Happy February!!

haha I'm not very good with these titles =D and actually, w/ Valerie beating me to blogging first in February hehe she really got to say the first "Happy February"
(yiay for joining the blog Val!!! Now we just have to get Noelle to finally join as well!!)

Wow! It's halfway through Feb already!! time really flies! How do you ladies feel to almost be done your first year?!?!?! (hehe and done last yr of high school, Noelle!)
This may sound weird, but I think I am FINALLY getting into the "groove" of things with 2nd term - haha and it's only taken me 1 month!!

so in our women's cell here at Western (the women gather together to share and chat and go through scripture, and they touch upon different themes and stuff ^_^) we looked at this passage in scripture from Psalm 127:1-2

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep."
- Psalm 127:1-2 (NASB)

and I thought it was an interesting passage for a couple of reasons

I feel like God provides us with the resources in order to accomplish the work, and that includes school work - haha sometimes I know I've like.. wasted my whole day, so I need to stay up late trying to do readings...
but I also feel like, there are times when God would best have me spend time with Him in prayer, or bible reading etc - but I'm trying to use that time for school work instead
Or other times, I feel like I really need to get lots and lots of work done, b/c there's just sooooo much to do - and ALL my time become spent on work and studying, but then that's not good either.

So, I'm not saying that we should all throw off the bondage of studying (hehe even if it does seem appealing), or shouldn't spend time w/ God - but find a balance.

and the other thing that I thought was cool about the verse - was how in the end of verse 2 it talks about giving to His beloved in his sleep - and I think it refers to how, sometimes we work hard for results and God blesses us; but other times, we work hard and we still can't seem to get it all done - but we lift it up to God, and He still blesses us, even though we maybe haven't worked as hard as we should have, or we weren't able to finish all we thought we needed to.


I hope alllllll you ladies are doing WONDERFULLY WELL!!
hehehe I doooo have a different reading week than you all!! (mine is from Feb 26 - March 2 officially) What are your plans for reading week?
I hope the studies are going well and everyone is staying afloat! God bless you all!
in Christ, much love and smiles =D -shelby

[EDIT]:: I wanted to qualify and clarify a bit on balance. I was talking to a friend today about the different elements of balance... sometimes, we think of balance as 50% work + 50% God... equal - but I think that's wrong. I don't know if we can look at balance in terms of numbers, or hours spent, people talked to, and chapters read. More so, I feel that God has the universe in balance, and some days, He may call us to work super hard w/ school - and other days, despite our plans, he may have us talk to a friend, or be somewhere else. So the point to balance would be that by being right in God's will, and following His direction, we will lead well "balanced" lives. Hehe post comments if this is confusing, I would love to discuss with you all!