Do you all know that Office quote by Andy Bernard, “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you left them.” ?

I love that quote. It’s so real. To this day, I say that my year in Boulder was the best year of my life. It’s so vivid for me still. Living in that small apartment, walking in the winter wonderland to work on campus or at a salad shop, my wonderful students, all the laughter with my team. It will be a year that’s hard to top.

I’ve admitted to my more recent struggles with depression and loneliness over the past couple of years. Lately, my best way of coping and growing in my place of lowliness has been to really take my deep questions to God. So I read this book called “The Path of Loneliness,” and I’m now finishing “The Path Through Suffering,” both by Elisabeth Elliot, a 20th Century missionary. If you judge books by their titles, I’m sure those are the ones you wouldn’t want to read, but they have both ROCKED MY WORLD.

What’s striking me about the Suffering book are the stories Elliot shares- people who suffer from chronic pain or really terrible circumstances and still praise God. They are honest and forthright- that they wished they knew before what they know now about how good God is. They wish that they would have enjoyed their “normal” days before life became incredibly abnormal.

Now, I’m not expecting abnormal days to come my way anytime soon, but I do miss the days of endless motivation and excitement. More than that, though, I want to learn to recognize seasons of joy and soak them up when I have them.

Last night, we had a fiesta at our inn here in downtown Querétaro. We invited our Mexican students to come laugh and eat and play and dance. It was a wonderful night of love, new friendship, wonderful weather, speaking broken Spanish and English, and lots of laughter. I even let one of the guys teach me how to dance to Cumbia. It was so much fun. At one point, I stepped out onto on of our little tiny balconies to bask in the rain, out of the sweaty heat of the dance floor, and I had a wonderful moment with the Lord. I looked out on this wonderful city- covered in light and life- and I thanked God for this wonderful time in my life.

It’s so great that I get to be here. That I am essentially completely healthy. That I get to do work that is fun and worth it. That I escaped the desert for a good chunk of the summer. That people love me. That I’m not alone in the least. That I have a community that sends me out and believes in me.

I have so much to be thankful for. My life is FULL! My life is RICH! I am NOT without. I am NOT alone. I can lay my internal suffering at the foot of the cross and move forward into the joyful season that’s waiting at my doorstep.

I want to encourage you to join me in slowing down to soak up the wonderful moments in life. When the weather isn’t too bad. When your meal is insanely delicious. When a friend makes you laugh and laugh. When you are glad to be alive. Soak them up now. Seasons of darkness come. Don’t miss the good old days.

And you know the greatest hope in all of this? That the transient nature of life will come to an end. Someday, Jesus will come and make all things new, once and for all.

Below is a picture I snapped of Carolyn, mid-laugh. She has been a huge joy for me on this trip. We laugh together in a way that is healing my soul.