2024: week 26.

monday, june 24.

the top half of the week included longer work days because i was in the middle of working on getting the first draft of a big project written — and also because i’m a fan of front-loading my week so i can have more flex time later in the week.

after work, i watched a movie while i sorted through all my beach photos so you could see it.

tuesday, june 25.

tuesday was a great day because i finished the v1 of the project, wrapped up my day early, and spent some time reading before going to church.

wednesday, june 26.

i snapped this photo because on this day, i kept thinking about how much longer my hair had gotten (lol — it feels longer to me, especially when i curl it) and how i have pretty much been a short-hair girl ever since i cut it in 2019.

there have been some months when it’s been longer (even longer than it is now), but even if it wasn’t always as short, i had this short-hair girl mentality. like i decided once that i wanted it short and haven’t really stopped to reevaluate that decision since then. since four years ago.

but what if i didn’t keep it short?

it felt kind of random, but also kind of not, because i had a haircut scheduled for friday and i was going to have to tell her something.

and then also, multiple people told me they really liked my hair on this same day, which i thought was interesting timing, given that i was basically wondering, do i just leave it like this?

thursday, june 27.

i went to a small group on this night and was chatting with a girl who was telling me the miracle story of how she recently opened a store in franklin. one of the details she shared was about how the woman she rents her space from felt like god was doing something, and as a way of partnering with the change she believed was coming, that god was doing, she changed her hair.

this girl’s story was about something entirely different, but this one part stuck out to me because i couldn’t quite put my finger on why it mattered to me so much that i choose something different this time — why i couldn’t shake that maybe it was time to change my hair.

i didn’t make the connection until she said it. i think god is doing something and things are changing, and what if this changed too?

friday, june 28.

hair cut day. i added layers and didn’t cut the length — and i had to laugh at myself as i sat in the chair, looking at my hair in the mirror, because i decided to “keep it long” — and it’s definitely still shorter than my shoulders short.

my hair girl is so kind, because when i said this to her, she said, “no, it’s long for us.”

it doesn’t look much different. no one would look at me and say, “oh you changed your hair” — because i didn’t really. and yet, it still feels different — the same way it did when i cut it. like i’m different, even if it doesn’t look like it on the outside.

saturday, june 29.

another excellent car photo. but look at the colors in the sky!

usually after hanging out at sj’s, the sky is so brilliant and colorful on the drive home — and of course, i’m obsessed.

sunday, june 30.

cut flowers from sj’s mom’s garden + the bracelet sj made me while we were sitting by the pool.

i was going to have her put the word “freely” on it, because that’s my word for this year, but the letters were all different colors and a multi-colored bracelet is just too much for me, so we stuck with the simple heart.

then at church, one of the pastors read 2 corinthians 4:16. “therefore we do not lose heart. though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

honestly my first thought when he read that was, “i won’t lose heart. i have one strapped to my wrist now.”

then it also made me think of “take heart” from john 16:33 — which means to be of good courage, good cheer, or to be bold. it refers to god bolstering the believer, empowering them with a bold inner-attitude. “showing this unflinching, bold courage means living out the inner confidence that is spirit-produced.”

this part comes directly after scripture says “here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows” — which refers to pressure, especially internal pressure, that can feel like there’s no way to escape. that’s when it says, “but take heart.”

there is a way of escape. you’re not trapped. take heart.

have courage. be bold. live freely.

and remember that what happens on the inside matters.