i was given a serious dose of college two weeks ago: i took a biology practical and scored a 57%. i also took an exercise and wellness test that covered eight chapters worth of material: i got a 93% on that. college is both extremely easy and super hard, and it's that combination that puts studying into a feast or famine perspective.
amidst the chaos of studying--err, cramming--i found great peace and solitude in the music and the weather that i exposed myself to. i had worship music playing at a reasonable volume nearly 24/7, and i felt extremely refreshed the entire time. oh! i'll talk about the idea of being refreshing in a sec. the only times that i didn't have music playing was during class or during meals, the latter of which were all enjoyed out of doors. the weather has been absolutely gorgeous the past week or so, and i love seeing how much of a positive impact the weather has been having on all of us.
loud music and good weather are both nice escapes for short periods of time, but sometimes you need a real escape. this past weekend, i got to go to mexico and that was exactly the escape that i needed. i was able to spend hours on end playing with ten or so kids at an orphanage in naco, just outside of the border. i'll figure out a way to put up some pictures on here because i feel that my joy is better conveyed visually than textually. every one of the four times i've been to mexico, i've come back with such a broader world view. america has a strange view of "rights" and "privileges." we feel so entitled to everything in our physical possession, from a place to sleep, to the schools we attend, to the bodies that we operate. we have done nothing to earn these things, yet we so often take obsessive measures to prove our ownership. in places like rocky point and naco, the people view so many things as privileges and as blessings. this promotes a healthy view of what's really ours and what we're only taking care of. also, blessings are meant to be shared, and it is incredibly encouraging to see how much these people share with those in need. which is almost strange, because they are in great need themselves, but it seems to work out to everyone's advantage every single time. makes me wonder what would happen if more of us americans gave until we hurt.
if you've never met a foreign orphan, i'd be tempted to say that you have never seen or experienced true joy. that's quite a stretch, but being able to see such a lack of material things coinciding with such a presence of gratitude is unlike anything else in the world. i am so thankful that i have had so many opportunities to serve and be served by people who live lives that are such radically different than my own. on a semi-relevant tangent, i'm in the process of figuring out how to drop out of college. not education all together, just the university life. i see such value in collegiate educations, but i'm being called to a different field, to many different fields i believe. i have such a passion for service and for people, and i want to dedicate my life to those who can't help themselves. whether i end up building houses across the world or educating teens about healthy self-image and self-efficacy right here in america, i cannot say, but i trust the hands i've been placed in. i want to learn and i want to apply that knowledge. between personal training, cirque du soleil, and nonprofit organizations, i have a pretty good idea of certain things that i'm being called to, and i'm far from content with sitting in a classroom learning about things that i'll probably never need.
i'm sitting in class right now, watching a movie, and i'm far from mentally engaged in the subject matter. part of the reason is because i'm pretty much stoked on life. life is grand in and of itself, but it's always nice when you see god working in and around you. last night, i was able to witness to a friend after a series of unrelated, seemingly unimportant events. he invited me to a math review that i really didn't need, but i went anyways and invited him to dinner in the dorms afterwards. he had never been in the actually dorms before, so i invited him to check out my room, and laying on the floor was my "god recycles: he made you out of dust." folder. i saw that folder in the store and decided i needed it. ;D anyway, he asked me about it and we just just talked about god and religion and life and college and it was one of the coolest things ever. i'm not offering this as a proof of god, but for those who do believe, situations like this--ones where you speak words and do things that don't come from yourself--act as serious encouragement in god's activeness.
i struggle with this often, the fear that i'll turn to deism because i fail to see god actively working in my life. moralistic therapeutic deism is also something i pray that i'll never rely on. mtd is a belief system that is perfect by human standards. wouldn't it be nice if you could act as you wish, but when things got difficult or hard to deal with, you could use god as a divine butler? that's the idea behind mtd, and studies have shown that the vast majority of college students subconsciously follow this religion. this following is destructive no matter how one looks at it, for the simple reason that moralistic therapeutic deists bathe in false hope. to the atheist, any hope in god is absurd, and to nearly all theists, any hope in a god that wants humans to live as they please is absurd.
this post was not supposed to be longer than my first post. XD as a final note, i want to encourage all of you readers to live this next week out to it's fullest. if you are high on life and everything is totally swell, i want to encourage you to share that joyous spirit with those around you. be a light to those who are going through rough times, as well as those who are in your same shoes. to you who have been rocked by the issues in your life, keep pushing through. i can't promise when they will end, or even if they will end, but from my own experiences, i can assure you that the only way to fill yourself up is to empty yourself out. give until you have nothing to give, and you will be filled until their is no room to fill. strange how life works sometimes, but i've yet to see that mindset fail. life is so freakin short, so don't wait for tomorrow because tomorrow never comes. #clicheendingftw
ps- i never got back to the whole "being refreshing" thing. >,< this is actually a nice followup to that last paragraph. over the past month, i've been making a conscious effort to monitor my sarcasm, both in quantity and quality. however, god does not just call us to avoid being a stumbling block to those around us: he also wants us to be a building block so that we can be positive influences on one another. over the past two weeks, i've been working on being refreshing to those around me. do you know anyone that has a shining presence about them? somebody who brings smiles to everyone they meet? my roommate is exactly that. the person who makes acquaintances--strangers, too--feel like celebrities. he finds the good in those around him, and he takes the time to give out compliments to anybody and everybody. it's the coolest thing ever, and i'm striving to do the same. whether it's giving verbal praise or acting with a servant mentality, i'm in the process of being noticeably appreciative of the people around me. we're in this together, people: life is a team sport. let's lift each other's spirits.
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