Happy 2017! | Inspiration for the New Year

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2017, courage, don't quit, failure, inspiration, life, new year, Random Reflections, reflections, success

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

 

Happy New Year, everyone!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the beginning of a new year. I have a lot of resolutions and aspirations for this year, things I want to get done and things I want to avoid in order to make this a better year than 2016, but I think in the midst of all this planning and dreaming and wishing, it’s the courage to continue on, no matter what, that is one of the key ingredients for ultimate success.

9 Reasons Why Fall is the Best Season

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autumn, best season, fall, in my opinion, life, musings, Random Reflections, seasons

Photo Credit

As it is the end of October and, thus, we are deep into the glorious season of fall, I thought I’d create a post solely dedicated to declaring the best and loveliest qualities of this season. Autumn certainly hits high on my list of favorite seasons, if not the highest on the list, and there are so many little joys and happinesses about it that make it so.

Here are the top reasons on my list for why it is so awesome:

Week 3–Summer Reflections

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camp, kids, Random Reflections, reflections, summer

I had planned to post this on Monday, but completely got sidetracked by the busyness of the new camp coming in, so here it is now.

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Just a couple of thoughts from this past week. Things have been really busy with it being the first week of camp, but God is still doing a lot of great things and helping me grow me more and more.

Kids are so fun and hilarious. I love being around these kids that come to camp. They are so carefree and silly and entertaining and real. Yes, they are excessively silly and crazy at times, and they are like the absolute worst guessers of your age, but they are also so honest and open. There is nothing hazy or sketchy about them, for the most part. Once you start getting up into the teen years, then you start running into more complex and confusing characters. But don’t get me wrong, there were some older teen girl campers who, though they took a little more time and patience to get to know, ended up being just the sweetest, awesomest group of girls ever. Who also loved being “photographied” while they did a bunch of cute and silly poses.

You probably won’t ever feel completely ready for what you have to do, but you do it anyway. A big part of camp is doing stuff that is out of your comfort zone. I didn’t expect to have to do a lot of the stuff I’m doing this summer, and some of it definitely takes me out of my comfort zone. This is where I have to remember that this is where God has me for now, and where He has called me and what He has called me to do, He will give me the strength and ability to accomplish. I am not here because I am awesome–I am here because of what God will make me into during this time (phrase borrowed from one of our counselor training sessions).

I like this quote from John Wayne: “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

We had at least two campers who professed salvation this week, plus other decisions, so that made everything worth it.

Thanks again for reading, and please let me know any thoughts you might have in the comments below!

Quote of the Week | Herman Melville

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choices, consequences, decisions, Herman Melville, impact, pebble, Quote of the Week, Random Reflections, ripple effect

 

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.

~ Herman Melville

 

Have you ever heard of the ripple effect?

If you’ve ever thrown a pebble into a pond and watched to see what happened, you know that the pebble doesn’t only disturb the water and space closely surrounding the pebble. The resulting ripple from the weight of the pebble hitting the water travels far beyond the immediate vicinity of the pebble.

Depending on how large or heavy the pebble is, the ripples may continue to move out into the far reaches of the pond long after the initial effect is silent and forgotten. There’s no way of knowing just what all the effects of that pebble were. A splash against a rock on the other side of the pond ten minutes later may actually be a delayed effect of the ripple you caused. A duck startled by the loud “plunk” of the pebble may flap its wings frantically, causing the whole flock to be disturbed, further upsetting other members of the pond ecosystem.

Just as a pebble causes a ripple effect in a pond, so your everyday choices in life set in motion a chain of reactions. Less significant choices have less significant effects; more significant choices have more significant effects. Once a decision is made, there’s no effective way to stop the resulting impact.

Sometimes, when we are going through some sort of struggle or dealing with a negative situation, we think that there is no possible reason for it, that we’re suffering unfairly or for no cause. But maybe, have you considered that you might be experiencing a ripple effect? Possibly your own ripple or someone else’s. Consequences of bad choices can take years to fully play out.

That’s why you will never know just how many lives and in how many ways you may have impacted all through one single choice. It only takes one action to set a series of reactions into motion.

As Melville says, we can’t live for ourselves. It is folly to try to pretend that our actions only affect ourselves. We are like an interlocking chain, an interwoven quilt. Our lives touch so many others, many more than we ever realize.

But here’s the good part. A ripple effect doesn’t always have to be negative. Our choices can have immeasurably positive impacts as well as negative.

What are you doing to leave a positive ripple effect in your sphere of influence? How will your daily choices impact others in the next week, six months, two years, five years, ten years?

And how much will you wish you could undo at the end of ten years, or twenty, or at the end of your life?

I want my ripple effects to be positive. I want to look back on the past twenty years or my past life and have the joys and accomplishments and fulfillment far outweigh the regrets.

But how does that happen?

Just one single choice at a time.

~~~

Join the conversation and add your own personal reaction to this week’s quote–I’d love to read it!

Featured image courtesy of Unsplash

Quote of the Week | Victor Hugo

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create, divine purpose, dream, God, hope, imagine, Quote of the Week, Random Reflections, Victor Hugo

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

~ Victor Hugo

Without a vision, people lose sight of their purpose in life. They lose their determination, courage, their will to fight for freedom. A dream is the seed to a hope, a starting point for belief, an idea that fuels the future.

“Without a vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18, paraphrased).

The life of a people is in their dreams and aspirations for the future, and that life is empowered ten-fold when those dreams and aspirations are divinely-inspired. After all, God did create us with the capacity to dream, imagine, create, and hope for a reason. He knew how powerful an idea in the mind of a man would be. So powerful, in fact, that He used that capacity to dream and envision as the primary way to inspire His written word in the hearts of the many biblical authors.

Your imagination is a potent force for doing great things, especially when under the guidance of the Divine Creator and Author of your life! He wants us to dream, imagine, aspire, create. Faith and belief in something literally creates the substance of that faith. It is the concrete evidence of what was previously unseen or unable to materialize.

So let yourself dream and find hope for your future as you seek His guidance in your life. Don’t suppress or dismiss your natural-born desires and dreams as being impossible or silly or impractical. God intentionally implanted within you the desires and dreams that you have, and if you are seeking after Him with all your heart, He will use them significantly as He enacts His unique purpose for your life.

~~~

Join the conversation and add your own personal reaction to this week’s quote–I’d love to read it!

Seven More Problems With Being an Introvert (Part 2 – Introvert Problems)

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introvert, introvert problems, musings, personality, problems, Random Reflections, traits

This is part 2 of my “Introvert Problems” blog series. You can read part 1 here.

Here you go– Seven more problems that we introverts deal with on a regular basis.

1. When you need to take time to prepare yourself for any upcoming event or party where there is any kind of social interaction or activity (my sister laughed at this concept when I tried to explain it to her . . . apparently it’s a very foreign idea to the extrovert sphere).

If someone springs any kind of spontaneous thing on me that involves a lot of people I have to work hard to keep the panicky or nervous butterflies feeling from taking over my body. Yikes!! For future reference, if you want me to go to any social thing with you please plan on telling me about it at least a week in advance for me to properly process the idea in my mind. Thank you. (Ok, I don’t always need that much time, but I do really appreciate a decent amount of warning. However depending on what it is, I might need a week.)

2. When you can’t just sit quietly and seriously in one place not doing or saying anything, without someone asking you, “Are you ok?”

Uh, thank you for your concern, but yes, I actually just like to sit and not smile or talk every once in a while, because constant smiling and talking is so much against my natural tendency. That doesn’t mean that something is wrong with me, or that I’m grumpy or mad. I’m just being my normal contemplative self.

3. When you love being home alone but you don’t want to make your family feel bad when they come home or think that you don’t want them there even though you kind of don’t . . .

. . . but that’s nothing against them–I love my family a lot!–it’s just that people are people, no matter who they happen to be.

4. When you really like taking pictures of people but you have a subconscious standard of how close you can get to people with a camera without them noticing your presence, and so you either deal with zoomed-out and/or slightly blurry photos or resort to spending lots of money on telephoto lenses (which is not all bad because telephoto lenses are just awesome anyways).

5. When you don’t look forward to your birthday because on that dreadful day all the attention is directly. on. you. *cue ominous music*

And the worst part is opening your presents. Even if it’s just your family! True story.

6. When you have to eat a meal with other people outside of your family, and you have to be extra careful to not slurp or burp or make a mess, and everyone is at the same table facing toward each other and they’re all looking at you.

A twisted extrovert invention, I guarantee you.

7. When you wonder if you are taking this introvert thing too seriously . . .

I mean, really, am I just weird or paranoid or something? Is this something that I should try to get over? What’s the correct balance between being myself, true to my nature, and getting too far into the fear of man or something?

Hmm. So what do you think?

Let me know your thoughts on introvert problems whether you are an introvert or not, and be sure to subscribe to my blog so you get notifications of each new post! Thanks for reading!

Writing by Inspiration

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confessions of a writer, inspiration, muse, Random Reflections, routine, schedule, writing

I am a write-by-inspiration writer. That means that I have a very hard time sticking to a regular writing schedule. I pretty much let the muse guide me and write when the inspiration hits me.*

That can be a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing, because since I am writing my thoughts out at the time of my peak creativity and inspiration, I tend to get a whole lot of words out in a short period of time. Since I am writing out of flow and energized focus, what I write can often initially turn out better than if I were forcing myself to write.

The bad thing about this system is that my writing is entirely dependent on the whims of the muse, and said muse can be extremely fickle and random. I never know when the urge to write will come on. Or even if it will come at all. It can be anywhere from an hour to a month in between spurts of inspiration. It’s actually rather annoying, especially when I am aspiring to become a sort-of full-time writer. I don’t think many writers have earned much bread that way. It’s not a very reliable way of life.

Tsk, tsk. Bad muse.

But anyway, I want to try to get on a more regular writing schedule, and force myself to write, even if those times won’t result in higher quality stuff. Because eventually, getting in the habit of writing daily or regularly will help me to be able to write quality stuff whenever I decide to write. I don’t want to be at the mercy of a whim all my life. Having this blog is a great way to improve in that area. I think I already have gotten somewhat better since I’ve started blogging, though I do still have lapses of writing laziness, like this past week (I’m going to try to do at least two posts this week to make up for it).

Here are a couple of great quotes about writing that really inspire me in this area:

 

Obviously, these guys succeeded with their own advice.

So, those of you who are writers, what kind of writing routine–or lack thereof–do you have? I’d love to hear from you! Even if you aren’t a writer, I’d love to hear your thoughts, too. If you are a spammer or a robot, no offense, but I’d rather not hear what you have to say.

Happy (belated) Easter/Resurrection Day, readers!

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*For the record, I don’t really believe in an actual “Muse,” or an unseen power guiding a writer, like the Greek goddess or anything like that. I’m just referring to the general inspiration and stimulus that comes randomly upon a writer.

21 Signs That You Might Be a Booklover

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bibliophile, book addict, booklover, Books, bookworm, Random Reflections, read, reading

Photo Credit: Bart Heird

I love books. To anyone who knows me even a little, that shouldn’t be a surprise. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember.

Lots of people like to read, but what many don’t know is that liking to read and loving books are two starkly different cases. In fact, for true booklovers there are often a series of ominous–er, delightful–signs that confirm that you are truly that–an honest-to-goodness booklover (aka bookworm, and if you want to get technical, bibliophile).

Whether your spell check likes it or not, a “booklover” is a real thing. Look it up on dictionary.com; it’s there. Although I might add that their definition, “a person who enjoys reading books,” is far from coming close to encapsulating all the weird and wonderful aspects that comprise being a booklover. It’s much more than merely an adjective or a personality trait.

Don’t worry, though, these signs are not to be feared. They are a natural part of this wonderful world of books, and should be embraced and cultivated. Of course, some have it worse more extensively than others, but typically, any booklover will be able to relate to a good many of these signs.

You starting to think I’m crazy yet? Well then, you must be an anti-booklover. And I’d advise you to just abandon this post before you really start thinking I’m crazy.

For you fellow booklovers and curious bystanders, feel free to read on.

1. Whenever you visit someone’s house, you are drawn to their bookshelves like a force of nature.

2. You treasure the very first time you read a good book–because once you read it, there can never be a first time EVER. AGAIN.

3. You can never visit a bookstore without buying at least one book (and more likely 3 or 4).

4. You have stacks of books on the floor around your room that won’t fit in your bookcase(s).

5. Your family always buys you books for birthday or Christmas gifts.

6. You make sure to buy purses that are big enough to fit several books, and,

7. You never go anywhere without at least two books with you–never just one, because you might finish that one while you’re out, and then you’d have nothing to read–a horrible predicament–so you always bring two (or your kindle–I have 300+ books on there).

8. Even if you do bring your kindle that has 300+ books on it with you, you still bring a real hard copy book, because you never know when your kindle battery might die on you.

9. Your to-read list is pretty much useless because there are just too many books on it to even try to wade through.

10. One of your favorite scents of all time is the smell of books.

11. Two of your favorite places in the world are bookstores and libraries.

12. Your books are higher on your list of things to protect in a rainstorm than your hair or your purse.

13. One of your goals in life is to have your own personal library in your home when you have your own house someday.

14. The only thing better than a box of new books is a box of old books.

15. Being able to read a good book in silence with no distractions makes it a very good day for you.

16.  One of your dream jobs is to work in a library or bookstore.

17. It’s almost impossible for you to actually get any cleaning done in your room because you can’t shut out the pleading calls of the books scattered around the room.

18. You still get upset thinking about the Library of Alexandria. (That might be a sign of being a history lover, too.)

19. At least 90% of what you buy from Amazon is books.

20. You don’t like watching the movie before you read the book because you like to be able to have your own imagination of the characters and settings, and because, well duh, if you watch the movie first, you’ll know how the book ends, and how fun is that??

21. There is no such thing as too many books; there is only not enough space on your shelves.

~~~

Well, there you have it, twenty-one signs that you might be a booklover. This list is pretty much written from personal experience…

Yeah, I think I just might be a booklover.

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If you are new to me or my blog, feel free to check out my About page and my Intro Post!

As always, thanks for reading!

15 Problems With Being An Introvert

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introvert, personality, problems, Random Reflections, traits

Lately, my posts have all been on the more serious or spiritual side, which is great, but I thought it was time for a slightly more lighthearted post.

About . . . introvertedness!! One of my favorite subjects.

Why about that boring subject? Because, well, for one, I am one (an introvert – not boring). Two, I think non-introverts sometimes need a little help understanding our kind. Three, I want to let other introverts out there know that they aren’t alone in this. Four, I just want to make my (older, highly extroverted) sister laugh. Because I know it will. *wink*

Okay, here’s my list of problems that I personally deal with on a regular basis. I hope some of you fellow introverts can relate to some of these.

1. Wanting to leave a party or church get-together so I can go sit in the car and read.

This happens to me almost every time. Unless it is a small group of close friends and I’m winning at the game or activity we’re doing (or there is really good food, especially involving chocolate).

2. Making every possible effort to avoid having to talk to someone on the phone.

I’ll do anything else, write 17 emails, beg another family member to do it for me, text someone instead of calling, to keep from having to undertake that menacing task.

3. Taking a round-about route among the rows and walkways in Walmart (or any store/public place) to avoid other customers.

I’ve been known to cut through side rows, go around racks of clothes or duck behind stuff to keep from having to interact with or pass by other people (ahhhhh!!!!! – ahem, excuse me).

4. Waiting until everyone else leaves a public restroom before exiting the stall to wash my hands.

Tell me I’m not the only person who has done this. Or else this is super embarrassing, and I’m going to go crawl in a hole and send this blog into oblivion for all of eternity. But really, I just really like to minimize my contact with people if possible. I promise you I’m not crazy.

5. Crossing the road to avoid meeting another person on my side of the road.

Nope, I don’t hate you. I’m just . . . being an introvert.

6. Having an eloquent and well-thought-out discussion/argument all laid out in my head, and then opening my mouth to verbalize it and what comes out makes no sense whatsoever. Having an amazing thought in my head, but not being able to express it.

This is one of the worst things about being a thinker rather than a talker. I need about an hour to write out my thoughts clearly, and then I’ll read them to you.

7. When visiting someone else’s house with a large group of people (esp. strangers), wandering through the house until I find a quiet room a safe distance away from the group and conducive to reflection and stimulation (ideally with lots of books in it).

It’s like taking a deep breath of fresh air to find that haven of solitude.

8. Having a hard time not getting upset when someone interrupts my internal dialogue.

Sometimes I have such stimulating and intricate trails of thought in my head and it can be a little frustrating to have them interrupted.

9. Wanting to take the stairs instead of the elevator because there might be people in the elevator – oh, the horror.

I’ve always wanted to try those pranks that you do to a group in an elevator, but I don’t know if I’d ever get enough courage to actually do them.

10. Dreading when visitors stay at our house, because that means that I have to look alive at all times.

Again, I promise that it’s never because I don’t like you or I hate people. It’s just so stressful for me because I’m not a natural entertainer. If I lived alone and had to have you stay at my house, I’d probably set up a complicated scavenger hunt for you outside, send you off, and then retreat to my room and books.

11. Wanting to escape to a far-away place with minimal human interaction, but still keep my internet connection.

Yes, I love interacting with people when they can’t see or hear me.

12. People assuming that “sweet and quiet” is all there is to my personality.

I’ll let this meme say it for me:

. . . unless you take the time to really get to know me.

13. People thinking that when I’m sitting by myself I must be terribly lonely and must wish that someone would come over and talk to me.

Ahem…I went over here in between the roses and the fence for a reason. Thank you very much.

Seriously, I actually really enjoy hanging out with myself. People should do it more often – they might just discover that they are pretty good company.

14. Saying something dumb or confusing in a conversation, and then spending the next three hours analyzing how I could have said it better.

The worst kind of disaster to relive in my mind . . .

15. Being at some place and wishing I could go home and hug my dog because she really understands how to be there for me without saying a word.

There’s a reason they are called man’s best friend.

Well, those are just a few of the traumas we introverts live through daily. Just kidding, they aren’t really that bad in the grand scheme of things. And being who I am is worth all the trouble along the way. I love who I am and my personality, although I haven’t always, and I know that God always has something to teach me through these things.

Just remember, even though your particular personality type tends toward certain characteristics or quirks, that is not always a good excuse for acting in a way that is not pleasing to God. I know I struggle a lot with how I am around people, but I also know that God has been teaching me through my struggles and improving those negative traits over the years, and He will help me to overcome them in time.

If you are an introvert (or even if you’re not) and you’d like to add to this list, please do so! I might do a part 2 one of these days.

Oh, and if you are interested in learning more about my interesting personality, take a look at this board over on my Pinterest. It’s a fun collection of memes and things that really describe my personality in a humorous manner.

Hope you enjoyed this, and thanks for reading!

(Update: I have indeed written a part 2 to this series since writing this post, so if you’d like to check it out, click here!)

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If you are new to me or my blog, feel free to check out my About page and my Intro Post!

Thanks for visiting!

An Extraordinary World Record

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abel, blogging101, extraordinary, God, heaven, Love, musings, paradise, ramblings, Random Reflections, redemption, world record

Photo Credit – https://flic.kr/p/auWcfw

People love to brag about being the first person to do something amazing or the first person to go to some place. Some people live to get their name put in the Guinness Book of World Records, to do the next great thing or to break the world record for something. They never get tired of pushing themselves, searching for the next amazing thing that no one has ever done before.

But you know one world record that has already been taken, that no one can ever do again?

To be the first human to leave the earth and enter the presence of God.

Can you think of anything more awesome than that? Imagine, if it’s even possible, what it would feel like to be the first to leave this earth and find yourself in the dwelling place of the Creator of the universe.

Call it paradise, call it Abraham’s bosom, call it heaven . . . whatever you think the dwelling place of Old Testament saints was – I haven’t done much study on that subject, but I don’t think it matters a whole lot – suffice it to say, it’s a place of perfection and beauty and joy, a place saturated with the presence of God.

And Abel, the first human to die, was the first to enter that place.

I’ve always thought of Abel’s murder as a horrible thing, the event that really significantly marked the entrance of sin and death into the world. And don’t get me wrong – it was. But thinking about it yesterday from a different perspective made me realize that it was also the beginning of something extraordinary.

Of course, here’s the thought: wouldn’t it have been far better for sin never to have come and for the human race to have continued having direct fellowship with God right here on a perfect earth? Yes, I believe it would have been infinitely far better.

But the wonderful thing about this is that, in spite of the now polluted and corrupt world, God still made a way for us to gain direct fellowship with Him – both while we live on this sinful earth and also after we die.

Instead of immediately giving up on us and leaving the world to its own destructive way, God gave His righteous Old Testament people a way of accessing His glory and presence, even though His eternal plan and purpose was probably pretty vague and foggy in their minds; and eventually, God’s ultimate plan for the whole world would be made clear through the coming of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Abel was the first human to die as a result of sin, but he was also the first human in a sinful world to experience the full presence of God as a result of God’s infinite love and care for His righteous children.

The fact that God went the extra step to reconcile His people to Himself after they had already rejected Him is almost more amazing of a thought than the fact of the initial fellowship between God and humans at the very beginning of Creation.

Thinking about this makes me realize even more strongly than ever that God can take what is bad and transform it into something good. In this case, God took the entrance of sin into the world, and used it to enact the greatest story of love and redemption the world has ever seen.

Abel’s death and entering into God’s presence is an extraordinary world record – the first person to experience, through death, the love and redemption shown by God to His people.

Thanks for reading my random musings, and I hope it spoke to you in some small way. Let me know your thoughts! I’d love to read them.

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If you are new to me or my blog, feel free to check out my About page and my Intro Post!

Thanks for visiting!