21/22

So… I’m headed off to Summer Beach Project here in a few days. AND I’M SO FREAKING PUMPED! I hope to blog some while there but…well…the daily schedule gets kind of crazy so if I don’t, well sorry. I am honestly speechless when I think about the fact that I have already finished my sophomore year of college. One thing I just find incomprehensible is just how quick things change. And not only that but how you can get so established with certain people in a certain place and then do the exact same somewhere else. It’s basically as if I have two separate worlds. One at home and one at school. It’s so strange to me.

Enough with my babbling (although, not uncommon for me). I want to share a little bit of what I have been learning over this first week of summer. I began reading a book a few days ago titled “Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman” by Anne Ortlund. It truly has transformed the way I think about a lot of things. She discusses biblical womanhood while also giving advice on you’re wardrobe, daily planner, and even the organization of your closet! She’s a genius, in my humble opinion. One of the biggest subjects in which she discusses and in which I struggle (along with many others), is looks. I have known this is a struggle of mine for a very, very long time. There is such warfare in my heart and mind over this particular subject. I worry very often about what I look like and how people see me, my outfit, the size of my body, or the length of my hair. So I try to step back and focus on beauty that is solely eternal. The only problem is, well, I look in a mirror daily. I have to look presentable. So then I let the mind wander to thoughts of what could be different, or what I could change. Ortlund says in her book just this, “One of the disciplines of a Godly woman must be the discipline of the mind.” I want to discipline my mind to the word of God. Especially on this subject, but I’m not exactly sure how. So the more I read, the more I discovered the other end of the warfare going on in my heart and mind. We all want to look presentable right? Well that’s okay!! See, here’s the thing, I had no application. I didn’t know how to apply God’s Word to this particular subject. So I began over time to think that it was sinful of me to even get ready or make myself look decent in the morning. So clearly there is some major tug-a-war going on in my heart and mind. Yet again, comes precious Anne Ortlund to present some truth (that application of God’s Word that I could not, for the life of me, figure out and apply). She states in this book that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice and putting time towards your looks. It is actually glorifying to the Lord because we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, acceptable to God (Romans 12:2). This applies to our actual appearance even though our outer beauty, although God given, is not eternal. So Anne decided to share a personal conviction she had in her own life. She was reading Proverbs 31 and discovered that only 1 out of the 22 verses describing the woman/women (unknown) was describing her outer beauty, and the other 21 were describing her inner beauty. So she prays that only 1/22 of her mind would be focused on the outside and the other 21/22 would be focused on becoming the woman the Lord desires her to be. Then she went even further and gave her self some practical application; to only spend 1/22 of her day (a little over an hour) on her looks (exercise and all!). And that time spent was all to God’s glory not her own! I have decided to take on this exact conviction. This was just the practical application I needed to be sure I am focused on what is most important. This could be a short term thing, or who knows, maybe a lifetime thing. All that matters is that the beauty of HIM be portrayed through me, rather than the never satisfying, in vain efforts of outer beauty. I pray that each and every man, woman, child, grandmother, grandfather, rebel, goody-goody, and so on would see His beauty over any of my hairdos or stylish outfits. And that all I would want them to see is His beauty!

Thank you for reading this babble of a blog! I hope it has benefited you in some way.

Lord, math doesn’t faze you like it does me, but clearly 21/22 is larger than 1/22. Let those proportions be true in my life, just as the lady in Proverbs 31.

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:26

Pet Peeves

~When “getting over” does not occur. By this I mean that I strongly despise encountering a situation in which a slow driver does not move into the right lane in order for the faster driver to pass them in the left lane. Now, I’m sure almost everyone is thinking, “Oh my goodness! I hate that too!” Well the truth is, you are probably one of those people. You just as well could be that slow driver, that person that does just that of this pet peeve. They usually respond as if they are the good driver rather than the ignoramus that they don’t realize they are. Driver’s Education rule #1: GET OVER. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

~Have you ever watched a TV show where a house set is used regularly? If you have ever watched Friends, Family Matters, or Good Luck Charlie (choices of all ages) then you have most likely experienced this. At the beginning of the show or the end of a commercial break the camera always plays a catchy tune while focusing the camera on the outside of the home (Note: this is usually from a roadside or birds eye view). Then, the scene changes to the inside of the home. What do you notice? The floor plan of the home on the inside, which includes window and door placement, and material, does not match that of what is seen on the first view from the outside. Dad, I found you some new clients.

~When speaking to more than two individuals, speak loud enough to be heard. Otherwise, I would be happy to personally pull out each individual hair on your upper lip with my Walgreen’s brand, extra strength tweezers.    

~I very much enjoy a Subway sandwich. Or any sandwich of that nature. However, when the preparer of that sandwich has, for some unknown reason, forgotten that the sandwich making process is one of an assembly line and decides to take their sweet time making sure each slice of cheese is perfectly laid onto the bread, I tend to leave that place wishing I had purchased a time machine rather than a sub.

~Hey parents of children. Little Jimmy is not "good" and he probably will/is doing "that". Be a parent, not an idiot. There's a difference between believing your child's lies and earning your child's trust.

JUST SAYIN