All J-terms must come to an end...

Well it seems January is almost over somehow which means my month of taking one class is finishing up.  This is a bittersweet thing because on the one hand I'm kind of ready to get the semester started, but on the other hand J-term has been a blast! 

Here's a list of some of the things I have loved about this J-term...

• I got to finish reading a book (The Hunger Games) and I don't usually have much time for that during the semester
• I have had plenty of time to work out (spending some quality time with Jillian Michaels and her 30-Day Shred)
• I have watched all of The Office Season 4 (don't worry Britt, I will watch them again with you).  
• Monster Trail Mix...no it is not the healthiest probably, but I feel better about it with the nuts and raisins...
• Michael and I have gotten to have game nights every Saturday with his brother and sister-in-law--it's been a blast seeing them and their adorable children so much!  
• Time with friends...there have been a few girls' nights, there's been broomball games, time with Tina and Roz, and a few other things and it's been great!
• My class has really opened my eyes to issues in education and made me all the more exciting to be a teacher!
• And...Michael...man I love that guy.  We have gotten to spend a lot of quality time together this month and it has been so great!  From making meals, to movie nights, to dates, etc. it has been so great to see him so much!  

Those are just some of my high-lights from the last month.  This has been my final J-term and I'm very thankful Bethel has it.  It's always been a fun time to transition back into school after Christmas break.

I hope your January has been as wonderful as mine!

A lesson on octopus arms...

A few weeks ago I got my hair permed.  As my hairdresser (weird word, but that's a different story) was putting my hair in the curlers, she asked me if I could hold a chunk of my hair for her.  I of course did this and thought to myself, "Man, how convenient would it be if we had more arms like an octopus."  I have thought this many times throughout my life, but this time it caused me to pause.  If my hairdresser had more arms she would not have needed my help and thus we would not have interacted in that way.  Think of all the other ways we wouldn't have to interact with people if we had more arms.  We would never need help opening a door or carrying something.  Cooking with someone else would maybe just turn into an annoying occasion instead of an endearing one.  And, you would never need someone else to help you scratch that spot on your back that is both too high and too low for you to reach yourself.

It occurred to me (and this may be incorrect) that maybe God created us with two arms so that we had to interact with one another.  And, when you think of it, not only interact but learn a little bit about humility.  It can be humbling to admit that you cannot do something on your own and you need someone's help.  Having two arms can also provide a lesson of selflessness; for example, if you see someone with their arms full walking towards a closed door you have two choices: A) pretend you didn't see the person and that they couldn't possibly need your help anyways, or B) go out of your way to open the door for them and help them inside.  Choose selfishness or selflessness.


Like I said, maybe that isn't exactly why God made us with only two arms, but it kind of made me think.  It also led me to reflect on all the other areas that I need people in my life.  Let's be honest...that's a lot.

John Donne said "No man is an island, entire of itself," and further in Provers 27:17 it says "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

We, as human beings, are not meant to be alone.  Just as God is triune and in a continual love relationship, we too are meant to love him and love others and be in selfless relationships. 

Last week and a little Anne :)

Well another week has passed it seems.  If I could make one change to last week I would have woken up in time to work out every day...turns out skipping a week does not feel good on the day you do it again--oof! 

Aside from that it's been a very good and relatively productive week.  I am enjoying my class (Understanding Diversity), it is opening my eyes to a lot of issues I hadn't recognized before.  I find myself feeling shocked and sad a lot when I discover these things like why there are many predominantly white communities and suburbs.  We spend a lot of time looking at history and present times and then discussing the issues.  If you would like to read some of the articles or watch some of the videos/clips that I've been watching for this class let me know!  It would be worth your time to be more aware of some of the truth of our country's history and issues that remain today. 

I also finished my first book this week, The Hunger Games.  I read it because my mom, sisters, brother and grandma had, and I must admit that while it was hard for me to convince myself that I wanted to read it, I found myself sucked in a really enjoyed it. 

Last night was a girls' night so two of my roommates that are still in the country (Tina and Roz) and my roommate from the past two years went out to Red Lobster for supper and then we came back and enjoyed Anne of Green Gables with two other girls and eventually Michael's two roommates (Michael couldn't come because he had work). 

This movie is easily in my top five and really could be my favorite.  The characters just draw me in.  Here are some quotes I enjoy from the movie:

Anne: Don't you ever imagine things differently from what they are?  

Marilla: No.  

Anne: Oh Marilla, how much you miss.  

Anne: This is the most tragical thing that has ever happened to me.

Anne: I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair.  Green is ten times worse.  

Anne: I know I chatter on far too much...but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't.  

Josie Pye: Hey, Anne, how do you spell freckles?  

Diana (of the Lake of Shining Waters): Hey, Josie, how do you spell ugly?  

Matthew: I never wanted a boy.  I only wanted you from the first day.  Don't ever change.  I love my little girl.  I'm so proud of my little girl. 

11 Goals of 2011

Well here I sit back at school on January 6 without homework, probably time to hit the blog again I suppose.  My Christmas was wonderful and break just flew by!  It seems unreal that it's over already.  Time at home is so sweet to me it's always hard to leave, but I know that God wants me at Bethel and that makes it easier (and it doesn't hurt that I have some solid people up here to come back to). 

As you can see the title of this blog is '11 Goals of 2011'.  My dad had the idea of making a list of 11 things he wanted to accomplish this year and encouraged us to do the same, as a result my entire immediate family and a large portion of my mom's side have created these lists.  I thought I would share mine with you so here it is: 

1. Read through the Bible chronologically and spend more time in prayer
2. Be more intentional about relationships--encouragement notes, phone calls, etc.
3. Exercise consistently--get to ideal body weight and maintain it
4. Stop bad habits.
5. No more gossip--if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all.
6. Work on Spanish speaking skills
7. Forgive faster--don't dwell on the ugly, focus on Christ!
8. Blog more often--shoot for once a week.
9. Don't be so competitive--it's just a game :)
10. Read 12 books (at least)
11. Begin supporting a child through Compassion Ministries

Well there they are, that's my list...I'm off to a pretty solid start on a few of them so far and look forward to the challenges these goals hold!  I encourage you to make a list, we all have room for improvement in some area especially if you claim to be a Christ follower as I do.  God calls us to be holy as He is holy and not that all of my goals will directly lead to holiness I think they all hold tools that can help me in my walk and life as I seek to live for Christ. 

Life!

My last week was wonderful.  I am involved in the handbell ensemble at Bethel and this last weekend we played for Bethel's annual Festival of Christmas.  It was a wonderful experience.  Quite busy preparing for it, but taking part in the performance was awesome.  My top three favorite parts of the concert were the entrance, our handbell solo, and the audience participation song "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus".  It was amazing to hear that song being sung by a full auditorium of people with an orchestra accompanying it.  Truth was being proclaimed whether every person recognized it or not. As I stood onstage during this I was consumed by being in awe of my Creator and my Savior.  Hallelujah, my God reigns forever!  And He loves me!  How awesome!  

Here are the lyrics to that song if you too wish to drink in the truth and reflect on it...Praise Jesus!

Come, though long expected Jesus, 

born to set they people free; 

from our fears and sins release us, 

let us find out rest in thee.  

Israel's strength and consolation, 

hope of all the earth though art; 

dear desire of every nation, 

joy of every longing heart.  

Born they people to deliver, 

born a child and yet a King, 

born to reign in us forever, 

now thy gracious kingdom bring.  

By thine own eternal spirit 

rule in all our hearts alone; 

by thine all sufficient merit , 

raise us to thy glorious throne.   

Something else that has been on my mind lately is how God is good and how He knows best.  It says in Job 1:21 "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."  This verse just reminds me of God's goodness and faithfulness.  This last Sunday marked the anniversary of myGrandpa Butch's death.  It still hurts to know that he is no longer here on Earth, but I find peace knowing that God loves me and He loved my grandpa, but more than that, God has conquered death and life everlasting is available to those who surrender to Him.  Jesus commands my destiny and that of everyone else.  Nothing is a surprise to Him.  He has a plan in all things and His plan is perfect.  Knowing this helps me to celebrate the life my grandpa had and the blessing it was and still is to be his granddaughter.  So on Sunday I was sad, but I was also able to celebrate life!  

My sisters, Grandpa Butch and me ♥

Further this week was cause for more celebration as Michael's niece was born!  Freya Jane is a beautiful and precious little girl.  We got to meet her on Thursday and oh how exciting!  I haven't experienced a birth so closely since my siblings were born, but I can't remember a ton about that, new life is truly exciting and amazing stuff.  

Michael and me meeting his new niece!

And to think about how amazing the new life of a baby is, it naturally leads me to consider how incredible and wonderful it is to be reborn in Christ!  Praise Jesus for new life!  

Life is a blessing.  Life is sweet.  Life is fast.  Life is fragile.  When I reflect on how fragile my grandpa was before he passed on and how fragile little Freya is now I am amazed and in awe of thing we call life that is but an instant in comparison to eternity.  

I encourage you to live your life with with purpose.  Love God first and others second.  Life is far too short to live it all for yourself when there is so much truth to be experienced and shared.  

Busy Busy Busy :)

Wow, Praise God that it's Friday!  It has been an insane last few weeks, and this last one just seemed to take the cake.  Up every night until 2 and up every morning before 7 and then busy all day long...oof!  Needless to say, Thanksgiving break cannot come too soon!

One reason it's been so busy is because I had another exegetical paper due in my male and female from a Biblical perspective class today.  This paper was on Biblical sexuality and was really quite interesting, I wish I would have had more time to research the topic as I know there is still more knowledge out there...maybe I'll look some more over Christmas break.  But as I have class soon I'm not going to go into everything the paper was about, but I would love to talk about it sometime, so if you're interested in hearing about it let me know because good discussions can be had :)

It's my roommate Brittany's birthday and I'm just so thankful to have her in my life so I thought I would share a couple of the pictures she and I have taken together over the last 3+ years that I've known her...she is such a blessing and I praise God for her!

Beauty

Over the last few weeks I worked on writing a paper about beauty, attempting to answer what it is.  Through the process I learned a great deal and much of it actually connected to things I had been thinking about a lot over the last almost year in some cases.  As a result I was actually able to put many of my thoughts into words and that was incredible.  Basically what we did in the paper was first identify our presuppositions about beauty and what we consider to be a beautiful woman.  In doing this we considered how different things like family, friends, school, church, and media have shaped our view of beauty.  Next we looked at the different Hebrew words there are for beauty (there are 12) and how they are used in the Old Testament (they can mean majesty, glory, honor, rock, authoritative, desirable, covet, beautiful, handsome, etc.) and then try to sum up what beauty is in a biblical context.  After this we explored the idea of original sin and human nature through looking at the ideas of Augustine and Calvin as well as Newell.  We eventually had to take a stand on one of these and defend their point of view with four scriptures and find one scripture that seems to contradict it and explain how that works.  After that we basically summed everything up by saying what we think beauty is in the world and what a beautiful woman looks like.  I would like to share my thoughts on a few of these things. 

Through my research I found that I most agreed with what Augustine and Calvin said about original sin and human nature (essentially we are corrupted from birth because once sin entered the world it altered all of creation).  There are multiple passages that support this some of which are Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15, Ephesians 2, Psalm 51, and Psalm 58.  One struggle I did have with this view had to do with being made in the image of God.  If we are sinful from birth, how can we be born in the image of God when He is all goodness and there is no sin in him?  The passage of scripture that seemed to contradict Augustine and Calvin's viewpoint was Psalm 139 where it says "...you knit me together in my mother's womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."  I know that the image of God is a completely other much debated theological topic, but I thought about it on my own without any research.  When I think about the image of God I think beyond the attributes and characteristics described in the Bible and settle on His triune-ness; three in one; Father, Son, and Spirit all held together by agape love.  Agape being other focused, selflessly serving, pouring into others  without a thought about self.  This is God.  So taking that image of God I think of the creation of Adam and Eve, before the fall there was no sin and they partook in agape love relationship with one another and with God.  When sin entered the world it grossly changed EVERYTHING.  No longer were humans focused on others but on self.  Self love.  And this is how it is for everyone as soon as they are born.  However, the image of God is not lost I don't think, I think the image of God is found in our potential to have agape love relationships. 

This leads nicely into what I believe is beauty.  Beauty is God, specifically Jesus living a life of agape love in order that He could redeem those who are lost (EVERYONE is lost without Christ).  By lost I mean not able to partake in agape love relationships.  As it is impossible for a selfish person to be truly focused on anyone else but themselves all of the time, we as people need Jesus to come in and change our selfish hearts.  There is no beauty in the world without Christ.  I would argue that before Jesus came hope and beauty were found in the sacrifices that were made for their sins and seeking that forgiveness.

It makes sense.  We lost what we were created for at the fall, we were created to exist in agape love relationships, in the image of God, in beauty.  This is why we seek after it ALL THE TIME.  Our sinful nature however causes us to search for it in the wrong places because we just don't know the difference without Jesus showing us.  So instead of looking for Him we look to what the world says about physical beauty.  We look to the media, Hollywood, etc. and strive after impossible beauty that only creates a mask hiding our hurt inside.  We do seek to do good things for others like charity work and stuff like that which by human standards is good stuff but without Christ it doesn't cut it.  I can't think of the passage right now but I am fairly certain their is a verse in the Bible that talks about how even the good deeds of the wicked (all who don't have Christ) are not good.  We know we are missing something, but we don't know what so we dabble in one sin after another until Christ opens our eyes, sets us up on a rock and fills us with the Spirit giving us beauty.  Thus I don't believe real beauty is limited to only women, but that men can have beauty as well.  Beauty is simply Christ saving us from ourselves so that we may partake in agape love relationships and show this beauty to the world.