Be Joyful Always, Pray Continually, Give Thanks.

grannysmythe:

Quoth the raven.

“Ya nasty.”

(via findingdaurie)

“The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).” John 1:41

This was the moment that everything changed for Simon Peter. He didn’t know that he would ever meet the Messiah. He didn’t know that he would ever give up being a fisherman and become a fisher of men. He didn’t know that he would venture far from home. He didn’t know that he would give up everything to follow a man who said that he was God. He didn’t know that he would see and perform miracles and cast out demons in the name of the Lord. He didn’t know that he would see Elijah, Moses, and the Son of God in glory. He didn’t know that Jesus would be sentenced to die for a crime he did not commit. He did not know that he would deny knowing his master, and later watch him die on a cross. He didn’t know the despair he would feel when he thought it was all for naught, nor the elation and wild hope when the tomb was empty. He didn’t know that that man would rise again, or that he would be called the rock upon which the church would be built. He didn’t know what a church was. He didn’t know that he would spend the rest of his life preaching the Gospel. He didn’t know that he would eventually die for the Gospel. He didn’t even know there was a Gospel. They had to live it first. But when Andrew came to tell Peter “We found the Messiah…” For Peter, that was the moment when everything changed. Christ changes everything.  

My name is Meghan, and I am a waster. I waste a lot of things. Mostly, I waste my time. I waste, like, a lot of time. I waste time on the Internet. I waste time on Netflix watching entire seasons in one day and series in a matter of weeks, movies that I’ve already seen, I waste time cruising Facebook, looking at people’s statuses, refreshing the page (just in case I got a notification that hadn’t loaded yet.) I waste time on twitter and tumblr, looking at Suri’s burn book and my friend’s blogs. I look through the dresses on Modcloth wishing I could afford them, drooling over TOMS, and then I make my way over to pinterest where I scroll through the never-ending page of recipes I need to try, clothing I want to own, pictures I think are funny, ideas for the wedding I’m not sure I’ll ever have, and adorable photo and craft Ideas for all occasions. If I’m feeling political, I take a look at Fox news website to see what’s going on in the world, I pull up IPTV to watch the news or TLC, and then I finally make my way over to my school webpage after checking back at Facebook and Twitter one more time (just in case I got a new notification or there are new tweets.) I open up my email while I wait for the page to load, and spend some time perusing the sales at bath and body works and skimming the 500 emails Liberty sends me about politics and things going on around campus. I then open up a new tab on my browser and check to see if I’m able to watch the latest episode of a TV show on hulu, only to find it’s only available on hulu plus. I then go to Google to see if it’s available anywhere else, and then give up after 10 minutes when a sketch video site wants my social security number. All of this was done in the process of logging onto blackboard, the school’s online network for class work, to complete a quiz that will take me 5 minutes to complete. Even now, when I’m writing about how I’m being wasteful of time, I should be finishing a lesson plan that is due before midnight if I want it reviewed. I waste my money on clothing, shoes, and food and drinks I don’t need. I don’t budget well, and when I don’t have spare money to give in the offering on Sunday I make excuses about how I need to be paying my parents back and paying off loans, and how I’ll be sure to give to the church out of my next paycheck. Somehow, this happens a lot. I rationalize that I spent money on gas, which I then wasted on trips around town to buy things that I wanted but didn’t need, and that when I bought a pair of TOMS it was a good thing because I gave a kid in Africa a pair of shoes. Really, I’m selfish. I waste my time, which in turn costs me points on assignments, which ultimately could cost me a grade. I waste time online instead of doing proper studying which results in being unprepared for class. I waste time on my appearance by taking so much time to put on eyeliner when I should be out the door on my way to class across campus. I think the art of time management has been lost on our generation. There are so many things to do when we’re bored that we do them when we should be doing other things. We have no concept of commitment or repercussions because there’s always some way to fix it after we receive the wakeup call. But often it’s too little too late. Deciding at the end of the semester of mediocre work that you want good grades doesn’t cut it, and deciding to spend less when half your paycheck is already gone doesn’t make as big an impact as if the decision had been made at first. The bible instructs us in Ephesians 5:16 for us to “make the best use of our time, because the days are evil.” We don’t know how much time we have left, but very seldom do we make the best use of our time by cruising around Facebook and checking out twitter or pinning on pinterest. Not to say that these things aren’t fun or even that they’re wrong, but the inordinate amount of time we spend online doing essentially nothing is not an example of making the “best use” of our time. I think we need to log off for a while and see what else we can fill our time with in order to please the Lord. We’re not our own, we were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and as such, our time is not our own to waste, like the parable of the talents (Luke 19:12-28) where Jesus talks of the servants who do much with the little they were given and were blessed. But the one who hid his talent away and “wasted” it, and wasted the opportunity to do much with it, was imprisoned and punished. We’re held accountable to what we do with what we’re given, and I believe that includes our time. Will we be like the servants who were trustworthy with much? Or the one who did absolutely nothing with the little he had? I think it’s up to us to submit to the Lord and follow him and his call.

daurisafari:

but if you support Obama you’re wrong. Your opinions are wrong. There is no way this despicable ignoramus can be let loose on this country for 4 more years.

(Source: findingdaurie)