Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Found a draft I never finished :)
Disclaimer: I wrote this last May and never got around to posting it. I don't remember how I was going to end it, but I think I liked where I was going with it. Eh, we'll see.
Discipleship group kinda sent my head spinning again tonight, but mostly in a good way. Andrew likes to go through whatever we're talking about in a socratic way and ends up asking too many questions at once, but it definitely got the old brain-gears turning. Last week we talked about what the Bible is, and not just the cheesy sunday school answer "it's a love letter from God," (which, as far as cheesy sunday school answers go, is actually one of my favorites). We started out slow, kinda dipping our toes into the water to see if other people would speak up, but once the ball got rolling you couldn't shut us up. Some of the big things: it's more than a textbook, it's more than an epic story, and it has to be read in the context in which it was written (i.e. the gospels are narratives, the epistles were letters TO SPECIFIC GROUPS OF PEOPLE, and revelations is largely figurative.) It's not just a pretty book that sits on the shelf with your family's genealogy collecting dust between readings. It isn't Poor Richard's Almanac - you can't just pick out pretty little verses and hang them over your door frame and mold them to mean whatever the heck you want. My favorite example of this: Jeremiah 29:11. Don't get me wrong, I love this verse for what it is, but I've come to love it even more IN CONTEXT.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'"
People like to use this as a nothing-will-ever-go-wrong, feel-good strand of words. It's not. It's actually saying, it will be crappy, yes, very crappy for a while, but something is better up ahead. God had just put the israelites INTO exile because they were being selfish, sin-happy idiots. GOD put them in exile. BUT he knew of bigger plans, and leaving them where they were, continuing to pull away from Him, wouldn't do. Note that in this context, the verse is not saying that absolutely nothing craptastic will ever happen to you. It's saying that it may suck for a very long time. You might not see the promise land, but IAM here, and I have a better plan down the road. I think that is much more useful - rain or shine, He is with me, even when I can't see it.
The Bible is also not supposed to be arm candy for sunday-only christians who want to fit in. In a sense, that's terribly demeaning to the Word, to bring it on sunday to make yourself look good and clean and pure and righteous when it's not even worth your time to so much as think about it or even crack it open during the week. And now I sound like a hypocrite because there are plenty of weeks where I neglect reading altogether, but I'm trying to move forward and improve that. There's a marked difference in the days I spend time in the Word and days I don't - I would have so much more joy in my life if I made that my focus daily. And to clarify, when I say spend time in the word I'm not talking about going through the motions of half-heartedly reading a chapter of John, I mean those days when I am on my knees in prayer digging into the scriptures and falling head over heels in love with my Creator.
So from what my 18-year-old, not-graduated-from-seminary brain can wrap itself around, here's what the Bible is:
A compilation of laws, history, poetry, song, prophecy, stories, letters, and symbolic imagery designed to reveal God's character to us. What I mean by that: when you spend a lot of time with a person, you can finish each other's sentences. So, reading about God's love, righteousness, jealousy, mercy, law, and forgiveness teaches you about how He would respond to different situations, That way, when you face a decision that has no specific scriptural reference (i.e. where should I go to college?), you have a better sense of His will and discerning HIS voice in all the crazy going on in your head.
A living book. What makes it 'living'? Well for starters, it's been applicable and relatable for nearly 2000 years (NT). Second, it connects you and all the other believers together, tying doctrine back to this one source. Third, the Holy Spirit played a huge role in the creation of the scriptures, and will play an even bigger role in how they are interpreted.
I don't know what else I was going to say about mi biblia, but what do you think of where I was going so far? I've already adjusted some of what I think since then, but it's neat seeing this little snapshot of how I thought 7 months ago.
Happy finals!
Sarah
and no, this sudden nostalgia has nothing to do with my impending birthday. Nothing to do with a highly illogical fear that some kind of 18th birthday magic will wear off in a few days when I enter my last year of being a teenager. Not at all.
Discipleship group kinda sent my head spinning again tonight, but mostly in a good way. Andrew likes to go through whatever we're talking about in a socratic way and ends up asking too many questions at once, but it definitely got the old brain-gears turning. Last week we talked about what the Bible is, and not just the cheesy sunday school answer "it's a love letter from God," (which, as far as cheesy sunday school answers go, is actually one of my favorites). We started out slow, kinda dipping our toes into the water to see if other people would speak up, but once the ball got rolling you couldn't shut us up. Some of the big things: it's more than a textbook, it's more than an epic story, and it has to be read in the context in which it was written (i.e. the gospels are narratives, the epistles were letters TO SPECIFIC GROUPS OF PEOPLE, and revelations is largely figurative.) It's not just a pretty book that sits on the shelf with your family's genealogy collecting dust between readings. It isn't Poor Richard's Almanac - you can't just pick out pretty little verses and hang them over your door frame and mold them to mean whatever the heck you want. My favorite example of this: Jeremiah 29:11. Don't get me wrong, I love this verse for what it is, but I've come to love it even more IN CONTEXT.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'"
People like to use this as a nothing-will-ever-go-wrong, feel-good strand of words. It's not. It's actually saying, it will be crappy, yes, very crappy for a while, but something is better up ahead. God had just put the israelites INTO exile because they were being selfish, sin-happy idiots. GOD put them in exile. BUT he knew of bigger plans, and leaving them where they were, continuing to pull away from Him, wouldn't do. Note that in this context, the verse is not saying that absolutely nothing craptastic will ever happen to you. It's saying that it may suck for a very long time. You might not see the promise land, but IAM here, and I have a better plan down the road. I think that is much more useful - rain or shine, He is with me, even when I can't see it.
The Bible is also not supposed to be arm candy for sunday-only christians who want to fit in. In a sense, that's terribly demeaning to the Word, to bring it on sunday to make yourself look good and clean and pure and righteous when it's not even worth your time to so much as think about it or even crack it open during the week. And now I sound like a hypocrite because there are plenty of weeks where I neglect reading altogether, but I'm trying to move forward and improve that. There's a marked difference in the days I spend time in the Word and days I don't - I would have so much more joy in my life if I made that my focus daily. And to clarify, when I say spend time in the word I'm not talking about going through the motions of half-heartedly reading a chapter of John, I mean those days when I am on my knees in prayer digging into the scriptures and falling head over heels in love with my Creator.
So from what my 18-year-old, not-graduated-from-seminary brain can wrap itself around, here's what the Bible is:
A compilation of laws, history, poetry, song, prophecy, stories, letters, and symbolic imagery designed to reveal God's character to us. What I mean by that: when you spend a lot of time with a person, you can finish each other's sentences. So, reading about God's love, righteousness, jealousy, mercy, law, and forgiveness teaches you about how He would respond to different situations, That way, when you face a decision that has no specific scriptural reference (i.e. where should I go to college?), you have a better sense of His will and discerning HIS voice in all the crazy going on in your head.
A living book. What makes it 'living'? Well for starters, it's been applicable and relatable for nearly 2000 years (NT). Second, it connects you and all the other believers together, tying doctrine back to this one source. Third, the Holy Spirit played a huge role in the creation of the scriptures, and will play an even bigger role in how they are interpreted.
I don't know what else I was going to say about mi biblia, but what do you think of where I was going so far? I've already adjusted some of what I think since then, but it's neat seeing this little snapshot of how I thought 7 months ago.
Happy finals!
Sarah
and no, this sudden nostalgia has nothing to do with my impending birthday. Nothing to do with a highly illogical fear that some kind of 18th birthday magic will wear off in a few days when I enter my last year of being a teenager. Not at all.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Why I'm a creep.
So I saw someone from far away today, and instead of thinking "hey I know them!" or "hmm, they're kinda cute," I thought, "they have really interesting cheek bones. I wonder if they would let me sketch their face."
I've gotten especially bad about people-watching and sketching lately. I immediately jump to how I would draw a person's face when I see them. Hmmm, that girl's nose hooks at the end in such a neat way. That guy's earlobes are completely attached. That jaw line would make such a great composition.
So today in Calculus my mind was wandering as usual, and I started to draw a friend of mine. C'mon! He has such striking features! I just wanted to try and draw his profile - it's really angular, like he was made to be a cartoon.
I hope the people behind me in class don't know him. Otherwise they'll think I'm really creepy.
I've gotten especially bad about people-watching and sketching lately. I immediately jump to how I would draw a person's face when I see them. Hmmm, that girl's nose hooks at the end in such a neat way. That guy's earlobes are completely attached. That jaw line would make such a great composition.
So today in Calculus my mind was wandering as usual, and I started to draw a friend of mine. C'mon! He has such striking features! I just wanted to try and draw his profile - it's really angular, like he was made to be a cartoon.
I hope the people behind me in class don't know him. Otherwise they'll think I'm really creepy.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The library.
Having fun isn't hard, when you've got a library card.
I really like my library. From week one when we played hide n' seek in the basement, to the copious amounts of legitimate book research I had to do a few weeks ago, to now my home away from home.
Someone took my spot today. It's a great spot - in the basement, quiet, with a dusty window a foot above the big table I sprawl out at that pours sunlight in at an angle. You don't need any fancy climate control - it's really warm where the sun hits but nice and cool if you scrunch into the corner where the light doesn't fall.
I realized part of why I love the library so much (aside from all the books, that's a duh) - it isn't super polished and primped and preppy. Every where else I go on campus is newly renovated, newly constructed, or having the flower beds changed out every 6 weeks. No, literally - a donor stipulated in their contribution to the university that the flower beds be changed EVERY 6 weeks. Or the sidewalk is redone, or the tiles refinished, or an entire building is re-bricked because a bird pooped on it. (I joke about that now, but I wouldn't put it past them.)
The library is homey, it has fading paint and old study pods that have been there since the at least the '70s, it has card catalogs in the lobby purely for sentimental purposes.
I like to go down the aisles between the shelves and trace my hand along the spines as I walk by. I like picking up random books and seeing where they take me. I like how much more productive I am studying here than in my dorm. I like how creative I feel, I like the freedom to sketch without people looking over my shoulder.
I sometimes buy lunch from the cafe on the main level and bring my lunch down to the basement just to inwardly laugh at the death glares I receive for opening my Doritos bag too loud.
So yes, I was bummed that someone took my spot today. So I sat somewhere else, and though it doesn't have my window, or the large table for me to scatter all my notes across, I haven't lost faith in my relationship with the library. I don't need my spot to feel at home.
(and I hope you all got the Arthur reference at the beginning. Other wise I might question our friendship.)
Sarah
I really like my library. From week one when we played hide n' seek in the basement, to the copious amounts of legitimate book research I had to do a few weeks ago, to now my home away from home.
Someone took my spot today. It's a great spot - in the basement, quiet, with a dusty window a foot above the big table I sprawl out at that pours sunlight in at an angle. You don't need any fancy climate control - it's really warm where the sun hits but nice and cool if you scrunch into the corner where the light doesn't fall.
I realized part of why I love the library so much (aside from all the books, that's a duh) - it isn't super polished and primped and preppy. Every where else I go on campus is newly renovated, newly constructed, or having the flower beds changed out every 6 weeks. No, literally - a donor stipulated in their contribution to the university that the flower beds be changed EVERY 6 weeks. Or the sidewalk is redone, or the tiles refinished, or an entire building is re-bricked because a bird pooped on it. (I joke about that now, but I wouldn't put it past them.)
The library is homey, it has fading paint and old study pods that have been there since the at least the '70s, it has card catalogs in the lobby purely for sentimental purposes.
I like to go down the aisles between the shelves and trace my hand along the spines as I walk by. I like picking up random books and seeing where they take me. I like how much more productive I am studying here than in my dorm. I like how creative I feel, I like the freedom to sketch without people looking over my shoulder.
I sometimes buy lunch from the cafe on the main level and bring my lunch down to the basement just to inwardly laugh at the death glares I receive for opening my Doritos bag too loud.
So yes, I was bummed that someone took my spot today. So I sat somewhere else, and though it doesn't have my window, or the large table for me to scatter all my notes across, I haven't lost faith in my relationship with the library. I don't need my spot to feel at home.
(and I hope you all got the Arthur reference at the beginning. Other wise I might question our friendship.)
Sarah
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Dear boy,
Do you know how incredible you are? Maybe my perspective is skewed in your favor.
You are exactly the type of boy I would like to marry, run through the checklist, itemized, color coded, time-stamped. You are the make and model of everything I could possibly want.
And yet - as much as I think about you, and as always it's a bit more than I should, (I'm lying, I think about you a lot more than I should), right now, I'm okay with everything as it is, just because I get to be your friend.
I love calling you my friend.
And I am grateful - so grateful - for just that.
I don't need anything else from you, just to be your friend.
So right now, it's okay that I'm single. It's okay that you're not interested in me that way.
It's okay because we're friends.
Do you know how incredible you are?
Do you know that just being around you changes the way I think about things?
That you bring my focus back to what matters?
That you make me want to do more?
That you make me want to be less, and make Christ everything?
I just thought you should know.
Your friend,
Sarah
Do you know how incredible you are? Maybe my perspective is skewed in your favor.
You are exactly the type of boy I would like to marry, run through the checklist, itemized, color coded, time-stamped. You are the make and model of everything I could possibly want.
And yet - as much as I think about you, and as always it's a bit more than I should, (I'm lying, I think about you a lot more than I should), right now, I'm okay with everything as it is, just because I get to be your friend.
I love calling you my friend.
And I am grateful - so grateful - for just that.
I don't need anything else from you, just to be your friend.
So right now, it's okay that I'm single. It's okay that you're not interested in me that way.
It's okay because we're friends.
Do you know how incredible you are?
Do you know that just being around you changes the way I think about things?
That you bring my focus back to what matters?
That you make me want to do more?
That you make me want to be less, and make Christ everything?
I just thought you should know.
Your friend,
Sarah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)