'cause what's inside her never dies:
My first anatomy bell-ringer (practical exam) was actually slightly enjoyable. The bell was like an unobtrusive doorbell chime melody. It was actually sort of fun. Except for the one I blanked out on & bothered me for the rest of the time. Now, it's onto biochemical metabolic memorization fun!
Perhaps the biggest struggle that we have is not with the stuff out there, but here in the mind and in the heart.
I think I understand some of those struggles. Loving people has never come easy for me. By nature I'm an introvert.
C.S. Lewis says something pretty cool. "The Good News of the Gospel is that he draws straight lines with crooked sticks. That he accepts us as we are, and he wants to use us to love other people, just as we are."
I have the hardest time reconciling my inadequacies with how God wants to use me. I think I still have a hard time accepting my own mediocrity. All my life before university, things came so easy - schoolwork, marks, friendships. I stood above a lot of other people in marks, and it felt like I didn't even have to try that hard. Nowadays I try so hard, and there were so many times, I just squeak by. By no means am I an extraordinary student these days. I'm average, I'm just like everyone else, sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse.
I miss the natural ease of innocence, before I started (over)thinking on things. But I understand that it's important that we move on, we let go, we don't remain attached, we grow forward, we change as our circumstances & environment change. This is a life living.
And I guess it's not a matter of why God would allow this mediocrity to be so prevalent in my life. Who sets the standard on what's average or normal? Marks are a poor, one-dimensional approach to life. I believe that every single person has some innate, unique quality about them, that sets them above everyone else. In the same manner, every person has flaws that seat them a little lower, a little humbler. Mediocrity is just the realization that we are broken, flawed, & limited people.
But there's more to life than just getting by. There's so much to be tasted & seen in this world. We shouldn't measure our lives on the same scale as other(imperfect)s. We measure our lives by the standard of perfection that God has set out for us. And yes, this standard is impossible to achieve on our own. But we strive for it anyways, because that's what we are called to do. (Phil. 3:12-14) Mediocrity is a reminder that we do our best & give it our all in all that we do, because we are striving for perfection. And a reminder that we indeed fall when we attempt to strive for perfection on our own, by our own strength & abilities. Mediocrity is the way in which we are taught how to stop relying on ourselves & start to give every part of ourselves over to an omnipotent, omniscient, & omnipresent God, who is able to perfect us through Him.
We are created and living for a perfect, eternal God. Only when we realize this is, then does our life have meaning & potential for complete satisfaction -- completely satisfied in One who is perfect. And one day, we will leave these imperfect, broken, flawed bodies and be transformed into His likeness and spend eternity with Him (2 Cor. 3:17-18, Phil. 3:20-21).
Perhaps the biggest struggle that we have is not with the stuff out there, but here in the mind and in the heart.
I think I understand some of those struggles. Loving people has never come easy for me. By nature I'm an introvert.
C.S. Lewis says something pretty cool. "The Good News of the Gospel is that he draws straight lines with crooked sticks. That he accepts us as we are, and he wants to use us to love other people, just as we are."
I have the hardest time reconciling my inadequacies with how God wants to use me. I think I still have a hard time accepting my own mediocrity. All my life before university, things came so easy - schoolwork, marks, friendships. I stood above a lot of other people in marks, and it felt like I didn't even have to try that hard. Nowadays I try so hard, and there were so many times, I just squeak by. By no means am I an extraordinary student these days. I'm average, I'm just like everyone else, sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse.
I miss the natural ease of innocence, before I started (over)thinking on things. But I understand that it's important that we move on, we let go, we don't remain attached, we grow forward, we change as our circumstances & environment change. This is a life living.
And I guess it's not a matter of why God would allow this mediocrity to be so prevalent in my life. Who sets the standard on what's average or normal? Marks are a poor, one-dimensional approach to life. I believe that every single person has some innate, unique quality about them, that sets them above everyone else. In the same manner, every person has flaws that seat them a little lower, a little humbler. Mediocrity is just the realization that we are broken, flawed, & limited people.
But there's more to life than just getting by. There's so much to be tasted & seen in this world. We shouldn't measure our lives on the same scale as other(imperfect)s. We measure our lives by the standard of perfection that God has set out for us. And yes, this standard is impossible to achieve on our own. But we strive for it anyways, because that's what we are called to do. (Phil. 3:12-14) Mediocrity is a reminder that we do our best & give it our all in all that we do, because we are striving for perfection. And a reminder that we indeed fall when we attempt to strive for perfection on our own, by our own strength & abilities. Mediocrity is the way in which we are taught how to stop relying on ourselves & start to give every part of ourselves over to an omnipotent, omniscient, & omnipresent God, who is able to perfect us through Him.
We are created and living for a perfect, eternal God. Only when we realize this is, then does our life have meaning & potential for complete satisfaction -- completely satisfied in One who is perfect. And one day, we will leave these imperfect, broken, flawed bodies and be transformed into His likeness and spend eternity with Him (2 Cor. 3:17-18, Phil. 3:20-21).