Short post, but I randomly took the Myers-Briggs assessment tonight and discovered that I am an INFJ, which is apparently the rarest personality type, so that's interesting/fun. :) It makes no sense at all to me that they say Oprah has that same personality, but I'll take it. lol And I had to laugh at the section on work/career... so many jobs that I've strongly considered! :)
Anyway, in a quick "Thankful Thursday" shift, I'm thankful for natural new friendships (hooray for Drivers), for God's grace and strength, for the Spring daisies brightening my house up ("the friendliest flower"), for Milano cookies and Red Robin after a long day at work... and I'm super thankful that tomorrow is Friday!! Tomorrow I head to OKC after work for dinner and Jurassic Park with Malori (yay), then Saturday is Triston and Carter's joint birthday party... (5 and 6)
First off, Happy "National Siblings Day!" Kind of random, and I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for Facebook, but as soon as I realized it, I stopped scoping plea transcripts to make this happy collage... and I'm pretty okay with that decision. lol
Love you, Rachael LaJo! :)
Tonight was the first meeting for a new women's group that my friend, Lindsay, is starting. It's a group for older women to come in and speak to women in my age range, and we're going to focus on a different topic every month, (including practical things like career, health, etc). I'm excited about it, and tonight was really good. Lindsay's mom spoke to us about self-worth, and one thing she said about the strategies of Satan was a well-timed reminder:
Surrounded by blissful perfection and a million wonderful things God had created for her, Satan drew Eve's focus toward the one thing she didn't/couldn't have, quickly convincing her that she couldn't possibly be happy and fulfilled without it.
So true, and exactly how he works in all of our lives. To convince us that no matter how much God has blessed us with, we should zero in and dwell on what is missing and how miserable we are without it and how we can go about getting it for ourselves!! That might not hit anyone else as profoundly as it did me, but I thought it was worth sharing. There will always be something more, something we feel we are missing, but we can choose to focus on God's presence and His blessings, then reap joy instead of misery. It all comes back to the choose life theme again. Anyway, happy Wednesday, and good night!
“If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation... in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed.... If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet.”
"People get stuck thinking they are one kind of person... The human body essentially recreates itself every six months. Nearly every cell of hair and skin and bone dies and another is directed to its former place. You are not who you were in February.”
“I've wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims instead of grateful participants.”
"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them.”
“Here's the truth about telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and you're going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and it's like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.”
"It’s an odd feeling to be awakened from a life of fantasy. You stand there looking at a bare mantel and the house gets an eerie feel, as though it were haunted by a kind of nothingness, an absence of something that could have been, an absence of people who could have been living here, interacting with me, forcing me out of my daydreams. I stood for a while and heard the voices of children who didn’t exist and felt the tender touch of a wife who wanted me to listen to her. I felt, at once, the absent glory of a life that could have been.”
"Once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”
"Growing up in church, we were taught that Jesus was the answer to all our problems. We were taught that there was a circle-shaped hole in our heart and that we had tried to fill it with the square peg of sex, drugs, and rock and roll; but only the circle peg of Jesus could fill our hole. I became a Christian based, in part, on this promise, but the hole never really went away. To be sure, I like Jesus, and I still follow him, but the idea that Jesus will make everything better is a lie.I think Jesus can make things better, but I don’t think he is going to make things perfect. Not here, and not now.What I love about the true gospel of Jesus, though, is that it offers hope. Paul has hope our souls will be made complete. It will happen in heaven, where there will be a wedding and a feast. I wonder if that’s why so many happy stories end in weddings and feasts..."
"Humans naturally seek comfort and stability. Without an inciting incident that disrupts their comfort, they won’t enter into a story. They have to get fired from their job or be forced to sign up for a marathon. A ring has to be purchased. A home has to be sold. The character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and the fear, otherwise the story will never happen.”
“She knows who she is. She just forgot for a little while.”
First off, congrats to Lauralai for finishing the Aquarium Run Half-Marathon this morning in record time! ...Winning! :)
I must say, it was nice to go to a race and not be running for once! Taking pictures and making this sign was fun too. I'm excited to cheer her on in OKC at the end of this month!
Her sister, Leah, who is living in Japan right now, will also be running a Half later today! (Just to explain why her name is on the sign.) I told the lady at Walgreens that the posterboard was to make a sign for my friend who was running a race, and she said, "Oh, I hope she wins!!" lol
Yes, she did! :)
Song of the Week (inspired by Leah) = Defying Gravity from the Wicked Soundtrack
"Something has changed within me, something is not the same.
I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game.
Too late for second-guessing; too late to go back to sleep.
It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap!
...I'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so.
Some things I cannot change, but till I try, I'll never know.
Too long I've been afraid of losing love - I guess I've lost.
Well, if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost...
And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free...
And nobody in all of Oz, no Wizard that there is or was,
Today, I'm trusting God to catch me when I am falling and to love me when I am failing.
I am grateful for a well-timed jolt of hope!
(Reading these 3 updates in a row yesterday was encouraging - God sees me and knows my heart and His mercy is new every morning.)
I am inspired by (and trusting in and grateful for) my two closest friends, who radiate awesomeness and confidence and healthy stability and humor and beauty and love! :)
And finally, I am practicing faith by believing that I'm going to make it through the next 2 months of school and get my degree!! lol (I'm excited that we're almost done, but very ready for it to get here faster.)
Quotes I love from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Mostly from the book, but the last one is from the 1933 movie.)
"I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day.I think I shall write books and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream." :) Amen to that! "My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning, and may be many; but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength." “Jo's eyes sparkled, for it's always pleasant to be believed in; and a friend's praise is always sweeter than a dozen newspaper puffs.” "Talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.” “If life is often so hard as this, I don't see how we ever shall get through it…” “Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.” "So they were all in all to each other... the strong sister and the feeble one, always together, as if they felt instinctively that a long separation was not far away. They did feel it, yet neither spoke of it, for often between ourselves and those nearest and dearest to us there exists a reserve which it is very hard to overcome. Jo felt as if a veil had fallen between her heart and Beth's, but when she put out her hand to lift it up, there seemed something sacred in the silence..." “Beth lay a minute thinking, and then said in her quiet way, 'I don't know how to express myself, and shouldn't try to anyone but you... I only meant to say that I have a feeling that it never was intended I should live long. I'm not like the rest of you... I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”
“She did not rebuke Jo with saintly speeches, only loved her better for her passionate affection, and clung more closely to the dear human love, from which our Father never means us to be weaned, but through which He draws us closer to Himself.”
"She began to see that character is a better possession than money, rank, intellect, or beauty, and to feel that her friend Friedrich Bhaer was not only good, but great.
This belief strengthened daily. She valued his esteem, she coveted his respect, she wanted to be worthy of his friendship..." “Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.”
"If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that’s all that you really are. Time erodes all such beauty, but what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind: Your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are the things I cherish so in you." ❤
