My Optimistic Odyssey

Why I love Kids - Makin’ Music 2012 Edition

Every year at the Makin’ Music kids show I am reminded of just how much I love children. Here are a few of the thinks I love:

1. The piercing and excited screams about everything that could possibly come on stage
2. The crazy glow necklace waving
3. The screams for Big Bird before he/she even started singing
4. How the host and hoses songs become sing alongs
5. The look of sheer delight when I’m walking around during intermission and when the kids say things like “Look! A fairy!,” “You’re SO pretty..” etc.
6. The times I catch kids trying to touch my wings without me noticing
7. How all of the kids treat the costumed Freedies like celebrities and cheer when we just walk by them
8. How I get to see my practicum students and they rush up and give me hugs and talk to me
9. The nonjudgemental way that the children watch the shows
10. The joy that is just exuberating and filling up the whole building and our hearts

One of the reasons for racial bias is moral laziness. It thrives on the idea that I don’t have to know this person and instead can judge a whole group.

-Jim Gardner

Dare Night

Do you ever hear that voice in your head that asks you why in the world you agreed to do something? You know, the voice that sometimes asks “Are you crazy?” Well, that voice was talking to me throughout the day today. Tonight I participated in a Fear Factor meeting at school. I got marbles out of ice water with my toes; ate things like baby food, hot sauce, cinnamon, lemon juice, and milk; ran a dog biscuit relay; put my face in pasta to get olives; and attempted to drink a “shake” made of ingredients from the fast food places in town.  Perhaps I am a little crazy, because now that voice is saying “You know, I’m really glad you did that.” In a weird kind of way, I really enjoyed the Fear Factor meeting tonight. Here’s a few things I learned tonight:

1. Sometimes you find marbles by loosing them.
2. Baby Food is NASTY! When I was looking at all of the foods before we tried it, I thought that surely the baby food would be one of the easier foods the eat. I mean, it’s what people feed to their children whom they love dearly. If parents knew what it tasted like, I think they might find something else to feed their kids. Perhaps we should establish a mandatory baby food tasting program for all new parents to weed out the foods that make people feel like gagging. All I’ve got to say is that the next time a baby spits up on me, I’ll probably feel more compassionate about it.
3. Dog treat relays are FUN! The thing that scared me the most about this one was the fact that we were running while we felt like throwing up what we just ate. Thankfully, all of us kept our food down while we had the dog treats in our mouths. This also leads to thought # 3.
4. You never know how things you do today might help you tomorrow. When I was in Jr. High and High School, I had a love affair with my dog. Because of this, I decided to taste his treats one day. (See thoughts on parents and baby food.) Thanks to this experience, the idea of having dog treats in my mouth but not having to eat them didn’t really faze me.
5. Although I can’t always see how I’ve grown since college, things like tonight help me to see how I’ve changed much more clearly. As a freshman, I would have been mortified to try most of these things or to be in front of my whole club for a whole meeting. If you had asked me to do it last year, I would have wanted to, but there is no way I would have done it. This year, I may have doubted myself at times, but there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. As I ate the baby food, ran like a dog, and tasted the killer shake, I realized that I am a different person than I was when I watched Fear Factor for the first time as a freshman. This realization was worth facing any of the fears I did tonight. 
6. I really, really love the people in Chi Beta. If that includes you, this is your reminder that you are awesome. I love every one of you.

You are called to impact this world as only you can.

God is Faithful

I heard a lesson today about how God never stops loving. In this lesson, the speaker mentioned how God could at any moment pinch off our oxygen. He continued to say that with every breath we take, we count on God being faithful and that we can plant a garden and expect it to grow in the spring because God is faithful. 

This thought really struck me because these are some of the things that I completely trust will continue to be the way I expect them to be. My first thought about the pinching off the oxygen statement was “Sure he could, but He won’t - at least not in an unnatural way.” It was after this thought that I realized this was precisely the point. We are so confident that God will continue to have the earth follow the “laws of nature.” We trust so deeply that things on earth will be consistant that we base science on it. It is so much a part of our reality that we set our clocks by it and plan our lives around it. We can count on His faithfulness in the physical world. We can also count on His faithfulness in the spiritual world.

Do we trust Him just as much with His spiritual promises? Let’s put all of our faith in the faithful One. 

The View Out My Window

A little over a year ago, I sat at a desk admiring the Tuscan Landscape. It was absolutely beautiful. I could see rolling hills covered with vineyards, olive trees, villas that have been around for centuries, and trees that looked like they were reaching up towards Heaven. This year I sit at my old desk in Bradfield and I see something just as beautiful. At this desk, I can see most of Freed-Hardeman’s campus. I can see memories from the past and hope for the future. I can also see the beauty and opportunities of today. I see stability and changes, the old and the new, blessings and hope. I see the rolling hills and treetops beyond. I don’t know what’s on the hills and in the trees, but if I ever need to go there, the God who has been with me at Freed will go with me there too. Because of Him, I won’t fear the beyond. I can’t see everything, but I can see everything that I need to now. When I look, I see. When we look together, I can only imagine the beautiful things we will see.