challenge

This blog may end up being some sort of a cyber accountability partner for me....and for that...I apologize. Maybe one day I'll make a new blog but promise to make it interesting. In the meantime.....

Tomorrow I challenge myself to wake up early....eat breakfast (and more than a handful of rice chex).....go for a slow run....30 minutes is absolutely enough for me....shower and head to my first class. AND make certain I do a quiet time in the afternoon.

These are lofty goals for me.....Not because they are difficult...but because I love sleeping.....and I love talking to people instead of studying or doing quiet time....so this my attempt to slow down and take a few time outs during the day.

No one may ever read this blog....but incase they do...I feel tied to reporting back tomorrow evening and reporting my progress. Hopefully that will motivate me.

Maybe.

to be joyful always

I'm sitting here, feet dangling in front of my space heater, eating a coconut popsicle for dinner, and pondering the meaning of true joy and happiness. I tend to think of myself as being easily pleased and happy. I believe that because the smallest things in life can make me extraordinarily happy. But I'm debating the difference between happiness and joy. I've always defined happiness as being influenced by sources outside of one's self. Some sort of stimulus that evokes happiness. It can be something as simple as seeing a mother pushing her newborn in a stroller, laughing with your girlfriends, or even a vibrant new fingernail polish color. 

I like to take great delight in the simpler things in life. I like feeling overwhelmed with happiness when I hear 5 year olds laugh. But what I'm seeking is that deep down in your toes, all the way through your bones, and radiating through out your entire being sense of joy. Something that could withstand loss, suffering, pain, and the absence of my favorite things. 

Now, I'm certainly not desiring the removal of all that makes me happy. Absolutely not. But what I'm seeking is to find such affirmation in the Lord that I KNOW that whatever happens I'll remain joyful. Not happy. But joyful. 

I do not think sorrow or pain should be feared. I think a constant fixation upon our Lord and Savior is what is to be desired.

But....I always break my New Year's resolutions....I do not spend enough time thinking about them. This year it was to make my bed everyday. For a number of reasons I choose this. I thought it'd make my entire day better and that I'd sleep better in my bed at night. It's scientifically proven.

I'd like to change my New Year's resolution. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

 ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.


That's my new resolution. To be joyful always. That spills over into a lot of other areas of my life. This is going to be a commitment to living the sort of life that enables me to be joyful always, pray continually, and to give thanks in all circumstances.


I have not quite figured out what this is going to look like.


I know a few things....It must consist of....
1) Quiet time spent with Jesus daily. 
2) Running. Ehhh. Nothing makes me feel better than running. But it's always quite the struggle. I usually wind up 30 minutes later face down on my floor praying for my calves to stop cramping up while sounding like I'm having an asthma attack. ( I do not have asthma)  Which leads me to #3
3) Eating healthy. 90% of the time. and Wendy's is considered "healthy"
4) Sleeping. Doing my school work during the day so that I'm not up past midnight on a regular basis.
5) Reminding myself daily that it's not about me. I'm only here on this Earth to serve a purpose. 
6) Holding my tongue. This should probably be Number One. In fact, It's going to be number one. Just mentally switch the numbers in your head. Thank you. I'm going to stop thinking I can solve my problems and disagreements with my own words. If it takes writing letters that I'll never send or talking to a wall....I'm doing to do it! (James 3:1-11) 
7) and while I'm at it....Not going to class looking like I'm homeless.... It's not frequent...but it does happen....

I'm going with Perfectly Polished to teach at Ron Clark Academy for the first time today. Ahh so excited. I'm just so curious about it.

I just wrote a few new blog posts....
but I can't seem to post them because I feel like they are silly.
Perhaps I'm not cut out for blogging. Or at least publicly blogging :)

B-I-B-L-E

A speaker over the weekend raised the following point...

If you believe in God
and you believe that the bible is the word of the God
then how in the world have we not all read every single last word?

I confess. I'm completely one of these people.
My goal is to start with genesis and read the entire bible.
and then start over and do it again.
and again.

So by the time I'm 80.....
I'll hopefully be able to say I tried and tried to learn and understand the word of God.

multicultural discussions

Tonight I went to Greek Intervaristy to hear a speaker that I find highly motivational and encouraging. His name is Stevie King and sometimes he just blows my mind. What I love about him is how simply he puts everything. Stevie King is a black man that grew up in Athens, Ga. He was born the year that Clarke county schools were integrated.

To me, segregation seems like something that happened in history books. I understand that to some extent that racial discrimination still occurs and that affirmative action is a highly debated issue.

What really struck me as odd is that Stevie explained that being different shouldn't ignored. I couldn't help but think how often I encounter people from different cultures on campus and I tiptop around it. Only if they are from somewhere unusual and exotic do I ever ask them questions. Most of time I'm too caught up in being "politically correct" that I would never say, "What it's like being black or Hispanic on a predominately white campus?" I don't think I'd even say "white campus" because that feels taboo. We're not supposed to point out color differences. Stevie said that's where healing and understanding starts.

So perhaps we should stop outwardly pretending we think we're all the same when on the inside we truly don't understand those different than us and just open it up to discussion.

He mentioned that minorities would much rather be asked about their lives and their backgrounds than just ignored in effort to pay no attention to the fact that we were brought up differently, have different parents, and different values.

I think that people are people. I believe that we are all so similar that it would be impossible not be able to relate to someone else on some level over something.

So perhaps when we start asking questions and we're truly eager to learn about what makes us wonderfully different then we'll start to see and believe how truly similar we are.

After all,  We all are made and loved by the same God. We were all created for the same purpose- To bring glory to His kingdom. What a beautiful common goal.