Toying with Contentment, Mattresses, and Brothers

These past 2-3 days have been again the calm before the storm... first test for the second year is coming up this weekend (yes, another Saturday exam...). Usually I get extremely stressed around this time, but not so this time - I already had my stressful episode earlier on last week. But these past 2-3 days... it's been different. Maybe it's the 8 hr marathon session from 4pm-midnight and feeling like I actually accomplished something (getting studying done without distractions). But that feeling I get when I'm driving home - it's a really satisfying form of contentment that I have rarely felt around exam times in past and it is keeping me from distractions that could otherwise jeopardize the current task of studying for my upcoming exam.

This year was the first year I had to find/buy my own mattress... Never buy a mattress from Sam's Club for $100 - it will hurt your back (esp. if you are a side sleeper like me). Never get a used mattress from craigslist for free, esp. if you are allergic to cats and you know the bed has had animal exposure (it doesn't matter how much antibiotic spray you put on there... you'll still sneeze and get the allergy). I'm learning a lot in the process of all this - I found a mattress that someone is giving away but will need to wait a month for it, leaving me to try out creative ways of sleeping on the floor. Oh, the joy ;-)

I remember a few years ago (senior year in college?) when I yearned for more brothers and brotherhood in general. I remember maybe praying about it once or twice but never with commitment. It's funny how God works sometimes, because he's provided me with so many potential "Jonathans" in my life this year with newcomers and old acquaintances becoming better friends. I guess it's true when Romans 8:26-27 says, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

God is good. All the time.