"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." ~ Blessed Mother Teresa
Finals….What’s to say? I had one yesterday in quantitative analysis, which wasn’t too bad. Yay! Then I had the time wrong for my accounting one today (oh my gosh nearly a heart attack), so I’m taking it with another class section on Monday. My macroeconomics final is on Monday as well. Management and Developmental Psychology are on Tuesday. So basically I can’t do anything but study (and eat chocolate) until then. Whew! I am going to be SO relieved to be on my way to the airport in less than 4 days.
These last few days have consisted in lots of stress (well, much less than it could be), chocolate, crazy dance parties during blast hours, a random jig on my desk, impromptu song belting, final dreading, and oh yeah. Lots of studying too 🙂
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It feels really weird to be here this late in December, and I feel like I’m missing out on part of Christmas: the anticipation, traditions, celebrations, etc. 4 more days, 4 more days, 4 more days!
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This Monday was my concert chorale performance, and here is a playlist of the songs. Snuggle up for some holy awesomeness!
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Have you read “Heaven is for Real”? I haven’t, but it’s neat that they’re making a movie out of it. It’s not too often that you see a movie that completely breaks normal story-lines! Check out the trailer:
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You know something awesome? We’ve broken our record for March for Life sign ups and will be bringing 8 buses! In just the last 10 days we’ve signed up nearly half of those people, and oh my goodness it’s exciting. Check out this neat clip about the March from an upcoming pro-life film.
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And now, back to studying. See you next week for a happy post-finals celebration!
November is by far my most successful month of goal setting (so far). And I think that’s partially because I printed them out and hung them in a visible place in my room. It made me more accountable, and constantly reminded me of what I wanted to do. Here’s what I said I would do:
1. Go to Mass twice a week: Monday and Wednesday.
I’ve finally found the right days! The only M/W(s) I didn’t go was when I had an extremely stressful test the next day which took over 8 hours of studying to prepare for. Ouch. I probably could have used some graces from Mass, but chose to focus on homework. I didn’t go the Wednesday before Thanksgiving either, since we were traveling. Otherwise, this was pretty successful, and I plan to continue as much as I can.
2. Go to Latin Mass.
Check! It was beautiful. ‘Nuf said. There’s a group of people on campus who plan to go once a month, and at this point I plan to continue.
3. Finish On Heaven and Earth.
Yeah, no. I haven’t done a whole lot of book reading, and this one is super dry. Maybe over Christmas?
4. Do one exercise video a week (on top of zumba class) on Saturdays (Thanksgiving weekend is excluded).
We did a couple, but not consistently.
5. Write 3 articles for Live Action.
Nope. Looking back at the last few months, this something I’ve been consistently bad at. No more! I absolutely love writing for Live Action and just need to figure out a constructive plan for how to remind myself to do it.
6. Work on summer plans. If possible, secure internship.
Something’s brewing! I recently sent in my resume to one place after meeting with the career development staff person on campus who helped me sort through all the details. We’ll see how things end up. Whatever happens, I know it’s going to rock. I will update when I have concrete details!
7. Start  working on homework assignments before dinner.
Ehh man
This one I seriously did not remember a lot of the time, so I’m not really even sure how successful I was. Overall I have made some changes to my homework routine over the last month, and have freaked people out by sitting down to study for significant periods of time. Yay knowledge. I’m at least moving in the right direction!
8. Print pictures for the Pillar of Inspiration and hang them up.
Boom bam baby. Like it?
I’m guessing you probably can’t read all then from afar, so check out this Pinterest board I created with friends where most of these photos are. Can you feel the inspiration?
9. Add at least 1 prayer intention to my booklet each day.
Yes!!! This is the absolute most wonderful goal I made last month!
Starting on the 3rd of last month, I wrote down at least 1 prayer intention each day. Usually I would add things as I heard about them throughout the day – it surprised me how many opportunities to pray for people I must have missed in the past. Now when I hear someone ask for prayers, I add them to my book and bam! I pray for them. Most of the time I end my day by adding any last intentions and praying for them all before bed. This is definitely something I plan to continue, especially since it makes praying so much more intentional.
10. Write at least 1 non Quick Takes post a week.
I wrote two: “On dressing like a hoochie mama” about modesty and the way women dress, and “If it makes you happy . . .” about the Catholic position on gay marriage (and homosexuality in general). Both were written in moments of inspiration after personal encounters with the subjects, which (probably a duh by now) I’ve discovered is the best time for me to write. In those moments it’s much easier for me to write from the heart and communicate what I want to say. Now if only I would be inspired to write about things when I have time to do it . . . as I get better with time management, I know I’ll get better at this.
And now for December goals:
1. Follow through with the St. Andrew Novena (meaning: remember to do it every day!).
2. Finish reading at least 2 books.
3. Spend quality time over Christmas break with family and friends without the distraction of technology.
4. Exercise at least 2 times a week over break.
5. Write 2 articles for Live Action.
6. Continue pursuing (and if possible secure) a summer internship.
See you back in a month to see how things went! Want to join me in making goals? Start fresh in January with me!
For the first time ever, I’m writing these ahead of time so I don’t have to take time away from my Thanksgiving break. Enjoy!
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Ah, Thanksgiving. All the gratitude is refreshing to me, and it’s lovely to see people reflecting on what they are thankful for. Me? I’m thankful to have gotten through most of this semester. And of course I’m thankful for the requisite family, friends, job, education, etc. The last year and a half since coming to college have been a growing time for me, and I’m so thankful to have the opportunities here to strive to become a better person.
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Let the holiday season begin! Today is the first day I allow myself to listen to Christmas music so you can rest assured that I will spend most of today belting songs because: joy. Christmas music is so joyful, and I love that. You can get all scrooge on me and complain about the crazy shopping and greedy people, but I’m gonna sit here singing about how happy it is that Jesus is going to be born. One thing my family has done for many, many years is the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. Pictured below, it is said 15 times a day (we would usually sit down and say them all together) from November 30th to December 24th. Just google it to find amazing stories of favors that have been granted through it.
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Did you see Pope Francis’ letter this week? Evangelii Gaudium looks pretty awesome, and I’m looking forward to reading it (yeah, right after Lumen Fidei…).
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Don’t nice people make you happy? I found this random acts of kindness compilation on Pinterest, and want to go out and do all them! The only issue is that most involve money. And I’m a college student. So I’ll have to spend some time compiling ideas that are not expensive.
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Remember how I gave blood a couple weeks ago? (Nope, probably not. I was kidding. Who remembers things like that?) Well, my arm is just now recovered. Yes, it took about 2 weeks to fully get back to normal….the inner part of my elbow was rather sore, and I got to witness science by watching various stages of the bruise. Isn’t that just beautiful?!?! It was actually pretty interesting, so I took pictures. But I decided to exercise a little discretion by not posting them here because it seems a little TMI. You’re welcome.
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What are some of your favorite unusual Christmas songs? One of my favorite (not really unusual though) is Breath of Heaven, which is one we’re doing for concert chorale. It is seriously so beautiful, and I’m writing a whole post on it. The arrangement we’re singing has a lot of dynamics, and we’re singing it in the large Abbey church. I hope to have a video to share, AND it will be streaming live!
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I will be done with this semester in just over 2 weeks! It’s terrifying and exciting at the same time. And I hope I don’t feel like the child in that picture. Suffice it to say that my media presence will be somewhat lacking during this time because I’d like to end the semester by doing okay on my finals. Which means  studying hard instead of writing things about random things. The challenge is looming, so I’d best be off to meet my match!
It’s almost Thanksgiving, so this should probably be a post about everything I’m thankful for. But it’s not. Because right now I have to say something about this video. It’s short, so give it a quick watch before you read what I have to say:
I’m not surprised by the video at all. It’s actually quite consistent with our society’s perception of bigotry against those in the LGBT community. But here’s what I can’t get over: when people who identify as Catholic like these videos on Facebook, share them, and talk about how we need to be more tolerant of the homosexual lifestyle.
That’s who I’m talking to.
If you’re a Catholic, then here are some things you need to know about gay “marriage”:
1. Gay ‘marriage’ is one of the Church’s 5 non-negotiables. “What are those?” you ask. Something many people have never heard of. They are 5 ethical issues (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and homosexual ‘marriage’) which the Church requires her members to refrain from supporting under any circumstance. This means: if you are Catholic, you are bound by Church teaching to not support gay ‘marriage’. Here is an audiobook you can listen to for more on these. Here is an article from a gay Catholic who follows Church teaching.
2. The Catholic Church does not hate homosexual people. “NO WAY!” you say. “Prudish Catholics just want gay people to die in a hole because are SINNAHS!” Let me illustrate the Church’s teaching with a quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”
Boom bam. Can’t really argue with that one.
3. The Church has a calling for everyone – gay people included – but not necessarily a call to marriage. The Catholic Church stresses each person’s call to holiness (gay people included), which requires different things from different people at different times of their lives. For gay people, their call to holiness requires them to live a celibate lifestyle. Why? Because a Christian marriage is meant to be unitive and procreative. That is impossible with a homosexual couple. That doesn’t mean homosexuals have to go hide in a rock. It just means this:
And finally, I’ve said this before: Loving someone doesn’t mean you’re okay with them doing whatever they want.
Just because the Church is against gay ‘marriage’ does not mean it hates gay people. The Church is serious about the worth of each and every person, regardless of sexual orientation. I know this is hard for some people to stomach, and I get it. I would highly encourage you to do some further reading on the topic and critically examine what the Church really says – not what society says we say.
It breaks my heart to see people who call themselves Catholic confused by this topic everyday. I’m certainly not an expert on this, but I trust the Church enough to follow her. Do you?
Please share this post with your friends and family – especially the Catholic ones – and tell me what you think below.
Hello world. How’s life? I’ve been plugging along over here. This past week I’ve been sick, which is lovely. Here’s the thing about me being sick: I don’t look really sick. AND I don’t act very sick. Why? For starters I don’t get sick very often, plus I am not a dramatic person. I blow my nose if I need to. I’ll cough or sneeze – and cover it! But this week I thought of that part in the Bible where it talks about fasting and how you should anoint your head and go about your business and not go out into the square and announce to the world that you are fasting. Of course, being sick is different than fasting. But I think the idea is kind of the same. You’re suffering in both instances, and the grace you could gain from dealing with it are lost when you go about complaining.
Sound harsh? Perhaps. If you are really grossly sick it’s probably a good idea to chill. But my main point is that I do not go around announcing it to people or showing it in the way I dress or present myself. No, I don’t think I am the most awesome person ever. This is part of my personality. Some would take issue and claim that I am downplaying their suffering. I get it. But at the same time, as long as you’re not dying, I say eat some soup, get done what you need to, take care of yourself, and carry on with your life.
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Think about it.
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I am so excited for Thanksgiving! For the festivities, I’m driving 9 hours with a couple friends to visit one of my older sisters. Yay! Isn’t it kind of funny how people talk about being thankful during this lovely month of November? I appreciate the sentiment, but couldn’t we find something to be thankful for every day? I really liked a homily from a recent daily Mass I went to where Fr. talked about how we need to be able to let go of the little things in our lives. Like a paper cut, he said. It hurts, right? Do we need to complain about little things and blow them up though? Nope. I’ve really worked on this personally, and can tell you that while it’s hard, it gives me an inner peace to know that it doesn’t really matter if someone is rude or does something stupid. I am in control of how I act, and for the most part I choose to let go of things that don’t matter. Of course there are times I fail, but being able to do this makes me so thankful for the things that do matter.
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Some of my November goals have been going really well, and I think this is my best month yet. I’ve liked some of them more than others, and am so thankful to be using these goals to challenge myself.
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Sometime recently my friends and I did those four letter personality tests and mine said I was an ISFJ (which, by the way, is the same as Mother Teresa). Some of the articles on what that means ring more true than others, but I plan to write a whole post about it sometime. It’s interesting.
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Have you heard about this Noah movie yet?
It doesn’t look Biblically correct – a given – but I think it’s kind of neat that they used a Bible story for the basic premise of it. I mean, when you can’t think of any new stories, it doesn’t hurt to go back to the good ol’ Bible!
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I’m all signed up for classes next semester, and here’s what I’ll be taking:
Principles of Managerial Accounting
Christian Moral Life
Concert Chorale
Yoga
Development & Analysis of Business Data
International Management & Culture
Principles of Microeconomics
Leadership, Vision, and Values
At first look, it seems that this could be an incredibly challenging upcoming semester, or it could be a bit easy. We’ll see. I predict that it will be a bit easier simply because this semester I’m finishing up has been my hardest yet, and has pushed and pulled and stretched me in ways I’ve never experienced before. I think I will be better prepared to take on next semester with gusto, but we shall see. For now, it’s back to accounting homework and paper writing in my cozy suite (sheltered from the 20 degree weather outside) and our traditional lip syncing campus event tonight. Life is good!
A Drop in the Ocean 