A Night of Watery Cliches

We have grown up hearing the timeless cliche, "just be yourself." That is a powerful statement. Few generations have been allowed such freedom of individual expression. If you want to be a punk, go for it. Valley girl? Right on. The only thing you can do wrong is not to be yourself.

So what if you want to be yourself, but you have lost sight of who you are?

Most of us have also heard the cliche, "When it rain, it pours." Sometimes life pours problems so persistently and so hard that it quickly turns into an ocean you find yourself struggling to swim in. It takes all concentration to just keep your head up out of the water. All familiar objects are drowned, and the guideposts you marked to help you gain bearing over your surroundings are now covered in the water. You frantically tread water, just hoping, praying, you can wait until the sun comes out and the water sinks back into the dirt. Hope. Pray. Hope. Pray. It is an exhausting cycle. It rains harder. The sun sometimes comes out, basks your face in warmth to remind you that you can make, clouds pass, normalcy returns. But what do you do until the water is gone? Sometimes your strength is gone. Sometimes it is just to much.

Water, much like the problems life throws at us, spurs growth. But water, much like the problems life throws at us, drowns out fire. It drowns the spark.

When you reach that point, just keep treading water. That's all one can do. One cannot control the sky, cloud coverage, or the inches of rain that fall. One cannot control when the sun comes out and how long it stays. The only thing one can control is if they sink or swim.

I choose to swim.

Umm.. Can You Stand Up Without Arms or Legs? Probably Not.. :)

So yes, the little messages that flash in between the clips of him are cheesy. But in an "I need to keep watching this right now," way. This guy is the epitome of a positive attitude. It's insane. Just watch!

"Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia with the rare Tetra-amelia disorder: limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, and having one small foot with two toes protruding from his left thigh. Despite the absence of limbs, he is doing surf and swimming, and playing golf and soccer. Nick graduated from college at the age of 21 with a double major in Accounting and Financial Planning. He began his travels as a motivational speaker, focusing on the topics that today's teenagers face."

How amazing is that?! AH, amazing. It puts my little college tests into perspective. 

Another thing. Let's just say you need five minutes to chill out and need something to entertain you? Go to drawastickman.com. 

My favorite song at the moment: 

And just an underwater river. NBD.

The world is beautiful, don't you think?! Night!!

Weak Things Become Strong- And we aren't talking about the impressive size of your biceps. Sorry. :)

I would like to start off today by telling you something important: You can indeed overcook Ramen noodles. 

I did not know this. I just left them cooking while I cooked some chicken. And as a result, they turned to mush. My roomates and I feasted on mushy Ramen stir fry. It was not our most stellar meal, but you live and learn.  

My inspiration of the day is completely unrelated the art of cooking Ramen. Being enrolled in the 2nd largest private university in the world tends to occasionally make you feel small and insignificant. The things you did in high school doesn't really matter other then the fact that they made you who you are. The friend you had in high school are very much part of your life and your personality, but you don't get to see them every day. Your family you've been living with for the last 18 years is 1500 miles away. Some good comes out of the large abundance of people however, In the process of making a whole new set of friends and meeting new people every day, I've realized something important. Every single person has distinct strengths and weaknesses. My personal belief is that God gave each individual person their own unique set of gifts and talents to achieve what He would need them to do. Even if our opinions differ on this, this distinct set of talents each person owns truly makes the world unique. 

I am coming to appreciate my own talents more every day. You should as well. Think about what you are good at and how you can use those to your advantage, as well as how you can use them to help other people. You might also want to consider your weaknesses and how you can make them strong. 

I was reminded at church today of one of my favorite scriptures. It reads, "And if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they my be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before m, and have faith in m, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Amen to that, brother. 

I thought this was lovely. Happy Sunday!