Steeped in Thought

Today at church we got to watch a discussion between our church leaders and Admiral Chaplain Barry Black. It was so good to hear his persective and his story. Something he said really stuck with me. "Love your neighbor as yourself" and "people don't realize the power that prayer has".   I just want to touch on these for a minute. I've heard a lot of different perspectives recently, some people are saying we just need to love each other more, while others are saying loving people isn't enough. I would offer this thought: when we truly love other people, all the other things will follow.  When we truly love people, as God does, we will come to respect them, we will come to treat them kindly, we will come to treat them as our equals. Just as we come to to obey God, listen to Him, and follow His will. Love, it's not just caring about someone, it's a willingness to act. It's a desire to help, to take care of, and nurture. It's also the need ...

Words. Sometimes they come so easy, like when we're passionate about something, or when we're mad about something. Then other times, words are harder to put together. Like when your friend is telling you something, and you want to respond the right way. Or when you're trying to convey an idea, or talk about an abstract concept. Or when you're trying to explain your own thoughts and feelings about things. My best friend has recently helped me come to realize that I have a hard time materializing my thoughts and opinions. She's been amazingly in-tune with my responses to things she talks about, probably even more so than I have been. I hadn't really thought about the fact that I tend to withdraw from discussions about controversial topics. I think there are many parts and reasons to why this is. Part of it is conditioning, I'm around people who loudly express their opinions, with little room for discussion. Part of it is I don't want to hurt the peopl...

Why can't we be more like the birds? They care nothing for politics, they're not upset about the latest legislation that was proposed. They care nothing for how it will affect them. They don't care whether or not they should leave their home because of these potential new laws. Yet birds are the happiest creatures. They are constantly singing, and flitting about. Birds are happy, they're not stressed out about the negative things that happen in the world. They don't worry about what will happen. As Jesus says, "consider the ravens, they do not sow or reap... yet God feeds them... Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?... Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:24-32) Why do we worry? God's got this. He knows exactly what will happen and why. Why can't we be more like the birds?

I've been thinking about a lot of things lately. How as we get older our dreams change, we have to reprioritize what we actually want in life. I went to an event at the medical school I want to attend. The event was a discussion on "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" in medicine. It really got me thinking about all the challenges that will come with pursuing a career in medicine, and how I might have to set some of my dreams aside. It has me asking questions like: How can I go to medical school and travel the world? It's not possible, I won't have the time or the money. How can I have time to meet someone and get married when I'm so busy training to be a doctor, and then being a doctor? How can I get married and have kids, while being a doctor? Will I have time to make and spend time with my family? How can I accomplish my goal of homeschooling my kids when I'll be working so much? Will my husband want to do that? Will I ever get married? Am I su...

Shout out to my best friend (a.k.a. the only person who reads this blog) for making really good and festive hot chocolate! It was lovely, and really yummy. Also, she invited me over to her house for hot chocolate, and it was a really great time. We haven't really hung out with just the intention to catch up and just be, for a long time. Also, she's just the best friend I could ask for. We've had our rough patches, but they never last more than a few months at the longest. We always get back to our friendship, almost like nothing ever happened, but we're better and stronger and closer because of it. We understand each other a little better, I think. A while ago I wrote about how I didn't have any friends, boo hoo hoo. Honestly, I was going through a personal rough patch where I didn't really come into contact with many people, and I had just transferred to a new school, and I hadn't made any new friends. Looking back, I realize that yes, I would like to h...

Coming back to school has been an interesting experience, to say the least. I'm at OSU now, so first of all, it's huge! Ridiculously so. I'm impressed with how nice and friendly the teachers seem to be. I keep hearing that as a new student I should go talk to my professors and TAs, however, I don't know what in the world I would talk to them about, so I'm not sure if that'll happen. I also don't have an assigned advisor, so that's a bit annoying, but I'll work it out eventually. One thing I have come to realize is that I don't really have friends. I have a best friend, and many acquaintances of varying degrees. It's my own fault of course, since I don't spend a lot of time with people. I'd rather be at home, with my nose in a book. Sometimes though, it'd be nice to have multiple friends, people to do stuff with, talk to, go to class together. Being at a university has just opened my eyes to that fact because I'm constantly s...

Thursday evening I posted an intense blog post. Friday morning I woke up depressed. I literally spent the whole day sitting on my couch watching NCIS: LA reruns. It was great, but it was awful. Today, I woke up with similar emotions. So I tried to actually do some things instead of watch TV all day. So I looked up some work study jobs at my new school, and emails some campus clubs. Then I watched a chick flick and colored. Not very productive, but still better than nothing. Then my best friend invited me to come over and hold her pets and sit in her hammock. So I did. We sat in her, really awesome, hammock, I petted her cat and her dog, and we just talked. She told me about her recent trip, and I told her the entire story of the movie I just watched. Never underestimate the power of friendship to pull you out of a slump. We talked and laughed, and her dog sat on top of me, and when I got home I felt a lot better. I'm so thankful that she's my best friend, and that she und...