Distractions

      Living in today's media, it's hard not to get distracted.  When I get home, I instantly turn on music before I do my homework.  This simple action can turn five-minute homework into five-hour homework.  Music is also what seems to wake me up in the morning when I have to go to school.  Now that I'm on Spring Break, I can finally write again, so here I am.  Even while I write this I am listening to music!

     As an obsessed *dedicated* fan of One Direction, it seems that it can almost take over your life.  Even when I know that I should be doing one thing, I find it hard to turn off the beautiful voices of perfection and concentrate on praying or doing my homework.  The same with magazines, movies, TV shows: sometimes they just seem so incredibly impossible to put down once you pick it up.  After I've scoured through the same magazine twenty times, I'll finally get sick of it.  

      However, when it comes to reading the Bible, there's quite a different reaction.  Sometimes I find it hard to pick up the Bible!  I have my Bible time every night, but it's difficult to enjoy it when I'm really tired.  I'm getting better, but it can still be a struggle.  If school is stressful, it's hard not to just fall into bed and doze off into dream land.  

     Almost all of the movies for teenagers (besides Disney movies.. I love those!) have some kind of sexual content, whether it's making out, implying something more, or even showing something more.  It's hard not to get a warped worldview after watching all of these things!  And trust me, I took a quarter-long class about world views, so I know how easily they can be impacted by what we do.  

     There's a line between loving something and having it become your idol.  Sometimes, though, that line can get a little blurred.  We don't think that there's anything wrong with loving the people that sing our favorite songs or write our favorite books, but when we start getting impacted for the worse by whatever it is that we love so much we can tell that something's up.  Most of the time, though, it's not even that obvious.  We don't really think much of the fact that something is practically controlling our lives, because we don't even care.  I actually like when I have something to constantly do when I'm at home and bored.  While I'm writing this I'm even listening to music!  Even though I haven't let it fully take over my life and start making it make my decisions or something, my idol's still there.

     Another way to fend off bad idols is to censor what you listen to.  Before I buy a song, I have to make sure that there isn't anything bad in it that would affect me in a negative way.  Even though I really like a song, sometimes I have to choose not to buy it because of even just one word.  Now granted, I'm not exactly listening to music that has cursing in it, but sometimes even the cleanest group has a song with a hidden meaning or two slipped in.  So really just think about what you're putting into your head.  Earlier this week, I heard that song "Locked out of Heaven" on the radio, and even though it's a terrible song, I had it stuck in my mind for two or three days.  I tried to get it out, but it kept coming back.  We need to guard our hearts and protect our minds, because the devil will do everything he can to corrupt them.  

When You're Overwhelmed....

Isaiah 43:2
     "When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
          and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
      When you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
          and the flame shall not consume you."
 

     This verse is true with several things.  Not only in the literal sense(although I do not recommend that you try to drown or burn yourself to see if you get hurt) but with sin, the literal world, and finally, my clumsiness.
     Now, I'm one of the most clumsy and random people I know(and I know lots of clumsy people).  I can't draw circles or straight lines, and I manage to drop the same thing five times, right after I picked it up!  Throughout winter, I'm just plain doomed.  Combine ice, snow, rain, and the terrible temperatures and love St. Louis, and they spell just one word: DANGER!  Now this Sunday I brought my study Bible is 1800 pages, and it weighs a whole ton, and I brought snacks for our youth group.  Mix these with my 1,000,000 pound purse and I have no hope.  It had iced the night before, and so I slipped once or twice on my way there.

     That is an illustration of what your Christian walk can feel like sometimes.  It can feel like you're juggling a million things while walking on a steep, slippery ground and you have no hope.  But even though you may not see him, God is walking right next to you, waiting for you to let him pick it up!  Most of the time, he may even be carrying it without you knowing.  I get so frustrated sometimes, feeling like my prayers aren't being answered when I don't get an immediate response.  I have some big issues that I pray for every night, but every morning I wake up feeling like God doesn't want me to be happy because the same thing still makes me miserable.
     While I may not be the most clumsy person in the UNIVERSE, I'm still pretty up there.  :)  Hopefully age will bring me some talent?  I'm not getting my hopes up, though.  God has made me appreciate my gifts as well as my not-so-great-clumsiness.  While there are definitely some things about me that don't exactly make me love myself, my laugh and clumsiness basically determine my character, so I'm not exactly complaining!

Thanks,
     ~HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Patience, my Young Padawan!!!

     There is definitely something to be learned from the old green man.  Something I'm learning more and more is that patience is key.  When I realize that I don't have something I need, I demand to have it that moment.  The virtue is definitely necessary if you want to lead a fruitful life, and it is something that I'm currently lacking.  I've noticed that the more often that you think about something good, the more often that you realize that you don't have that thing.  When people talk about how to lead a good prayerful life, I instantly think of the mornings and afternoons that I haven't talked.  Part of it may be the way my brain works, because when I hear 'covalent bonds' (something we're currently studying in Chemistry) I think of butterscotch candies.
     Something about teaching a class must make you want to see how miserable you can make students over a test.  Because I took one a few days ago, my teacher has only graded four.  So, she decided to show those happy four their test results while I am pulling my hair out in the background.  The same will definitely be true of my Chemistry test that I have tomorrow, which I should be studying for right now.  Except that teacher likes to wait until she finishes grading everybody's test, which takes approximately two weeks.  Obviously, for someone who is not patient, this is agonizing.
     I would love to tell you that I have the solution to the whole 'patience problem,' but I would, in fact, be lying.  The best solution that I can come up with is: pray.  I have a prayer journal that I write in every day, and I write all my anxieties, prayers, and accomplishments in it.  Sometimes the whole entry is spent talking about how someone scared me that day(I scare really easily), but others I spend my whole thing talking about questions or observations from the Bible, which I read right before I go to bed.
      Another solution is to read the Bible.  There are so many plans online to read the Bible in a year, and it's just as simple as pressing the 'print' button on your computer.  And, of course, holding yourself responsible.  I forgot to read the Bible on the first three days of the year: I spent the next three reading twice as much as I was assigned which is really overwhelming.  Isn't that sad?  The beginning of the year is supposed to be when you hold yourself responsible to keeping your New Year's resolutions, yet that was when I was least faithful.  Like I said, my brain works in a very.... unique way, to state it simply.
      And if you are reading the Bible through, I have some advice: take your time.  I try to just get through it, but I've started learning so much more about the Bible!  Small anecdotes that I never noticed before make a world's difference to me, even when they are things that I would normally skip over.  Reading over Lot's story, I've been shocked at the bluntness of it.  Over all, I realized that not all Bible characters are just in three categories: pure and blameless in God's sight, evil, and just kinda bad.  There are wonderful Christians that aren't perfect.  Even David had Bathsheba, and God loved him dearly.  It just kind of makes me feel slightly better about myself, that I don't need to be perfect for God to love me.
     It's easy to put requirements on religions.  "For God to love you, you must do....." and it's also easy to believe.  When people say "You have to pray every day, or you won't go to heaven," there are some types of believers that will start praying for hours every day in the hope that God will look favorably on them.  Now while I don't believe such requirements as that, there are times when I am tempted to.  As humans, I think that we kind of like having something to do, some way to earn our salvation.
     God won't love you more if you do something, He loves you unconditionally.  Whether you attack somebody(not recommended) or pray for hours every day, if you are still a believer He loves you.  So do I!  :)

~Hannah