The Complexitiy of Life

The reason that my blog is entitled "Life and the Complexities Thereof..." is because I believe that to be absolutely true. Life is an incredibly complicated thing that we simple cannot begin to comprehend 99% of the time. A lot of times we ask the question, "Why is life so complicated? Why can't it just be simple and straightforward?" Even though it can be incredibly frustrating at times because we don't understand things or can't control what happens, it's a good thing that life is so complex. If not then we would all be the exact same and that would be boring. We as humans love to be in control of things. It gives us a sense of security and when we cannot control things we are uncomfortable. Maybe that is why one of the things God is constantly calling us to have is faith. Without faith I'm pretty sure a good majority of us would die of heart attacks before the age of 20, which greatly distresses me since I am about to turn 20. If we can't trust in something that is greater than us, then how will we ever find peace in life? Knowing that even though we are not able to comprehend everything that happens in life, God can, and that reassures us that our lives will be ok. God will provide and protect us. It can be incredibly overwhelming at times but realize that even though you don't know all the answers in life, there is someone who does and He loves you more than you can ever imagine. Along with a life that we can't comprehend comes a love that we can't comprehend. Despite the fact that you will get frustrated at times due to the uncertainty in this world, just relax because just like the Allstate commercials say...You're in good hands.

Everybody Dance Now

Thank goodness that God invented dancing. It's just something that speaks to your soul. I don't see how some Christians can say that dancing is devil worshiping. Yes, I admit that there is some dancing that could be deemed inappropriate and unchristian like at times but if it is something that moves your soul, wouldn't that bring you closer to God instead of further away from Him? Dancing can ignite the spark in our lives again. It can move from the very innermost of our being outwards. Dancing can move us and create passion. God would rather have a people that praised and worshiped him through dance than through a half-hearted prayer any day. Whenever you're feeling down and need something to light your fire, just remember to dance.

Sharing

One thing I've been struggling with recently is this idea of giving up all our worldly possessions for God. What exactly does not storing up treasures on Earth mean? Does that mean that we should have nothing to our name or that we should simply make heavenly treasures more important? Why is it so hard for us to completely rely on God? I mean He is the creator of the universe so you'd think that we would be able to trust that He could provide our basic needs and yet we don't. We having huge houses, multiple cars, etc... There are grocery stores on every other corner so we don't ever worry about where are next meal is coming from. As Americans we take so many things for granted. We don't realize that there are so many people across the globe that have no idea if they are going to be able to get a single meal that day. And yet the saddest part of it all is that while we are wasting our money on useless things that we think will make us happy, starving people who have no worldly possessions to their name are happier than we are. What does this say about our lifestyle? This American dream that we strive to achieve...is it worth it? Will it actually make us happy? I think not. The only thing that can make us happy is God. I don't know what the solution to the problem is but all I do know is that they way we are living right now is not working. The American dream is not the solution. Instead of looking at our rich neighbors and thinking we have nothing, we should be giving everything we own away...God will provide for us. He will meet our basic needs. The problem is that we don't trust Him. We are scared that He won't provide for us and that we will end up homeless and starving. Well guess what...Jesus was homeless and no material possessions yet He relied on God and He was never starving. I'm not saying that you have to throw away all your stuff and move into a cardboard box but instead of hoarding all your stuff and keeping it for your own pleasure, share what you have. Whatever God has blessed you with, use it to help others. Sharing is a concept that everyone learned in kindergarten and yet as adults we have the hardest time actually practicing this in our everyday lives. I also worry that as a college student with not a whole lot to lose it is easier for me to understand this idea but as I get older and have a family to worry about, I might forget what God is calling me to do. Or even worse, that I may hear what He is saying and then ignore it. Why is it that we look at the lives of people like Mother Teresa or Ghandi and while understanding that that is the way we should live our lives, think that it is not possible for us to actually do it. We just think that they are extraordinary people in far off places and think to ourselves...I could never do that. Why not? Why can't we all live our lives like Mother Teresa? All she did was share...she shared her material possessions, she shared her time, she shared her life. Yes it takes dedication and giving yourself over completely to God but isn't that what God calls us to do? Aren't we supposed to die in our old self and be born again in Jesus Christ?

Jesus Loves You

As we get older, we have more problems that we have to face. Or maybe we have the same amount of problems but they just become more serious. You have more responsibility put on you, more things that you have to do that the stress of it just drives us insane sometimes. Because of all these demands on our mental and physical capabilities, we lose perspective on what’s important in life. We get caught up in the nit picky little details that we forget why we were even put on this earth. God created us for a reason and even though sometimes we question if we do have a purpose for being here, God does have a greater plan. Sometimes we feel trapped and wish we could be somewhere else, be someone else, or just not exist at all. When you have these feelings of no self worth just remember that God created you with His hands, in His image. You are not an accident or a random blip in the universe. No, you are special because you are God’s. You belong to Him and He loves you. So whenever you feel alone or like you are not important remember that the God who created the heavens in the sky and the beauty that surrounds you also knows exactly how many hairs are on your head. That is just how important you are to Him so cherish His love and show His glory in all that you do each and every single day.

The Daydreams and Random Thoughts That Cross One's Mind in Calc Class

There are several usual processes that one typically goes through when they zone out in a boring class. First, the student tries as hard as they might to actually pay attention to the lecture. Then depending on how much sleep they got the night before and how monotonous the professor’s tone of voice is, students slowly begin to fly to Neverland. One of the quickest ways to access some pixie dust is recount the events of the previous day…out of the ordinary conversations that occurred, cute boys that you just met, interesting conversations that run like a broken record in your mind. Then after these topics have been exhausted beyond belief and a desperate attempt to try to zone back into the incredibly worthless information that is being recited in the front of the class becomes futile, you begin to focus on how tired you are. After intense longing for the soft, comfortable bed that seems a million miles away and knowing full and well that you won’t ever actually make it into that bed for at least another 12 hours…if you’re lucky, your eyes begin to sink down to below half mast. “Sleep in class!?!” you may declare pretending to be astonished that any bright young mind might do such a horrible thing, but even the best of us have a tendency to doze off in a class or two. After all, not all professors can be hot British guys with amazing accents.

Friendship

What does it mean to be a true friend? I have many friends at Clemson…300 plus according to Facebook, but how many of these people do I truly know? I feel as if 99% of the “friendships” that we have in this world are merely artificial acknowledgements of recognition. Imagine what would happen if the phrase, “Hey how are you?” was banned from the English language. People would cease to communicate with each other. How many times a day do we say it? 20? 30 maybe? And how many of those times do we actually mean it? Over half the time we pass by before even hearing the response. In all fairness the response to this question is just as generic as the question itself. 95% of the time the response is “good” (or well if the person is one of those people who always have to be grammatically correct). If you actually stop to think about it though, how many times do you really mean it? You could be having the worst day in the world…you’re alarm clock didn’t go off and you missed your final in the hardest class possible, your significant other decided to break up with you after dating for 5 yrs, and to top it off you just found out your grandmother died…and yet if someone were to pass you on the street and ask you how you were, chances are your response would be “Good. And you?” So what is the point in saying it? If phrases lose their meaning, are they worthy of still being used?
Some may make the argument that the people that you give the generic answer to aren’t your true friends anyways. There are many people that we meet in our lives and most of them are mere acquaintances. They would argue that you can’t show your true feelings to everyone that you come in contact with so giving a generic answer to a generic question is perfectly acceptable because it at least tells them that you acknowledge their existence. These people would say that with your true friends you would open up and be much more elaborate in how you are feeling. Well, if this is the meaning of a true friend…how many of those do we really have? How many people actually know how you feel, know your deepest darkest secrets? And you the same for them? Because if this is the definition of friendship, how many friends would you have? 2? 3?
Don’t get me wrong, there are many different levels of friendship in between the generic answer people that you pass going to class and your true friends, but I think that the term “friend” is used way too frequently. You can have various types of friendship such as the one where one friend shares more than the other one, a friend that you discuss only one type of secret with versus another friend that you share some other secret with. The essential element in a friendship though is that you get deep. All the dirty messy stuff in our lives is revealed. On the flip side of things, in order to be a true friend you must be willing to hear the other person’s deep dark secrets and still accept them for the person that they are.
Sometimes I feel as if in my group of friends, we hide behind the touchy, feely emotions part of our friendship to avoid getting real with each other. Even though it pains me to say it, I feel like some of my so called “friends” really aren’t my friends at all. Don’t get me wrong, I love these people with all my heart, but yet I have failed them in the greatest respect. I have let hugs and “hey how are you?”s to get in the way of actually talking to them. Of sitting down and finding out who they are as a person. In this respect, I feel as if we are not doing what we are truly called to do in this world. I’m not sure if there is an easy solution to the problem, but one thing is for certain…as long as we are open and honest with ourselves and others, we can have true friendship. So I challenge everyone to try and have real conversations with the people you come in contact with in your day to day lives.