My Gift Is My Song

I can't stop listening to this song. Though I still adore the Moulin Rouge! version, Ms. Goulding's take on "Your Song" has me completely in love.

Passion and Purity

The book currently wrecking my life is Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot. I seriously don't think my life will ever be the same after reading this book. I finished it, and immediately picked it back up again to re-read it. I had to share some of the quotes that have been smacking me in the face (in the best way possible!).

• "I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts."
• "But the things we feel most deeply we ought to learn to be silent about, at least until we have talked them over thoroughly with God."
• "The greater the potential for good, the greater the potential for evil."
• "A good and perfect gift, these natural desires. But so much the more necessary that they be restrained, controlled, corrected, even crucified, that they might be reborn in power and purity for God."
• "I cannot love you if I love not Him. I cannot love Him, if I love not you."
• "I wait. Dear Lord, Thy ways are past finding out, Thy love too high. O hold me still beneath Thy shadow. It is enough that Thou lift up the light of Thy countenance. I wait because I am commanded so to do. My mind is filled with wonderings. My soul asks 'Why?' But then the quiet word, 'Wait thou only Upon God.' And so, not even for the light to show a step ahead, but for thee, dear Lord, I wait."
• "We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live."
• "Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. He will not necessarily protect us-not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."
• "The hope was always there that God's will would bring us together. It might not be that, I knew, and I realized that the deeper spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able honestly to pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done."
• "If you love someone, there are many things you will do for that person because you love him-not because it's what you'd prefer if love did not enter the picture. The fact is, love has entered the picture. Therefore, in your heart, you can be very honest when you tell Him you really prefer to do what He wants, because, more than your own pleasure, you want His. When obedience to God contradicts what I think will give me pleasure, let me ask myself if I love Him. If I can say yes to that question, can't I say yes to pleasing Him? Can't I say yes even if it means a sacrifice? A little quiet reflection will remind me that yes to God always leads in the end to joy."

This Coming From The Man Who Created "Starry Night"

"Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling." -Vincent Van Gogh

Me? Productive?

I have no excuse for not blogging more faithfully, ESPECIALLY because I gave up Facebook for Lent this year. The reason for this incredibly strenuous sacrifice began as an experiment with myself to see if I could find ways to be more productive. I am not academic at all, as last semester's GPA proves, and Facebook's many diversions do not help the matter. I found myself wasting hours at a time on that dang website, instead of actually just working on homework. So I made myself a promise back in November that come Ash Wednesday, Facebook would be no more. I didn't deactivate my account, so technically, Claudia Iglesias is still alive in the Facebook universe. Knowing myself, though, I had a faithful friend change my password, so if I ever feel tempted to log back on... I can't. Not that this has ever tempted me (SARCASM). The result of this fast? Well, it's been 14 days, and I still miss being able to log on and waste time instead of being productive. I miss stalking my friends and posting stupid things on their walls. I miss seeing what's going on in their lives, especially the friends that I don't live in the same state as. But I've learned that Facebook does not define reality. I have had to actually branch out and start texting the friends I would have just stalked on Facebook. I have had to find things to do with my time, now that I have hours to kill (this is so sad). My time in the library has gone way up, and my time on the computer in general is pretty much non-existent. I check my email several times a day, but really, it's just not as exciting to see a new email from a Professor as it is to see new pictures from everyone's spring break. As a result, I almost never go online. And I have had more time to read and do homework. This may not sound that great, but I have been refining the art of doing homework. I have found the perfect spot/time to do it, and while I would not call myself a brainiac, I can safely say that my productivity levels are steadily increasing. Thus far, I would call this a succesful Lent!

Spring Break, Baby!

I am a Sophomore in college, so you might be surprised when the phrase "Spring Break" doesn't make me all that excited. You see, all the usual connotations of wild crazy partying and tropical get-aways don't really apply to me. For one thing, I don't party any other time of the year, so I'm not going to start for just one week. And my school is basically a tropical get-away in its own right. Being in paradise 24-7 means going to some other tropical destination might not hold the same appeal as it would to other college students. On top of that, I have not been having the best experiences with my college spring breaks. Last year, I got my wisdom teeth out over my spring break. On top of recovering from the surgery itself, I had a bad reaction to the painkillers and was majorly sick for a few days. Not super fun. This year, I'm out in D.C., where my family has relocated. I LOVE WASHINGTON D.C. My old roommate and dear friend, Alli, is in the area, so we have been able to enjoy the city together for a bit. However, my body decided it would be a great idea to get massively sick over spring break. So I've been bedridden for most of today, unable to talk. Needless to say, I'm learning to not be too thrilled every time spring break rolls around. Oh well, I've always got Easter break to live it up, right?