Embrace the Change

I have two weeks left of school.  Well only one, if you want to be technical, because after this week comes the dreaded finals.  Where has the year gone??

As my sophomore year of college comes to an end, I have found myself thinking a lot. I've been experienced two mind sets; the "oh my gosh its almost summer I'm so excited and next year is going to be great!" mindset versus the "holy crap I only get two more weeks with these people and next year is going to be WAY different" mindset. It's been tough because most of the time I think about the fun stuff, but then I stop myself and my mind wanders to things like change, and life, and how everything will soon be very different.

I'm not a big fan of change. I can handle it most of the time, I can tolerate it, but that doesn't mean I like it. Being a creature of habit, I thoroughly enjoy my routines and rituals and when these get thrown off by any degree of change I get slightly uncomfortable. Thinking about all of the things that will be different next year makes me excited, but it is after all change, so I am also wary.

But thats life, isn't it? Life is encountering change to further who you are.  If you avoided change your whole life you would be nowhere. You would be at home, with no schooling, no job, no social life, nada. Change may be hard, but it gets you places. It takes you on a journey to a more exciting and vivacious life.  If I avoided change I would not be anywhere close to where I am today.

So while I do fight with these two mindsets, I have come to terms with the fact that I am feeling both ways. My adventurous side is saying "Melissa, this is a new chapter of your life and its going to be awesome!" and my cautious, comfort-seeking side is saying "AHH CHANGE!!".  Thats okay, though, because those are both a part of who I am.

So, for now I am planning on finishing off the school year strong.  I am planning on soaking up as much of this chapter of my life I can, including seeing friends that I may not see as much next year and jumping in the pool every day at our apartment complex. Soon these things will change, but thats just a part of life. Luckily, I can know and trust that God is guiding me on my life journey, and that next year will be infinitely more fun, crazy, and spirit-filled than anything I could've hoped for.

I will embrace the change, and with a smile on my face no less! :)


“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” 
-C. Joybell C.

Comparison

I have always struggled quite a bit with comparison.  I think it is one of those overlooked problems, simply because other things seem to be a lot worse.  While there may be more detrimental problems, comparing yourself to others can be significantly hurtful to yourself and to the God that created you.

God has been trying to open my eyes to my struggle with comparison.  There have been quite a few things popping up lately that are pointing to this, and I have started thinking about it a lot. It is a problem that many teenage girls struggle with, myself included, mainly because we are unhappy with parts of who we are.

While we may overlook the fact that we compare ourselves to others daily, it is actually a big problem. Doing so says a lot about who we are and the God we put our faith in. It says that we are unsatisfied with who we were created to be and therefore want more than what we have: we want to be prettier, nicer, more patient, have more money, more opportunities, more adventures. It says that we are unhappy with how God created us to be.

The reality is that God created you EXACTLY the way he wanted.  He is a perfect God, so how could he make a mistake? Yes, he may have given you a bigger nose than you'd hoped for, or a more stubborn personality then most, but he didn't do any of this by accident.

Think about it: if he created us the way we wanted, each of us would probably look like a beautiful model. While you may initially think that would be awesome, where is the fun in it? We wouldn't have any of the unique qualities, gifts, or talents God has blessed us with.  We would all be carbon copies of each other, created from the same overused mold.

I think we need to view ourselves less as what we see in the mirror and more how God sees us.  We are his masterpiece: he created us in his image, and all of the things we see as imperfections he sees as perfect.  We are the beautiful art of a creative God who built us each exactly the way we are meant to be.

Just remember: you are beautiful and perfect in his eyes, and that's all that matters!


"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." -Ephesians 2:10





photo credit: seyed mostafa zamani via photopin cc

Wanderlust

Just the other day I started a new book entitled "Eat Pray Love".  For those of you who haven't read it, this story is about a woman named Liz who embarks on an adventure to Italy, India, and Indonesia after being dealt some bad cards in life.  She decided to travel to recover from her past, to indulge in the moment, and to find the person she had lost over the past years.

The whole time I was reading this book there was one thought in my head:

 I want to travel

I believe all of us are born with a certain sense of 'wanderlust'.  We are inbred with a desire to leave the places we call home and simply go. This "leaving" may mean venturing across the world, cross-country, or maybe just across your hometown.  Either way, I think we are all meant to leave the comforts of home to explore and dig deeper in order to find out more of who we are.

I have never been out of the country.  I have been lucky enough to travel through many states (mostly by trailer), which has been an amazing experience, but there is something so familiar about this country.  Even while visiting the captivating state of Alaska (if you ever get the chance to go here, PLEASE GO) or the quaint towns tucked away in the mountains of Colorado, everywhere I go I know that there will be people speaking english, a Starbucks around the corner, and an internet connection at my fingertips.  And while I am very fortunate to be able to say this, there is something so enticing about the idea of not immediately having these things.

I want to travel. I always have and I always will.  I want to be in a country where I don't know the people, the food, the landscape, the language.  I want to be pushed out of my comfort zone. I want to be lost in a beautiful place and not desire to be found.  I want to try new things, meet new people, and make memories that will stay with me forever.

I want to travel all over the world, but the one place I MUST visit before I die is Ireland.  There are a multitude of reasons why, but the main reason is because of the movie 'P.S. I Love You' (cheesy, I know).  One of my favorite scenes in any movie ever is a scene within this movie when Holly gets lost in Wicklow Mountains National Park. The setting is the most enchanting place I have seen, with rolling green hills, cloudy skies, and vivid wild flowers lining the road she ambles along.

I think ever since I have watched this movie I have been enchanted by Ireland.  I'm don't know if all of it is pretty as this, but there is something so magical about what I have seen of this far away land.  I know it probably doesn't have as much history as Spain or good food as Italy, but the beauty of this place has captured me from the start and I will always want to go there.

A few other places I really want to visit are Italy, Greece, and Spain.  I've always wanted to go Iceland as well, mostly since watching this music video that is shot entirely in this country.  I just saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as well (go see this movie right now!!), which completely rekindled my desire to go there!

Lately I have been experiencing wanderlust, and while I can't act on it at this very moment, it is inspiring to know that one day I will go.  Maybe to Ireland, or England, or Scotland, or Italy.  Where it may be, who knows, but I will do it.  I know that for sure!

Whats at the top of your travel bucket list?

A New Year

A new year is a wonderful idea, isn't it? A special time when everyone is given the chance to start fresh and feel renewed.  Even though its simply the beginning of a new month, we foster a sense of hope and change in this time.  We write down all of our goals and dreams and keeping them tucked away in our hearts, hoping to start the year off a little better than we were the day before.

This new year provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the past year and really think about what has happened. We may see a time of success and happiness, or maybe a time of struggles and hardships.  Either way, we understand that there are places where we fell short, and now in this new time we can begin a period of working on ourselves and changing for the better.

For the next few days I challenge you to reflect on your year and the good and bad things that happened. We are blessed with a new year every 365 days to reflect on our year and realize what we can do to better our lives and those around us.

Here are a few of the things I want to work on this new year:

1.  Be more intentional in my friendships

2.  Pursue a Project 365 (more on this coming later)

3.  Wake up earlier/ use my time wiser

4.  Appreciate the smaller things (cliche, I know)

5.  Blog more! 

(usually "workout every day" is in the mix, but this usually doesn't pan out as well as I intend!)

I hope you all have thought of some ways you can grow and change and will really take these resolutions to heart.  The world is a beautiful place, and if we all focus on a few things we can change in ourselves for the better than it will make life that much better.  Heres to a wonderful new year!

Blessed

There is SO much to be thankful for.  I could list off thousands of things, including the family I am blessed with, the food I am provided , the shelter covering my warm head, the cell phone in my pocket, and the car in my driveway. 

I know these are usually what we think of when considering what we are thankful for, but there are many other things that often don't come to mind. For example, the fact that we can live peacefully in a country without war or persecution.  Also, our ability to attend high school and college, the immense beauty of the world around us, or even the fact that our hearts are still beating at a healthy pace. 

I challenge you to think this thanksgiving.  I ask you, if you haven't done so yet, to embrace this holiday and realize how incredibly blessed you and I are, not only for food and family and friends, but for everything else that our insanely generous God has brought into our lives.  

I found this poem posted on Darling Magazine's website today in honor of thanksgiving.  

It is really a beautiful piece and I hope you all get the chance to read it.  It spurred some thought in me, and I hope it will do so for you too :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

To Love

I am going to state this upfront – I am Christian, and I will occasionally write posts about my faith. If you enjoy reading them, awesome. If you have any questions about my faith or who my God is, please don't hesitate to ask me questions.  I would be happy to answers them!  So, with that said, here goes....

The single most important commandment that God has for us is to love.  To love the people you are closest to, your acquaintances, and the people you see walking down the street.  

Megan Fate, an incredibly inspirational woman and speaker, gave a message at a church I went to this past Sunday.  There were many aspects of her words that stuck with me, but the most memorable would be this: “Love people in a way they don’t deserve because you are loved in a way you don’t deserve.” 

I have to say that there are only a select few people in my life that I can love easily.  The people included in this bunch would probably be my mom, dad and brother...the rest of the people I have a bit of a harder time with.  I don’t know about you, but I sometimes have a hard time loving every single aspect of a person, good and bad.  Just that morning before Megan’s talk I was at work, and I was very frustrated with my boss.  Scratch that – EXTREMELY frustrated.  I won’t go into the details, but lets just say I was trying not to pull my hair out piece by piece.  I, of course, went home and vented to my family for what seemed like hours. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do but it made me feel good for the time being.  

That night I went to my church with some friends and heard these words on loving people, and I knew God had  brought me their for a reason – I needed to hear that.  It is hard for anyone to love certain people. Who we are sometimes just does not mix with others around us, and this can lead to tons of problems.  Even when you get along with someone extremely well there are certain things that they do that can, well, piss you off.  

While this may be the case, I believe we need to love everyone simply for who they are.  God created every single one of us perfect in his eyes, and while we may not see this, he does, and he loves them.  These people, some whom you may like and some you may not, are God’s people, and to love them is to love Him.  Love the people around you, whether you like them or not, because God loved you first. You may not deserve this love, and neither may the people on the receiving end, but its what God created you to do.  Pass on the incredible love that God shows you everyday, so others may do the same.  Who knows? It may just change the world.