I feel sorry for the people who dont feel the way I do today. Its nearly time for me to dash of to the church to prepare final bits and pieces for our christmas eve service. Im still a little shocked that its Christmas Eve tonight, I swear we are still in august! However I am also extremely excited, jubilant, in awe and wonder and filled with the curiousity of a great mystery.
Christmas has always been exciting for me, as a child it was excitement for the presents I was to receive. Now I am excited to see the reactions to the presents that I have carefully thought out for my loved ones. Nothing gives me greater joy than showing love to the important people in my life, and Christmas is one time of year that gives a licence to decadence; and I flaunted it!
Im jubilant because its christmas and this time of year just makes me so incredibly happy. What this holiday means to the faithful is so incredible and important. How anyone could be sad about what this holiday means is baffling to me. Even those who are alone or cannot give their families the gifts they wish to should still find joy in the fact that we celebrate on this day and tomorrow that holy and divine night where Our Lord God sent his son to save us.
The awe and wonder and curiosity this holiday inspires in me is that of what happened on that night so many many years ago, why it happened, how it happened and that it all happened for me a poor, helpless sinner!
Im like a feeling junky at this time of year, I cant get enough of what it makes me feel like. I pray and hope that all may one day share in this plethera of fantastic feelings I am currently feeling, it is all for us after all.
Merry Christmas to all
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
my new favourite word
Hallelujah!
Im pretty much in love with this word at the moment. According to dictionary.com Hallelujah has a couple of meanings however the one which I most associate with it is an exclamation of praise or joy. Now so far as things go in my book, an exclamation of praise is always met with joy; praising and worshipping makes me joyful; not merely happy, but deeply content in my soul, mind and heart.
This word reminds me when I am getting weighed down with the pressures, worries, or sadness in the world, that there is a reason and a purpose for my being here, that I need not fear for my life is being commanded by the best leader of all time. When I am reminded of this it is all I can do but shout Hallelujah.
Christmas is certainly a time to be made aware of the grace and guidance of our God. For fucks sake he sent his only child to live amongst us, teach us, love us, and die as a sacrfice for us all!
Christmas marks the time that we were eternally forgiven and considered worthy. I will be proclaiming Hallelujah always, but especially at this time.
We always seem to get caught up with the other aspects of christmas; the hastles of organising family get togethers (agony), determining the best gift, organising christmas eve rehearsals, decorating the house...however what we should think when complaining about all these labourious tasks, is why we do them. We gather with family to celebrate this joyous time, sing Hallelujah and share love and gifts together. We give gifts to show our love and commemorate this precious time of year, we decorate the house to reflect the joy our hearts should be filled with and we rehearse and perform christmas services and events to share that joy with others.
Atleast, that is the mind frame we should have. And as a brilliant song named "Don't save it all for christmas day" states we really shouldnt only do these things at christmas; "don't save it all for christmas day, find a way, to give a little love everyday". We should every day chose to proclaim Hallelujah, share the love and joy and be content, however Christmas is a time to share this with more people and be ever more proclaiming, loving and joyful. Atleast that is what I will endeavour to accomplish!
Peace
Im pretty much in love with this word at the moment. According to dictionary.com Hallelujah has a couple of meanings however the one which I most associate with it is an exclamation of praise or joy. Now so far as things go in my book, an exclamation of praise is always met with joy; praising and worshipping makes me joyful; not merely happy, but deeply content in my soul, mind and heart.
This word reminds me when I am getting weighed down with the pressures, worries, or sadness in the world, that there is a reason and a purpose for my being here, that I need not fear for my life is being commanded by the best leader of all time. When I am reminded of this it is all I can do but shout Hallelujah.
Christmas is certainly a time to be made aware of the grace and guidance of our God. For fucks sake he sent his only child to live amongst us, teach us, love us, and die as a sacrfice for us all!
Christmas marks the time that we were eternally forgiven and considered worthy. I will be proclaiming Hallelujah always, but especially at this time.
We always seem to get caught up with the other aspects of christmas; the hastles of organising family get togethers (agony), determining the best gift, organising christmas eve rehearsals, decorating the house...however what we should think when complaining about all these labourious tasks, is why we do them. We gather with family to celebrate this joyous time, sing Hallelujah and share love and gifts together. We give gifts to show our love and commemorate this precious time of year, we decorate the house to reflect the joy our hearts should be filled with and we rehearse and perform christmas services and events to share that joy with others.
Atleast, that is the mind frame we should have. And as a brilliant song named "Don't save it all for christmas day" states we really shouldnt only do these things at christmas; "don't save it all for christmas day, find a way, to give a little love everyday". We should every day chose to proclaim Hallelujah, share the love and joy and be content, however Christmas is a time to share this with more people and be ever more proclaiming, loving and joyful. Atleast that is what I will endeavour to accomplish!
Peace
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
finally something to make moby dick worth reading!
So I decided to challenge myself by reading some old classics; I plan on reading The Odyssey, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les miserables...but I have started with Moby Dick....You want a frustrating, seemingly pointless, politically incorrect, horror...read Moby Dick! At what is likely to be the two month mark I have but 70 pages to go! You cannot believe how glad I am to reach the end of this awful book which preaches the glory of whaling. It is truly grotesque to read about how they used to maim the gentle giants of the ocean for their oil.
However finally today I found some words of wisdom. On page 404 (yes its taken me a whopping two months to get that far!) I discovered this:
"There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed graduations, and at the last one pause;- through infancy's unconscious spell, boyhood's thoughtless faith, adolecence' doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood's pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbour, whence we unmoor no more?"
I really like this; it suggests that through life we go through various stages of faith;
When we were infants we did not believe anything...lets just say we arent capable of such intense thought.
When we were young children we believed whatever we were told without taking any deeper meaning from it. Life was easy then we asked why but didnt really consider the impact.
At adolecence many of us go through the rebelious, questioning stage; nothing is above being considered and rejected. All is doubted. This follows on to a less severe sceptisism but general belief, then a lack of belief followed by healthy wondering and deep consideration of beliefs; why we believe some things and not others.
I truly think that these are stages we go through, and often as is suggested in the book, regress to a previous stage. The events of life no doubt influence our attitudes to belief. When the world is kicking us in the teeth it is easy to be rebelious, disbelieving or sceptical. However when we are on top of the world it is easy to believe freely considering all our reasons for believing.
Just a little food for thought in any case!
However finally today I found some words of wisdom. On page 404 (yes its taken me a whopping two months to get that far!) I discovered this:
"There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed graduations, and at the last one pause;- through infancy's unconscious spell, boyhood's thoughtless faith, adolecence' doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood's pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbour, whence we unmoor no more?"
I really like this; it suggests that through life we go through various stages of faith;
When we were infants we did not believe anything...lets just say we arent capable of such intense thought.
When we were young children we believed whatever we were told without taking any deeper meaning from it. Life was easy then we asked why but didnt really consider the impact.
At adolecence many of us go through the rebelious, questioning stage; nothing is above being considered and rejected. All is doubted. This follows on to a less severe sceptisism but general belief, then a lack of belief followed by healthy wondering and deep consideration of beliefs; why we believe some things and not others.
I truly think that these are stages we go through, and often as is suggested in the book, regress to a previous stage. The events of life no doubt influence our attitudes to belief. When the world is kicking us in the teeth it is easy to be rebelious, disbelieving or sceptical. However when we are on top of the world it is easy to believe freely considering all our reasons for believing.
Just a little food for thought in any case!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
God has smiled on me
Ive been thinking a lot lately (suprise suprise) about life; the good, the bad and the superfulous.
The good in life: EVERYTHING! the world, the amazing people in my life, music, sky, sea, animals. There is beauty everywhere, love and joy to be found in the best and most free things in this world.
The bad in life: People! Hate to break it to you, but the only thing wrong with this world is that people live here, we destroy, hate, mock, defame, and belittle each other and the world. Every tragedy boils down to human intervention.
The Superfulous in life: WORRY! Upon pondering the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes, a far more real and beneficial book than Moby Dick suggested, I came across this brilliant saying "grasping at the wind".
We all know that the wind is not tangible. We cant grab it, we can feel it, breathe it, smell scents upon it, even contain it, but grab a tangible hold?? Nope! This saying signifies the superfulous nature of worrying. Worrying does nothing but make one feel sick. Our lives are in the hands of a far greater power than our worrying.
To this end, God has smiled on me, and all of us. We dont need to worry about life because its been crafted into his perfect plan. Huge weight off my mind!
It is difficult to remember how pointless and ridiculous our worrying is; when things go wrong or we are concerned about something it is natural to worry, but it is not necessary.
Nevertheless I know that I am a happier, kinder, and calmer person when Im not worrying about how my life will turn out; Im learning to trust in my maker and know that with his guidance I will be immensely satisfied.
The good in life: EVERYTHING! the world, the amazing people in my life, music, sky, sea, animals. There is beauty everywhere, love and joy to be found in the best and most free things in this world.
The bad in life: People! Hate to break it to you, but the only thing wrong with this world is that people live here, we destroy, hate, mock, defame, and belittle each other and the world. Every tragedy boils down to human intervention.
The Superfulous in life: WORRY! Upon pondering the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes, a far more real and beneficial book than Moby Dick suggested, I came across this brilliant saying "grasping at the wind".
We all know that the wind is not tangible. We cant grab it, we can feel it, breathe it, smell scents upon it, even contain it, but grab a tangible hold?? Nope! This saying signifies the superfulous nature of worrying. Worrying does nothing but make one feel sick. Our lives are in the hands of a far greater power than our worrying.
To this end, God has smiled on me, and all of us. We dont need to worry about life because its been crafted into his perfect plan. Huge weight off my mind!
It is difficult to remember how pointless and ridiculous our worrying is; when things go wrong or we are concerned about something it is natural to worry, but it is not necessary.
Nevertheless I know that I am a happier, kinder, and calmer person when Im not worrying about how my life will turn out; Im learning to trust in my maker and know that with his guidance I will be immensely satisfied.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
procrastination versus worry
Its often said that the biggest time waster is procrastination. However upon pondering the mysteries of life, it struck me that worry is perhaps a greater waste of time. During procrastination, be it pre-commencing an assignment, making a phone call...whatever laborious task, one is still doing something. Be it sitting on facebook sending out notification love, or watching tv, reading a book...in my case doing dishes or washing (only time I actually have the desire to do so), something is being done.
However, when one worries, one does naught but ponder and consider and worry. As good as a little mental exercise is, worry is detrimental as it can make one sick, come out in sores (cold sores are the bain of my existance) or render on ueseless for any activity bar worry.
Add in the fact that our lives are threads in the great tapestry of life, designed by God, what is the point in worrying? Not that I advocate procrastination either, putting off undesirable tasks does not remove them, merely postpones the inevitable. However one should live life free of worry or doubt, but trust and have faith in our creator, he has known us since he breathed us into existance, no other could guide or plan our lives aswell...I certainly am going to try to worry less.
However, when one worries, one does naught but ponder and consider and worry. As good as a little mental exercise is, worry is detrimental as it can make one sick, come out in sores (cold sores are the bain of my existance) or render on ueseless for any activity bar worry.
Add in the fact that our lives are threads in the great tapestry of life, designed by God, what is the point in worrying? Not that I advocate procrastination either, putting off undesirable tasks does not remove them, merely postpones the inevitable. However one should live life free of worry or doubt, but trust and have faith in our creator, he has known us since he breathed us into existance, no other could guide or plan our lives aswell...I certainly am going to try to worry less.
Monday, November 1, 2010
lyrics
My computer got a virus and nearly died, and has been resurrected by my amazing father. It still is rather sick though; the lack of soundcard recognition really limits the things I can do with it! The greatest issue with my sick computer is that I cant make any new playlists.
I am more than a fan of music; music speaks to people in ways that nothing else can. Music is a passion of mine, it combines words which I love and melodies which course through me like blood through veins. Music can change people.
Anyway as I have no ability to make a new playlist to my satisfaction at present, I have been listening to artists. Some of the albums on my ipod have the most amazing lyrics. I am continually blown away by the realness of Thirsty Merc, Lowrider, Bethany Dillon and Queen, to name a few.
I encourage you to grab your music player of choice and listen to your favourite artists, and really listen to what they are saying to you.
Lyrics can speak to people in a truly unique way. They are inobtrusive, poignant and real. At least the artists I listen to have lyrics has such!
I am leaving you now with something beautiful from Thirsty Merc:
Life is life
Pain and joy are all part of it
Why ask why
Just to be alive is
Such a gift
I am more than a fan of music; music speaks to people in ways that nothing else can. Music is a passion of mine, it combines words which I love and melodies which course through me like blood through veins. Music can change people.
Anyway as I have no ability to make a new playlist to my satisfaction at present, I have been listening to artists. Some of the albums on my ipod have the most amazing lyrics. I am continually blown away by the realness of Thirsty Merc, Lowrider, Bethany Dillon and Queen, to name a few.
I encourage you to grab your music player of choice and listen to your favourite artists, and really listen to what they are saying to you.
Lyrics can speak to people in a truly unique way. They are inobtrusive, poignant and real. At least the artists I listen to have lyrics has such!
I am leaving you now with something beautiful from Thirsty Merc:
Life is life
Pain and joy are all part of it
Why ask why
Just to be alive is
Such a gift
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Pinching ideas from Chelsie Cossens!
Techincally she stole this from someone else; indeed it would be doubtful to have a completely unique idea, however one's spin on any idea is what is unique! Just by the by, one should get into Chelsie's blog, its fresh and lovely and all about uncovering happiness, something which for even the happiest of us can still be hard at times.
Anyway, enough about Chelsie, and more about me :P This is just a seventeen question bio on who I am apparently however if either myself or you are any closer to actually discovering a way through the complicated nature of my psyche at the end of it, I will be astounded!
I am: God only knows! My name is Emma, most call me Em, but others think thats too short a name!
I love: So very much. My sister, my family, my friends, life, the sky, footy, music, getting passionate about something...I could go on!
I like: Chips, popcorn, computer games, driving, movies, reading, talking, being quiet
I have: Tooo much to say about too much
I wish: I dont wish because wishing is pointless, believing and hoping is the only way
I want: To sneak a peek at the future, just to know that Ill be happy and fufilled, then Ill be perfectly happy to just wait till I get there!
I can: Be who I want to be
I cant: Dance
I think: Alll the freaking time
I need: Purpose and passion
I will: Get purpose and passion
I wont: Be somebody Im not, I cant, I wont, I refuse!
I HATE: The way humanity has wrecked so many things; a world with so much seems to be found wanting so much, I dont understand how we cant look around and just be happy with this amazing place! I also HATE people who talk loudly on the phone on the train and ticking or scraping sounds
I tolerate: Nothing
I ignore: Things I should probably tolerate
I always: Annoy myself ha I always realise when I make a mistake and pray to learn and better myself from it
I appreciate: Everything; I am so damn lucky!!!
Anyway, enough about Chelsie, and more about me :P This is just a seventeen question bio on who I am apparently however if either myself or you are any closer to actually discovering a way through the complicated nature of my psyche at the end of it, I will be astounded!
I am: God only knows! My name is Emma, most call me Em, but others think thats too short a name!
I love: So very much. My sister, my family, my friends, life, the sky, footy, music, getting passionate about something...I could go on!
I like: Chips, popcorn, computer games, driving, movies, reading, talking, being quiet
I have: Tooo much to say about too much
I wish: I dont wish because wishing is pointless, believing and hoping is the only way
I want: To sneak a peek at the future, just to know that Ill be happy and fufilled, then Ill be perfectly happy to just wait till I get there!
I can: Be who I want to be
I cant: Dance
I think: Alll the freaking time
I need: Purpose and passion
I will: Get purpose and passion
I wont: Be somebody Im not, I cant, I wont, I refuse!
I HATE: The way humanity has wrecked so many things; a world with so much seems to be found wanting so much, I dont understand how we cant look around and just be happy with this amazing place! I also HATE people who talk loudly on the phone on the train and ticking or scraping sounds
I tolerate: Nothing
I ignore: Things I should probably tolerate
I always: Annoy myself ha I always realise when I make a mistake and pray to learn and better myself from it
I appreciate: Everything; I am so damn lucky!!!
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