Just as You Are

I don't know about you guys, but I am a big fan of the P&W. That's right, praise and worship. Just like Jamie Grace, I like to "get my worship on," ya feel me? Anyways, one of my favorite songs is actually a really simple one (which is great because that means I can actually play it on the guitar...). Maybe you have heard of it. It's called "Come, Now Is The Time To Worship." In this song, there is a really cool line that says, "Come, just as you are to worship. Come, just as you are before your God. Come." It's actually like half of the song, but that's besides the point. I was singing this when the lyrics hit me. Come, just as you are. Before your God.

It reminded me of the homily that Fr. Mike Schmitz gave this Christmas Eve. He talked about the Little Drummer Boy, and after a couple tangents discussed the fact that this boy came before the Lord to "play his best for him." Elaborating on this point, he talks about how the Lord doesn't actually just want us to bring us our best, but also our worst. He wants us just how we are, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Here's how these two ideas line up: to come before our God just as we are means He wants everything. He knows exactly who we are, what we've done, how we feel, how we are hurt, what needs healing, what needs cleaning; simply put, He knows us better than any other person ever could, including ourselves. And He wants us to bring it all to Him. Just because He knows what we suffer, that doesn't mean that He's just going to barge into our lives and clean up our mess without our permission. Maybe we are like hoarders in our souls and hang on to everything and aren't ready to give it up. Everything gets messy and chaotic. Jesus ain't gonna go in there and tidy it up for you if you won't let Him in the door. But we don't have to keep Him at the threshold of our heart afraid to open the door, embarrassed by the mess inside.

Maybe your soul looks like this... 

The other day, I was talking with my mom who was preparing to host a couple of friends for a card night at our house. She said to me, "You know, Mrs. So-and-so always has such a perfectly kept home. Whenever she invites people over, not only is her house immaculately clean, she always cooks the perfect meal with the perfectly complimentary hors d'oeuvres etc., but do you know what? She knows that I'm not like that. So I'm not going to just hide all of our crap and pretend that our house is always clean, because guess what... it isn't. Ever."

This is my soul... Bahahahahaha. Jokes. 

You know, maybe it was a superficial concern, but there is actually a lot of truth to this. Jesus knows our souls. If we try to hide all of our crap, it's just us pretending. We can put on nice clothes and go to church, but if our soul is messy, God's going to see right through it. And it's okay! He knows that we are like that. He isn't disturbed or upset that our life is a complete wreck, because He already knows! In fact, that's why Jesus came here on earth. He wants to be right with us in the midst of our crazy, messy, dirty lives. When He was born here on earth, as my home priest pointed out, it wasn't in a highly sanitary hospital. Nope, it was in a barn with a bunch of dirty animals. He laid in a feeding trough. He had rags to wear.

Moral of the story: we don't have to be ashamed of our mess. We just need to come before the Lord, just as we are and let him into our messy hearts. Let Him come and fix us, heal us, clean us, and love us. He already knows everything. We just need to give it to Him and trust his hand in our lives. Now I'm not saying that He's going to go all Bruno Mars like, "there's not a thing that I would change, because you're amazing, just the way you are." Actually, if we let Him in for real, we won't be able to help but change. Because the truth is, Jesus loves us, mess and all, but if we really love Him, we're going to want to let Him change us. Also mentioned in Fr. Mike's homily, Romans 5:6-8 says:

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Just at the right time, He came into our world and died for us, broken, messy, dirty, sinners. We can't let that love go to waste.  

Let Him in!! 

Where is the Fire?

Yesterday was a great day. Why? Well, for many reasons. But one pretty good reason is because it was the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary! I had the opportunity to go to Mass last night at a parish whose priest is particularly enthusiastic about spreading devotion to Mary. It just struck me that we are so lucky to have such a wonderful role model, someone who knew Jesus in such an intimate way, and someone who has appeared all over earth to reach out to us. She is like the world's greatest evangelist. She knew her Son so well, and knew His capacity and desire for love, that she wants everyone else in the world to know Him too. Whether it's praying the rosary or consecrating yourself to Mary, there are so many ways that our mother Mary gives us to ask for her help on the road to holiness. I could go on forever about Mary, but that's actually not the point of this blog.

Assumed body and soul into heaven... BOSS. 

Now that all non-Catholics have probably already navigated away from this page (sorry... but Mary is just really legit), I want to share another brief story from yesterday. Last night, after a beautiful evening of celebrating Mary, I came back to an email from one of my friends. She shared with me a really cool testimony of a woman named Monica who had been struggling with a lot of things, substance abuse, depression, loneliness, etc., but she was invited into a church where she heard God speak to her in a very direct and new way. Well, insert time lapse, and now she is now living a transformed life, a new person, alive in the joy of Christ. It's so beautiful to see a life change in such an incredible way, but there was something about her testimony that kind of disturbed me. She describes her experience growing up Catholic. She went to church sometimes with her mom and passed the checkpoints of receiving her first Communion and later Confirmation, but it didn't really mean anything to her. She describes feeling like it was an obligation, like it was something she "had to do," not something she "wanted to do."

This got me thinking of my own experience growing up as a Catholic. Now, even though I can count on one hand the amount of times I've missed Sunday Mass in my life, and I spent countless hours as a child inundated with Veggie Tales, I have to admit that I had similar feelings regarding my Catholic faith. It was always about rules. If I went to a wedding on a Saturday, did the Mass count as my Sunday obligation? Can I actually break my Lenten sacrifice on Sundays? Is the one-hour Eucharistic fast before Mass starts or before actually receiving the Eucharist? These were my greatest concerns. 

In college, however, I was blessed by encountering a community of people who were Catholic and proud to be so! They had a zeal for the teachings of the Catholic faith, and just when I was starting to question my beliefs the most, they showed me the beauty of the Church by the way that they lived their lives. I realized how AWESOME our faith actually is! We have friends in high places (namely, the saints) who are constantly helping us grow in holiness. And what about MARY?! We've already covered that. We have the sacraments, not because God wants us to prove our faith by participating in them, but so that He can POUR OUT HIS LOVE through them. Best of all, we have been given the gift of the Eucharist. We can spend time in adoration in His presence. Through transubstantiation (big vocab words...another perk to being Catholic) Jesus is present in His most vulnerable form just so that we can receive Him weekly--or daily if we choose; so that He can give us strength and be physically united with us. We have an awesome faith!! And this is only the basics... there is so much more! 

Pope Francis is sure happy to be Catholic!

So then, I have to ask myself, why, if this faith is so awesome, do people have to LEAVE it to encounter Christ? What are we Catholics doing wrong? It sure isn't GOD making people leave the Catholic Church. Where is the passion of the saints and martyrs? 

Well, I'm not going to answer that question for you. Just think about it. 

If your faith is just an obligation to you, don't you want something more? What is the point of your faith? Do you actually believe what you practice?

If your faith has come alive, do those sitting next to you in the pew every week feel the same? If not, maybe you should do something about that. If yes, praise God! Get together with them and show other Catholics the beauty of their faith! 

A Call for Respect

I was listening to my Spotify playlist today, and, because I enjoy not paying for my music, I am forced to bear through the commercials that interrupt my jamz. Well, I was noddin' my head to some Josh Garrels when my reverie was shattered by an advertisement. It was spreading the word about "Man Candy Mondays" on ABC. Coined "No guilt... All pleasure." Featuring the new show "Mistresses." My first thought was, wow, very classy. I laughed a little at how someone could take this so seriously.

But I had to stop myself. Because no matter how ludicrous this was to me, I knew that countless other recipients of this message, including but not limited to eight year old girls, teenagers, college women, broken women, married women, etc., were listening to this ad, maybe staring at the picture, with their interest engaged. This is no laughing matter. This is a problem.

I don't know a lot about the show, but I'm going to go ahead and judge a book by its cover so to speak. It's called MISTRESSES. Here, you take a look.

Four Friends. Four Hearts. 13 Weeks of Seduction. Yeah, sounds real wholesome to me. First of all, what do their hearts have to do with any of this? I digress. That's not what I'm going to talk about.

Basically, this show appears to be glorifying women who tempt married men to betray their wives and engage with them sexually, breaking the divine bonds of marriage for whatever their selfish reasons may be. When I think about this, it just makes me sad, and a bit worried about women of our time. Is this just another way women define empowerment? Is ruining marriages now something to take pride in?

There is a major problem in our culture. Men and women are constantly seeking to have power over each other. While I was reading The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, a certain line struck me. He quoted Tacitus in saying, "They terrify lest they should fear." I think the same principle can be applied here. Women are so afraid of being betrayed by men that they become the source of betrayal. They have the power. They are not the vulnerable one (or so they think).

Women, is this really what we should be idealizing? Don't our future husbands deserve to be seen as more than just "man candy?" Don't they deserve our respect? And if we do marry, are we going to ever feel comfortable or secure in our relationships in a culture that is glorifying infidelity?!

Men, is this what you want? You want women to see themselves as merely sexual creatures constantly seeking to control you with their charm and beauty? Don't you want to be able to trust them? When you say "I do" do you really want it to last forever? Or are you going into marriage as a temporary contract?

Stop fighting each other! Stand up for respect and honesty! Or watch our society collapse.

Carry Me (Sometimes)

Today, I was thinking about the Footprints in the Sand poem, and as I pondered the thought of God the Father carrying me, his daughter, I was inspired in a particular way by the meditation that followed. 

As I was imaging the Lord holding me in His arms, I began to think of the different reasons a man might carry his daughter. 

The first reason that came to mind was because of weariness. My family takes occasional hikes together, and, when I was little, I wouldn't be able to hike for as long as my parents. When I reached the point that I felt overcome with exhaustion, my dad would pick me up and place me on his shoulders, carrying me for the remainder of the journey. Sometimes, I feel like I am so worn out and overwhelmed, that all I can do is trust the Lord to bring me through it. When I am on the brink of collapse and don't think I can go any further, the Lord is there to carry me through the difficulties. 

The second circumstance is immediate danger. Say a child is trapped in a burning house. A loving father would run into the flames and carry his daughter to safety. Just like this, I have seen instances in my life that the Lord has carried me through chaos and sin. He has rescued me at the crucial moment, saving me from the lies of Satan and the destruction of our relationship. 

Lastly, a father carries his daughter merely out of love. A father picks up his beloved child and holds her in his arms to show his affection and express the love that words cannot comprehend. I have experienced this love as the Lord has showered His love upon me in times of extreme joy and peacefulness. I feel as if He is carrying me through life, and I worry about nothing, because I am wrapped in His loving embrace.  

But, the Lord cannot always be carrying me.

There are those times in life when there are two sets of footprints in the sand. When God walked beside me without direct intervention. 

It makes sense. If a person is always carried, their muscles will deteriorate. They won't even be able to stand on their own. We weren't made to be carried through life. 

Our spiritual lives can be like a marathon. You don't wake up one morning and decide to run a marathon that day. Likewise, you do not just become a saint in a day. It takes training. It requires discipline. The Lord cannot carry us through every instance of pain or difficulty. Maybe these are crucial moments in building virtue or preparing you for something in the future. If a runner was in the middle of a run, and someone picked them up and carried them, just because they were having a tough time, that would be more harmful than helpful to the runner. If he or she is serious about their goal to run a marathon, he or she will need all the necessary training without skipping out on workouts. Any interference will only hinder their growth.

 

So, how can I get mad at God for not carrying me through difficulties when only He sees the big picture? How can I lament my daily challenges because I don't see the potential for growing in virtue? We are called to thank God for all things. He alone knows what will sanctify us despite our sin and weakness. And aren't we all called to be saints? (Yes!) 

Happiness

Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness. These are the three unalienable rights "guaranteed" to us right in the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. I put guaranteed in quotes only because the degree of which we are able to carry these out is more or less debatable, but I digress. It is interesting that the big FF's (founding fathers) included the "pursuit of happiness" in the rather exclusive V.I.P. list of what it meant to declare independence. Hmm. Where the heck did Jefferson get this from??

Well, upon pondering this question, I decided to use my skills as a student to research and uncover the mysteries of this part of our nation's Declaration of Independence. Aka, I typed it in Google, and the first source seemed pretty legit. (It even had sources cited... I trust it.) In this article, I learned that when Jefferson wrote about the pursuit of happiness, it wasn't the first time someone had brought up this phrase (at least that's what Carol Hamilton argues). Instead, it is suggested that in 1690 our dear friend from the pages of many a history book, John Locke, wrote in an essay, "The necessity of pursuing happiness is the foundation of liberty." I found that very interesting. So, essentially, freedom is equivocated with chasing after happiness.

I guess the next question I was confronted with is: what is happiness? It is an age-old question that has left even the world's most successful people scrambling for an answer. How can we chase something we can't even identify? We're like Ponce de Leon perpetually searching for the fountain of youth that may or may not exist. What do we do when we don't understand something? Pretend we do, naturally. As a culture we have made up our own guidelines as to what exactly happiness is. Happiness is doing whatever you want to do. Happiness is making the most money. Happiness is seeking pleasure. Happiness is watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls and devouring a two-pound bar of chocolate. Well, if that's what happiness is, why are we so unhappy? America should be the happiest place on Earth! (Sorry Disney World, I'm expanding your claim to fame.) But are we happy?

Hmmm. Okay, so maybe this "pursuit of happiness" John Locke talks about has become a little muddled across the years. In my own experience, I have come to realize that the only true happiness actually goes by a different name: joy. If you don't know what I mean, let me explain. Joy is that deep feeling of peace and contentment you experience that can only come from God. Wow. I'm not very good at explaining it. Have you ever been happy and felt like nothing could shake it? That's joy. Ever see a sunset or sunrise or pass through beautiful landscape and you can't help but smile because it's so beautiful? That's joy. Joy is a gift. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is more genuine than any sort of sugar high or adrenaline rush.

On the topic of happiness, I have to say, I agree with François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận who so eloquently states in his book The Road of Hope, "This is the secret of happiness: to have but one will with God." God wills to give us joy through the Holy Spirit. To be of the same will of God is not only to accept His trials, but to accept His joy.

Unfortunately, there is no way I can convince modern America of this truth. Our society is plagued with a false perception of happiness. I don't know what Jefferson foresaw when he included "the pursuit of happiness" in the unalienable rights, but I have a feeling he wouldn't like what he saw in today's society. We think we are pursuing happiness, but in actuality, the things we pursue are a dead end. The U.S. was intended to be one nation, under GOD. Our society will never be happy until it recognizes that we remain under God. We are not God.

As Blessed Mother Teresa once said, “God doesn't require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.” I think that it is about time we actually tried to pursue genuine happiness by unifying our own will with God's. It is then that we will find true joy. 

Learn from the words of a modern saint

Pictures from:
www.peterbroderick.com
blessingsdivine.wordpress.com

Broken

Today, I was caught up a little in reminiscing and fondly recalled some of my childhood memories. There were tales of mischief and shenanigans mixed in with some brattiness and parental discipline. You know, all the basic formation of my entire personality and such. Good times. Well, amidst the episodes playing back in my mind was one particular Christmas a few years back.

Pretty neat, huh? Check out that joint action!

When I say a few, I mean over a decade. I was probably around four or five years old. I think? We'll go with that. Young enough to get pretty excited over the new gymnast Barbie I had just unwrapped. This thing was the bees knees. She bent at all of the joints, and not just a little rubber flexibility, I mean she ACTUALLY HAD JOINTS! It was kind of a big deal. I immediately opened the package and began to play with her, leaving the rest of my presents an abandoned mess on the floor. The one thing I didn't like about this Barbie was her outfit. She wore a wrist-to-ankle leotard exploding with U.S. pride. It was essentially an elastic flag stretched around her body. Well, I really wanted my new Barbie to try out some of the pretty dresses I had, so I tried to get her current outfit off. This was a bad decision. As I gripped her head and tried to peel off the leotard, something else gave way first: her head. Here I was with a brand new, headless Barbie gymnast. My face flushed and I started to shake as I ran to my dad. 

        "Daddy, daddy! I broke her! Can you fix it? Can you put her head back?" I was utterly distraught as I carefully placed the broken doll in his hands, tears welling up in my eyes.

        "Here, let me see it." He took the doll and popped the head back into place. Everything was good, right? No. Wrong. I don't know if you have ever popped the head off of a Barbie before, but when you try to put it back on, it doesn't attach the same way it came off. You just jam it back onto the neck. It stays on, but the head, in effect, swallows up the entire neck, leaving you with a neckless Barbie. This, in my world at the time, was complete tragedy. My new doll would never be the same! Oh, the horror! 

         "But now her neck's gone, daddy!"

         "I'm sorry, hun, but we can't just get you a new one, you just got this! You can still play with her just the same." He gave me a sad smile and picked me up onto his lap, offering consolation to his little girl. 

I was in adoration today recalling this incident when an image flashed into my mind. This time, it wasn't a memory. It was me, running to my Father. Not the dad I was blessed with here on Earth, but the Father I was created by and created for. My heavenly Father. I was running to him, sad and upset, but hopeful. I could hear myself in a childlike voice cry out to him, "Daddy, Daddy! I'm broken," I look desperately at the Father before me, "Can you fix me?"And unlike with the Barbie, He just smiles at me and says, "Come." 

Tears came to my eyes as this image played through my mind. Isn't this the truth of God's love for us? We are broken. And God doesn't want to just give us a new heart and say, "Oh, here you go. Now be careful with this one. I'll give it to you this time, but next time, you're on your own." (I got that a lot from my own parents here on Earth...) No, He just says, "Come to me and let me fix you." 

"You will seek me and will find me when yo seek me with all your heart."

-Jeremiah 29:13

Happy New Year!

It's a new year. 2013 has officially began.

So, what does that mean? It was under 10 minutes until the ball drop when I found myself feeling alone in a house full of my friends. You know, that feeling when you know you should be happy, but you aren't? Yeah, that one. Well, thoughts of last New Year's pried their way into my mind. In the face of these memories, in the despair of these mistakes, an unexpected feeling overcame me: thanks.

Yes. I was thankful. I was thankful for the mistakes and the sadness and the loneliness, because I could recognize something greater now in my life.

It doesn't matter how I dress myself up or paint myself with makeup, because at the end of the day, it all comes off, and I'm left to face my Maker. He is the One who makes the decision to give me another day. He is the One who has brought me out of times of sadness and despair. He is the One who has irreversibly changed my life for the better, and the One who knows what is really best for my life.

So this new year, I am excited to say that no matter what follows in the next 365 days, it will be part of a Divine Plan. And I am thankful.

Thirsty for Christ

Today is a Thursday. To me, that means I get to relax a little bit. I don't have class on Fridays, so Thursday is my day to unwind for the weekend. Maybe visit a friend or read a book. Basically just lay low. For many of my peers, however, Thursday holds a different meaning. If any of you are familiar with college students, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes, Thirsty Thursday.

What is Thirsty Thursday? Well, apparently, after a long week of tough classes and serious business, a large percentage of college kids get really thirsty for alcohol and rowdy behavior around this time of the week. "Wow, what a culturally rich tradition,"you might say. Yeah, not so much. I'm not really into that.

The sad thing is, I have been there though. And it's not just a fun time of unwinding from the week.

I look at my fellow brothers and sisters stumbling around, and I feel myself getting angry. Do they not realize how beautiful their lives are?! Do they not know what they are doing to themselves?

They indeed are thirsty.

They are not thirsty for jello shots or Bud Light. They are thirsty for the blood of Christ.

"but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
John 4:14

Deep in their hearts, God has placed a desire. A desire to be loved by Him. But they don't know that. What they know is that they feel a longing to be loved, a desire to feel wanted, included. For women, a desire to be told they are beautiful.

I see these women who really do look beautiful. They spend hours doing their makeup, their hair, picking out an outfit. All of this time is spent so that when they go out, someone will notice them. They are searching for this affirmation that, yes, they are beautiful. And maybe someone will want them. Alcohol will make them feel more fun, braver. A guy will tell them how attractive they are, or dance with them, or take things further.

But they don't think about what they're really doing. All they know is when someone tells them they are beautiful, they feel good. When guys look at them, they feel important, special. When a man touches them, they feel loved.

But it is momentary.

The next morning, they are bitter. Tired. Broken.

If only they knew how beautiful God made them to be. If only they knew how intimately God knows them. If only they realized how much God loves them. If only they knew another way of life. If only they understood why they are hurting.

If only.

Tonight, I am distressed, because these are my sisters. I wish I could show them God's love, but I just don't know how. The need is so great, and I am so imperfect.

We live in a thirsty culture, a culture thirsty for love.

All I can do is pray. I pray because there is hope. I know there is hope, because I am sitting here writing this right now. God turned my life around, and I know I have a lot of people to thank who have been out there praying for me along the way. So, if you know of anyone who is caught in this deathtrap, please join me in praying for them. Pray with all of your might, because these people need God. They are dehydrated and weak. They have an unquenchable thirst for something they have never encountered. Their hearts yearn for more than cheap liquor and sexual flippancy.

They were made to be loved.

Protagonist of the World

Right now I am reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan (AWESOME BOOK!!). In it, Chan describes the history of the world as a movie, and the main character is God. In this "movie" of life, we are only extras, not even supporting characters. Our significance to the main plot is extremely puny. One blink and you miss us. But we were put in this movie for a reason (the extras are necessary in movies, otherwise they wouldn't be paid to appear...). I really like this analogy. A lot. Here's why.

First of all, Chan talks about how dumb it would be if you were an extra in a movie and you invited all of your friends to "come see this movie about yourself." Your friends would maybe see the back of your head. Maybe they would miss you altogether. They would probably think you were an idiot for thinking that a movie you barely appeared in was about you. Don't you think that would be pretty arrogant? Uhhh, duh! Well, I hate to burst your bubble if you have been living in self-obsession, but that's kind of the way life works too. Believe it or not, life is NOT about you. Shocked? Don't be. It's just common sense. The history of the earth goes back billions of years. And trillions of people have lived on it over that period of time. Your life doesn't really mean much when you look at it like that.

The world doesn't revolve around you. Get it? 

But don't get depressed about your life just yet! Let me just remind you, that though you might be an extra in this movie, you are still necessary. You were chosen to walk past the camera for that half a second for a reason! Without extras in a movie, it would be a pretty terrible movie... more like a soap opera or something. You are there to set the scene, to call attention to the main character (that's God, remember?). But the thing about that is, you're not supposed to call attention to yourself. This is where I personally tend to mess up.

I was just thinking about this today. I seem to think that I am running my own little movie right now and not getting the big picture. Continuing this "movie of life" analogy, right now everyone is trying to have their own subplots, even though they are just extras, not focusing on the main point of life (...God). No wonder there is so much confusion and distractions! How can anybody figure out what the purpose and focus of life is if everybody thinks it is about themselves! We are doing a terrible job of fulfilling our role. Instead of pointing attention to God and just playing our part as God intended, we are in the background waving our hands shouting, "Look at me! Look at me!" All this does is create chaos and distractions, because no matter how hard we try, the world will NEVER revolve around us. Never. Ever.

The thing is, we all see ourselves as the protagonists of our own lives, and we think that everybody else should want to know all about us because we are so interesting and awesome. Yes, we are all unique, but who made that so? God. Yes, we all have different situations, different sufferings, different glory stories to share. But who gave them all to us? God. While it's okay to talk about these things (it's good to share and talk to people, I'm not saying that's bad at all!), we just need to keep that from being the FOCUS of our lives. Simply put, we could all use a dose of humility. (Check out the Litany of Humility on the bottom of the PRAY page here on my blog!) Seriously. Francis Chan really called me out on my own arrogance as I was reading his book, and I can't imagine that I'm the only one with this problem.

Putting Christ at the center of our lives means to stop putting ourselves in the spotlight and point all of the glory and honor towards God, the real protagonist and hero of the world. The King and Savior.

To put in perspective how worthy God is as the center of not only your life, but of every single living, breathing person, watch this video:

Do you know Him? If you do, adore Him for His crazy love. Step out of the spotlight, put God at the center, and give Him the glory He deserves. 

Ready to Fight

This past week I had the opportunity to spend 8 amazing days on retreat. Actually, no. The word "retreat" is the wrong word. Technically, yes, it was a religious retreat. But I don't think that it describes the true nature of this quality time with God. If I were to pick a word for this "retreat" I would call it a rally. A battle rally for the Lord. Sounds pretty intense, right? It was. And let me tell you, God was really working to get his troops ready for war.

Arming us with the Holy Spirit... YEAH! 

Let me describe to you my fellow warriors who gathered with me. 220(ish) college undergraduates from all over the country ranging in holiness from just baptized to living saint. Many among the throngs are characterized by their zeal for the Lord God Jesus Christ, evident in praise and worship, conversations, joy, and love. Coming from Texas, New Jersey, Minnesota, Florida, Arizona, and other various states, they all have a different standard of the "normal way to talk," but are united in their ultimate goal: to win the world for God. How will they accomplish this? By bringing the gospel to the country, one college campus at a time. They are willing to go out and live the gospel and to put Christ back in Christian.

So, right now you might be thinking... "gosh, all of these college students are wasting their youth! This is their time to have a little fun, not let religion make them into little goody two-shoes who won't be able to enjoy their college experience before they become real people in the world..." STOP. Don't think that. Nothing about this is a waste!! We are not being brainwashed nor are we doing this out of some sort of obligation. You might be wondering, what exactly makes a group of 220 college kids want to risk their comfort, social lives, pride, and reputation to fight for Christ? I have a couple good reasons.

First of all, well, I mean Jesus did like die to save us from our sins. But, you know, no big. People kind of forget about that one all of the time... (seriously... isn't that reason enough??) And secondly, the thing is, God let us in on a little bit of a secret. See, whether we acknowledge it or not, the whole world is actually in a giant war of good v. evil... God v. Satan... Us v. Sin. It's like aliens v. predators on steroids. And the scariest part is that people actually deny that it's happening! So, not only has God told us about this massive war, but He told us another secret: He wins. Period. Exclamation point. Pick a punctuation. Now you might be thinking, "hey now, hold the phone. So you're telling me you already know the end of the story?" Duh. Revelations. We all have access to it. Why does this always surprise people? I can't give you a play by play, but I get the main points: Jesus and Satan have an epic showdown, and guess who wins? We've been over this.

My money's on Jesus.

I know who wins this war. I want to be on the winning side. If God's love wasn't enough to set me on fire to live for Him (which it really is), then I'm still making the strategic decision and sticking with the side that will be victorious in the end.

Think I'm crazy? Well, all I have to say about that is I'd rather be crazy and fighting for a God who saves than going crazy trying to find happiness in a world without love. (God=Love... basic Christian equation). Because here's the thing: there's really nothing else worth fighting for.

Answer Your Door

Today, I was listening to my Christian music playlist on Spotify when this song came on. I've heard it many times before and was familiar enough to sing along. Maybe a little too loudly. (Let's just say I don't foresee any singing careers in my future...) As I was mindlessly crashing through the chorus, I actually tuned in to the words coming out of my mouth. There was a piece that, as I sang it, stood out to me like never before: "He's never giving up; it's love." I had listened to this song so many times, but I had never really noticed that line before, and I began to think about how true that really is.

There is that saying that God is always knocking at your door, but it is up to you to answer it. Well, this phrase came to mind and I started to actually think about it. A lot of times when I hear phrases, I receive them somewhat passively. I hear them and I understand them, but only to an extent. I understand the basic concept, but rarely do I actually dig beneath the surface and analyze what it actually means. This is sort of what was always the case with this phrase about God knocking... that is, until today when I actually stopped to think about it.

If you were raised Christian like myself, maybe you remember growing up and learning about God. It was fun and exciting. You got to read stories about a guy bringing lots and lots of animals onto a big boat that he built. You watched fun little animated movies with a good moral and lots of goofy jokes like Veggie Tales. Every once in a while you would pop a tape in the cassette player (remember when those actually existed?!) and dance around to songs about God and how much he loves you "little ones." I loved when my mom and my dad would sing me songs about Jesus and Noah. When I was little, faith was so easy! Of COURSE God created the world, because who else could have done it? God is everywhere, because He just IS. Noah definitely had room for both the elephants and the giraffes... they both are still here! This was God knocking at the door the first time. And with the child-like enthusiasm and readiness to love and accept, the door can be opened wide and God so easily ushered in.

Then life got a little more complicated. Maybe it started with singing in church. Maybe when all of your peers decided it was "uncool" to sing those dumb songs, you found yourself self-concious to sing, or maybe stopped singing altogether. Maybe as you start to grow up a little bit, you realize that not every household is like your own. Your non-Christian friends don't act like you, and you want to fit in, so you compromise a bit. You had let God into your house, but maybe you started to doubt that you wanted Him there. Maybe you were slowly edging Him out.

It only gets more difficult as you get older. Peer pressure, desire for money and material possessions, being surrounded by the mixed messages of society and the media, the feeling of heartbreak, conflict with a doctrine of the Church, pain and loss, carnal desires, schoolwork, jobs, friends, you name it. So many things enter your life to complicate and confuse your thoughts, and it becomes impossible to have the faith you once had as a little child. The more you encounter, the more you doubt whether or not you really want God in your life. If you don't want Him there, He's not going to force Himself upon you. You can push Him out, and ignore his calls, but there's one thing you can't make Him do: give up.

Just like Francesca Battistelli says, He's never giving up. Why? It's love. It's as simple as that. No matter how many times you push Him out, He's always going to keep knocking at your door, waiting for you to let Him back in. He loves you that much. No matter how much you think you've messed up, no matter how much you sin or reject Him, He's never giving up. Maybe you have never encountered God. Maybe you weren't raised Christian and have never been Christian. Don't worry, this still applies to you. God is staked out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, not even resting on Sundays, just knocking away at your door. If you think you've never heard it, maybe it is because the noisiness of life is droning it out. Maybe it's because you don't want to hear it and you're blocking it out. Maybe you just don't know what to listen for. It's okay. It's not too late. He's never giving up. He's been at your door since the day you were born, and He's going to be there until the day you die. No matter how many times you tell Him to go away, He won't listen. He will still be there. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

The Labyrinth

Outside of my parish on campus, there is this big, round design on the pavement. For  awhile, I was completely oblivious to it. I noticed it one day and thought, "Oh, that's kind of cool." Time went by, the snow came and covered it up, and I completely forgot about it. The weather eventually warmed up, and with the snow gone, it came to my attention once again. It resembled a maze, and it caught my attention this time. Looking at the stone bench that sat next to it, I realized that it was a labyrinth. In my oh-so-pensive mind, the only thought that this provoked was, "Cool, it's like the 2-D version of that weird  David Bowie movie that was made back in the 80's." And just like that I displaced it from my mind.

Yeah, you glow, David. 

Yeah, despite this picture, there is really nothing captivating or spiritually invigorating about that labyrinth. So, anyways, having completely forgotten about the labyrinth at school, I was on vacation this summer when I ran into another one! It was the same exact pattern, and it was outside of the Catholic Church in the city we were visiting. Okay, now I knew that this was no coincidence. I tried to put on my thinking cap and figure out what was so special about this design ornamenting the holy ground outside of now two churches that I had been to. After about a minute and a half of deep contemplation, I looked right in front of me and realized that this church had a nice little stand conveniently placed in front of the labyrinth with pamphlets about the labyrinth. Perfect! The less thinking and outside research I have to do for myself, the better. So here was this great pamphlet that summarizes the whole idea of the labyrinth and and the reason for it's shape and whatnot. Well, apparently I wasn't too inspired by it, because I put it in my purse and forgot about it. It wasn't until I rediscovered it this week that I actually took the time to read it--and I am so glad that I did! Not only did I know nothing about it, but I was missing out on a really great opportunity to actually use the labyrinth as more than just something pleasant to gaze upon.

The labyrinth itself looks pretty cool. It is a circular design with a winding path that appears to be sectioned into four different parts. According to the pamphlet, the four sections dually represent the four gospels and the four stages of the liturgy. In the center is a clover-like shape with 6 "leaves" which is the end of the weaving paths encircling it.

Here's a picture for all you visual learners.

It's pretty neat-looking... AND it's symbolic! The whole thing is meant to represent a journey. One could find a labyrinth such as this outside one of the famous Cathedrals and popular pilgrimage destinations in Medieval Europe. Many an early Christian pilgrim would travel to one of the beautiful gothic Cathedrals and end their journey by walking the labyrinth. Many of these men and women had the desire to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem, but simply couldn't. So, as a substitute, they would journey this winding path to the open space in the center, which actually represented Jerusalem. I can imagine that this made the voyage of walking the labyrinth a very holy and inspirational one.

Even though there is not the same drive to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for everyone nowadays, many people still walk labyrinths built by churches everywhere. It is used as a time of contemplation and spiritual connectedness to God. One model of walking the labyrinth, according to my handy dandy pamphlet is the "classical three-fold spiritual path:"*
    Purgation: Walking in, emptying, or letting go.
   Illumination: Time in the center, clarity, insight
   Union: Walking out, initiative, integration, and action in the world.

While walking the path, it is recommended that you remove your shoes and walk barefoot to enhance the experience and help you focus. It is really up to the individual how you wish to walk through the labyrinth. Everybody has different experiences. Walking through the path, you might want to focus on one question you have for God specifically. Maybe you just want to be silent and feel His divine presence. Maybe you want to offer up petitions or honor a significant occasion like a anniversary or something of that sort. Some people repeat a mantra over and over again, bringing in their thoughts completely to Christ. It doesn't matter if you walk it, dance it, run it, do a walking handstand through it, etc. It's all good. The whole point is to take some time out of your busy, busy life and focus on God for a bit on sacred ground. It can be quite a rewarding experience (or so I hear).

Maybe this whole thing just seems a little crazy to you. Maybe you are thinking to yourself, "I don't need a stupid labyrinth to spend time in meditation with God." Well, okay then. Good for you. But I think that I do, and I'm probably not alone. What better way could I find to spend time with God than to go outside and focus in on Him as I walk through a beautiful and historically significant and symbolic design on the pavement outside of my very own campus church? I don't know how you feel about it, but personally I'm pretty stoked to try it out. If they keep popping up on church properties everywhere I go, they must be at least worth a shot! And if you know of a labyrinth somewhere near you, I would highly recommend that you check it out too! Just walk and think. Let God place thoughts in your mind. You never know what you might hear if you just spend some time actually listening!


*Word for word from pamphlet published by the St. Andrew Catholic Community in Boulder City, NV

Lions, and Tigers, and Zombies, OH MY!

Bolts and fasteners for broken bones, check; glue and caulk for peeling skin, check; deodorizers to freshen up decaying flesh, check. Looks like I am all set for the zombie apocalypse.

What's cookin' good lookin'?

Yep, Ace Hardware in Omaha, Nebraska proudly displays all of these items on shelves in their "Zombie Preparedness Center" section of their store. When I read about this in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this morning, I was more amused than shocked. There have been jokes and different marketing schemes revolving around zombies out of humor or whatever, but people are actually serious about all of this! The web is buzzing with talk of zombies as story after story appears in the news such as a cannibal in Miami, a heart-munching student in Maryland, and a disturbing self-mutilating attack, that suggest the possibility of the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. Now, as commonly happens with serious and disturbing news, there are people who are becoming either obsessively fearful or sadistically humorous (which is no wonder after movies such as Zombieland) about topics such as zombies. While the news is absolutely disgusting and graphic, we are naturally drawn to this type of thing with a sort of sick fascination (to prove my point... you followed all of the links, just to check it out, didn't you?). It makes us sick to our stomachs, yet we read on, because we can't believe a person could actually do it, but we have to find out every twisted detail of the story so we can relive it in our nightmares or ponder thoughts of Armageddon. Let's face it, we are obsessed with the bizarre and extraordinarily gruesome.

I would suggest a detour.

After realizing all of this recent zombie craze was based on real stories, I became pretty unsettled and wanted to take a step back to check out the facts. So I whipped out one of my favorite books. No, not the Catechism. (Even though that book proves very enlightening and helpful for proving a lot of points, I don't think JPII was too concerned with zombies.) But the real source I looked to first is the Bible. Duh. You know, God gave us this really cool book in the bible called Revelation talking all about the end of the world! Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't remember seeing anything about any sort of zombie apocalypse in it. Lamp stands, horses, seals, sure, but no zombies. Unless one is symbolic for flesh-eating living dead, I really don't think a zombie apocalypse is in our future.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe one day some disease will make all humans mutate into freaky cannibalistic corpses, and we will have to fight for our lives like Will Smith as we survive by day and hide by night. Maybe all the people on planet earth will become just animals with no thoughts, souls, consciousness, or feelings. Wait a minute. Hold the phone. Humans will be degraded into animal-like forms without any of the above attributes? Come on. If you are worried about that, you aren't thinking it through this through very well. God made us in His beautiful, perfect, divine image. That's right. We are made in GOD'S IMAGE. Made in the image of a God with infinite power, infinite love, infinite EVERYTHING good. How could God let us become merely animals when He so distinctly and purposely set us apart? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that's the way God has planned for the epic Armageddon. God made us and saw that it was GOOD. We are all supposed to be a reflection of Him, with a mind and a will, and the whole zombie thing just doesn't quite fit the bill.

So then there's the argument that maybe not all humans will die that way. Maybe there is some epidemic in the future that makes animals out of the bodies, but the people themselves die. The zombies are not real humans, but merely the empty vessels lacking a person, but somehow surviving and remaining animated despite the fact they are dead. Ands some humans will survive. Then there will be a terrible war, humans fighting for their lives against a product of our own experimentation and mistakes (as many people are led to believe will cause the end or at least a regeneration). We are slowly dooming ourselves... etc. Well, while we are looking at the what-ifs, what if you die in a car crash today? What if you go to the doctor next week and get diagnosed with cancer? What if you win the lottery? What if your building catches on fire and you lose everything you have? What if you are enjoying a lovely salad when you eat an almond that gets stuck in your trachea and there's nobody around to do the Heimlich and you are suddenly dead because of a seemingly harmless legume? All possible (probably more likely than zombies too), but are they worth worrying about?

It wasn't the zombies you should have been concerned about...

See, here's the point: God has a plan for you. The thing about the future is YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. God will take care of you; you just have to trust Him. There's this really good book called The Screwtape Letters by this guy named C.S. Lewis (Ring a bell? Chronicles of Narnia? Yes?). If you haven't read the book, it's about this tempter who is instructing his nephew on how to properly lead his human "patient" to hell by prying him away from God and ruining his life in every way possible. In one of the letters to his nephew, Uncle Screwtape discusses the importance of luring his "patient" into focusing on the future. He says, "We want a whole race [in reference to humans] perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present." There is so much truth to that. We waste so much time worrying about the future. Along with that, we are willing to put everything on the line for a future reward that may or may not even come. We spend so much energy and effort on the future that we cannot even enjoy the present. We ignore the gifts God is giving us every day, because we are either putting them off for tomorrow or not recognizing them at all because our preoccupation with what MIGHT happen.

I'm going to choose not to worry about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse, not just because it is extremely unlikely, but because I know that God has my back. If I'm doomed to be eaten alive, I guess that it's all in His plan for me. But for right now, all I can do is give up my worrying to Christ, and put it all in His hands, trusting Him and live life as He gives it to me--in the present and not afraid or obsessed with a future that might never come. Only then can I receive the peace from God that allows me to live my life with purpose. Only then can I give my life to Him. I guess it's up to you how you react to all of this news, but as for me, I'd trade in my zombie defense package any day for a little divine life insurance from the Big Guy upstairs.

Plenty of Fish in the Sea

People really like their metaphors. Seriously. We hardly ever say something just how it is. We would much rather tie in an image of something else to help us illustrate our point. Our entire language is saturated with metaphors. Cute as a button. It's raining cats and dogs! He's my knight in shining armor *sigh*. Life's a stage and we are the actors (maybe we've been watching too much "reality" TV?). It's a dog-eat-dog world (seriously, do we ever think about how gross this is?). Running like the wind (or in my case a weak breeze). Catch my drift? (<= Hey, whaddaya know, there's another one!)

Don't think that umbrella will help much...

One that we seem to have a particular affinity for is the image of fishing. I don't know how many times I've heard "there are other fish in the sea..."Or what about the phrase, "fishing for compliments?" I especially like the one "hook, line, and sinker." Even Katy Perry is all about the fishing metaphors (The One That Got Away).

When I think about all of the metaphors, I think of what my writing professor would have to say about them, "CLICHÉS. Don't use them. Come up with something cool and original." But how did these phrases become cliché in the first place? Somebody said them once, and everybody else was all like, "Yeah! That's great! I'm going to use that now," and it spread like wildfire. (<= metaphor. Or simile?) Now, I don't know where most of our clichés derived from, but I have a guess as to who may have started the whole fishing craze. Yeah, that's right, the big JC, Jesus Christ. I mean, He was the one who dropped a bomb saying, "Follow Me and become fishers of men." And how could people NOT think that that was an awesome metaphor?

"I used that metaphor BEFORE it was cliché."

Let's look at what that actually means. Back in the day, fishing wasn't just a relaxing way to pass the weekend off with your buds out on the lake, having a good ol' time and hangin' out. For those called out of their boats to follow Jesus, it was completely different. They were fishermen. Fishing was their career.

According to Luke's gospel, Simon was the first to be called to follow. He was cleaning out his nets one morning after a rather unsuccessful night of fishing. Now, here in this world today, cleaning out nets after a night of fishing doesn't really hold much significance. First of all, I would just like to point out that he had been fishing all NIGHT. Because that's what they did back then. The nets that they used for fishing were pretty visible in the water during the day, and all Galilean fishermen knew that fishing during the day was just straight up foolish. Cleaning his nets didn't just mean splashing them with water. The linen nets used back then were pretty fragile. They required both washing and complete drying, which was quite time consuming. Since he had been out all night, he was just waiting for his nets to be clean and dry before he could go home and finally hit the sack. To top it off, he didn't have much to show for his night of work.

As he was cleaning, he probably noticed a crowd gathering on the shore listening to a rabbi preach. He may or may not have noticed it growing in size--so much so that the man speaking couldn't see all of the people around him. Whether or not Simon was interested in what this man had to say, he was undoubtably tired and rather unconcerned about this mass of people, just wanting to go home. He was probably finishing of the tedious task of cleaning, when Jesus walks up to him and is all like, "Hey man, I see your boat all tied up here, and it is in just the right spot. Mind if I preach from up here so I can see my whole audience?" Simon, respecting the authority of the rabbi consented, but I'm sure he was not too happy about it. That meant he would have to stay in the boat until the man was done speaking. And of all boats on the shore, couldn't he have found a different one?

Jesus continues to preach on Simon's boat, and finished with the cleaning, Simon can't help but listen as the nets dry. Wow, this guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Jesus finally ends his speech for the morning, and as people began to talk amongst themselves and clear out, Jesus looks at Simon and, noticing there aren't many fish in the load from the previous night, says something like "Thanks for letting me use your boat. Kind of an unsuccessful night last night, huh? Here, take your boat back out and throw the net over again."

At this point, Simon must have been incredulous. You want me to take my net that is practically dry, go out into the deep water, even after the sun is up, and cast it into the water again?! You are a rabbi, not a fisherman. Do you even know the slightest thing about fishing?! Even with your help, I would need two more of my friends to help us out. That kind of job requires two boats and four men. Do you WANT me to look like a complete idiot?! Maybe it was his preaching, maybe it was the people on shore watching what would happen, maybe he just wanted to prove Jesus wrong, but something told him he should listen to to this rabbi, and he grudgingly consented to this seemingly daft endeavor. He called over his partners James and John (who no doubt were questioning Simon's sanity) and threw the now dry net into the water. All three men were utterly amazed at what happened next: they caught enough fish to fill both boats to the point of nearly sinking! In broad daylight! It was truly nothing short of a miracle.

"Just keep swimming!"

Simon fell to his knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man," (Luke 5:8), for he was ashamed that he had doubted this man. With that, Jesus just looked at the men in the boats and said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

BAM.

Now do you see why that metaphor rocks? It wasn't like some random guy walked up to the apostles and was like, "Hey, drop your jobs, your family, your lifestyle, and come follow me and you'll catch lot's of men." No. He proved himself through this amazing miracle and said "Through Me, you can do this again, only next time, you will bring in people, not fish. If you follow me, you can become the world's greatest evangelists, bringing people to God." How do you say no to that?!

The best part is, just think, if Simon (later Peter) had not listened to Jesus to cast out his net once more, if he had decided it wasn't worth the effort, if he had put his own interests (going home, not cleaning the net again, etc.) above listening to Jesus, we wouldn't have Peter, the great apostle and first pope. He became who he was all because he decided to first of all let Jesus preach from his boat (he could have very easily turned Him down), and secondly he risked his own reputation and pride to throw that net in the water just one more time.

So, all metaphors aside, next time God asks you to do something that you don't necessarily see as a good idea, logically speaking, like Nike, just do it. You never know what big plans God has in store for you. He might just be setting you too up to become one of the greatest fishers of men.

Facebook Frustration

It's been a long day at work. I dealt with some cranky customers and some irritable co-workers. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, and I think that I'm beginning to catch a cold. I slump into my room and plop down on my bed, grab my laptop, and connect myself to the wifi. My finger darts across the sensor pad more like a nervous twitch than a deliberate navigation. With one tap of the finger, I am now staring at the familiar image of my homepage on Facebook. Without waiting for my command, my eyes already know what part of the page to find: the top left corner. They pinpoint a small little image in the corner of the screen. Noticing a disappointing lack of red, my heart falls. That's right, no new notifications. Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's completely ridiculous, but you have undoubtedly experienced this sometime before in your life (unless you don't have a Facebook, in which case props to you!). It's that little indication that nobody has interacted with your internet presence that can really bring you down. But why? How completely ridiculous is that?! But it's true. Sometimes, I just wish that I could be more like Ryan Spoon... (see image below).

Now THIS guy's virtual life is bumpin'!

Why am I so obsessed with Facebook?! It has become a major hinderance to my life. I open up my laptop, and without thinking, it is the first page that I open up, regardless of when the last time I checked it was. There is something about that little shortcut up at the top of my screen that activates the muscle memory in my finger. It's not just something that I look at for one second, however. Even if there is a depressing absence of notifications, that doesn't stop me from perusing the entire newsfeed. I just scroll, scroll, scroll, until I have sufficiently stalked all of the daily (or hourly, depending on when I last checked) happenings. I spend literally HOURS on Facebook every day. EVERY STINKING DAY!

Now, you might think, hey, what's the harm in a little Facebook. It's interesting, and you are just catching up with what's going on in your friends lives. Well, is it really that harmless? I have been thinking about it, and I have come to the conclusion that Facebook can really be detrimental to anyone. Let me give you some examples to help illustrate my point.

Susie get's home from school Monday afternoon. She's not the most popular person in her grade, she is kind of shy and doesn't talk much. She signs in to Facebook, and sees that there are no new notifications. BAM. Blow to the already low self-esteem. She then continues to scroll down through the newsfeed and sees all the pictures and statuses going up from the weekend before. She happens upon a picture of the group of friends that she talks to at school. Apparently, they had all gone to the beach over the weekend, but she hadn't been invited. Strike two to the self-esteem. As she browses through all of the other pictures that people are putting up, she can't help but notice how happy they look. They all look so carefree. All of the other girls look so beautiful, and there is no lack of comments on their pictures telling them so. Why doesn't she look as pretty? She checks her own pictures, but she already knows that there is not going to be any comments on any of them, except the one that her mom had found kind of cute. And she was talking about their dog. Just like that, her whole day is ruined as she continues to scroll through the pages and profiles, hating herself more and more.

Stephanie has a similar problem. She has friends and is featured in many pictures on Facebook, but she is self-conscious about something else: her weight. It's the Monday after the warmest weekend of the year, and every time she logs in to the site, she sees picture upon picture of skimpy bathing suits showing off the toned, "sexy" bodies of her peers. She looks down at her own body and starts to cry. Now that summer was arriving, she wouldn't be able to hide under baggy sweatshirts and loose-fitting pants. She was already trying to eat less, but it wasn't the calories so much as her dang genetics that were keeping her from that perfect "beach body." She shut off her computer and promised herself she would skip dinner tonight.

Carl, a friend of Stephanie's, is also on the computer this lovely June afternoon. He heard all about a trip to the beach this last weekend, and he was kind of bummed that he wasn't able to go. Stupid job. He hops on Facebook to see what's new in the virtual world when he sees the pictures of the beach adventure. Flipping past pictures of the guys messing around, he finally stops on one just like what he was looking for. There we go. He stares at the screen in front of him, ogling at the two girls in their bikinis. I knew that Jess was pretty hot, but dang! I didn't realize what kind of body Anna has. He makes a mental note to see what she was wearing the next day at school. Maybe she would be showing a little cleavage, or those nice legs of hers. I love shorts and tank top season.

This very same Monday, Anna gets home from her shift at work after school, and she too goes on Facebook. She notices that Jessica had put up pictures from the weekend. Why did she put that one up? Doesn't she realize how skanky we look? She goes to untag herself in it, but little does she know the picture has already been saved in Carl's folder on his computer. At least I have been working out recently, I don't even look half bad. She keeps clicking through the album when she sees one that she doesn't like so much. Gross! Why did she put THIS one up? I have a gigantic roll in this picture! I look so chubby! She probably just put it up because she looks incredibly perfect. Typical. She can be such a brat sometimes. I wish I had her body. I think that she put this one up just because she looks good and I don't. What a b****! She decides that she will confront Jessica about it the following day at school.

She put that one up?!

Jessica (yeah, see how this is coming full circle?) started all of this Sunday night (or Monday morning?) at 1:00 am. Excited to put up the pictures of the weekend, she uploads each one and makes sure that she doesn't look bad in any of them before publishing them. Between the uploading and the photoshopping (because she had to make sure nobody could see that awful zit on her face!) she spent 3 hours on the whole ordeal, skipping her math homework that she had put off until that night. I'll just copy Greg's tomorrow. Finally satisfied with the now nearly flawless pictures, she hits "publish album" and goes to bed.

See all of the problems that arise? Now this is just a hypothetical, multi-perspective scenario, but all of these are no doubt really happening somewhere in the wonderful world of Facebook, and I'm sure you are already aware of most if not all of these. Now, I'm not saying that Facebook in and of itself is evil, and everyone should cancel their accounts. It wouldn't be a bad idea, but I know I could never do that. I'm simply saying that it is one of the obstacles to our happiness here in this day and age. It consumes so much time that can be spent so much more productive. If I spent the time that I do every day on Facebook in prayer, I think that I would care a lot less about what my peers thought of me, be closer with God, be more peaceful and less anxious, and I'm sure much more. Even if I didn't want to spend that time with God, if I found SOME other productive use of my time I would be better off, whether that be cleaning, doing homework, reading, talking with my friends, or anything really!

So, why doesn't everyone stop spending so much time on Facebook? Because it's so HARD! Not only that, it's addicting and habitual. And, there are some benefits with being in touch with a mass amount of people all at once. I can't delete my account. I just can't. But for now, I'm going to delete the shortcut and try to limit my time wasted on it. Like no more than 10 minutes. At a time. I think I need a little Facebook rehab.