It's Just a Matter of Opinion

Most of you know that I am a reader and literature enthusiast. More than that…. I am a classic literature enthusiast, there is a great distinction there. Trust me, choosing my major in English was not because I felt it would be the most practical or lucrative degree in the world. Rather I felt I could not choose anything else because that is what I loved.

When life gets busy sometimes it is easy to neglect those friends on shelves. Oftentimes the Bible will be the only book I read throughout the day, I am sorry to say that I have done so for weeks at a time in the last few years. (Although, next to “what would Jesus do” I do keep in mind, “what would Jane do” and therefore do not go very long without picking up Pride and Prejudice or one of her other magnificent works.)

However, since my conquering Les Miserables I have been going through an amazing enlightenment in regards to my reading, this world we live in, the habits we keep, the compromises we make etc. Can you learn all that from an irrelevant book written hundreds of years ago? Oh yes, you can.

And so I have gone into something of a reading frenzy… well as frenzied as one can get in the midst of all the other necessities of life (and yes, watching an episode of some mystery in the evening with my parents is one of those necessities). But not just any books. I have decided to ban modern literature for a time, maybe forever. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to be bashing any of you Harry Potter or Twilight lovers. I have had my fair share of enjoyment from a Nicholas Sparks novel myself. But those go only so far as to entertain. If you want something deeper, I am afraid you will have to go a century back to find it.

The reason why I love reading is not merely for the sake of entertainment, I want to be inspired, I want to be challenged, I want to be enlightened, and yes, I even want to be convicted. The morals that existed in societies of the past are so far above the societal norms of today, and it inevitably comes across in the story.

I am appalled to discover how many classical works I have not read! But not for long, one by one I will make friends with the great characters penned by great authors, both the obscure and the renowned.

I recently read several books by E.D.E.N Southworth, which I highly recommend. Such a book would be stuck in the religious category and rarely read in today’s society. But when she wrote it, it was common belief, common thought, common values. Oh how far we have fallen!

Here is a brief quote that demonstrates the faith strewn throughout the book which sits juxtaposed to the world we live in now. The character quotes, “I do love to live in an atmosphere of Christianity, and I hate to live out of it… [those individuals] were such irredeemable atheists. There was never a visit to church, never a prayer, never a grace, never a chapter from the Bible, never any sort of acknowledgement of their creator, never the slightest regard to His laws.” (from Self- Raised).

The character laments a hedonist acquaintance. But is her description not consistent with our society on a whole? Is she not speaking of books written today, movies, music, television, news, the work place, the schools…. Everywhere.

And so, this quote struck a nerve within me as I looked at the vast difference between the two societies. Yes, the ones of the past have always been imperfect, yet the Western world has never overlooked God so much as we do now. It is always refreshing to make friends with people who are like minded – even if those friends are old authors and the characters they create.  

Simple Pleasures

It was with great intent I gave my blog the tagline, “simple pleasures.” I think it is of the most importance to find happiness out of the little things in life. After all, what is life but a succession of seemingly insignificant events which merge together to mold the monumental happenings.

I love my life. I love it because there is so much pleasure to be found in every single day.

Cory and I go through phases in which we have certain habits and traditions within our everyday life. I have learned to look forward to and love these little things which are uniquely ours.

It has been well over a year now since we have christened Saturdays to be our date night. After we got married I came to realize that the term "date" does not have to be specific to getting dressed up and going out. In fact, my favorites these days are not. Our special Saturday event consists of staying home and making homemade pizza. It may seem rather simple, or silly, but because we do it together, it makes it such fun.

I throw the ingredients in my bread maker so that right about the time we are both home from work and ready to begin our evening, a pile of fresh delicious pizza dough is waiting (lately made from my freshly ground whole wheat…. Makes me feel less guilty for sure). Cory rolls out the dough (he is quite good at it…. Though he is not yet able to throw it up in the air like the Italians…he tries sometimes). We each pick our own toppings and make our own (rather large) individual pizzas. Jalapenos, garlic, onions, chicken (sometimes steak yummm)…. Heaps of mozzarella, BBQ sauce instead of marinara. We really have this thing down to a science.

While we wait eagerly for the pizza to be done, Cory will go download a funny show for us to watch, and get scrabble all ready to go. This is the one night we do not eat together at the dinner table; no it is quite casual (I am not going to lie…. Clothing is optional on pizza night). Sometimes we will throw a cocktail into the mix and get all cozy upstairs with the whole evening before us. I used to cut myself a few pieces and bring them up….. but these days, I just bring the whole thing. Probably not wise since I end up eating way more, but oh well.

This month, for one reason or another, we missed pizza night for two weekends in a row. Last Saturday (and probably Friday even) I kid you not, I felt the excitement bubbling up inside of me. It’s not just the pizza (though I must say, it is delicious), it is the whole experience. We are laid back, the week is over, we are happy, we are together, and we set other things aside in order to give each other all of the attention.

This post is for me guys. I want to remember these fun things we do. It may seem like a small thing, but it is a tradition of this season in life that we are in. And I know how quickly the seasons come and go. For that reason, it is important to jot down the details for the sake of the memory. And I encourage you to do the same.

These are the little simple pleasures that make life worthy of the grand word ‘living’. All of the little moments, traditions, and habits, which are continually evolving.

When Things Don't Go as Planned

2014. It began with so many wonderful adventures, plans, goals, dreams…. I distinctly remember telling Cory how happy and excited I was about many of the possibilities unfolding in our lives. I was full of hope.

Since then most of those possibilities which I was so eager for have crashed and burned. In the throes of some of my little disappointments (which always seem so great in the moment) my dad told me something that his dad told him once, “if this is as hard as it is going to get, you are going to cruise through life.” There’s some perspective for you.

The weird part about it all is that Cory and I lead an AMAZING life. Seriously, I don’t know why more people aren’t jealous of us… I kid, I kid. But really, it is great. I just suppose it is that yearning inside to learn, to grow, to mature, and yes… to see progress.

I remember feeling this way so many times in my life. You know when you have your heart set on something and then it falls apart and you feel devastated with the disappointment. And you know…. All of those things (with the exception of a couple I am still waiting on) have miraculously turned around for the better. By miraculously, I mean literally God-orchestrated.

When making plans and dreams it is sometimes difficult to see things the way God sees them, the big picture. God has truly saved me from some things in my life which I have had my heart set on. And at some point without fail, I have looked back and thought, “Thank you, God.” I might be near sighted, but He never is.

These are the moments I have to remind myself of… sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in my plans, my ideas, MY stuff… when God’s plan is always better.

And so, I will close this little midnight rant with one of my favorite scriptures of all time that I feel is quite apropos. This is what I go to when I need hope or reassurance.

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Amen. 

Just Get it Done

The squat challenge. It is definitely a love hate thing. There is nothing worse than getting all cozy in bed at night, reading for a few minutes, and then turning off the lights to enter into a happy dream land, only to have your eyes pop open in despair as you recall that you haven’t done your 185 squats. Oh man. That is a terrible moment.You hop out of bed mumbling under your breath. Just get it done.

Anyway, moving on to recap my specific goals for last week. My accomplishments were subpar. I had this wonderful plan of displaying a beautiful before and after of my Photoshop project that was on my goal list for last week. But…. I failed.

I rocked the crunches every day (except Sunday, a day of rest of course). And I did my taxes (what a relief to have that over so early in the year). And I shot some pictures that I want to practice with in Photoshop… but I never got to the actual doing part of that. There is always this week….

Even with the Photoshop mishap, this little system worked really well for me. So I am excited to tackle a few more little things this week.

Here is my new list of goals:

-          Get rid of ten pieces of clothing. I just have way too much…

-          Do 200 crunches and 1 minute plank every day

-          Run ten miles. Not necessarily at one time, but I have not incorporated much running into my winter workout routine, and spring is coming!

-          Re-memorize James 1. I memorized this long ago, but I want to start refreshing all of my scripture. This one is a good place to start.

-          And I am going to keep the Photoshop one picture on the list since I did not do so last week. Her we have a new week with new editing motivation and possibilities!

Just a few things that I am going to be improving this week. Should be fun :)

Advice That Will Change Your Life

The wonderful weekend is over and here we face another week full of fresh possibilities… I am sure that is what everyone is thinking, right? Maybe, maybe not. But it is true nonetheless. 

We are in the final weeks of the blogathon. I think I am quite in the habit of blogging every day and will (hopefully) find it difficult to give up. We will see how long that lasts. 

Today’s prompt is a pretty simple one. Share some great advice that you have been given. 

This seems like it should be rather easy. I have been racking by brain all weekend, trying to think of one of those wonderful moments in which somebody said something profound that changed my life. Nothing came to mind. 

I was attempting to determine why I cannot recall any one of those amazing “come to Jesus” advice moments. It seemed odd…. Because I really, really strive to make good decisions and I love it when those people who are most important to me speak into my life. 

And then I realized why I couldn’t think of a great moment and I am going to explain it as best as I can. I just don’t want it to sound egotistical… but here goes. It is because I was just raised with the knowledge of what is right… so in most cases I already know. Don’t get me wrong, I have several people that I go to for advice on a regular basis. My husband, mom, dad, and sisters (side note, I would never make a life changing decision without the approval of several of these people). But I have never been given a life changing piece of advice that I didn’t already know in my heart because of the way I have chosen to live my life: I am in the word every day, seeking God every day. I feel like this is coming out egotistical after all…. But it is not meant to be.

I guess, I should just say that my parents are the ones who gave me the life changing advice when I was very young and I never faltered, wavered, or questioned. Serve God. Stay in church. Read the Bible. Pray. Love others. And while doing all of this – have fun. 

There was no one moment when my parents first told me this, because there was no need. They just lived it. My whole childhood, they lived this. And then they would tell me, and I would feel like I already knew because that was our life. That was what life was all about. That was truly living. 

And so I have never been at a strange crossroad in my life wondering where to go, because the original advice I was given by my oh-so-wonderful parents, has taught me how to live consistently, every day.

Now I am not saying it will always be this way. I know that there will be times in the future when I will have to make tough decisions. But I also know that this advice, or rather, way of life, that my parents taught me, is the foundation that good decisions are built on. 

What is the best advice you have ever been given? I would love to hear. Link below!