Let's Face It

Let's face it, I am basically the worst blogger around.  This is due in part to my non-functioning laptop at the moment.  My roommates are so sweet to let me borrow theirs whenever I need it! So I try to only use theirs for necessary things such as homework. I discovered a new resource today - the school library! I basically never go there.  I've maybe been there 10 times since it was built.  But they have SO many resources for students (which is good, since we pay a hefty technology/library fee!) They have so much equipment that you can check out, such as laptops, which I did today! I can now tote around a working laptop for the next seven days.  I think this will help me out tremendously with the two rough drafts of two different literature research papers (all in Spanish!) due next week!
In other news, I really think I have come up with a legitimate backup plan if I don't get into optometry school.  Wanna know what it is? A quinceañera planner! :) I recently planned our spring formal for Alpha Gam, and it is going to be very nice for a little less than $4,000.  It also didn't take me very long to plan and I really enjoyed it! I was looking for a backup plan that would let me use my Spanish and all I've learned about Hispanic culture, and then it hit me - I can plan parties for Hispanic families when they want to celebrate their daughters' coming of age! So if you know anyone needing a planner for their next quinceañera planner, send them my way! ;)
One thing that's been on my mind is the future and how uncertain it is.  I have to remind myself so often  - let's face it, every single day - that we're not even promised tomorrow.  What makes that concept so hard to understand and so hard to practice is the need for planning ahead these days.  You just can't take it day by day when you're trying to get into graduate school, I don't think. But I'm trying to not "worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt. 6:34) It's just so hard when so many things depend on what is to come tomorrow! Another thing that recently occurred to me is that I may not get into optometry school.  I have to figure out how to be fine with that, and I really just need to listen to God's plan for my life right now and not focus so much on what I want to do to serve God, and focus on what He wants me to do to serve him, whether that be as an optometrist or a secretary :)
So, we've already faced the fact that I'm a bad blogger and in reality have zero time to do this. But it's an excellent outlet and I really enjoy writing and expressing things this way, so I'm going to try to do better!
Thanks for taking the time to read!!

Bankrupt without Love

So I've been reading all of my friends' blogs lately, and I've become inspired.  I love to write, and I feel like I've lost that in the busyness of life and college.  I've been getting a lot of inspiration from various people in my life recently, and I don't think they even know it.  And this is a start.  I have a lot of goals to improve myself, my relationships, and most importantly, my relationship with God.  All three of these have been suffering and it's time for a change.  

My favorite thing is Love.  Love is literally the most important thing in life.  I recently looked up I Corinthians 13 in The Message and I love this version: 

 

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.  ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

I love what the Bible has to say about love.  This is the model of love that God designed for us to follow.  How many times does my love look like this kind of love? Probably never.  I'm challenging myself to show this kind of love.  It'll take a while - as humans, how can we ever love like God loves us? It's incomprehensible.  But I'm going to strive for it to the best of my ability.  Through me, people should see God's love.  And that includes everyone, even people I don't like.  That may be the biggest challenge.  

I hope I really, really get into this blogging thing - it seems like so much fun and a great outlet for thoughts and feelings!