robin hood

So I have this crazy addiction to Disney's animated version of Robin Hood - yeah, the one with the fox - and this song was in my head and I just love it so I wanted to post it because it's short, sweet and I like it a lot. (It's from the movie, if you didn't catch that fact)

Love
It seems like only yesterday
You were just a child at play
Now you're all grown up inside of me
Oh, how fast those moments flee

Once we watched a lazy world go by
Now the days seem to fly
Life is brief, but when it's gone
Love goes on and on

Love will live
Love will last
Love goes on and on and on

Once we watched a lazy world go by
Now the days seem to fly
Life is brief, but when it's gone
Love goes on and on

a lucky man... ?

For my hermeneutics class I am reading a book called “Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind” by Tremper Longman III and today while I was reading I ran across a story I really liked:

***

This gentleman has a farm. He loves the old-fashioned way of doing things, so he doesn’t have any mechanical equipment and plows his fields with a horse. One day as he was plowing his field, the horse dropped dead. Everyone in the village said, “Gee, what an awful thing to happen.” He just responded, “We’ll see.” He was so at peace and so calm that we all got together and, because we admired his attitude so much, gave him a new horse as a gift. Then everyone’s reaction was, “What a lucky man.” And he said, “We’ll see.” A few days later the horse, being strange to his farm jumped a fence and ran off, and everyone said “Oh, poor fellow.” He said, “We’ll see.” A week later the horse returned with a dozen wild horses following it. Everyone said, “What a lucky man.” And he said, “We’ll see.” The next day his son went out riding, because now they had more than one horse, but the boy fell off the horse and broke his leg. Everyone said, “Oh, poor boy,” but my friend said, “We’ll see.” The next day the army came to town taking all the young men for service, but they left his son because of his broken leg. Everyone said, “What a lucky kid,” and my friend said, “We’ll see.”

***

The thing that strikes me so much about this story is the fact that each incident was not The End for this man. He knew that other things would happen, that life would keep going on. Personally, I have a problem sometimes seeing past the moment; if something bad happens it’s the end of the world to me, if something good happens I feel like nothing bad will happen again. It’s strange. So I like this story because it reminds me that good or bad will come but life will always go on and God will always be in control.

Problem: down day

Solution: do something for someone else

Problem solved!

on edge

Sometimes I forget how tiring it can be to just live. I haven’t had more than a teeny slice of time to myself for a week(ish) and I’m already going crazy.

How is it that I know what I need to do, but I just don’t do it?

I need to go off and just spend some time alone outdoors but I just can’t seem to get to it. There’s always a group going here, or a project I need to work on, a moment with friends that I wouldn’t miss for the world… with all of that happening, where is my sanity suppose to fit in?

I love school, but I miss solitude. But I MUST take that time because my insides are like spaghetti in a pot, all entwined and threatening to boil over at any moment.

I don’t like who I’ve become lately. I’m sarcastic, kinda mean, prideful, opinionated… I want to try to be something else. I want to be firm, gentle, kind, sweet… I just don’t know anymore. Sometimes I’m just at a loss and that’s when I’m glad everything doesn’t rest on me. Thanks for being in charge God, I keep trying to handle everything but I know that it’s your job and I can’t do it no matter how hard I try. And deep down… I don’t really want to do it.

story time

There are these Freshman on my floor who are awesome. The other night I was hanging out with them and they were talking about Story Time, I asked them what that was. Apparently, these four girls bonded during orientation and they felt like they’d known each other for years but then they realized that they actually didn’t know much about each other at all. So their idea was to have a Story Time every couple of nights where they each take turns telling the story of their life to the others. I thought this was incredible. They asked me to join them and I jumped right in.

Something I love to do is find out why people do what they do and why they are who they are. That’s probably why I am a psych major. So I now have the opportunity to get to know these girls, my friends, better and to tell them the story of my life and why I am me and how God has changed me. I’m so excited. If you ever get the chance, ask people to tell you their story.

grow up

Today in class one of my wonderful professors was telling a silly story about his wife. He said that they were married when he was 19 and she was 18. He jokingly said that the first two years of marriage were great but when she turned 20 she suddenly grew an opinion. At first we all laughed because we knew he was being silly but then I thought about it a little more…
When I turned 20 I slowly began to realize and become aware of more things and I dare say that I formed many opinions that I had never had before. I am by no means a “grown up” at 20 but I like to think that I am closer than I was at 18.

Frustration with college/high school dating…

So here’s the thing; people meet… they date… they decide they want to get married… when they are freshmen in college. How dumb is that? Really. It’s not the fact that they may be immature, financially unstable or whatever that gets to me (though those factors contribute). It’s the fact that at 18, 19, even 20; you are not who you will be. You will change, morph and reemerge as someone not completely different, but significantly changed. Especially as you go through college, travel experiences and the ups and downs of meeting new people and forming attachments.
Why do people think that they, and others, will be the same forever? We all change, each day. One day you may think that eating meat is fine; the next day you may read a book that changes your life and you choose to be a vegetarian, (true story of one of my friends). Someone you knew long ago may have been a terrible person who lied to you, stabbed you in the back and then spread rumors about you; but three years later, they may have changed their ways because of this or that.

If we forget to look at people as ever changing persons then I think we’ll be left behind holding on to a lot of hurts, prejudices and assumptions.

booklist

There's a lot cooking in my brain right now but I'm still thinking on it, so instead of posting about that I decided to post the list of books I read this summer. Each one contributed a bit to my life, some more than others and I didn't enjoy them all but I am so glad that I was able to read them. The school year started again today and syllabus shock is setting in. I am realizing that I am not going to be able to read many, if any, books for fun this semester. But I am okay with that because I knew it was coming. That's why I tried to cram as many books into the summer as I could.

Tell Me, Pretty Maiden –Ryhs Bowen
My Antonia – Willa Cather
Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
In Dublin’s Fair City –Rhys Bowen
New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse –Stephenie Meyer
Alice Adams – Boot Tarkington
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
Naked Once More – Elizabeth Peters
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Utopia – Thomas More
Emma – Jane Austen
The Host – Stephenie Meyer
Savage Beauty –Nancy Milford
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Why We’re Not Emergent – Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck
Writing about Your Life – William Zinsser
Jane Austen – Carol Shields
The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
Switching Time – Richard Baer

how you know

When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.

That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.

-Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

celebration

I’ve been thinking about weddings a lot this past week… it might surprise those of you that know I am a romantic to know that I am not one of those girls who has their entire wedding planned out and is just waiting for a name and a face to show up. Nope. My “wedding canvas” is pretty much blank except for a few basic ideas and must-haves; not wearing those prisons called “shoes” for example. I think I am just too practical to plan out my wedding, I know myself, and I change a lot. If I liked pink and green one day, the next it would be orange, red and yellow… so for now, my wedding canvas is a blank. And I like it that way.

But the wedding I have been thinking of lately is the wedding of two dear people whom I love, respect and admire. (I never say that of anyone lightly-there are actually very few people I would even say that of). They have been together for two and a half years or so and they have finally come to the point of marriage. It’s been a beautiful road, but not in the way most people think of “beautiful”. These two have given of themselves to help each other, they’ve laid aside the things they wanted the most (they were actually suppose to get married a year ago – long story there), they have heeded advice, grown more than I had ever hoped or dreamed and now because of hard work, perseverance and the true meaning of the word LOVE they are to be joined this evening; for the rest of their lives. And I can truly say that I have never been happier for anyone, ever.

I didn’t know that you could be happy like this for other people. It’s such a strange feeling. There are so many relationships I look at and can see right through because of all of the holes. But these two, they’ve taken the holes and knit them all closed with God and with the help of others. They’ve made this beautiful story that is their own, and tonight we will celebrate.

Yesterday I realized the simple truth, perhaps obvious to everyone else, that when we celebrate together we are saying “this is good”, “this is right”, “I am GLAD to be a part of this, so glad that I just want to gather together and rejoice for these two people who followed God and worked at love”. It’s such a strange custom, but one that is unique. I would say it’s uniquely human, but that would be wrong. It’s uniquely God because He is the one that invented marriage and celebration.

I hate going to weddings where everything feels wrong, this will be such an amazing chance to have it all feel right. I cannot write words to express right now how much joy I feel. It’s metaphysical.

biography addict

Geneology of a reader: I use to read strickly fiction. Then I went on a self-help kick and learned a lot about psychology. Recently I realized, I love people, I always want to hear their stories, know how they became who they are and why they do what they do... so why not read biographies? Biographies are a combination of two things I love; Books & Life. I've read three biographies in the past month and I love them.

There are so many interesting stories of REAL life out there. Lives that have been LIVED, not fabricated. I'm beginning to wonder if we even need fiction? I guess it's a personal preference sort of thing. If you told me last year that I would eventually read biographies for fun I would have said, "yeah right", but here I am.

alive... but a little sickly

Tonight we were in a grocery store and I was coming down an isle and saw my mom drop a tub of butter. Her arms were full of other things but she still leaned down to retrieve the butter. Before she could get far in her attempts the young man in line behind her quickly stooped down, grabbed the butter and handed it to her. I was quite struck by this little act of kindness and courtesy… I believe it use to be called chivalry if a man did something for a lady. This little scene will probably be burned in my mind for a long while… He didn't know my mom, he wasn't trying to impress anyone, he was just being a gentleman. I was pretty impressed.

People say chivalry is dead (mostly the feminists -- who ironically where the ones that put it to death…) but I disagree! Chivalry is NOT dead, it is merely sick. And I think it’s up to us girls that still want it around to nurse it back to health. The healing balm, (or one of them?) is to start expecting more from guys! They are not mindless, knuckle dragging video-game addicts… but they will be if that’s how you treat them. Everyone wants standards to live up to but if there are no standards then where can guys really be men? *Am reminded of Wild at Heart by John Eldredge*

No matter how many of chivalry’s graves walk by you when you’re struggling to open a door or to carry a load somewhere, chivalry is not dead. I saw proof tonight.

vietnam

In one of the books I am reading I came across this poem, written by a Vietnamese soldier named Duong Tuong who visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. He wrote it and left it there at the wall. It is beautiful and inspirational about love for one's enemies.

At The Vietnam Wall

because i never knew you

nor did you me

i come

.

because you left behind mother,

father an betrothed

and i wife and children

i come

.

because love is stronger than enmity

and can bridge oceans

i come

.

because you never return

and i do

i come