September 28, 2006

  • Love

    Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
    soul, with all you mind, and with all your strength.

    This is the lyric of a song I’m listening to right now and
    that we’re singing on Sunday at church (and tonight’s rehearsal).

    That is really hard to do sometimes, especially when you’re
    grumpy like I am today. Hopefully soon I’ll get out of my funk, but just count
    yourself forewarned about my grumpiness (if it’s Thursday, that is). However,
    grumpiness is not an excuse to ignore or forget about the greatest commandment
    given in the Bible, or even more tangibly, to ignore the second commandment
    that Christ says is equal to the first—Love your neighbor as yourself. This
    basically just translates to LOVE OTHER
    PEOPLE, no matter who they are    .

    It is the days that you (or maybe, hypothetically speaking,
    me) are grumpy that it is the hardest to do this. I find it extremely difficult
    to exude patience and courteousness when I am only thinking about myself and my
    lack of sleep or how much I’d like to have one of those brownie bites, but
    can’t. Sound overly simple? Yeah, it is—if we are so distracted by our own
    world that we forget about the people around us, we won’t show them love.  In the same way, if we’re thinking about
    ourselves, we won’t be focused on Christ (first commandment).

    I think this is the reason that I made that outrageously
    uncharacteristic statement a few weeks back about selfishness:

     

    There is no greater
    tragedy in human nature than the condition of selfishness.

     

    I feel like selfishness really is the root of all our
    problems. We take from others because we want for ourselves. We’re prideful and
    mean because we think we’re right and we want recognition. There are a hundred
    things that I could trace back to the basic condition of being self-centered
    (which itself is rooted in selfishness). This is really the opposite of love,
    not hate.

    I was leaving school last night with so much thankfulness in
    my heart. I was thinking about how thankful I was to be getting a great
    education (I love my classes this
    quarter!    ), how thankful I was to have a comfortable car to drive home, and
    a home to go with a beautiful family. Then I started thinking about how
    thankful I was for my friendships, and the opportunities I am constantly
    getting in the music industry, and so on…It was at this point—the attitude of
    thankfulness—that I felt some of the most wonderful emotions about life that I
    have in a long time. Not that I am not happy about life regularly—because I
    am—these emotions were just much more extreme.

    Well, that’s all my brain can muster right now. Otherwise,
    it might shut down and have to reboot. Back to the world of data entry…

Comments (13)

  • Thanks for the post....and thanks for keeping it real!

  • May your grumpiness fade quickly.

  • Love you babe

  • I think that is why I love that verse, "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice."  There's just something so healing, so amazing that happens when we are thankful instead of selfish.  Thanks for the post.  I hope soon the grumpiness fades.  :)

  • Progidal.

  • You can sing the song me and Ari sing when we get grunpy, "I've got that joy joy joy joy down in my heart, Where? Down in my heart, Where? Down in my heart..." But really, good post and thanks for the reminder.

  • ^^HAHA
    Perfect...

  • I'm not sure what I think about the CD yet.  Clay's voice is amazing, clear & strong - as always - but the arrangements & music almost overpower him sometimes.  Like it's overproduced or something.  Check out the 30-second clips on iTunes and let me know what you think.  I like the original song A Thousand Days best.  You know it's all remakes of love songs, right?  I like some & not others, but I knew that going in.

  • Yeah, I just thought it sounded very "electronic".  I don't know how else to describe it.  And what do you mean you've only heard two of the songs before?  Seriously?  Elton John, Celine Dion, Richard Marx, and Bryan Adams sang some of those song!  Where have you been?

  • >>>My first CD was in 1990--Carmen, Addicted to Jesus

    I love Carmen!  Well, the fact that you haven't heard those songs before (with better arrangements) - you'll like them better.  :o )

  • we're finishing 24-season one RIGHT NOW AS I COMMENT!  can you believe it?  we just found out about Yelena/Nina....even though i called it four episodes back.  and what is wrong with senator's wife?  can't handle her.  I think she should be framed for all the deaths that have happened today....today being the whole season of 24.  i hate her! 

    anyway, just about to press play, but had to update you on our very 24-filled life.

  • If a person wants to be able to buy Reese's at a mini-mart they should be able to...It is not the responsibility of the owner to determine what candy is or is not appropriate for their clientele, specifically when they are the sole propierator of said merchandise.  Personal preference should not come into play...my thoughts.

  • "based on the owner/managers decision of what he thinks will sell"

    Seeing as how townspeople were protesting him because he had made the decision to not show it and in his words "give up the monetary profit for sake of morals."  Therefore, it is not a matter of what he thinks will sell.  But it is rather a situation of imposing morality.  And quite frankly, if you don't want to see a movie, just don't go see it.  I don't want to see the Grudge 2, the trailers freak me out.  I'm not going to request that Cinema City not carry it.

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