the valentine's day challenge...
so i'm totally gonna swipe something a wise friend of mine wrote, and put it here:
"I'm here to defend Valentine's Day. No, not cupid or the flowers or the expensive jewelry, lingerie, chocolates, or any of the commercial things. I'm here to defend what Valentine's day celebrates.
Love gets a bad rap in today's selfish, self-centered, fake world. But true love isn't just for two people "in love". Its for people who care about each other and are willing to be vulnerable and let the other person know they care. Roommates, best friends, Casual friends, teachers, parents...whatever. It doesn't mean you're destined to be married. It means you were kind enough to think of someone else, and willing to sacrifice a little bit to do something nice for them.
I'm definitely not a fan of "perfect" gifts or "perfect" dates, but its always fun to do something nice for someone else. It takes the focus off of "me". It gives us as humans the chance to build up people around us. The world wasn't made with a single person in mind. Even evolutionists need other things to advance.
Valentine's Day celebrates humans ability to love. Try to see the beauty through the sleeze. Do something nice for someone on the 14th and see if something gets done back to you. If not? You loved. And life is better when you've loved, then when you haven't, even if you lose it.
And if you care enough about someone, show it. Don't be afraid of "doing something wrong". Any effort, any care, is an expression of love.
God loves you. And in the end, thats all we can truly depend on. Celebrate that."
- - - - - - -
reading that, it provided me with a really nice challenge for supposedly, one of the most depressing holiday for those that are serious-relationship-impaired... it was no longer "singles' awareness day" for me; it became valentine's day... i strived to make people smile yesterday, and especially make sure that valentine's day was special for someone...
yesterday, someone shared with me their valentine's curse... it naturally challenged me to do something amazing for that person... so i did...
and seeing that person smile definitely made my day... one of those "permanent smiles" that i couldn't wipe off... those are the greatest...
to elaborate... in books of moses, laurie shared with megan, cory, and i the moment valentines became something horrible for her... apparently, two valentines ago, she was the one working for public safety the moment david edgwake died after the basketball intramurals, colliding with another player... to make it worse, LBP kept telling her that "if david dies, it's gonna be your fault..." sure, she apologized for it afterwards, but it was still a traumatizing experience for laurie; so traumatizing that she actually dropped out of school for it...
i refused to let another valentines pass for her, with the negative feelings attached, so i wrote her a letter... and it made her smile... throughout the rest of the day, i found her at dinner, continued to make her laugh, and made her roommate promise me that in the 6 1/2 hours left in the day, that she would guarantee that laurie would have a great rest of the day... i saw her today, and apparently, her valentine's day was great... and that made me happy...
it feels good to make a positive impact on other people's lives... especially when you give someone another chance at something so great, after things haven't always been so rosy...
definitely my best valentine's day so far...
- - - - - - -
throw in the kiddy valentine from megan ("you'd think they'd at least put the different valentine the right way up!"), a card from krissy, and a chocolate from laurie, with a letter of reply as well... bypassing the frustrating wind ensemble rehearsal and the lack of a nap, and including the loss of yet another belt loop (i'm winning my weight loss battle!), an amazing music history lecture, a 10-minute coloring time, hearing that andy really loves the posters i made, and good conversations with jordan and cory online, and yesterday was definitely a good day...
today was great, as well...
*a good sermon from jon henderson during senior recognition (didn't feel so bad that i wasn't marching... we're gonna have to find a term that fits in-between junior and senior, right?)...
*finishing my coloring (even though i wasn't so thrilled by the purple/pink combination)...
*failing to introduce someone yet again to kara! (didn't introduce jordan, josh, OR megan to her... she just took the liberty herself)...
*a safeway run...
*hanging out with jordan and tim ("being on the phone" to avoid situations)...
*orchestra with jonny garza and kaitlyn ("Oof! I want to die...blech...)...
*a really amazing guy's basketball game (close games are the best games to watch... congrats pioneers for the win)...
*mom calling me to spoil the grey's anatomy episode (one of the ways mom and i tend to bond: grey's anatomy... she'll call me to talk about grey's anatomy and yet, not call about anything really important... it's great)...
i'm playing for vespers tomorrow... chris kam called me, and i agreed, b/c i want to make sure that PUC seems like a professional atmosphere of praise, as opposed to the less-than-quality praise bands lately... jessica shine also asked me to be included with a couple of recordings that she's sending in to the GC... apparently, the conference is putting together a contemporary addition to the hymnal, and we're gonna be included in that... pretty exciting...
so jason's coming up for the weekend with bruce, my long lost cousin from saudi arabia... i have to meet up with them on sabbath... hopefully it's a good experience... i should stop being so negative about it... it's also college days; i don't know anyone from GAA anymore... i guess i'm getting old...
"I'm here to defend Valentine's Day. No, not cupid or the flowers or the expensive jewelry, lingerie, chocolates, or any of the commercial things. I'm here to defend what Valentine's day celebrates.
Love gets a bad rap in today's selfish, self-centered, fake world. But true love isn't just for two people "in love". Its for people who care about each other and are willing to be vulnerable and let the other person know they care. Roommates, best friends, Casual friends, teachers, parents...whatever. It doesn't mean you're destined to be married. It means you were kind enough to think of someone else, and willing to sacrifice a little bit to do something nice for them.
I'm definitely not a fan of "perfect" gifts or "perfect" dates, but its always fun to do something nice for someone else. It takes the focus off of "me". It gives us as humans the chance to build up people around us. The world wasn't made with a single person in mind. Even evolutionists need other things to advance.
Valentine's Day celebrates humans ability to love. Try to see the beauty through the sleeze. Do something nice for someone on the 14th and see if something gets done back to you. If not? You loved. And life is better when you've loved, then when you haven't, even if you lose it.
And if you care enough about someone, show it. Don't be afraid of "doing something wrong". Any effort, any care, is an expression of love.
God loves you. And in the end, thats all we can truly depend on. Celebrate that."
- - - - - - -
reading that, it provided me with a really nice challenge for supposedly, one of the most depressing holiday for those that are serious-relationship-impaired... it was no longer "singles' awareness day" for me; it became valentine's day... i strived to make people smile yesterday, and especially make sure that valentine's day was special for someone...
yesterday, someone shared with me their valentine's curse... it naturally challenged me to do something amazing for that person... so i did...
and seeing that person smile definitely made my day... one of those "permanent smiles" that i couldn't wipe off... those are the greatest...
to elaborate... in books of moses, laurie shared with megan, cory, and i the moment valentines became something horrible for her... apparently, two valentines ago, she was the one working for public safety the moment david edgwake died after the basketball intramurals, colliding with another player... to make it worse, LBP kept telling her that "if david dies, it's gonna be your fault..." sure, she apologized for it afterwards, but it was still a traumatizing experience for laurie; so traumatizing that she actually dropped out of school for it...
i refused to let another valentines pass for her, with the negative feelings attached, so i wrote her a letter... and it made her smile... throughout the rest of the day, i found her at dinner, continued to make her laugh, and made her roommate promise me that in the 6 1/2 hours left in the day, that she would guarantee that laurie would have a great rest of the day... i saw her today, and apparently, her valentine's day was great... and that made me happy...
it feels good to make a positive impact on other people's lives... especially when you give someone another chance at something so great, after things haven't always been so rosy...
definitely my best valentine's day so far...
- - - - - - -
throw in the kiddy valentine from megan ("you'd think they'd at least put the different valentine the right way up!"), a card from krissy, and a chocolate from laurie, with a letter of reply as well... bypassing the frustrating wind ensemble rehearsal and the lack of a nap, and including the loss of yet another belt loop (i'm winning my weight loss battle!), an amazing music history lecture, a 10-minute coloring time, hearing that andy really loves the posters i made, and good conversations with jordan and cory online, and yesterday was definitely a good day...
today was great, as well...
*a good sermon from jon henderson during senior recognition (didn't feel so bad that i wasn't marching... we're gonna have to find a term that fits in-between junior and senior, right?)...
*finishing my coloring (even though i wasn't so thrilled by the purple/pink combination)...
*failing to introduce someone yet again to kara! (didn't introduce jordan, josh, OR megan to her... she just took the liberty herself)...
*a safeway run...
*hanging out with jordan and tim ("being on the phone" to avoid situations)...
*orchestra with jonny garza and kaitlyn ("Oof! I want to die...blech...)...
*a really amazing guy's basketball game (close games are the best games to watch... congrats pioneers for the win)...
*mom calling me to spoil the grey's anatomy episode (one of the ways mom and i tend to bond: grey's anatomy... she'll call me to talk about grey's anatomy and yet, not call about anything really important... it's great)...
i'm playing for vespers tomorrow... chris kam called me, and i agreed, b/c i want to make sure that PUC seems like a professional atmosphere of praise, as opposed to the less-than-quality praise bands lately... jessica shine also asked me to be included with a couple of recordings that she's sending in to the GC... apparently, the conference is putting together a contemporary addition to the hymnal, and we're gonna be included in that... pretty exciting...
so jason's coming up for the weekend with bruce, my long lost cousin from saudi arabia... i have to meet up with them on sabbath... hopefully it's a good experience... i should stop being so negative about it... it's also college days; i don't know anyone from GAA anymore... i guess i'm getting old...