Everyday Joys

(Thanks, L., for this email -- I LOVE it!)


Everyday Joys:



1. Falling in love.

2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.

3. A hot shower.

4. No lines at the supermarket

5. A special glance.

6. Getting mail.

7. Taking a drive on a pretty road..

8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.

9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.

10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.

11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).

12. A bubble bath.

13. Giggling.

14. Going barefoot

15. The beach.

16. Finding a 20 doll ar bill in your coat from last winter.

17. Laughing at yourself.

18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you

19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.

20. Running through sprinklers.

21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.

22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.

23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS

24. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.20

25. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.

26. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).

27. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.

28. Playing with a new puppy.

29. Having someone play with your hair.

30. Sweet dreams.

31. Hot chocolate.

32. Road trips with friends.

33. Swinging on swings.

34. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.

35. Making chocolate chip cookies.

36. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.

37. Holding h ands with someone you care about.

38. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.

39. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.

40. Watching the sunrise.

41. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.

42. Knowing that somebody misses you.

43. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.

44. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.


One Final Thought:
"Lord, keep Your arm over my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth!"

Blegh.

I just finished a massive project for my Ethics class; it was a journal of news articles and I had to write an analysis of each one, detailing the ethical problems and theories present in the articles. All said and done, it's forty-two pages long.

Forty.

Two.

Pages.


Egads. Do you know how much thinking was involved?!?!?!

I think I need a nap. Or chocolate. Or to go play my guitar as loudly as I can until my fingers go numb and all I can think about is chords and finger placement.

Or all of the above.

Sadly, I still have two English assignments to do, a speech to finalize, two papers to write and finals studying to begin, all this weekend.

I think I need a longer weekend.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

This is my second-favorite time of the year :) My absolute, positive, FAVORITE holiday is Easter, but we'll go into all that at Easter time. However, the Thanksgiving-Christmastime era is definitely a close second!

I love everything about this time of year. Thanksgiving is such a great way to kick it off because it helps me focus on all my blessings in the midst of a season often dominated by materialism and "I want I want I want I WANT!" attitudes. Then, after Thanksgiving, the true Christmas season starts; a whole month of preparation for the most wonderful blessing of all time -- the birth of Jesus. After Christmas we get the excitement of New Years, the wonderful wintery-ness of January, followed by my birthday and by then, Spring is just around the corner and so is Easter! Woo hoo!

Christmastime is just such a cozy, (excuse the cliche...) jolly time of year! Everyone seems happier and kinder and more smiley than usual. The air smells like snow and snowflakes drift down at any given moment and christmas lights shine through the otherwise dark nights and it's cold...oh, how I LOVE the cold! It's hot chocolate time of year, and noses are cold and sweaters and hats and gloves are worn and I just love it, love it, love it!!! I love hearing Christmas songs on the radio and playing in every store in America... I just love it.

I've heard many people complaining about how Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year and why oh why do we have to start thinking about Christmas right after Halloween?!

Well...why not? What's wrong with preparing for a season of joy, blessings and family? Shouldn't a Christmas attitude of happiness and gratefulness be ours all year long?

Now, sure, I could easily write a post about all the things that are wrong with the way Americans view and celebrate Christmas....but I think, this time of year especially, it's important to focus on blessings and joy, rather than complaints and gripes. We live in a society that is constantly pushing commercialism and materialism and selfish attitudes. Last Christmas I was getting ready to leave for an international mission trip, and Christmas sort of flew by in the midst of preparations, worrying and packing. In a way, I missed Christmas last year! This year, I've made the decision that I will NOT allow the world or anything else to make Christmas a stressful time of year for me...I love it too much!! I've got plenty to be thankful for this year, and plenty of joyful blessings to share, and that's going to be my goal this Christmastime -- to focus on the true reasons for the season. Jesus' birth and the many, many other blessings that God has given me.

Thought for the day...

We are fascinated by that which we cannot do.

Case in point.

[How many of you determinedly kept trying to succeed, just to see what would happen?]

We're obsessed with the impossible.

Thankfully, so is God.

"It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures. " --Simone Weil

"Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing." – John Andrew Holmes

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

[Thank you to Pastor for the email and link that sparked the thoughts!]

HELP!

(Ok, does the title make anyone else start singing the Beatles song?)

I need to give a persuasive speech in the very near future.

Rules:

• NO MORE THAN 5 minutes.
  
• Must have five parts:
  -- Attention-getting intro
  -- Brief synopsis of the problem
  -- Suggested solution(s)
  -- Speculation on what the world would look like if solutions were put into to practice
  -- Commission to go and change your ways
  
• I want it to be original: no over-used stuff like "Why you should wear a seatbelt" or "Why you shouldn't smoke".
  
• It can't be anything I'm TOO passionate about. Rule out anything super-controversial, including religious and political issues.

So.....that leaves me with.......

*blank stare*

Any ideas?!? You guys love to argue. You're super opinionated. Help a fellow blogger out, will ya? I hate brainstorming!!

Pockets

Recent words of wisdom from my Intro to Ethics prof, who has been known to say some amusingly profound things purely by accident....

[He can be slightly scatterbrained. He set an assignment down on a back table and forgot about it, couldn't find it, and then eventually located it halfway through the class, causing him to remark...]

"Ah, the table. Pockets and tables are very challenging for me. I should be a man with only one pocket and live in a place with only one table, and then everything would be where I thought."



But if you ask me, pockets are what keep life interesting! Is there a feeling more lovely in the world than pulling out your favorite jeans for the first time in the fall, reaching into one of the many pockets and finding a wrinkled $10 bill, just waiting to surprise you and make your day, because you forgot that you put it in that pocket last Spring? I think that "EUREKA!" moment is like no other!

Watch this

I've loved this song for years, but this weekend, I saw the video for the first time. It gave me goosebumps. It brought tears to my eyes. It's amazing.

Watch it.

Surprise?!

Well...as most of you have probably noticed, I've avoided pretty much all mention of politics here over the last two years. I'm hesitant to get into it now; it's been my experience that political conversations, even with the best of intentions, get ugly fast. And I know some of you are pretty passionate about what you believe in and which presidential candidate you were voting for or supporting.

HOWEVER, I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a pretty neat broadcast that I wanted to share with you all, regardless of which candidate you support(ed).

The morning show host was saying that with the results of the election, there are people that are feeling a whole host of emotions. This was a close, intense, emotional election for many and whether "your" candidate won or lost has probably affected you to some degree. I know plenty of Christians who have been angry about the fact that Barack Obama is the new President-Elect, and I also know plenty of Christians who are thrilled.

But regardless of what you're thinking, the host said, "It's important for us to remember that God isn't surprised by these results! This doesn't come as a shock or a disappointment to Him. God's not standing up there in Heaven freaking out and yelling, 'You guys! Oh, man, you really messed things up this time! This was NOT how it was supposed to happen! I can't believe this! What are we going to do now? This changes everything.' And, likewise, God's not saying, "Phew! Thank goodness! Good job, everyone. You pulled through. I was a little worried there for a while, but thankfully you people in the swings states knew what you were doing and Obama got enough electoral votes. Ok. We're still on track. Oh, I'm so relieved...' God knows what He's doing, folks. Believe it or not, the election results didn't surprise God one bit. This election didn't change anything in His grand plan -- in fact, it's part of it."

This is part of God's plan. Whether or not we like it or whether or not we agree with it, God clearly intended for Obama to be in office. Sure, it may not have been our plan. We don't know why, but it's part of His will. And whether or not we voted for Obama, he is going to be our new president, and I have no doubt that God's going to use this to His glory in some way.

Short and to the point:

-- It's election day. GO VOTE -- if you don't, you forfeit your right to complain for the next four years. If you're too young, heave a huge sigh with me and then go encourage everyone you know who IS eligable (sp?? I can NEVER spell this word!) to vote to DO SO!

-- Pray. Amy had Round #2 of chemo yesterday. It went OK, but she is completely exhausted.

-- I promise promise promise, a real, decent-lengthed post is coming your way sometime soon. I just need to catch up on schoolwork and sleep first :)