God Save Us

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." - C.S. Lewis

God save us.

So I was driving along, and stopped at a red light.
And I was next to some SUV, with their rap music playing.
Who knows what sort of disgusting and vile lyrics were running through the mind of the man driving.
He was a younger guy, and alone.
I got a whim to pray that God would influence him to reach over and change his music.
A minute went by and I was still asking God to intervene in the situation.
The man was singing along.
When I was sure nothing would happen, and the light was certainly about to change, an amazing thing happened.
No, the song did not end.
The man reached over and flipped the station.
I didn't hear any music after that, so I don't know what he changed it to, but the important thing is that God heard me.
God chose to intervene.
The whole thing was a whim, but He answered.
The man's mind was being lulled into a thoughtless, vulgar state.

God did not create us to coat our minds with mind-numbing beats and foul words.
That coating diminishes any sort of contact the Lord can have with us.
God did not create us to be tranquilized by the poison of Satan's disguises, rendering us to be bleary-eyed, glazed over nothings.

Yet we happily spend our lives playing video games, listening to bad music, watching degrading movies, etc. and etc. because it's easy.
We reject the purpose God gave us - we reject the intelligence He has given EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US.

God save us.

"The human spirit fails, except when the Holy Spirit fills." - Corrie ten Boom

Paradigm Shift

"Up, sluggard! And waste not life - the grave will hold sleeping enough." - Benjamin Franklin

So.

I received advice yesterday that changed my outlook.

I was told by someone, after reading my blog, that I should take more initiative in my acts of kindness, instead of waiting for them to happen.

And I have to agree with them.

I think I should start planning some acts of kindness.

So I don't keep having these "holding door" days.

Like today was.

Gah.

What do you think?

"Sometimes questions are more important than answers." - Nancy Willard

(PS) Darkroom was a disaster. I will spare you the details. You're welcome.

Setting the World on Fire

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon

I know.
I know.
I know.
I am a slacker.
I apologize.
It has been all weekend.
And I am sorry.

HERE COMES YET ANOTHER SUMMARY.

Friday:
Got up at 6am.
Homework.
Class.
Class.
Held door.
Class.
Lunch.
Pack.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME (best word in the English language)

Sabbath:
Church at Madison.
Smiled a lot.
Ben (mi hermano) played in Brass Festival - awesome!!!!!!
Lunch.
Visit.
Sleep.
Sonic.
Ate like a sow.
Played games.
Pass out from exhaustion...and food overload.

Sunday:
Homework.
Pack.
Sonic with Mom and Mrs. Hartman.
Discovered even seemingly perfect Moms have struggles too.
Listened like a friend...hopefully.
Came back to Southern...bleh.
Unpack.
Eat.
Sleep.

TODAY:
Some days are just...blah, ya know?
They're normal.
Fine.
Okay.
Depressing!
I wish I could do something extraordinary every day.
But I resigned myself to holding doors.
I need to learn to be content.
And patient.
And humble.
IT IS SO HARD.
I hope you all can identify with me.
Not that I'm impatient and overbearing...but that ... never mind.

I guess I don't have much to say today.
Simply that I need to learn to not want to "set the world on fire", but be content with a small flame.

"Until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have." - Doris Mortman

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

"Self pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable." - Maya Angelou

What a day.
Humbling.
But good.

On days such as this, it is easy to fall into a trap of feeling sorry for myself.
A lot of things go wrong.
First of all, it rained.
Now don't take this wrong - rain is a wonderful thing.
It nourishes the Earth.
But it sure can make me feel lethargic.
And melancholy.
And "blah".

For a part Sanguine like me, it stinks to feel so "woebegone".
It's like the world is going to end!
We just want to be happy!

But life isn't always "coming up roses".
I just have to accept it.
Sigh.

Today, I held more doors.
And smiled.
But not as much as if it had been sunny.

I also heard a friend tell me about all the difficult stuff that has happened to her today.
And I realized I should stop feeling sorry for myself.
We all go through our days with our heads buried under the sand.
We have blinders on, shielding our vision from other peoples' problems.
We can only see our own "tragedies".

I am guilty of this.

We are so ... pitiful.
Think about it.
We are so pathetic ... and so ... blind.
Blind because we cannot see, and do not wish to see.

I beseech God to unfog our eyes, and help us look with clarity for the hurts of others.

"There is a condition worse than blindness - seeing something that isn't there." - Thomas Hardy

The Great Commission

"To me, every hour of every day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle [and opportunity]." - Walt Whitman

Well, happy Wednesday everyone.
Even though it's pretty much over.

Oh well.

Today I held a door for about 65 people!
They were all leaving the same class room, so it was easy - ha ha.

An interesting thought occurred to me today.
We all try to find that "happy medium" - a life that is "perfect".
Nothing goes wrong.

As a child, it is your own birthday every day filled with cake and presents and toys and never having to make one's bed.
As an adult, we'd have our ideal job that was fun everyday, time to go out with friends, a significant other who always treated us right, family that we'd see more often than holidays, and plenty of time to do what we enjoy.
We try so desperately to get to that point.

What for?

Shouldn't we as Christians know that isn't what this life is about?

How is it possible we have lost our grip on the fact that this world is going to end soon - and our job is to bring others to His plan?
How can we ignore such a vital task?
Why do we run around every day trying to make more money, have more friends, or nice clothes?
What on earth are we doing????????

"Every man's life is a fairy tale, written by God's fingers." - Hans Christian Andersen

Oh To Shut My Motormouth

"The first duty of love is to listen." - Paul Tillich

I am good at talking.
I love to talk.
I love making people laugh.
I love telling stories.
I am demonstrative.
By nature, I am an extrovert.
I am loud.
Sometimes too loud.
Sometimes outspoken.

Today, God decided to teach a lesson of humility and quiet grace.

Over the past few weeks, I have become more and more aware of how little I actually listen to people.
I interrupt.
I have a bad habit of staring off into space when others are talking.
I often jump in and finish what they were going to say...even though it may not have actually been what they were going to say.

It is a hard lesson to unlearn.

I have also become more aware of just how beautiful quiet humility is.
Pure.
Unwordly.
Simple.
Moral.
Kind.
Sweet.
Faithful.
Devoted.
Chaste.
Clean.
Unsuspecting.
Innocent.
Submissive.
Gentle.
Meek.
Mild.

Those are the adjectives that we should all strive to be.
Especially those of use who are Choleric, Sanguine, or BOTH.
And that goes for you too, Melancholy and Phlegmatic.
We can all struggle with having that true character of Jesus - self denying.

So today, God sent me two friends who needed someone to talk to.
One was having family issues, and needed advice.
One had thoughts about her relationship that needed to be heard.

In the first, I needed to speak.
In the second, I needed to listen.

How wonderful it is to put someone before yourself.
How rare a time we actually remember to do it.

Today, I have been reminded what Jesus asked us to do.
To be servants of our fellow man, and serve out of love.

"Freely we serve, because freely we love." - John Milton

Bromidic Burbling

"Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key on the bunch that opens the lock." - Anonymous

Well.
There isn't much to say today.
Some days are like that.

I held a lot of doors and smiled a lot.
No epiphanies.
No voices from heaven or openings in the clouds - ha.

But God doesn't have to speak to us everyday.
Why should we deserve that?

"Happiness consists not with having much, but being content with little." - Marguerite Gardiner