Change Happens

Things change.
Those two words are universally recognized. Maybe in different languages, but everyone can comprehend that things change. The trees drop their leaves in the fall, and more grow in the spring. People get older and die, but babies are born every day. The weather can be cold, the weather can be hot. Flowers bloom, grass grows. Things change.
Life will hand us heartache and loss, grief and sorrow, anger, and hurt that just never seems to go away. How is it easy to accept that? It's not easy in the middle of a storm to stand up, smile, and say that everything will be okay.
Life also hands us laughter and smiles, joy and happiness, energy and excitement. How easy is it then to jump up and tell the world how happy you are to be here?
Change happens. Sometimes we expect it, sometimes we don't. It can be a wonderful thing, or it can be something hard. I guess the only way to accept it is to just hold on tight and enjoy the ride. Because one day you could wake up and realize your whole life has been spent worrying over things you can't control.

My fingers are very dangerous....

No. Not in the "road rage" way. ;-) This is one of those late night posts in which I talk alot. I'm warning you now that it's long. But I also think it's one of the better things I've written. It's 1 am. I probably repeated myself once or twice. I probably rambled. But maybe...just maybe...I made a point.
                                                     
Do you have any idea how easy it is to say "Did you see what she did?!?"
How easy it is to keep a record of 54 different things that have happened between you and someone else?
How easy it is to use that record, pull it out, and point out a person's every flaw?
How easy it is to stay angry at someone for something that is insanely ridiculous?

Unfortunately, it's very very easy.                                         

We hold grudges,
We place blame.
We find faults.                                                                          
We gossip and we talk.

BUT
Do we take the time to walk a mile in that person's shoes?
Do we take the time to think about how hard that person is working at his/her job?
Do we take the time to stop and ask them how they're really doing?
OR
Do we assume we know everything about that person?
Do we rush to conclusions and tell others they must not care anymore because of one or two mistakes?
Do we pretend they're living these perfect lives, and assume that their circumstances are?

It's fairly safe to say we do the "OR".
Our fingers can be the most dangerous part of the body.

Yes, we absolutely need them. Life would be extremely different without them. We use them to touch, feel, pick-up, carry, write, type, hold, drop, the list goes on and on! We also use them to point, and that's where it gets dangerous.

When you point your finger at another person, and start assuming you know things, stuff gets messed up. You begin to keep a record of how often you're able to point your finger, You begin to share with others how often you point your finger. It seems harmless at first. Then, you point more and more, until finally you don't even realize why your pointing anymore.

With our fingers we can build, fix, and make things better. But we can also destroy. Our friendships, our relationships, all of our time and energy that goes into those relationships. It can all be destroyed by pointing fingers.

Tonight I have to do something kind of hard. I know that I have done far more than my fair share of pointing fingers. I know that these grudges, and judgmental stares are causing problems in my life. I know this is becoming a serious problem, and I know I have to let go. I am a control-freak. I like being in control. I do not like handing my control over. And it's something very very difficult for me.

I know though, that I have to give it all away to God. I know I have to hand him my grudges, problems, and insecurities. I have to ask him for help. I have to ask him for guidance. I have to ask him for forgiveness. I have to turn the finger around to face myself and humble myself. Point out my own flaws. Point out that I am imperfect. Point out that no matter how hard I try, I can't accomplish anything without God's help.
                                                

I'm feeling Christmas-y

Let's recite the "Code of the elves," Shall we? Number one. "Treat every day like Christmas."
Number two. "There's room for everyone on the Nice list." And Number three.
"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." Now let's review the four major food groups of the elves. 1. Candy 2. Candy Canes 3. Candy Corn 4. And Syrup.
Did you HEAR that? I'm singing! I'm in a store and I'm singing! I'm in a store and I'm singing! I like to smile. Smiling is my favorite. I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.....Does Somebody need a hug?

-Elf

Hoooo is excited about this weather?

Yup. Super beyond cheesy title. =) BUT I found something amazing on this blog website when I wanted to change by background. OWLS!!!!!!!! I love love love owls! Not necessarily the animal itself...those are cool and all, but I love the cutesy little cartoon ones that are really in right now. I think they're adorable.

It's beautiful outside! Cold, but the trees are soo pretty! =)

Just thought I'd take a moment to tell everyone how much I LOVE this weather!!!!!!!!!

Matthew 28:19

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"                 -Matthew 28:19

Wednesday is my second favorite day of the week. (My first being Sunday if anyone was wondering.) It's not Thursday (My least favorite) and it isn't Monday (my other least favorite.) Wednesday is the middle of the week. It's there to reassure you that Friday is almost here. It's there to provide a day when there is rarely homework, and it's also the day we have our youth thing "Reverb".

I've probably been going to various Reverbs since they started...3 years ago? That sounds right...anyway they've always been on Wednesday nights, and they've always been something that I absolutely love! We play insanely goofy games, hang out, watch videos, and there's always a really good lesson. Tonight's lesson really got to me.

The youth just returned from a mission trip.I didn't go on this one, but I'm planning on going on the next one! So, Grant (My youth pastor) did a lesson about missions. I've always thought about it I guess, and whenever we do lessons about needs in the people around us I usually get pretty emotional. Haha! I don't know why it hits me so hard, but it does! Tonight was no different. There was a video (remake of true story) about a guy who lived in a tribe in the middle of nowhere that had never heard the story of Jesus Christ. It goes on and talks about how he came to know Christ and how his village people were all Christians now because of these missionaries that came to talk and live with them. At the end, he says

"There are hundreds of tribes out there that are just like us. They have never heard of who Jesus Christ is. Who will tell them?"

That to me, just really made me think. I don't know if God wants me to go to the middle of the jungle and tell people about Jesus. Haha He might, but right now I don't know. I think it'll probably be awhile before I have to think about that too hard. Maybe not, but for now I'm open to the idea. :-) Grant was saying in our lesson, you don't have to travel halfway across the world to share the gospel. You can share the gospel with ANYBODY.

You could share it with your next door neighbor, a kid from school, or an old lady at Wal-Mart. It doesn't matter. If you're sharing the Word, then in a sense you ARE being a missionary...just in your own community. It's one thing to know ABOUT who Jesus is. It's another to KNOW Him on a personal level as your Savior. I guess, if we share that then we're doing what God called us to do.

Makes you think doesn't it? Makes me think..........

90/10 syndrome

I have 90/10 syndrome. Nobody panic, I think it'll be okay. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one right?
Here's the deal. A TON of amazing things happened during Fall Break. I cleaned my room for the first time since like...January. (No lie. It was just sad how much crap was in my room.) We had an AWESOME girls night, I DROVE all the way to Union University and didn't kill anyone (!) and spent Saturday/most of today with my dear friend Sarah. I need to write something about how amazing that experiance was! I would tell you right now but I would get wayyyyyy off subject! There's just too much to say! For now, just know that I LOVED it!
Today my mom came and picked me up from the dorm, we came home and worked on Jericho Junction stuff, and I litterally wasn't home for more than 10 minutes before heading out the door for SPACE NIGHT!!! It was so much fun! I think the kids had a blast! Haha I did! We had a moon bounce, hunted for moon rocks, set up the international space station, had Mission Control Center, and the leaders of the group had to wear Jetpacks. (Cereal boxes wrapped in aluminum foil, decorated with duct tape, and a diet coke bottle attached.)

So long story short, my week was pretty amazing. I actually had a day where I stayed home and I didn't do anything. You know the "Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars? Totally just was humming that song all day watching TV. (Not the inappro parts of the song. Don't be wierd...HA!) I don't think we've had a "free day" where no one was doing anything since before June. Definitely needed that!

But here's where my terrible syndrome comes in- one 'not-so-great-thing' happened. ONE. One thing went poorly (I'm not saying what, who, how, when, so just know now before I say anything else that it doesn't matter.) and I let it completely take over my awesome mood.  COMPLETELY take over.

If my day were an AT&T bar It would've been about 98% green. I should be super happy with the 98% thing right? But I'm not. Instead, all I can do is focus on the 2% of that made me mad, upset, or frustrated. I guess you can call it "Glass half empty" syndrome too can't you?

You shouldn't let one small thing ruin your mood. If you do, you miss out on the cool stuff. You bring others down too when you think about it...if all you can do is focus on that ONE bad thing then what are you gonna talk about?

Ponies. Haha just kidding

Nope. The ONE bad thing. So here you are gossiping, whining, complaining, or tattling about something thats bothering you when you could be talking about how excited you are or be talking about these AWESOME things you've been doing.

In a magazine article I was reading, the official title for this goofy way to "Improve Life" was 90/10 syndrome. Haha Don't let the small things ruin your day, or anyone else's!

<3 A little piece of me.

The story of my awesome day

Awesome day!!!!! =D

Woke up at 10:00 and headed to dentist to get a cavity filled. NOT EXCITED!!!!! SOOOO Not excited.
I get there and she starts messin with the wrong tooth (one that DIDN'T hurt) and she's says "We can fix that in like 2 minutes flat." I was super confused when I was explaining that that tooth was definitely not bothering me. So the one that hurts like crap is because of a wisdom tooth. MEANING- NO SHOT FOR ME!!!!!! She ended up filling the teeny tiny cavity and tellin me to take some advil for when my tooth started to bother me....litterally took 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!! This is probably wayy too much information and I bet you don't care about my "dental stories" but you have no clue how excited I am they didn't have to numb me!!!!!!!!!!! I hate shots. Biggest tangible fear in life. Hate them hate them hate them.

Head to the WONDERFUL Mrs. Dionne's house for the afternoon. Hung out, went shopping for stuff for our "party" that we had later on, and had a grilled cheese sandwich...YUM

Got chinese food (My favorite right now!!!!!!) took it to church, watched "Life As We Know It", made cards for the people at Galloway, and had an AWESOME time with the girls!!!!

Came home, packed up, and tomorrow morning I'm heading to Union to spend the night with my friend Sarah. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO unbelievably excited!!!!!!!!!!!! =D Can't WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and while at Dionne's I watched a HUGE spider get sucked up with a vaccum cleaner. It was pretty cool....

And THAT my firends is a story of an amazing day, and a little piece of me.