Thursday, July 21, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Yeah...that happened.
One day, I was in the bathroom at work (conveniently and, sometimes, INCONVENIENTLY located across from my office) and I dropped a roll of toilet paper in the toilet. It wasn't just clear water, either. It was that magic blue water that is supposed to smell like the Caribbean, but really smells more like a chemical plant. I was sort of a newbie and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. So, I did what any normal, rational person would do--I fished it out and snuck it into the waste basket in my office. I'm pausing so that you can feel free to laugh. It doesn't stop there. My office began smelling so chemically-foul that it made me sick. I bagged up my trash and carried it to the dumpster. This happened about 2 years ago, and I just now realized that I could have bagged the trash in the bathroom and avoided this whole dog-gone mess. Live and learn. So hilarious.
Kendra
Kendra
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Letting Control Take Over
That's right. I'm going to start letting control take over. God's control, that is. I have, for too many years, overworked myself in order to take control of life in general-- and maintain it. I'm exhausted.
The truth is that no matter how well I eat and convince others to do the same, people still die. No matter how hard I work, I will still fail sometimes and people will think I'm and idiot. No matter how accommodating I lower myself to be, some people will still be dissatisfied with me or my family or friends. Regardless of how much I run, spin, stretch, kick, and sweat, I will still have a few varicose veins and little patches of cellulite. Even if I carry my phone everywhere and plan my life for the next 5 years, I can't keep everyone safe and I can't guarantee my success-- or anyone's, for that matter.
Last night I spoke with a friend who is experiencing these same struggles. We embraced the idea that its time to give up a little, take some time to find joy in today, be satisfied with the moment, and know that all the seconds to follow are ultimately in God's control.
Withing the past 48 hours there have been (in my life and in others') dramatic events that have suddenly changed. Some of them changed for the better, in a completely unseen and seemingly impossible way. Others changed for the worse. In each of the situations, I cannot tell you what anyone involved could have done to cause/prevent these changes from occurring. I'm not saying that you can never cause/prevent things-- it would be ignorant to believe that. But it's not ignorant to realize that God is sovereign, and that I can take each step of my life, and every breath that He puts in my lungs knowing that He has total and ultimate control over everything. And its time for me to stop pretending that I carry His responsibilities.
~ Nicole
The truth is that no matter how well I eat and convince others to do the same, people still die. No matter how hard I work, I will still fail sometimes and people will think I'm and idiot. No matter how accommodating I lower myself to be, some people will still be dissatisfied with me or my family or friends. Regardless of how much I run, spin, stretch, kick, and sweat, I will still have a few varicose veins and little patches of cellulite. Even if I carry my phone everywhere and plan my life for the next 5 years, I can't keep everyone safe and I can't guarantee my success-- or anyone's, for that matter.
Last night I spoke with a friend who is experiencing these same struggles. We embraced the idea that its time to give up a little, take some time to find joy in today, be satisfied with the moment, and know that all the seconds to follow are ultimately in God's control.
Withing the past 48 hours there have been (in my life and in others') dramatic events that have suddenly changed. Some of them changed for the better, in a completely unseen and seemingly impossible way. Others changed for the worse. In each of the situations, I cannot tell you what anyone involved could have done to cause/prevent these changes from occurring. I'm not saying that you can never cause/prevent things-- it would be ignorant to believe that. But it's not ignorant to realize that God is sovereign, and that I can take each step of my life, and every breath that He puts in my lungs knowing that He has total and ultimate control over everything. And its time for me to stop pretending that I carry His responsibilities.
~ Nicole
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Miley Cyrus and the Modern Celebrity Tragedy
I got lost on google today and came across the all-grown-up-at-eighteen Miley Cyrus. I don't personally follow celebrity gossip so, just in case you also happen to have better ways in which to spend your life, know that the former Disney Channel "Hannah Montana" star has been causing controversy by going through the usual young superstar somewhat rebellious I'm-an-18-year-old-girl-let-me-dress-like-a-stripper-on-stage phase.
And parents are freaking out, mostly because of her newly sexualized image.
And the attention, whether good or bad, is still on Miley.
I'm not writing this because I have anything against Miley Cyrus. I'm not calling her a slut. In a lot of ways, she probably is very similar to the average 18 year old girl. I don't know her personally and, when we're honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that she's no worse than anyone else.
I'm not just saying that; I really, really mean it.
And I'm here to say that the "Miley problem" or the "Britney Spears syndrome" does not begin when 16, 17, 18 year old mega celebrity girls start to create uber-sexual personas. It started way earlier, and it started with many of the people who now routinely criticize their current personas.
It started with the Moms, the Dads, and the "good people" who wanted their little girls to have a celebrity role model and who allowed their little girls to idolize, obsess over, and in some cases worship their little teen idols.
We absolutely shower celebrities with attention in our culture, and, the problem (I think, I don't personally know any celebrities) with doing that for any person, but especially a young, teenage person, is that they begin to believe that all of this attention is either valid, or, if not valid, then at least necessary for their happiness.
Why wouldn't they? After all, isn't that what people, including their little, ten year old fans, want to hear? That people love them because they're awesome and beautiful?
We are creating a culture of attention addicts in general, and the most extreme form of this attention addiction can be seen in the way that we create the modern celebrity.
Now, back to Miley.
It's easy to criticize her, but, I think that when we are most honest with ourselves we'll start to see that, while, yes, she is wrong to be prancing around making super-sexy videos and the like, that we completely enabled her to do so. And the people who showered her with so much attention and made her into something that she wasn't enabled her to hold such influence over their little girls.
Her new persona was the inevitable result of growing up with the wrong sort of attention in a culture where sexiness is next to godliness, and it became a virtual requirement for her, and various other Disney affiliated young women, at the age of 16, 17, 18, to begin to create an uber-sexual image in order to retain their place as cultural goddesses.
And then the moms who still have ten year olds get mad because Miley (whose face might just be on a massive poster on their daughter's wall) isn't who they need and isn't doing what they need her to do if they are going to raise respectable young women.
This isn't a celebrities-are-victims-of-society-and-have-no-guilt argument. Obviously, Miley and Britney and various others all made choices, but we're liars to deny that they had help in making them.
I have an alternate idea: Maybe we should just stop making idols out of people. It hurts them and it hurts us.
Thoughts??
~Lindsay
And parents are freaking out, mostly because of her newly sexualized image.
And the attention, whether good or bad, is still on Miley.
I'm not writing this because I have anything against Miley Cyrus. I'm not calling her a slut. In a lot of ways, she probably is very similar to the average 18 year old girl. I don't know her personally and, when we're honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that she's no worse than anyone else.
I'm not just saying that; I really, really mean it.
And I'm here to say that the "Miley problem" or the "Britney Spears syndrome" does not begin when 16, 17, 18 year old mega celebrity girls start to create uber-sexual personas. It started way earlier, and it started with many of the people who now routinely criticize their current personas.
It started with the Moms, the Dads, and the "good people" who wanted their little girls to have a celebrity role model and who allowed their little girls to idolize, obsess over, and in some cases worship their little teen idols.
We absolutely shower celebrities with attention in our culture, and, the problem (I think, I don't personally know any celebrities) with doing that for any person, but especially a young, teenage person, is that they begin to believe that all of this attention is either valid, or, if not valid, then at least necessary for their happiness.
Why wouldn't they? After all, isn't that what people, including their little, ten year old fans, want to hear? That people love them because they're awesome and beautiful?
We are creating a culture of attention addicts in general, and the most extreme form of this attention addiction can be seen in the way that we create the modern celebrity.
Now, back to Miley.
It's easy to criticize her, but, I think that when we are most honest with ourselves we'll start to see that, while, yes, she is wrong to be prancing around making super-sexy videos and the like, that we completely enabled her to do so. And the people who showered her with so much attention and made her into something that she wasn't enabled her to hold such influence over their little girls.
Her new persona was the inevitable result of growing up with the wrong sort of attention in a culture where sexiness is next to godliness, and it became a virtual requirement for her, and various other Disney affiliated young women, at the age of 16, 17, 18, to begin to create an uber-sexual image in order to retain their place as cultural goddesses.
And then the moms who still have ten year olds get mad because Miley (whose face might just be on a massive poster on their daughter's wall) isn't who they need and isn't doing what they need her to do if they are going to raise respectable young women.
This isn't a celebrities-are-victims-of-society-and-have-no-guilt argument. Obviously, Miley and Britney and various others all made choices, but we're liars to deny that they had help in making them.
I have an alternate idea: Maybe we should just stop making idols out of people. It hurts them and it hurts us.
Thoughts??
~Lindsay
Monday, April 11, 2011
Change
Why is change so difficult? For some people, like myself, getting a new cell phone is a huge deal. It's a change. My numbers look different. I have different back ground colors. I have to slide my phone a different way. The pictures come up from a different direction than before-- sideways instead of from the top.
This is obviously silly but, in any case, it still made me question why humans hate change so much. Not everyone struggles with it to the same degree or from the same reasons, but I don't think there is one human who doesn't struggle with it in some shape or fashion.
I believe it has a lot to do with control. And even though I know I don't have total control of anything, nor will I ever, I still get flustered whenever I am reminded of those hard facts. I think everyone does, actually.
Any thoughts?
This is obviously silly but, in any case, it still made me question why humans hate change so much. Not everyone struggles with it to the same degree or from the same reasons, but I don't think there is one human who doesn't struggle with it in some shape or fashion.
I believe it has a lot to do with control. And even though I know I don't have total control of anything, nor will I ever, I still get flustered whenever I am reminded of those hard facts. I think everyone does, actually.
Any thoughts?
Saturday, April 2, 2011
A Misconception of April Fool's Day...
I have yet to talk about my workplace on here, so let me introduce you. I assume that we are all generally familiar with NBC's hit show, The Office? (Side note: I am not necessarily advocating The Office. There are episodes that I would not recommend and scenes that I choose to fast forward.) Anyway, imagine Steve Carell and the gang and you now understand my workplace.
Yesterday, some of my co-worker's brought a cake and passed around a birthday card for everyone to sign. Then, they proceeded to call everyone into the kitchen and sing "happy birthday" to one of our employees as they put a crown on her head and handed her the card. April Fool's, it's not your birthday?
Um...for the record, kids, that's not how April Fool's day works...
Kendra
Yesterday, some of my co-worker's brought a cake and passed around a birthday card for everyone to sign. Then, they proceeded to call everyone into the kitchen and sing "happy birthday" to one of our employees as they put a crown on her head and handed her the card. April Fool's, it's not your birthday?
Um...for the record, kids, that's not how April Fool's day works...
Kendra
Monday, March 28, 2011
Foreigner
So, I've been a couple months living in Belfast, and i have to say that being foreign hasn't been what I'd expected it to be. I suppose that I came prepared for the worst: culture shock, feeling alienated, etc. It hasn't really happened. A good bit of the reason for that is because making the move from America to N. Ireland is far less drastic than making the move to, say, Saudi Arabia or something. But I also just don't mind being or feeling foreign.
Some people have a problem with that feeling, and I think that the people who do are probably the ones who feel really at home and involved in the culture of where they're from. Like the sort of person who runs for local political office would have trouble being a foreigner. Personally, I think that there's a lot less pressure that comes with being one. You don't have all of those funny cultural expectations that you have everywhere else. Here, people don't expect me to have certain political affiliations or enjoy wearing pink and lime green polka dots (which is a fine trend for many people, it's just not something that I enjoy), or be that "sweet" southern girl that I so often just don't feel like. I'm sure that there are expectations of me here, but I don't know them. Besides, the biggest American stereotypes that I've heard are that Americans are loud and obnoxious, fat, and sexually promiscuous.But I sorta break all of those pretty quickly.
I guess that what I'm saying is that I enjoy having people expect me to be different, whereas at home I feel like they have to discover that.
I think that the more that we assume about people (and we all do it) the less we actually know about them and understand them. But I guess that that's a challenge for all of us: we shouldn't assume that people are like us, we should just try to understand them where they're at.
Here's a pic. of my school for the blog!
~Lindsay
Some people have a problem with that feeling, and I think that the people who do are probably the ones who feel really at home and involved in the culture of where they're from. Like the sort of person who runs for local political office would have trouble being a foreigner. Personally, I think that there's a lot less pressure that comes with being one. You don't have all of those funny cultural expectations that you have everywhere else. Here, people don't expect me to have certain political affiliations or enjoy wearing pink and lime green polka dots (which is a fine trend for many people, it's just not something that I enjoy), or be that "sweet" southern girl that I so often just don't feel like. I'm sure that there are expectations of me here, but I don't know them. Besides, the biggest American stereotypes that I've heard are that Americans are loud and obnoxious, fat, and sexually promiscuous.But I sorta break all of those pretty quickly.
I guess that what I'm saying is that I enjoy having people expect me to be different, whereas at home I feel like they have to discover that.
I think that the more that we assume about people (and we all do it) the less we actually know about them and understand them. But I guess that that's a challenge for all of us: we shouldn't assume that people are like us, we should just try to understand them where they're at.
Here's a pic. of my school for the blog!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
You are wonderful...
I wrote an entry that I planned on posting yesterday, but as I sat down to post it tonight (oops) I felt led to venture on a different path. I erased the three paragraphs that I previously poured time into and now, here I am.
So, hello. Long time, no blog.
To be honest, I don't know what to say. For me, words either seem to flow or halt and right now, they are at a stand still. But, you know what? That's ok. There are times in our lives when the words just don't come. Sometimes you're not sure what to think, say, pray. In these times, I'm incredibly thankful for a God who knows every word before it is on my tongue (Psalm 139).
I hope when you read this, you realize how wonderfully you are made and how very deeply you are loved by our precious Savior.
-Kendra
"You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely... If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139: 1-14)
So, hello. Long time, no blog.
To be honest, I don't know what to say. For me, words either seem to flow or halt and right now, they are at a stand still. But, you know what? That's ok. There are times in our lives when the words just don't come. Sometimes you're not sure what to think, say, pray. In these times, I'm incredibly thankful for a God who knows every word before it is on my tongue (Psalm 139).
I hope when you read this, you realize how wonderfully you are made and how very deeply you are loved by our precious Savior.
-Kendra
"You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely... If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139: 1-14)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Learning
I am learning lately. Not just from classes and books, but about life in general and about myself. It is a lot like excercise. I have made a list of similarities I see:
- You must do both in order to be healthy.
- Sometimes you hate it while its happening because it hurts so much.
- They both make you exhausted.
- They both make you stronger.
- They both make you more aware of what you allow to enter you body/mind.
- They teach you what you can and cannot handle.
- If you give either one too much focus, they distort your reality about life.
- Their results are ongoing, and clearly show you why what you are doing is not only beneficial, but necessary.
- The both make you want to eat more; one because you are more hungry, the other because you are so tired of thinking.
Any comments?
~Nicole
Saturday, February 19, 2011
List of Learning
Do you ever experience those times when you feel like you begin to learn a great many things all at one time? It even gets overwhelming just trying to get your mind wrapped around each new idea that you're encountering. I have a list of things that God has been teaching me lately. I want to start addressing a few of them one at a time. Here are some key words:
Fear
Strength to Conquer
Thinking Light or Diet thinking (To be explained later)
Prayer as Conversation
First of all, I just want to address my issue with fear. It cripples me. Everyday. I have a fear of so many things that I do not even have one day go by in which I am not prevented from doing something because of my fear. However, God has started taking my fear away. That's right-- not taking reality away, or the situations I face, or the objects that I am afraid of-- but the fear of these things. Just like Psalm 34:4 declares: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." Deliverence is also a perfect word to be used here because fear grips us and holds us captive, deforming our faith.
Things in life are still scary-- like relationships failing, people being hurt, jobs being lost, answers not coming when we need them, making big mistakes- or even little stupide ones, big life changes and shocks, etc. But somehow, putting my life into the depths of God's covering grace and eternal satisfaction reminds me that whatever I can't handle will still BE handled, by the One who has an endless supply of provision for every situation.
~Nicole
These are some of my thoughts, and there are many more to come...
Fear
Strength to Conquer
Thinking Light or Diet thinking (To be explained later)
Prayer as Conversation
First of all, I just want to address my issue with fear. It cripples me. Everyday. I have a fear of so many things that I do not even have one day go by in which I am not prevented from doing something because of my fear. However, God has started taking my fear away. That's right-- not taking reality away, or the situations I face, or the objects that I am afraid of-- but the fear of these things. Just like Psalm 34:4 declares: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." Deliverence is also a perfect word to be used here because fear grips us and holds us captive, deforming our faith.
Things in life are still scary-- like relationships failing, people being hurt, jobs being lost, answers not coming when we need them, making big mistakes- or even little stupide ones, big life changes and shocks, etc. But somehow, putting my life into the depths of God's covering grace and eternal satisfaction reminds me that whatever I can't handle will still BE handled, by the One who has an endless supply of provision for every situation.
~Nicole
These are some of my thoughts, and there are many more to come...
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Belfast
More later!
~Lindsay
Friday, January 7, 2011
Wealthy
I've been thinking a lot lately about wealth. Well, really what I mean by that is that I've been thinking a lot about how wealthy we are in America, and how wealthy I am when I compare myself up next to the whole of human history.
It's something to think long and hard about. And then, after it's been thought over I have to stop and ask myself "What's the point?" The trick of wealth is that it enjoys walking around pretending to be the purpose of existence. After we meet wealth we realize that this is not the case. People run around for their entire lives treating other people like dirt in order to gain wealth or because they are more wealthy than others and it's silly. Today, wealth boils down to having a more zeroes on the end of your bank statement than the guy next door. Ink numbers on paper buy and trade the world.
I know that this sounds cynical, and, I can't really tell you why I'm writing this. Suffice to say that I have realized that I am wealthy and that wealth is nothing but an exterior- it is wrapping paper. And realizing this is not a sad thing, but one that brings freedom from so many expectations and stresses. It is a good thing to think about.
I should probably shoot for a more lighthearted sort of post next time. ;)
Goodnight,
~Lindsay
It's something to think long and hard about. And then, after it's been thought over I have to stop and ask myself "What's the point?" The trick of wealth is that it enjoys walking around pretending to be the purpose of existence. After we meet wealth we realize that this is not the case. People run around for their entire lives treating other people like dirt in order to gain wealth or because they are more wealthy than others and it's silly. Today, wealth boils down to having a more zeroes on the end of your bank statement than the guy next door. Ink numbers on paper buy and trade the world.
I know that this sounds cynical, and, I can't really tell you why I'm writing this. Suffice to say that I have realized that I am wealthy and that wealth is nothing but an exterior- it is wrapping paper. And realizing this is not a sad thing, but one that brings freedom from so many expectations and stresses. It is a good thing to think about.
I should probably shoot for a more lighthearted sort of post next time. ;)
Goodnight,
~Lindsay
Monday, January 3, 2011
The Cake
I caught a glimpse of one of my former professors today and, suddenly, found myself transforming my purse from a shoulder bag into a messenger (you know, so I would look cooler). I don't even know why I should care, but I was trying to think up something...anything...I had done. I haven't published, edited, or even submitted a query in a very long time. It was sort of a wake up call. Actually, it was more like the icing on the cake. The cake was yesterday when my husband said, "Why aren't you trying to write anymore?" Wow. Seven powerful words that I am very thankful for. Pray for me as I'm considering to take paper to pen, again. Or, maybe, just tap out a few keys.
(Kendra)
(Kendra)
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