A Lily Among Thorns

I know it's totally unusual that I manage two blog posts in two days (or even two months for that matter), but let's not talk about that. Let's just enjoy the illusion that Meredith has gotten her act together as long as we can, okay?

Okay.

I'm here to talk to you guys about love.

And since I'm a young teenager who has never been in a serious relationship, obviously I know what I'm talking about.

I did some extensive research (and by "extensive research" I mean "I Googled this") and the definition for love I found is "an intense feeling of deep affection."

Let's just say I wasn't exactly satisfied with that definition.

So I delved even deeper into my intensive research. I Googled "true love." Underneath an entry about a movie from the late eighties, I found a poetic entry in the Urban Dictionary. It's quite long (after all, love is a complicated thing to define, evidently), but here are a few excerpts. (And here is the full article - warning: barf bags may be necessary)

Love is the feeling you get when all you have to do is think of her and it brings a smile to your face and a yourning to your heart. Love is not being able to think about nething but her.

Love is an overwelming feeling of pure bliss when the 2 of u kiss. Love is wanting to hold her in ur arms till the end of time.

Love is telling her u want to spend the rest of your life with her. Love is wanting to marry her even tho ya'll haven't been dating that long.

*facepalm*

I don't know what a "yourning" is, but boy do I want to bring one to someone's heart. And I definitely want a guy to think about "nething" but me.

Way to go, Romeo.

Now I hate to not give someone's work a fair evaluation just because their grammar and spelling was magnificently incorrect.

(But guys, don't ever underestimate the power of a good vocabulary and skilled handling of the English language.)

But this person's attempt at defining love, along with many others, doesn't quite capture the entire idea.

Most people never get past thinking that love is about what you feel.

And don't get me wrong, love certainly is very much about those nice romantic feelings.

I read some in Song of Solomon to research for this post (don't tell my mom), and I'm not going to lie - I kind of felt like I was reading Fifty Shades of Grey.

So according to the Bible, love does and should make you feel warm fuzzies.

BUT THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD GUYS

Love is so much more special and beautiful than all those feelings.

As nice as it is to feel love, feelings are only temporary. And to quote that cheesy song, I want a love that will last.

Based off of the Bible, I can conclude that the thing we're getting wrong about love is...well, pretty much everything.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

When I read those verses, I can't help but think about my friends who are so "in love" with whoever they may currently be interested in. They gush about how much they love that person, but when I compare their relationship to the Biblical standard, their "love" simply doesn't hold up.

To be completely open, honest, and teenage girlish, I absolutely cannot wait to fall in love, get married, and raise a family with whoever God has for me. Thinking about it makes my heart so very glad.

But I want more than a shallow love based only on feelings. I don't want to have a relationship that makes people shake their heads and speculate about how long it will last. I've seen so many romances gone bad because there is no substance, and when the feelings went away, suddenly there just wasn't any love left.

I don't want my love to be cheap and shallow. I want people to see that there is something different with me.

I want to be a lily among the thorns.

On Sincerity

"If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all." 

A common enough aphorism, I'm sure. I know I've heard this one more times than I can say I always appreciated.

But as usual, it took me a long time to realize the full measure of wisdom in this saying (and chances are I still haven't got it all). Not only did it take a long time, it actually took some divine intervention.

As stated in previous posts, I am a girl. And as I am well aware, girls are very odd and often irrational creatures. And I'm about to tell you one of our greatest secrets.

We all hate each other.

Oh, sure, you may be my best friend, but you have nicer hair than me. You may be my sister, but WHY do you have such gorgeous eyes? 

We can't stand not having all the beauty, talent, intelligence, humor, charm, and wit when obviously every other girl does.

We hate you.

Nevertheless, we will rain down compliments on you like nobody's business at every possible opportunity.

Because we hate you.

"Ohhhhh my gooooodnessss girlll!!!! I loooooveee your hairrr!!!"

"DEM EYES DOE"

"Can you just not? Please? Like...just no. Stop. Ugh."

*shudder*

Sadly, I think I'm guilty of all of those examples and more.

Now don't get me wrong - girls can compliment sincerely. But in general, we don't think through what we're saying enough to even be completely sure that we mean it.

I've been thinking a lot about sincerity lately and trying to be more careful about not paying compliments that I don't honestly mean.

So this brings me back to the original thought. Compliments are always good, yes? So what's the harm in paying a few not-entirely-sincere compliments?

I was reading through Psalms earlier (because I really think it would be very hard to read too many Psalms - they're good for my heart and mind) and I came across these verses:

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. (Ps. 12)

See that line that I put in bold? Does that sound familiar at all?

Well, I don't know about you, but it sounds an awful lot like those insincere compliments I told you about. And it doesn't sound like God deals very kindly with people who do that.

Don't be insincere with your words.

Not only does that passage in Psalms tell us what we should not do, it gives us something to aim for (I love when the Bible is this clear).

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

This is the standard that we should hold ourselves to. So perhaps it's time we rephrase those wise words from earlier now that the Bible has shed some light on the situation.

"If you don't have anything good, true, and sincere to say, don't say anything at all."

On Updates, Ramblings, and Dinosaurs

I just wanted to give you guys a quick (please emphasize this word in your brains because I mean it) update on what's about to happen...

If you've been following my blog for a while, as most of you have (and by the way, thank you and I love you for still being here even though I'm clearly a terrible and neglectful blogger), you'll probably remember my mini-series last year where I told you all about my family reunion, complete with pictures and all.

Well, that's happening again.

The reunion, not the mini-series. We'll see about any reunion-related material when I get back. Currently I don't technically have a camera so I would have to just write the whole thing and come on, guys - I'm not that entertaining.

So yeah, anyways. I'll be indisposed for the next few days because I'll be gallivanting around the forest and the mountains and having a wonderful time.

Consequently, I will not be writing, and consequently, I will not be posting here.

Which is nothing new.

But now I have an excuse.

So yeah! In case you think of little old me at all over the next week, just know that I really do miss writing stuff here, but I don't want to write all kinds of junk that you don't want to read (*cough* like this post *cough*) so I'm waiting to find my muse. Hopefully it will come at some point soon.

I hope that maybe you'll have some sort of thrilling adventure this week like I expect to! As always, thoughts and prayers are appreciated, especially for safety since even though climbing out to the very edge of a very steep and dangerous mountain precipice is probably not a very good idea, I'm probably going to do it anyway because I am very dumb. And then I will probably do it a few more times for good measure.

And also we have to drive a long way.

Anyways. This got long and rambling.

I hope to be back at the end of my vacation refreshed and renewed and ready to stop letting you guys down all the time, and in the meantime I hope things are lovely and ducky in your corner of the world.

Get it? It's funny because the world is round.

Valentine's Day Verse

Ah, spring - when ten year old girls' fancy turns to thoughts of love. Today is Valentine's Day, a day to celebrate all the people we love. And I'm happy because I have a wonderful Mr. Darcy quote for this post.

"I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love."

My little sister is an aspiring poet. Or at least, she wrote a few poems yesterday. And since "roses are red" is kind of an iconic cheesy love poem (albeit a super lame one), I thought it was entirely appropriate that it was, evidently, her inspiration.

And since it's Valentine's Day, I figured I would share her beautiful poetry with you. It is truly amazing and achieves a literary depth that is absolutely unprecedented.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Flowers are nice

And so are you.

That one was relatively safe. Although I must say, being told that I'm "nice" wouldn't be quite as heart-fluttering as the next one...

Roses are red,

Violets are red,

Trees are red -

Your garden's on fire.

That would definitely get my heart beating a little faster.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Your boyfriend's red

And you are blue.

He is blushing,

You're holding your breath.

He hands you a ring!

Now you are pink. :)

Not gonna lie, I had to read that one a few times before I understood it. Fortunately, the author was not difficult to contact and was quite helpful. Apparently in line 4, "And you are blue," you are blue because you're holding your breath. 

You must have been holding your breath a very long time waiting for that ring.

Also, I thought the smiley face was an interesting literary device.

And finally, my personal favorite.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

I'm holding a stapler,

You're holding your finger.

If you guys are struggling to figure out what to say to your valentine today (although based off of what I've seen on various social media sites so far, pretty much nobody has one), I would recommend one of these beautiful verses. They're sure to win the heart of any dashing gentleman or comely lady. Happy Valentine's Day!

A New Chapter (or something like that)

I turned sixteen yesterday.
And I heard the usual birthday questions several times yesterday: "So do you feel any different?"
Well, to be honest, I feel very different... But that's probably just me. I'm very excited to be getting older and being allowed more privileges (and responsibilities), and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me over the next few years of my life. I've been learning a lot and really realizing the beauty of a life lived for Christ. Hopefully year sixteen will be an even better year for me than the last.
Last February 6th I posted sixteen things I was thankful for (one for each year of my life, and one to grow on). This year I think I'll post a few things I learned this past year. I don't think I can manage seventeen, but I'll do my best.

1. When God is your number one priority, everything else just sort of falls into place.
2. You can teach yourself dedication and discipline. As evidenced by my actually effective piano practice the last few weeks.
3. Friends come and go. All we can do is appreciate the time we are given with them.
4. The accelerator and the brake do very different things in a car and they are not to be confused.
5. Encouraging someone can be one of the easiest things you do, but it means so much.
6. What Makes You Beautiful is still an excellent running song. Some of you may judge me for that, but frankly...

Moving right along...

7. People appreciate kindness a lot more than I thought.

8. Snow is overrated. As is ice. As is winter in general. See, I like electricity. And warmth.

9. How to wash your hair like they do at hair salons...

10. As much as I dislike school sometimes, I am literally lost without it. Having gone a week without school unexpectedly (due to "inclement weather") I realized that it's seriously my entire life.
11. Your parents are actually on your side.
12. I am incredibly blessed. My entire life is so abundantly overflowing with God's gifts that it's really pretty unbelievable. My God is truly amazing.

I'm definitely looking forward to learning even more in the coming year. Anything difficult is a tool to make me stronger, and anything easy is a blessing. No matter what, I have amazing family and friends who will be with me through everything. Thanks all for your love and encouragement. <3

On Love

Now, now. I know several of you probably saw the title of this and freaked out. To those of you who just had a similar knee-jerk reaction to that of Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice upon hearing that Mr. Bingley is coming to town ("It is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.") I offer a hearty "pooh pooh" and tell you: CALM YOURSELVES.

This post is not going to be about falling in love. Check back in about thirty-five years for that one. (Sorry to disappoint.)

I've been hearing a lot about loving other people lately, from people who differ greatly in age, belief, personality, etc... So I just thought I would briefly offer some musings on the subject of love.

At Bible Conference at the college this spring, there was a speaker who talked about Calvary love, which loves in spite of all our shortcomings, and how this is the type of love that we should show in our lives. We love because love is of God and He first loved us, and we love unconditionally because that's how God does it.

Something that actually really convicted me about loving people was reading old letters from my cousin Sara. She was only about six years old, but what she said to me then really touched my heart reading it over again. (I'm going to change it just a little because the grammar and spelling is a little difficult to understand)

"I love you so much since you love me so much. Mommy loves you too for that card. Do you like this? Send your card to me and I will be happy. Will you be happy too? I hope you will be happy.  PJ loves you too. Philip loves you too, and Joshua and Caleb too, and Daddy and Mommy too.

The two best things are Jesus and love."

And in another one...

"Are you loving people?

I hope you are."

Sara's letters made me realize that I definitely have not been truly loving people. When you read her letters, you can tell that she was absolutely obsessed with other people - loving them, making them happy, putting them first. Seeing a little girl (albeit an extraordinary little girl) with so much capacity for love made me wonder how much more I should be able to love now. 

It's not always easy. People won't always love you back. (And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love -Ps. 109:5) 

But God so loved the world. The whole world. I think I can at least try to love the folks in my little piece of it.

Let brotherly love continue. (Hebrews 13:1)

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (1 John 4:7)

On cheeseballs

I am 15 years old.

Or 184 months old.

Or 803 weeks old.

Or 5,625 days old.

Or 135,010 hours old.

Or 8,100,650 minutes old.

Or 486,039,027 seconds old.

That's not really a long time when you think about it. But it is fifteen years longer than zero. ;)

And so, I have learned a thing or two in my lifetime. Now, I don't claim to be wise as King Solomon or brilliant as Albert Einstein, and I doubt I ever will be. However, I am friends with this girl who happens to know everything. And she teaches me new things almost every day. And we both figured something out recently.

And that thing is that people can be cheeseballs sometimes.

But that's okay.

No matter what you do, there will always be someone judging you. But they don't really matter. 

What's important is that you realize these six things.

1. God loves you.

2. You love God.

3. God is a part of you.

4. So you should love you. (Cuz you are pretty stinking awesome, you know.)

5. You should love other people. (Even the icky cheeseballs)

6. With all that love exuding from you, people won't be able to help but love you too.

Therefore, you win. (And I suppose you could eat the cheeseballs for dinner if you want...even though they're icky...)