Dear My Generation, Your actions will outlive you.

"Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

While we may not be old enough to look back and be fully satisfied we are also not young enough to look forward and take our time. There are far too many wonderful and life-impacting  things out there that we have yet to come across. There are so many people we have not yet met. Let’s live fully and leave this world better than we entered it 20+ years ago. 

Why is being single seen as such a sucky thing in society? 

Why do we put so much time and effort harping on a the glory of marriage when we have something great now? Please, don’t get me wrong, marriage is gonna rock. However, today and this season of single-ness that you are in is just as good in its own way if you allow it to be so.

A Healthy Dose of Life.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone else ever thinks the way I do. If they are ever in the middle of a moment and then think, “This is life. This is life? Woah. This is life!” And even though it’s no moment in particular, the fact that it’s happening reminds you that you are alive and living. It’s then that you start processing everything: what have you been doing? What are you doing? What will you do?! Are you happy? Have you made others the same? 

Those thoughts have been crossing my mind lately and whether it’s because I’m finishing grad school in 5 days or  maybe because it’s just that as we get older we tend to become more aware of our social and emotional surroundings. Who knows, it could even be a culmination of both those factors. 

One thing I am quite sure of is that no matter how somewhat “confused” those moments make me, they have definitely made me oh-so grateful. Not just because something momentous has happened in my life but because something happened period! They serve as reminders that God has always been faithful. He has never quit on me even when I did on myself. They are my healthy doses of reality and never let me forget how extraordinary life can -and will- be! 

Movin' to the country, gon' eat me lotta peaches

If you’re like me and you have ventured out to the great unknown or are planning to, here is a compilation of a few things - some practical and some more personal - I have learned about moving to another city/country/continent (Pick one that suits you best).

Leave your baggage behind. Your future self will thank you for it. When you forgo all the things that you only think you need and hold on to items of actual importance and quality your view of everything changes for the better. And I am not simply talking about physical items either, I mean things like moments and emotions too. Travel light and go further. Not to mention, it gives you a great excuse to fully immerse yourself in that new culture and get accustomed to something else.

"If you use the same bricks from your old house to build a new home, you’re gonna get the same results." While it’s cool to say that you were given a fresh start it’s not cool have spent all your time wasting it. Use this opportune time to exceed your past expectations. Put in more work. Change your style. Be adventurous. Be an introvert. Start going on daily walks. Go ahead and put your first dollar into that savings account you’ve been planning to create for the last 5 years. Read a book. Join a plant club. Now is the best time to do anything.

Take public transportation for the first 3 months. Your future self will also thank  you for this because when you finally get that yellow Lambo you will have  a better sense of your surroundings and  actually know where you’re going.

Know that it is MORE than okay to not make friends within the first few months of your arrival. There are a lot of blogs out there that advise you to make all the besties you can but I want you to know, it’s okay if you don’t follow that path. I’m not saying you will go through the same thing, but because I expected to have great friends off the bat actually made it harder and a lot more disappointing when it didn’t happen. However, I used that time to connect with God and with myself (see 2 paragraphs below). Eventually, I did find (actually, more like they found me) a really solid group of people that I have come to call family.

Work. You may have come here to start anew, climb up the (add your preferred field of work here) ladder but things will take time. Be prepared to use your brain, hands and heart to (l)earn all that you can.

Hang out with yourself. And no  I’m not just talking about spending alone time at home and watching T.V. I mean go out, have coffee, attend an exhibition at your local - or the next town over - museum. Be open to new. Get to know yourself again. Chances are, with a change in location, you also have a few changes in personality. Find out what you don’t like anymore, or get invested in something you have now come to love. Additionally, with that said, don’t forget old “habits”. These are the things that ground you. For me, it’s spending time with God by reading the Bible, praying, and listing to praise and worship music. It helps me to remember that although I took this trip by myself I am not alone. For you, it could be talking to your sister at least once a week, finding time to cook dinner during the weekend, running in the mornings, etc.

Start a savings account like ASAP. Don’t say that you just spent all your money on food, gas, rent, internet, etc. Blah, blah, blah. All that was heard was a  long list of excuses. You can start with putting at least one dollar a day away and build on it from there.

Ask questions. Don’t be a nervous Nicholas and think asking will make you look dumb. You know what will, walking around the same intersection for more than 10 minutes because you thought you could figure it out yourself. Same goes with everything else, ask what’s in the food before you spend 20 dollars on the plate, raise your hand in class when the word “ute” gets brought up like 20 times and you have no clue what a ute is, stop someone so you can find out what time it is, etc. Just ask questions.

Call home at least once a week and keep in contact with your friends. I would say no explanation needed here but I really want to drive this point home. Don’t forget where you came from and the support system that helped you to get to where you are. It’s all too easy to go a while without reaching out but even if it’s just a little  text or email to say “I miss you”.  Also, never  ever underestimate the power of leaving a message. Just because they didn’t pick up on the first try, doesn’t mean they wouldn’t love to hear you when they get the chance to check their voice mail (Call me cray but I still have a few messages saved from my siblings and parents from over a year ago just because it warms my heart to hear them when I know they can’t talk).

 I’ve said it before (#6) but I’ll repeat myself for good measure. Tread cautiously when it comes to social network pages. Don’t spend so much time on those sites and end up wishing you had a different life. Pictures and posts from other people only tell you 1/4 of the story and none of the true struggle. I can assure you that they are going through the same thing you are.

Oh yes, and lastly, stay thankful. There will be moments where you will question your reasoning and/or sanity for being here  but remember how blessed you are to be in a position that thousands of others would fight tooth and nail for. You might think you have gotten nowhere but I bet if your 6-year-old self could, he or she would PROUDLY bring you in to show you off on career day.

“Thanksgiving is more than eating, Chuck.” - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

It’s a week from the thanksgiving that I didn’t get to celebrate but I’m still grateful.

Even though I was not able to celebrate Thanksgiving the way I normally do, I’m glad I was given a chance to celebrate it in a new way. There was no turkey on the table, no game on the tv and certainly no excitement to participate in the craziness that was Black Friday - sadly, Australia doesn’t recognize these awesome customs. However, in the absence of those things it dawned on me that I can still give thanks for the life I have and all the trappings that come along with it.

I could give thanks that Thursday was just like any other day, which is seriously nothing to complain about. I work at a job I truly appreciate; I’m able spend time with family that I absolutely adore and friends who are basically family; and I didn’t get a turkey but I still get to chow down on good ol’ regular food. Finally I can give thanks for and to a God who has graciously provided all of this for me.

So that’s what I did. I gave thanks and in doing so it made me even more joyful. The Thanksgiving holiday only comes once a year but the heart of it should be something we put into practice everyday, with or without he food. In doing that we become more grateful for all the big and little things as well as all the things in between.

-Give thanks we will for life is sweet for sure!

Guest Blogger: August

Here are a few random things I enjoy: I love waterfalls because the very presence of them says “peace”. My favorite flowers are sunflowers not only because they are bright, bold and beautiful but also because they also have purpose, their seeds are used for food and for oils. I truly adore being at the beach at night; ocean waves overwhelm and bewilder me because of their depth and captivating ferociousness. I’m not a huge wilderness person but I truly enjoy walks in the park or mountain top views. I am constantly asking myself the same question whenever I am surrounded or in the midst of nature. What is it about nature that we are just enthralled with? We can sit for hours and talk about the colors in a sunset or sunrise, the beauty of the way the stars trickle themselves like freckles across a sky, and compliment over and over on the various types of flowers that we see. But when someone asks us what our favorite physical attribute is about ourselves we take forever to answer them back. This baffles me, even though I do it all the time. I am a huge advocate for “beauty”, I think I have secretly made it my personal goal to make sure that every women I come in counter with will know that they are beautiful inside and out, created so intricately and with a purpose. But when it comes to myself, I sometimes come up short in this area. I am quick to compliment one of my friends or affirm someone in their physical attributes but once it comes back to me I shut it down or deny it. I know I can’t be alone in this, why do we do it? Nature astounds us because the beauty we find there is simple yet breathtaking, it is not tainted by everything around it trying to compare beauties, it just is beautiful and that’s that. Nature reminds us that we are small and maybe sometimes a seeming insignificant part of a big story. Nature seems not only bigger but also better than us. But it’s not. All things have purpose; I would dare to say that we as human beings have one of the biggest purposes. We were created to bear the image of Christ here on earth… good gosh THAT’S HUGE.

Let’s take a quick look back through the creation story, shall we?

Genesis 1:9 says, “And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:12 says, “The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:21 says, “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:25 says, “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

Lastly Genesis 1:27-31 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Do we not realize that God created the ENTIRE WORLD, universes, galaxies, waters and dry lands, animals, insects and us, the human race. It was good, it was good, it was good and then finally it was VERY good. WE are the very good. These creations that he created are so minuscule in comparison to US who were made in the IMAGE OF HIM. We are the only creation made in the image of God WHAT?! How awesome is that?! We as human beings are majestic; we were created with set aside and diligent time, and the breath life from our very creator. We stare in awe of his creations; waterfalls, flowers, beaches, mountains and forget that we too are his beautiful, handcrafted, breathtaking creation. Let us rejoice in that today.

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Every last Thursday of the month I invite different bloggers to write their own pieces specifically for you guys, my readers! This month I have the incredible honor to host guest blogger, Arielle Estoria Wilburn. She runs the blog Chronicles of a Lioness so after you read her heart-warming post here, go check out her page for even more amazing stuff.

Certain words are like fireworks or grenades in your life. People will tell you something and they will either come back to set off something magnificent or they will be timed modes of destruction. Luckily I’ve hard a lot more of the former and less of the latter in my life.

Anchors n Oceans

You live that life

"I wanna live until I die. Don’t let the devil bury me alive." - Ben Rector.
I have come to realize that there is more to life and living than just being awake. There is much more than just hoping to have a great story to tell at the end. There is work to be done and it never stops. However daunting that last sentence may sound, it is nothing to be discouraged by. The work planned for our futures can be good and prosperous if we allow it to be. I should know, the last six months have been a process of learning just that.

I started the beginning of my year at the end of  chapter in which I needed to so desperately to close: acceptance for the normal. Looking retrospectively I wouldn’t call it acceptance for the norm but more like a fear for the possible. Although I claimed to be a hard worker and convinced those around me that I was, I never fully tried my hand at anything. Fear had me believing that failure was always eminent so I just thought what was the point in trying? 

I’ve said it in previous posts before, fear will have you feeling all these emotions God never intended for you to have. 

These last few months, God has been breaking down my former ways to build up something of value and substance. He has been creating a new thing in me and to speak frankly, it is one of the most confusingly difficult, heart-wrenching, mind-draining, and strangest journeys I have ever embarked on. When He wants something done, there is no going back and forth or no such thing as test-driving (James 1: 2-8) - it’s all in or all out. In everything I involved myself with, I found Him speaking to me and pushing me to do more than I expected of myself. There were -and still are- days where it became such a hassle to 2nd-guess all of my actions. Things like: Is this the best way to use your time? ; Are you sure that there is no better way to complete this task?; Why don’t you do this later so you can put something else first?; Why are you going that route instead of this one?; Have you tried asking for help? At times it feels like God had cast such a large burden on my shoulders that I began making excuses to stop all the lessons He had been trying to instill in me. But then He found ways to show me through life encounters and experiences that He was doing those things out of love for me.

To best try and explain, I guess I would have to say it’s the “little” things. A few weeks ago I was in class waiting to talk to my Studio Lighting teacher about one of the bulbs not working. I later found her talking to another student. Their conversation did take quite a while but instead of reverting to my old ways by giving up and attempting to figure out the problem myself, I waited. Maybe many of you don’t know the feeling but if you tend to be an impatient person, 5-10 minutes can feel like a full-on hour. Fortunately, by sticking around the teacher noticed me and also included me in the last bit of the conversation she was having. If it had not been for  God laying  it upon my heart to wait I never would have learned the tips I did that got me higher marks on my next assessment.

So you see, it is not as though this whole process has been forced upon me, it’s more like He’s showing me that there is nothing to be anxious for and through that I have gained enough courage to do more.(Micah 6:8). Then, after that more is done, move onto the next and make it a habit of constantly improving your life. Yes, you too will probably also feel like staying at your current comfortable level, (why fix something if it’s not broken?) but that’s not the point of life. We must make the most out of it and continually do the things He asks of us. They are not to tire you out or annoy you but to improve you and give you a life full of actual… well, life.