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What kind of person attracts me...
I love transparency in a person. Honesty of spirit. Full disclosure. An unashamed bared soul. It is one of the most refreshing things in the world. I love the richness that brings to a friendship.
And a healthy dose of goofiness and zest for life. I love it when people are truly excited about their lives. Not trying to sell me on whatever they love so much as bursting at the seams with excitement about what they love. There is a difference in intention and heart between the 2 approaches.
I love goodness in other people. I watch Downton Abbey and love people like Matthew, Mr. Bates, Anna, and Sybil. They are deliberately good, honest, zesty people.
I also love people who love Regina Spektor, The Civil Wars, Patsy Cline, and Nat King Cole.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
15 Day Challenge - day 4
One passion in my life...
I'm a very passionate person.
I feel things very deeply. My struggle is often discerning which passion to calm and which to follow. I'm grateful for the way that God made me--to feel so acutely--but I have not always seen the blessing of it. Throughout my childhood I was hyperaware that I was different than most other people. I could not understand how one could "not care." I cared about EVERYTHING. I cried whenever I felt deep sadness, anger, or joy--and I cried plenty. As a big sister, being passionate meant that every argument with my baby sister was the hill to die on. I fought for truth, right-ness, efficiency, and honesty in a way thatprobably definitely exhausted my parents. I still fight for those things, but praise God that He also gave me a good dose of compassion on the side. The Bible tells us to speak the truth in love. For some people, speaking lovingly isn't the issue--the "speak the truth" part is a challenge. For me, it's the other way around.
All who know me are reading that saying, "Mmmmhmmm..."
I'm a work in progress. I love you all. I'm learning and growing in a good direction. Just be glad you didn't have to parent the precocious 7-year-old version of me. Whew.
I've come through a fascinating journey in these 2 decades (and then some). I now realize that I was created with this heart for a reason, and it is a blessing. My goal is to focus this passionate heart well. So though I have many passions, I must say that the most important one is a passion and focus on Christ. If I forget (or ignore) that He is the most crucial element of my life, my passions become disordered. Something else takes the lead, whether it is my passion for righteousness, learning, people, etc. The deep care that I have for each of those is not wrong, but when placed first in my heart, I veer off course and the course becomes futile. When Christ is my first and deepest passion, I have the correct lens through which to see righteousness and know how to respond to it (or to the lack of it). That perspective helps to direct my passions in the way that they will glorify Him. I can love people well and with more grace and patience than I ever have when approaching a situation without that lens.
I've talked with lots of girls about the importance of guarding one's heart, and also of loving and trusting someone who will guard it as well. Usually we're talking about a boy in that second part. Too many times in the past have I fallen for a guy who had no regard for my heart, and that disregard is the sign of a dreadful leader. My prayer is that the men in our world grow a gentle and respectful regard for the hearts of the women of the world, and that we women would encourage that movement by not dating jerkfaces. BUT there's another element to loving and trusting someone who will guard your heart--I have discovered on far too many occasions that I am incapable of truly guarding my own heart. The safest place it has ever been is in the hands of Jesus. When He is first, when He is my passion, all else is placed perfectly and I can see how He protects me and guides me in the right direction. When I take my heart back from Him and believe [the lie] that I know better than He, my passions overtake me and I think and respond in a way that just is not best for me or for anyone else involved. I lose perspective. I revert to my exasperating 7-year-old-self who will be shaken and blown about by anything rather than the strong woman rooted in Christ who, by His strength, can be shaken by nothing.
Love yall :) If you have a blog and you decide to do the 15 day challenge as well, let me know! Leave a comment with your blog URL!
Have a beautiful Wednesday :)
I'm a very passionate person.
I feel things very deeply. My struggle is often discerning which passion to calm and which to follow. I'm grateful for the way that God made me--to feel so acutely--but I have not always seen the blessing of it. Throughout my childhood I was hyperaware that I was different than most other people. I could not understand how one could "not care." I cared about EVERYTHING. I cried whenever I felt deep sadness, anger, or joy--and I cried plenty. As a big sister, being passionate meant that every argument with my baby sister was the hill to die on. I fought for truth, right-ness, efficiency, and honesty in a way that
All who know me are reading that saying, "Mmmmhmmm..."
I'm a work in progress. I love you all. I'm learning and growing in a good direction. Just be glad you didn't have to parent the precocious 7-year-old version of me. Whew.
I've come through a fascinating journey in these 2 decades (and then some). I now realize that I was created with this heart for a reason, and it is a blessing. My goal is to focus this passionate heart well. So though I have many passions, I must say that the most important one is a passion and focus on Christ. If I forget (or ignore) that He is the most crucial element of my life, my passions become disordered. Something else takes the lead, whether it is my passion for righteousness, learning, people, etc. The deep care that I have for each of those is not wrong, but when placed first in my heart, I veer off course and the course becomes futile. When Christ is my first and deepest passion, I have the correct lens through which to see righteousness and know how to respond to it (or to the lack of it). That perspective helps to direct my passions in the way that they will glorify Him. I can love people well and with more grace and patience than I ever have when approaching a situation without that lens.
I've talked with lots of girls about the importance of guarding one's heart, and also of loving and trusting someone who will guard it as well. Usually we're talking about a boy in that second part. Too many times in the past have I fallen for a guy who had no regard for my heart, and that disregard is the sign of a dreadful leader. My prayer is that the men in our world grow a gentle and respectful regard for the hearts of the women of the world, and that we women would encourage that movement by not dating jerkfaces. BUT there's another element to loving and trusting someone who will guard your heart--I have discovered on far too many occasions that I am incapable of truly guarding my own heart. The safest place it has ever been is in the hands of Jesus. When He is first, when He is my passion, all else is placed perfectly and I can see how He protects me and guides me in the right direction. When I take my heart back from Him and believe [the lie] that I know better than He, my passions overtake me and I think and respond in a way that just is not best for me or for anyone else involved. I lose perspective. I revert to my exasperating 7-year-old-self who will be shaken and blown about by anything rather than the strong woman rooted in Christ who, by His strength, can be shaken by nothing.
Love yall :) If you have a blog and you decide to do the 15 day challenge as well, let me know! Leave a comment with your blog URL!
Have a beautiful Wednesday :)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
15 Day Challenge - day 3
How do I imagine myself 10 years from now...
I'll be 32, almost 33 then. I have a few dear friends who have crossed that barrier with grace and style--I want to do that. Liz Lemon talks about aging in this way on 30 Rock--you can age like Madonna, desperately gripping your youth with your Gollum arms, or you can age like Meryl Streep, greeting each year gracefully (or something like that--important part of the quote is Madonna=gollum arms, Meryl=lovely). I imagine 32 will involve a family in some way shape or form--hoping for a sweet hubs and maybe a wee tot or two. I'd love to be working with mamas and babies, also maybe leading a Bible study with college gals or 20-somethings. I'd like to be a badass sewer by then, maybe have knitted that sweater I mentioned. I'd like to have a well-organized planner like my mom has always kept so beautifully. I'd like to smile a lot--like, I'm praying that laugh lines are my first and most prominent wrinkles. I hope that I will have better grasped in ten years some of the Truths that I know but have a hard time KNOWing now. A deeper more steady faith, less anxiety over where God is taking me. A deeper peace at letting Him be in full control (which He is, whether I panic aboutit or not). I want to be a voracious reader, even/especially if I have children. And even/especially if I'm reading childrens books :)
I'll be 32, almost 33 then. I have a few dear friends who have crossed that barrier with grace and style--I want to do that. Liz Lemon talks about aging in this way on 30 Rock--you can age like Madonna, desperately gripping your youth with your Gollum arms, or you can age like Meryl Streep, greeting each year gracefully (or something like that--important part of the quote is Madonna=gollum arms, Meryl=lovely). I imagine 32 will involve a family in some way shape or form--hoping for a sweet hubs and maybe a wee tot or two. I'd love to be working with mamas and babies, also maybe leading a Bible study with college gals or 20-somethings. I'd like to be a badass sewer by then, maybe have knitted that sweater I mentioned. I'd like to have a well-organized planner like my mom has always kept so beautifully. I'd like to smile a lot--like, I'm praying that laugh lines are my first and most prominent wrinkles. I hope that I will have better grasped in ten years some of the Truths that I know but have a hard time KNOWing now. A deeper more steady faith, less anxiety over where God is taking me. A deeper peace at letting Him be in full control (which He is, whether I panic aboutit or not). I want to be a voracious reader, even/especially if I have children. And even/especially if I'm reading childrens books :)
Sunday, June 24, 2012
15 Day Challenge - day 2
Bucket List
1. Travel to at least 15 countries - not because I want to reach a "number," but rather because I desire to visit at least 15 individual countries.
2. Have a family - Lord only knows what that will look like, and I'm excited to see! Someday. At the moment I love loving on OTHER people's families.
3. Be the female harmony vocals in a band/group or behind an acoustic-y singer. Little known fact.
4. Successfully grow a veggie and herb garden.
5. Teach a class in something. A bit open ended, but I love several things enough to want to teach them (most reasonable candidate would be something involving maternal and/or child nutrition--seminar style or professor style)
6. Live in the mountains.
7. Live by the water.
8. Knit this owl sweater (no joke, I've had the pattern and the yarn for years--just don't have all the know how and the time to DO it!).
9. Ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This can most definitely be combined with part of #1.
10. Adopt an Indian baby--you heard me. And clearly that's combined with #2.
1. Travel to at least 15 countries - not because I want to reach a "number," but rather because I desire to visit at least 15 individual countries.
2. Have a family - Lord only knows what that will look like, and I'm excited to see! Someday. At the moment I love loving on OTHER people's families.
3. Be the female harmony vocals in a band/group or behind an acoustic-y singer. Little known fact.
4. Successfully grow a veggie and herb garden.
5. Teach a class in something. A bit open ended, but I love several things enough to want to teach them (most reasonable candidate would be something involving maternal and/or child nutrition--seminar style or professor style)
6. Live in the mountains.
7. Live by the water.
8. Knit this owl sweater (no joke, I've had the pattern and the yarn for years--just don't have all the know how and the time to DO it!).
9. Ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This can most definitely be combined with part of #1.
10. Adopt an Indian baby--you heard me. And clearly that's combined with #2.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
15 Day Challenge - day 1
One of my all time favorite blogs is http://modernhepburn.tumblr.com/ (are tumblrs technically blogs? Hm). I mean, everything she posts is amazing and somehow speaks to my heart and soul. I've been saying that it's me in 4 years blogging to myself. Turns out, she's 2 years my junior, and I'm quite surprised because her elegance, assurance, and style indicates a much more maturity than almost all of the young 20s folks I know. Myself included.
So Modern Hepburn is doing a 15 day challenge! It looks a little something like this:
So welcome to day 1 :) And hopefully the rejuvenation of my blogging.
I'm 22, on the cusp of 23. I'm currently a student... again. My major was sociology, with minors in religion and theatre. Now I'm taking science classes with the hopes of going into some sort of school/masters program for some sort of maternal and child nutrition. I don't have much of a story behind "Brilliant Idiosyncrasies," and actually I have considered changing it several times, primarily because of the spelling challenge. It was by far the hardest part of starting this blog. It says to include a little about me, but that's already a little about me. You can learn plenty more about me by perusing the archives of this blog (if you're a noob here). I'd suggest the next entry down, this one, and maybe this one. There is also a series of January India adventures starting here. Amidst that smattering of posts, you'll learn a heck of a lot about me. I'm open to questions and comments--love em, really!
So I'm off to do some science homework--respiratory system and characteristics of the periodic table. Thrilling stuff... :) Have a lovely evening! Over and out!
So Modern Hepburn is doing a 15 day challenge! It looks a little something like this:
So welcome to day 1 :) And hopefully the rejuvenation of my blogging.
I'm 22, on the cusp of 23. I'm currently a student... again. My major was sociology, with minors in religion and theatre. Now I'm taking science classes with the hopes of going into some sort of school/masters program for some sort of maternal and child nutrition. I don't have much of a story behind "Brilliant Idiosyncrasies," and actually I have considered changing it several times, primarily because of the spelling challenge. It was by far the hardest part of starting this blog. It says to include a little about me, but that's already a little about me. You can learn plenty more about me by perusing the archives of this blog (if you're a noob here). I'd suggest the next entry down, this one, and maybe this one. There is also a series of January India adventures starting here. Amidst that smattering of posts, you'll learn a heck of a lot about me. I'm open to questions and comments--love em, really!
So I'm off to do some science homework--respiratory system and characteristics of the periodic table. Thrilling stuff... :) Have a lovely evening! Over and out!
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