So, maybe at your college, SGA elections aren't that big of a deal. Honestly, I didn't think they were here either. I mean, I didn't vote last year because I didn't even know when elections were (or that they happened). But due to some major boy drama (and by boy drama, I mean boys causing drama NOT drama over boys), elections here have gotten quite heated. I'm not really sure what the deal is (something about alcohol and transparency and...I'm staying out of this...) and I'm not sure I really want to. But, pay attention to that last line.
Seriously. Voter fraud. This is an SGA election people. Serious consequences? Really? I'm pretty sure that real voter fraud (like in actual elections) happens in the Great State of Alabama and people get off with less than a minimum $150 fine and 10 hours community service. Milton McGregor anyone? (Inside Alabama joke. Sorry out of state friends.)
Gee. This is #hawkward.
In other news, that hash tag is incredibly awkward. Why do we feel the need (as a school) to add "hawk" to everything? What is "hawking" the vote anyways? When I think of a hawk, I think of a bird of prey. One that would snatch the votes up and definitely commit voter fraud. Just saying. According to Webster's "to hawk" is to "to raise by trying to clear the throat " Um, that sounds gross. Please don't regurgitate your votes, people. I mean, I know we do the whole paper ballot thing because we're anti-technology. But...you get the idea.
[Edit to add: Another meaning for "hawk" as a verb is "to offer for sale by calling out in the street ; broadly : sell". I'm definitely sure that selling the vote constitutes fraud. Just saying. #pleasechangethehashtag]
I'm stopping now. I love that my school provides me with this much entertainment. :)
In the land of midterms and papers and textbooks that need to be read, there's no time for journaling this week.
Formatting this post on my iPad, so I apologize in advance if the pictures look kind of wonky.
In other news, I post most of my pictures on Instagram as I take them throughout the week. My name is Leadam if you want to follow me on there (different from my twitter- I'm laurenadam on Twitter! Follow me?)
I haven't done one of these posts in awhile, but every now and then I like to link to some of my favorite blog posts that I've been reading lately. Coincidentally, I've read fifty-bazillion blog posts on contentment in the last week (okay, I was over exaggerating a bit). I think that's God's way of passing along a message to me, but I want to pass that message on to you. I think that finding contentment in our situations is HARD and it never really gets easier. But, there's got to be a way through it. I know I don't have all the answers, and neither do these ladies, but I've found their posts to be helpful in the past day or so.
I Don't Want to Raise a Good Child- Lysa TerKeurst- When I grow up and become a mom, I hope I can have the attitude that Lysa does. In this post from last week, she shares the story of her daughter Hope and how she's learned to find contentment as a mom from God and not the other people that surround her. Even though I'm not a mommy, there's still a lesson in the story for all of us.
The Monster- Nicole- In this post, Nicole shares about how jealousy can steal contentment away from us. How many of you have been there/done that? When we compare ourselves to other people and jealousy sets in, our joy is stolen from us. We lose the desire to rejoice in the moment. Is it possible to be content in a world that says "Get married and have babies right now)? You'll just have to read it for yourself.
God's Promises- Jamie- The girls over at Fearless are teaching great things, guys. Great things. If you haven't subscribed to this blog yet, go over right now and click that button. In this post, Jamie comes to the conclusion that "Sometimes we all just need a little reminder that we're not in control". This is so true. Following the lines of Nicole's post, there are some things that we cannot control. We have to lay them at the feet of Jesus, so that our joy will not be stolen away. We have to come to grips with the reality that we are not in control of our lives, and we need to stop stressing out when things don't go our way.
Moving to Africa Without a Husband? Yep. Sure Am.- Jenn- I just found this sweet girl today. Jenn is moving to Africa...without a husband. In this post on her blog about her journey to Africa, she discussed the conversations that she has with other people (and God) about moving to Africa as a single. Things like "Who will kill the bugs and baboons?" to "How are you ever going to find a husband over there?". I love the manner that she presents her message. It's not going to be easy- and she's struggling with it- but, God has promised that he will provide. So, she will trust him. I mean, he made Eve out of a rib and Adam from dirt. I'm pretty sure he can manage something if it's in His will.
Okay. I give up. I've been tagged in this silly game too many times...so I'm going to do it! I really admire Annie's effort with video blogs for each response, so I wanted to incorporate that somehow- but, I wasn't confident enough to do that many blogs. So, for April and Katie's questions (and my 11 facts), I'm going to blog. And then for Annie's questions, I'm going to video blog. So, it's like the best of both worlds, right?
So, to with, I'm supposed to tell you the rules of the game. They are as follows:
You must post the rules (check!)
Post some facts about yourself. Katie and Annie told me to post 11. April told me to post 12.
Answer the questions that your "tagger" (or "taggers") asked in their post.
Ask 10-12 questions of your friends. Tag ten, eleven, or twelve people. (Because I got three different numbers.)
Let them know you've tagged them so they can play this game, too!
Okay, so we're going to start with my facts.
1. I love monograms. They are pretty much my favorite thing ever. If I get bored in class, I'm prone to doodling this monogram. I really hope that when I get married, it doesn't mess up my monogram, because I really love mine.
2. I want to be a princess when I grow up. I know that this dream is completely unrealistic, but I'm okay with that. As long as I marry my Prince Charming, I think things will turn out okay.
3. I want at least five kids when I grow up. I think adoption is amazing, and definitely want to adopt at least one kid, if not more. I also want my kids to grow up with a knowledge of the world and how incredibly blessed we are. So, I really want to homeschool my future children so that we can travel and do mission work and stuff. From an early age, I want them to fight against the injustice in the world.
4. I sleep with three stuffed animals. Yes, I'm twenty-one. I have a bear named Allie, a puppy named Aubrey, and a flamingo named Flamingo. Aubrey lives at my house, Allie lives at school, and Flammy travels back and forth with me most weekends (he's the most recent addition, because I got him from Santa this Christmas!).
5. When I grow up, I want to have a library in my house (picture "Beauty and the Beast"). I have this dream of filling it up with children's books so that all the kids in the neighborhood can come to my house and check out books anytime they want. It would have reading corners with beanbag chairs and stuff, too. I think that reading is so important to a child's development. Imagination is a great thing!
6. When I'm all alone in my room, I watch Disney Princess movies and dance around my room like I have a ballgown on. Am I five? No. Is it a little ridiculous? Yes. But, that's okay. I also like to sing the songs with the movie. (Sidenote: When my best friend and I saw "Beauty and the Beast 3D" together, it took all I had not to get up and swirl around. I also cried. You just couldn't see the tears through my 3D glasses.)
7. While I really like planning my future wedding and stuff, when it comes down to it- I want a really good marriage. I want my wedding to reflect God more than me- and I want my marriage to be the same. While I want to have a pretty house and pretty babies, the only thing that really matters is that God is reflected in everything. More than anything, I want my life to be the life that God wants- not what I want.
8. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do when I graduate. I keep making plans, and I feel like God keeps shutting the door. It's really scary (Eleven months!!), but I know that God will take care of things in the end. (My biggest fear is that God is going to tell me to move to Africa or China or India or Haiti or something crazy like that- does that make me a bad Christian? I'm having serious guilt issues here.)
9. Pink with sparkles is my favorite color.I feel like if you don't already know this, you don't really know me.
10. My favorite letter is Z. This is because in "Dr. Seuss's ABC's", the Z page has a "zizzer zazzer zuzz", which is the coolest thing ever to say. It's kind of my favorite children's book- but "Green Eggs and Ham" might be a close second.
11. For my birthday this year (22!) I really want a Barbie cake. You know the one with the Barbie body/head sticking out. I want it to be a princess. If you can't tell, I'm a preschool girl trapped in a "big girl" body. This party is BYOPD (that's "Bring your own princess dress").
Haha. That was fun. Now on to the questions!
April:
1. What would your dream job be? Princess. Duh.
2. If you were stuck on a deserted island, what 5 things would you want with you? (you can't say a boat, or something like that...) A cell tower and a cellphone (so I could call my daddy to come save me!). Max (he's really resourceful and could figure a solution to the problem). Internet (so I didn't get bored while Max was finding a way to save us). And food (so we don't die).
3. If you could own any car, what would it be? Carly. She's my car (a Corolla) and I really love her. I don't think I want any car but Carly. :)
4. What inspired your blog name? I like princesses (such as Cinderella). But, I'm not your everyday Cinderella- because I'm not ordinary and I'm not prissy (most of the time). I don't really remember why, it was back in 2009 when I came up with it. That's a long time ago.
5. What is your biggest pet peeve? People who text/ do stuff on their phone while driving. I'm precious cargo people! Precious cargo!
6. What was the last book you read? Do you recommend it? Postmodernism 101 by Heath White. I read it for a class I'm in this semester and ended up loving it. I think I'd recommend it, if your the scholarly/like to read books/philosophical/religious type.
7. What is one thing on your Bucket List? Learn to belly dance. Don't laugh. You know you wish you could.
8. What era in time do you think you would enjoy living in for a week? I think it would be really fun to be Amish for a week. I'm not really sure if that's an era (because they're still around today), but I think it'd be fun to live in the Early America/ traveling out West in a Wagon time period. But just for a week. The 1960s would be neat, too (like the Civil Rights Movement).
9. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Cupcakes.
10. What was your biggest epic fail moment of 2011? Honestly, I can't share that one. This is a public blog and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Just know that I'm still reaping the consequences of it and that it's making me question my career choices.
11. If you could have any super power, what it be and why? Turn to goop.(Sky High anyone?) It would be cool. :)
12. If you had $500 of free money to spend on anything, what would you buy? Books. Lots and lots of books. :)
Katie:
1. What did you want to be when you were a child? A mommy. :)
2. What is one national landmark you’d like to visit? Mt. Rushmore. I love old dead guys. :)
3. Which celebrity would you pick to play you, if they were making a movie about your life? A movie about my life? I have no idea.
4. What’s your favorite animal? Ocelots and Flamingos. I can't choose between the two.
5. What’s your favorite book? Um, the Bible? (Religion major?) In reality, it's probably Harry Potter. He kind of changed my life.
6. What is one thing you want to accomplish this year? Graduate college!
7. Do you think you’re smarter than a 5th grader? Of course! (I'd really love to be on that show. I'm pretty good when I watch at home).
8. Have you ever invented anything? Yes. I make up my own words all the time. Like ginormous. :)
9. If I dared you to would you sing “Love Shack” on karaoke night? Negatory. I don't do karaoke.
10. What is one thing you want to do before you’re too old? Run a marathon.
Annie:
Okay, now it's time for my questions! Yay! I'm asking 11 since that's the average of all three! :)
1. What is your favorite pair of shoes that you own?
2. What is your favorite quote? (Not Bible verse, we'll get to that later!
3. What is your favorite bible verse (or your life verse, or your favorite book of the Bible, whatever)?
4. What is your favorite book and why?
5. What is one thing that you couldn't live without?
6. If you could tell your thirteen year old self one thing, what would it be?
7. What is your dream job? (Princess would totally count.)
8. What would you miss the color of most if we lived in a black and white world? (Think Wizard of Oz here)
9. What is your favorite craft project that you've made or want to make? (Link up to a tutorial here if you have one!)
10. What is your catchprase (or one thing you find yourself saying over and over again)?
11. What is your favorite flavor of cupcake (cake and frosting)?
I know that you're supposed to tag people in this thing, but I kind of feel like everyone I know has already been tagged. So, rather than upset someone by leaving them out, I'm going to leave this open to anyone. If you haven't been tagged already- go for it! Leave a comment with a link to your post so I can check out your answers. If anyone would like to follow Annie's lead, I'd love to watch some more video blogs. They're quite funny! :)
I have two blog posts that I've drafted over the past week that I need to post. I usually blog from my iPad using Blogpress, but something isn't working right with it. It keeps saying I have a network error (but I can get online and use any app but that one) and won't let me save my posts online. So, I need to figure out a way to export them from the app. No idea how that's going to work, but I'm hoping I don't lose 2-3 hours worth of blog work. So, in other words, new posts coming soon! I haven't given up blogging. I wish I could find the time to post more often. I have so many thoughts in my head to write about, but I never take the time to blog them. That seems a little silly, right?
Anyways, we're going to go onto Sunday Sparkle. I think it's neat to start out the week by blogging pictures from the previous week. While last week had it's ups and downs (hey-first test of the semester!), it was a yummy week. Meaning food is featured in all of my pictures. Haha.
Last Sunday (a week ago!), my best friend and I had dinner at Zoe's (after shopping at Publix, of course!). I wasn't too hungry, so I just had the rice pilaf, a diet coke, and some chocolate cake. You can't go wrong if there's cake involved- that's my motto.
Monday night is Bachelor night. For real, this is my kind of television. I'm a little ashamed that I spend two hours a week watching this non-sense, but I immensely enjoy it because it doesn't use up any of my brain cells. Sometimes smart people need a brain break. That's what Bachelor is for me. I'm pretty sure I'd go insane without some kind of brain break thrown in my day.Of course, no "brain break" is complete without snackage. This weeks choice was oreos and milk. I won't mention how many I ate, but I had a bit of a tummy ache and learned that I shouldn't sit with a whole package. Girl has no self control when it comes to cookies.
Wednesday was a busy day. Because I'm really bad at planning these things out, I ended up having 60-something pages in one book to read, 30-something in another, and a book, James, and class notes to review for a Thursday test. Freak out commence. Thanks to a handy dandy calender, I can plan out every minute of my day. I stuck to it pretty good (I think). I added some blogging in (which was homework for my class), but other than that, I stuck to my homework and readings. Let's just say that I'm trying to do better with keeping up with my readings so that I don't have to wake up at 7:15 am again. Christian Ethics/Philosophy/Augustine isn't the most interesting thing in the world to read at that ungodly hour. Girl likes her sleep.
Yay! Sparkle!
I'm going to bed now (sleepy, sleepy) so that I can get up bright and early (8 am people!) to sit in a classroom and learn about stuff that I won't understand and that will hurt my brain. Ah, philosophy and ethics. I will not be sad when this semester is OVER! I'm also going to try and work on rescuing my posts from BlogPress, AND I have a video blog (thanks Annie!) that should be filmed/coming soon! Yay! Happy day.
I could tell you that life is amazing right now. But, that would be a lie. It's not- it's probably the farthest from "amazing" that it has been in a while. I feel like I'm on roller coaster that isn't stopping. I go from a high (spending time with a friend, feeling like me and God are "like this") to a low constantly. Just when I think I've pulled myself together, I realize that it is far from "together". I'm pretty good at hiding things. I'm good at saying that things are "fine" and that I am "okay". But, right now, life hurts. It hurts to wake up in the morning and know all of the things I need to get done. It hurts when people disappoint me and don't live up to my expectations. It hurts when people don't stand up for me. It just hurts.
I'm still trying to work through how different this semester is than last. I'm working through finding who I am. I am struggling to hold the pieces together- and clinging to the remaining pieces as if my life depended on it. I honestly thought I had it figured out. And just when I got comfortable with things- the rug got pulled out from underneath me. "My" plan was apparently not God's plan. I'm struggling to not have bitter feelings. I'm trying to forgive and move on. But, when something defines your life- defines who you are, what your plans are, dictates your decisions- it is hard when that thing goes away. It gets hard to find the good in the situation. I mean, some good things have come- I get to play with cute kids on Wednesday nights with my best friend, I have more time to study. But, this isn't what I envisioned my life to look like this semester. I was planning on getting a little more on my "little resume" in hopes that I could land that dream job or get that scholarship to go to seminary when I graduate. But, now- there's a lack of direction. I don't know how "my plan" is going to work out. I have exhausted so many back up plans that I have run out of letters. It just hurts.
My biggest fear is being unwanted. I don't know where this came from. I have the best family, I promise. But, I have this fear that I'm never going to find a job- because nobody wants me. I have a fear that I'm going to end up a "crazy cat lady"- because nobody wants me. I imagine up all of these scenarios, and they all come back to the same thing. It's hard to fight this when it invades every aspect of my life. It means that my feelings get hurt double when a friend cancels and I end up blogging about it. It means I take things extra hard, when they aren't meant that way. It means I read into things. I overanalyze things when they didn't need to be analyzed in the first place. It means that I fear rejection so much that I don't put myself out there to be rejected. I walk away before someone else can.
I've been turning to my Bible a lot lately. It is the only thing that remains constant, that never changes it's mind, that never fails, and that will never let me down. I can trust I God, even when everything around me doesn't make sense. I'm so thankful that I serve a God like this. He is really amazing. This week, I've been reading in Isaiah. Yes, my reading plan has me in Numbers- but Isaiah is where I need to be right now. Last night, I was reading though the book of comfort (chapters 40-53) and well, it comforted me. (Imagine that!) I'm learning to move on. I'm learning that it's okay that life hurts, but I can't dwell on that. In Isaiah, the people were in a really bad spot. They had disobeyed God- turned their back on him and began worshipping themselves instead of God (sound familiar?). Eventually, their sins led to the, being taken over and sent into exile. I would say that it wasn't really good. In the book of comfort, Isaiah provides a message of hope for the people. He tells them that God hasn't abandoned them, even when all the signs around the say otherwise.
Isaiah 43 is where my heart is at. This is the section that convicts me. It's the section that draws me back. In this beautiful passage, Isaiah reminds the people that the Lord is with them always. He is always fighting on their side. He provides for them, even in the darkest of times. This is because they are precious to him. Precious. Did you know that "precious" extends to us too? It is so amazing that God calls us his precious children. Isiah 43:4 says, "Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life." God doesn't just call you precious, he says that he loves you. He loves you in despite of you "messing things up". He loves you despite the fact that you keep thinking your plans are better than his. He loves you even when life hurts. So, when life hurts- turn to him! We don't have to do this thing called life alone!
So, right now, life hurts. Bitter feelings abound. Plans get messed up. Things don't always work out. But, it is going to be okay. We are going to live to see another day. The sun will come out tomorrow. God thinks you are precious, and he loves you. Turn to him when life hurts, and find the sparkle. :)
[Once again, class is getting in the way of my blogging. I have some ideas that I'm going to try and write about tomorrow or this weekend, but after I posted this for my "class blog", I realized some of you might enjoy reading it too. So, it's part of my "RePost series". This one is about Modernism and Postmodernism in the church- and I throw in some Tabernacle and Frat House jokes for good measure. Happy reading (and getting educated)! ]
"By objective measures, churches- in America, at any rate- are not doing a particularly good job on any of these fronts. Many people who claim Christianity are unfamiliar with Bible stories, like the stories of David and Saul, or basic theology, like the Incarnation. Few know the Ten commandments. Attendance and giving are lower than they ought to be, prayer and Bible study are less frequent than they ought to be, and the moral differences between Christians and non-Christians are unremarkable."
-Heath White, Postmodernism 101
For some reason, we like to cast the blame on churches when we hear quotes like this. We like to say that it's the church's fault that our children are growing up and leaving the faith. We blame the church for our own lack of personal discipleship (Bible reading and quiet time) because we say that "we were never taught how to ______". Church has become more of a place of social interaction than a place of spiritual transformation. While some blame may be due to the church, in a majority of cases, I feel like our "church problems" are more due to the individual christian. I mean, my pastor can stand up at the pulpit (well, he could if we had one) and preach about how I needed to read my Bible more. But, if I just sit there and listen and say "Well. That was a nice sermon", I'm not going to be affected. I'm not going to change. My spiritual life is not going to get better. Nothing is going to change until I make the choice, as an independent individual, to open up my Bible and read it. We need to remember that "discipleship is not an option for the spiritual elite but God's command for everyone." Go back and read that again. We're all called to engage in the practice of discipleship. It's not just for pastors, small group leaders, and "overachievers". It's for all of us. We have this autonomous mindset that we can run our own lives- that we don't need God.
I wrote a post here a long time ago that focused around what I call "frat house churches". It's a small phrase that I like to think I came up with, but someone else probably already copyrighted it. I wrote it during a period of time where I was getting exceedingly frustrated with the direction my home church was going. It seemed like we were over-simplifying everything and were just "eating baby food" while we had arguments about sound systems, worship styles, power points, and which chairs would best fit the new worship center's color scheme. (Can I just make a brief sidebar- I hate the phrase "worship center". It makes me feel like I'm going to WalMart to pick up this week's special- Jesus. I like Sanctuary. Or Tabernacle. I really like Tabernacle (I feel like it's more biblical, KJV style)- but I'm Methodist and we don't have those. End of sidebar.) In that post, I came to the conclusion that "Our churches have evolved from places of worship to an Almighty God to a place to worship ourselves." I feel like so often, we make church more about "me" than God. I'm not sure I have a solution to this. I mean, as society progresses, it seems like we're going to get farther and farther from the "God thing". Seeing as this is a modern concept and we are headed towards postmodernism, I'm not sure I like the direction this is headed. Towards the end of his book, White makes the claim that "Many Christians are 'cafeteria traditionalists,' adhering to the parts of their inherited faith that they life and discarding uncomfortable teachings like the doctrine of hell or the prohibition of premarital sex." We pick and choose what we want to believe, if we want to believe- which definitely seems more like worshiping ourselves than worshiping God. We're afraid of offending anyone- so we don't do anything. We don't emphasize salvation, because we don't want to believe in a literal Hell. We don't ask that people give their tithes or attend church regularly. We teach broad concepts- like gratitude, self-control, even creativity- rather than teaching spiritual disciplines. We feed the "audience" baby food- and yes, their an audience- they aren't participating. We don't demand anything, so we don't get anything. When we feel "unfulfilled", we blame "the Church" rather than taking responsibility. It's never "my fault", yet everything is "all about me".
I feel like this post was really scattered. I don't know how to organize everything in a neat manner and tie everything up in a pretty little bow. I don't have an answer (and I feel like I should), but I know that something has to change. There has to be more of an emphasis on discipleship. There needs to be an emphasis on a person's personal relationship with God- but it has to be done in the context of a community of faith. We can't just teach people, we have to reach their hearts also. Our actions show the world who we are. If we don't look different, are we really any different? Postmodernism regards authority as a form of slavery. But, as Christians, we are slaves to the gospel. Romans 1 starts with Paul introducing himself as "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News" (NLT). So, we have to reject this part of postmodernism- we must regard God as an authority figure. If we reject this, I don't know how we could claim to be Christians. We cannot be our own authority. We can't do this "religion" thing alone. It's not just about us- it's about HIM. Our churches must return to our roots and become places of worship to an Almighty God, and not a place to worship ourselves.
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