpretive dance!

This song came to me the other day while I was running. I went running without my Ipod and I needed something, like a song, to keep the beat of my steps and for some reason...this is the song that popped into my head. Go figure! As I'm singing it over and over....and over again (long run...whoo hooo), I realized what a simple yet effective song it really is. It's very symbolic of how God wants us, His peeps, to be. (I try to find God hiding in the craziest of places...He's loves that about me!) It's quite simple...We are the teapots. God's love fills us up to the point that we can't hold it in any longer and therefore we give it away. Piece O Cake, right!? Children get it. But us grown ups (at least chronologically), ...we seem to have a hard time with this concept sometimes. When we allow God to live in our hearts and invite Him to fill us with His selfless, untiring, uncensored love....we become so full of it (love, that is) that we basically can't help but give it away. We can only give what we have...and if all we have is darkness, all we can give is darkness. If all we have is light...all we can give is light. Simple concept...hard to do..... I know, I know, I know. We like to complicate things, myself totally included..oh boy! We like to go out and find anything other than God to be the right answer. We would rather fill the void with something or someone who we, in our infinite knowledge (I'm rolling my eyes), deem to be best. You can't fill a teapot with a car. You can't fill a teapot with a boyfriend. You can't fill a teapot with money. You are supposed to fill a teapot with TEA. It's what it was made for. If you walked up to someone holding a teapot and asked them if they would put a car in it...they would look at you like you were insane because a teapot is obviously not designed to hold a car. (I know...I tried! just kidding, no I didn't. Just kidding, I did) We can't fill ourselves with a car. We can't fill ourselves with a boyfriend. We can't fill ourselves with money. We weren't made to be filled by those things. It's like trying to park a car in a teapot my friends. We were made to be filled with the love of God. End of story. So, why do we (I ) keep trying to fill ourselves with other things? Well, because we like to make accepting God this super difficult thing. We like to try everything else first thinking that we have the answer and we know better than God. We think just because bad things happen in the world that there can't be a God. We think that we need to just muster up the strength within ourselves and keep on truckin. Bad news ya'll...it ain't gonna work. The best part about being a teapot is....all you have to do is be a teapot. When you are a teapot all you have to do is allow yourself to be filled with tea, then used for your specific purpose which is to pour tea. Done. Same with us. All you have to do is just be. Be you. Be still and know that He is God. Allow Him to fill you with His love and you will give His love away as involuntarily as you breathe.

And if giving God's love doesn't bring a smile to someone's face...try the little teapot dance...that one always gets 'em!

Long time no blog...

I took a baby blogging hiatus for the holiday. NOT because I am trying to hide anything. There's nothing to hide, I swear. Anywho...I can't tell you how excited I am that it's FALL!!!! I heart fall. No more humid yucky sticky hotness. YAY! Besides Christmas, it's my most favoritest time of the year. The crisp cool air, the colors of the changing leaves, drinks that have 'pumpkin' in the name, the smell of leaves and fire smoke, not wearing a bikini...it just makes me feel all cuddley. (You can still feel cuddley when you're single, you just have to cuddle with yourself that's all!) I love how we have all 4 seasons in DC. It's not perpetual summer or winter. To me, there is something very comforting in knowing that at some point the season you are in is going to change. Just when you can't take the heat of summer...in comes fall with it's cool crispness! Just when you feel like if you rake another leaf you're gonna puke....in comes winter's snow to cover the ground. Just when you think that you would rather scoop your eye out with a spoon than buy one more bag of salt or another can of de-icer....in comes spring with it's beautiful blossoms. Just when you are about to drown in pastels and cute bunnies....in comes summer again with all it's warm sun and breezes. I love that! It's the same in our lives as it is in nature. We go through seasons as well. Our seasons are not as predictable as summer, spring, autumn, and winter...but the one thing they have in common is...they will end eventually. This goes for both "good" and "bad" seasons of our lives. We like to label something good and bad depending on how we feel about it, but with God...all things are for the greater good. God is GOOD! Isn't that awesome! I know, I'm excited too! And not just because I had too much coffee today (which I totally did). Even though we can't always see it at the time, when we follow God and trust in Him...all things are for our own good and the good of others. It's hard for us to even comprehend how God can orchestrate it all so beautifully. All we can see is our own litte piece of the puzzle. And I don't know about you...but my peice of the puzzle isn't one of those easy to place corner pieces. My puzzle piece is shaped like no one else's. It is shaped like Katie McNemar...born in 1981 to Randy and Sharon McNemar in Buckhannon, WV, favorite color is blue or green or black (I know, I know, it's not a color, it's the absence of color...but I still like it), has a scar on her left lower lip from where she fell when she was a kid, took as many afternoon classes in college because she liked to sleep in (obviously don't have that luxury now...hello 5:45am!), was prom queen, once got arrested wearing a hooter's halloween costume (long story), called off her wedding 3 weeks beforehand.....and so on and so on. No one else's puzzle piece looks like mine. No one else's puzzle piece will fit where mine is supposed to go. All of the experiences I have had in my life...be they traumatic, awe inspiring, hilarious, touching or embarrassing...have all made me who I am today...one unique (some might say weird) puzzle piece. I have been through many seasons in my life. There are seasons of growth in my life, where is God is taking me through a process of growing in Him and growing in me. This is a beautiful time of hunger to know more....like the trees soak up the spring rain...I soak up the knowledge of God and let it grow me. There are seasons of "out with the old", where I let go of all the past things that no longer belong. It's a shedding of the old and a regrowth of the new. This season doesn't just happen once in our lives, it happens over and over again. As we grow, we need more room for good things, for true things...so out with the old...shake off those dried leaves. There are seasons of winter in our lives where we feel cold and alone. It may seem impossible to see how this type of season could be good for you, but God uses this time in many different ways. He may use it to renew your desire for Him. God is like that cozy cabin with the roaring fire that you see in the distance as you fight your way through the snowy storm outside. He wants to be your refuge and sometimes He has to take you through a season of cold snowy weather before you can see through the icy flakes and fight to have that warmth again. There is a season of summer where you bask in the warm sun on the sandy beaches. This is the season where you soak in the knowledge that He is God. It's like laying on a beautiful beach with the ocean waves lapping at your feet. The breeze is just cool enough to make you completely comfortable laying in the direct heat of the noonday sun. Your mind is full of peace, joy, and contentment. You are totally relaxed. This is a wonderful season of communion with God. That may sound like your favorite season to be in, but you would not be able to fully appreciate this beautiful perfect sunny day if you had not fought the icy snow storm to get here. Spending every day in this perfect sunny place would eventually become too common. You wouldn't appreciate it anymore. You would come to expect it. That is why we have ebbs and flows.
To every thing there is a season, and time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. (Ecc 3 1:8)

There is a purpose for everything that we go through. There is a purpose for every joy, every tear, every laugh. This fall, I am ready to shed my old withered leaves no matter how pretty I think they are. This winter, I face the stormy winter outside and grow strong in my walk with God. God is always waiting for me inside by the roaring fire. This spring I grow new leaves like I have never had before and never will have again. This summer I will bask in the beauty of what God has done....and prepare to be rid of my old leaves once more!