Where Do Our Passions Lie?

According to some, I am very "passionate" about certain things in life. According to others, I may simply come across as rude and harsh rather than "passionate". One thing that really bothers me is how passionate people are about sports. I have been told it is highly rude of me to speak about my frustration on this topic since many families really enjoy sports and it might come across poorly for me to say how I truly feel about this topic. But others could argue the same about my own passions in life. Granted, I'm not passionate about sports, but I am definitely passionate about a great many things. I'm passionate about trying to help people to see how wrong abortion is, and the fact that it is murder. I am passionate about the typical Christian's lack of concern for others around them, including the homeless and hungry we see on a daily basis. I am passionate about the fact that it is very disheartening for people to call themselves Christians, and then not act like a Christian. This list could go on forever.

Aside from all of those passions, I would say the thing that I'm passionate about that would make me most like a sports fan is photography. Granted I'm not near as passionate as some, just as not all sports fans are as passionate as others. But regardless, there are similarities there. I have no right to get frustrated with people who seem to be more concerned with and involved in sports than they do the dying soul of a person going to hell. For I am no better than they.

It should not matter to me what people are passionate about, it should only matter to me that they are being MORE passionate about Christ and His great commandment for our lives.

Are we (myself included) really and truly giving the majority of our attention to the life we have after this one, and making sure we spread this news to others? Or are we spending the majority of our time enjoying the temporary pleasures of this world?

Home Stretch

If you had asked me a few month ago how pregnancy was going, I might have told you it was going very slowly, and it felt like this little guy growing in my tummy would never get here. Today, however, I am 30 weeks and 1 day! I am astonished at how quickly these past several month have flown by. I am now at the point of panic, when I realize this baby could literally come at ANY time (hopefully he keeps baking for about another 8 to 10 weeks). I believe I understand where the urge to "nest" comes from. For me, it's in the panicked state of realizing our home is not "baby-ready" and knowing that I need to hurry to get everything perfect for our little one's arrival. I look around and see clutter, dust, and the lack of a finished nursery. These things are putting me into a state of frenzy.

Up until this point I rarely felt up to the task of getting the baby's things in order, or getting his room ready for all of his belongings. But now I am realizing I have stuff with nowhere to put it! I know it will all get done eventually, but I can't help feeling as though it needs to be completed sooner rather than later.

As I look ahead to the coming weeks, I am thoroughly looking forward to getting closer to meeting our little guy face to face. I never understood the love people talked about that was between a mother and her child until these past 30 weeks. It is amazing how overwhelming of a love it truly is - and I can only imagine how much more overwhelming it will be when I hold my son in my arms for the first time.

I feel so blessed to be given such a miracle. And I feel equally as blessed to be able to share this miracle with the man God has given me.

Weight A Minute

I have been debating whether or not to write this blog at all, but have recently been struggling with this issue and am strongly feeling the need to get this all out there. This may or may not sound abrasive and/or blunt, but I feel the need to get it off my chest (probably due to raging pregnancy hormones).



Throughout my life I have had to deal with people criticizing my weight. When I was a teenager I was thin, just like the majority of teenage girls. However, I was always told I looked anorexic and needed to gain weight (even though I was within the medically determined healthy weight range for my gender, age, and height). Even though being told you look anorexic may not sound like an insult, it always felt like one. The effect it had was the same feeling as being told you look ugly. To have some part of your body, no matter which part that may be, consistently criticized made me feel inadequate. I wasn't good enough the way I was, I needed to change to be acceptable in people's eyes.

Once I got married and starting putting on "happy weight", I started being told I looked much better having more meat on my bones. At this point, I was not happy with myself. I didn't want to gain "happy weight". I wanted to stay fit. But again, I struggled with the feeling that I needed to change in order to be beautiful to others.

Now, I am at the beginning of my third trimester in my first pregnancy. I was warned that people make comments about how big you are getting when you are pregnant, but I was not mentally or emotionally prepared for how it would actually feel to have your weight constantly noted by others. I'm not sure if people realize the impact their words have on another's self esteem. Even if I am pregnant, telling me I'm "getting big" isn't going to make me feel happy, it is only going to make me feel more self conscious about the changes my body is going through.

Why do people find it necessary to make verbal note of another person's weight or appearance? As if girls and women don't have enough to worry about with all the movies, television, and magazines making them feel like they need to live up to a certain beauty standard, having people always point out flaws (even if they don't mean to make it sound like a flaw) makes feeling inadequate even worse. This type of thing makes people feel the need to search out a way to make themselves acceptable in the public eye. And if they are unable to achieve a standard for "beauty", they will then feel as though they are less beautiful than others.

My point in writing all of this is to make people aware of how their words can be hurtful to others. I am only one of MANY girls and women who have fallen victim of being forever judged by their appearance. A word of encouragement to those who do the judging. Before you speak your mind about someone else's appearance, DON'T! You may think what you are saying is not hurtful to their feelings, but most likely, like me, they have learned to hide the fact that they have been hurt by someone's words. In fact, any time you can avoid making ANY kind of comment about another person's weight or appearance, take that opportunity to simply compliment them instead.

Have Some Compassion!

It's amazing the way your heartstrings can be tugged on when you start thinking about all the horrible things going on in the world. The old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind" is true. If I am not seeing pictures of other countries, and the starving children and adults, I don't always think about it. But thankfully I am given constant reminders of the people who are in need.

The thing that always goes through my mind is that I so desperately want to help, but sometimes I just don't know how. I am also thankful that I am surrounded with avenues that will point me in the right direction for being able to help these dying, hurting multitudes.

There have been times when I feel as if I am the only person in the world who cares enough to want to make a difference. But I am glad to have wonderful people in my life that I know have some of the same concerns about the world as I do.

This morning my heart strings have again been tugged on. My ears hear t
he silent screams. And my soul cries for all of the unseen tears that are shed.

If you want to know more, or just read about other people who want to make a difference in the world, I encourage you to check out www.compassionscryblog.com!

A Not-So-Random Act of Kindness

As I sit and read the sea of facebook statuses, I can't help but wondering what I have become. I also begin to wonder what our world has become. I read status after depressing status. I find myself getting most frustrated at the way people in the world think, and their take on life. I am beginning to feel I have better things to do with my time, than to get heated over statuses and comments that are created for the simple purpose of getting a rise out of others. I read things about people having the worst day, week, month, etc of their entire lives, and wonder if they have stepped outside of their house to take a look around at the people surrounding them. Their are so many people hurting. There are so many people battling diseases. There are so many people who have had worse things happen to them in one day than dropping their phone in the toilet, getting a ticket, or simply having things not go their way. I find myself even questioning the things I get frustrated about.

I wonder about the cause of all of this, and I am left sitting here with one thought: selfishness.

There are few people in this world anymore than are truly selfless. Most people today are only concerned with themselves. They only care about making themselves happy. They only want to do what benefits them. They could care less about the people around them. They could care less about the cashier at Dollar General and if she is having a good day or not. I wonder if things would start to change if everyone were to strive to care more about others than themselves. Even if it only started with one person being selfless. Would this act of kindness carry from one person to the next? I find that it is not easy for someone to be rude to you if you are genuinely kind to them. Sometimes they are still able to be rude, but most of the time, your kindness calms their manner. Maybe that simple act of kindness will brighten their whole day, and in turn, they will end up being kind to other people they see after you... and so on.

This is the question I am asking myself as of late: What kind of difference could I make in people's lives by simply being kind, and thinking of them first, rather than myself?

Cellphone Fever

Today I went to the Cellphone store to look at my options for my coming upgrade. I have always gotten overwhelmed while browsing the cellphones on display, but it seemed to be worse this time. I noticed that there once was a time when they had a cellphone designed to fit just about any personality. But now it seems they all have one purpose in mind... to be the best selling. I also noticed that while they all seem to be competing with each other, they have also taken on a new appearance. The new fangled "outfits" these phones are wearing no longer appeal to individuals. They instead look like a row of drones. All created for one purpose, all doing the same thing, all looking exactly the same. So how is someone like me, who seeks creativity supposed to pick a new phone when they all appear to be the exact same? I have not quite figured out the answer to this question. However, there is a part of me that wishes I could just go back to the day when things were more simple. All you needed was a call button and an end button. I have a feeling this is not going to happen. Although, I wouldn't mind trying to simplify things.

Shopping for Weight Gain

I did not realize how quickly clothes can become too small when you are growing a human being inside of you. It is a very depressing thought to need to go shopping for LARGER clothes because the ones you have are much too small. Normally, clothes shopping sounds like a great time of fun, but not today. Not when I have to move to a different section of the store, one in which I have not yet navigated...
Nevertheless, I am about to head out on a small scale shopping spree (VERY small scale) to purchase clothing that will help me not feel so much like the beached whale that I feel like.