rebelling against low expectations
Often I find myself waiting, for something. I wait until a better time. I wait until I feel like it. I wait until I “can”. I wait to do hard things until I’m qualified to do them, or can do it perfectly, or am just the right person to do them. So many times I talk about how I want to be this and do that and be that one person that pushes harder than everybody and gets stuff done...
It seems like the little things that normal people find easy to do are huge, daunting, horrible, excruciating, difficult tasks for us introverts. For example, most people don’t really have problems making phone calls, or saying “hi” to someone, raising their hand in class, talking louder so people can hear you, or making small talk with someone at a party. And sometimes it...
Euripedes, a play-writer in ancient Greece, was no stranger to the human heart. He knew how it works, and he knew humanity well. And this shows in one of his most famous plays, Medea. Medea killed her brother, left her home, and borne two sons in exile for the sake of her husband, Jason. But when he abandons his family for another wife, Medea is crushed with anger, jealousy, and grief. Cornered...
Dust gathers on my keyboard, maple leaves stick to pavement, tests keep me awake at 12:30 a.m., shuffled papers and empty coffee mugs clutter my desk by the window, and I sit, staring into space, with so many thoughts I cannot fathom into words. Sometimes I have to wonder if the world really does spin faster as we get older, time slips between our fingers like sand, and the ticking of the clock...
We’re back in school. Homework is being assigned. Our schedules are getting busy and stress is setting in. But wait. Let’s take a minute to think — to remember what really matters this school year. Here are 10 things I’m trying to remember in the midst of the rising craziness: 1. Seek out fellow believers We can be there to encourage, support, and build up one another, and to...
I love those old fairy tales. You know, the ones where the valiant knight saves the princess? The ones where chivalry and honor are boldly demonstrated and called for? Those ones. It always makes me sad when I’m out grocery shopping and I don’t see men opening doors for women anymore, or helping them carry the groceries. Or even when I look at relationships where either the man is...
In 10th grade, this was my biggest goal in life. I did everything I knew how to, in order to be cool enough. I wore the right pants. I styled my hair. I made sure I always smelled like I stepped out of a Bath & Body Works store, and, I exercised like my life depended on it, making sure the number on the scale was as low as I could possibly make it. It was a lot of work, trying to keep up...
When those we love hurt us, it leaves our emotions raw and gaping, gasping for air. It scars our hearts, our memories. It scars our friendships and it sometimes even leaves us with an injured outlook on life, on people. And we just can’t forget. But whatever happened to ‘forgiving those who trespass against us’? Does the Lord really expect us to show grace to those who do us harm? There once was...
Joy in the midst of trials. Is it really possible? I sit beside my classmates, waiting for this guy to do our chapel service. I gaze out the window, and see only a glimpse of light trying to break through the morning darkness. I just want this over with. So we can go back to class, and I can finish that essay I turned in late and ask someone for help on that one Latin sentence that I just can’t...
“But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.” — Isaiah 64:8 I look back this past year, and see how far I’ve come. The Lord has shaped me, and molded me, and I am slowly becoming more and more like Him. I cannot boast. I cannot boast in myself, but only that the Lord has taught me many, many things that have challenged, changed...
rebelling against low expectations
