The Unhygienic Journey: Day 7

Yes, that's right friends! It has been 168 hours or 10,080 minutes or 7 days...however you want to look at it...since I have last showered! Woo hoo! As this unhygienic journey draws to a close, I must admit that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Although I won't go as far as to be "thankful" to Mike for making me do this, I am glad that I did. It has tested my willpower and has pushed my views of cleanliness and hygiene to the limit...maybe even a little too far. :) But here is how I'm doing today:

My hair feels like I gelled it back with vegetable oil. Gross. I did my "hair trick" which is featured in the above picture (notice that there isn't a ponytail holder in my hair) at cluster prayer tonight, and I think it made some of you sick to your stomachs. Sorry friends, but that is what happens when you don't shower for a week. Deal with it. ;)

My skin continues to feel the same. I actually haven't seen as many red blotches as I did a few days ago, so it may actually be even better than it was a few days ago. It actually feels smoother than it usually does. :) My scalp continues to itch though.

I smell like PAR late night. I'm actually making this up because I don't know what I smell like. It's not bad but it also isn't very distinct. But I did stop at PAR late night tonight, so I figured I must smell like it at least a little bit, right? :)

My mood is best characterized as feeling so blessed! I had such a relaxing and beautiful Easter, and I felt wrapped in the arms of my Savior today. He is alive and good!

I've been playing the song "How He Loves Us" by Kim Walker (she has the best version, friends. If you haven't heard her sing it, look it up) and it is such a beautiful song! I love singing the chorus, "Oh, He loves us, Oh how He loves us!" and just meditating on those simple words. The reflections in my last post touched a bit upon how there is this dichotomy between how God sees me and how I see myself. And that same dichotomy applies to our society's view of love and God's view of love. We see so many inaccurate portrayals of love in the media that we consume and even from our own relationships. Sometimes this kind of love leaves us feeling empty, used and worthless. Often it is seen as superficial. But that is not how God created love to be and that is not how He loves us. He loves us with a perfect love that leaves us feeling fulfilled, satisfied and valued. His love is deep and whole. Oh, how He loves us! How often do we rob God's love by using our own definitions of what it means? Let's not make that mistake, friends. That has the power to distort the perfect love of our Savior leaving us buying into a false, cheap version of what we think love is. And we will be missing out on the best love we could ever know. So tomorrow's verse for meditation is taken right from Kim Walker's song and from the Bible:

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame." -Song of Solomon 8:6

Death is permanent, friends. That's how strong it is. And that's how God's love is for us. Amen!