Saturday, March 24, 2012

shrinking value in....

ipod is on shuffle. i look out the window as the current song comes to a close, then back to my songs. there are so many songs on there that i don't even care about anymore, a sad but true statement. i tap the fast-forward button 50 taps per minute. below my fast- forward, rewind, and play button it displays how many songs i have in total on my ipod: 1,115. one thousand, one hundred fifteen.

i can't help but think to myself how funny i was growing up with my old ipod nano, i had a secret pleasure in knowing i finally had more songs on my ipod than my older sister did on hers when i hit five hundred something songs; and the same when i saw that my cool college friend i'd secretly really looked up to (well, i guess it wasn't really a secret) only had three hundred something songs on hers.

i thought five-hundred was alot... now it's almost only half of what i have on my ipod.

as much as i hate wasting time doing it, i do it anyway: scrolling the facebook news feed, seeing what is the newest most interesting thing happening in the bubble of my friends. oh look! someone is engaged... oh wow, ninety something people liked it. someone got accepted to that big fancy college!! bam-- 119 likes. as a younger facebook user i thought i was popular when eleven or twelve people liked my status that was a song lyric...

and same with friend numbers on facebook too. i look at a five hundred friend count by sophomore year and think "wow, that's alot!" and then turn to one of my freshman friends who has over one thousand friends.

the older i get, the smaller bigger things get. isn't that a compelling but exactly true concept? bigger things get smaller, numbers that were once so big shrink into miniscules compared with the number they are right NOW in the moment.

age. you thought being 10 was a big deal when you were 10 (and when you were nine.) i thought my older sister turning 18 was crazy. then, she turned 19. 19 years of full life. and that's nothing compared to other ages in this world obviously.

trends. the song "friday" by rebecca black certainly had alot of views on youtube, but then she evolved into a national icon because of how popular the song became. yout thought 250 hits were pretty good? try a bajillion (meaning i don't know the exact number of hits she had but i do know they were a TON.)

nature. you thought the thought the building was really big growing up? try mount everest. (sorry for jumping so far ahead.)

and..God. you thought the universe was big? you thought the number of stars you counted on that trip to the mountains was plentiful? you thought how the sky never stops wherever you go was a trip? you thought the idea of the sun's actual size hurt your brain alittle bit? don't even try to imagine the size of God, because it honestly is not something to be measured with human metrics or numbers.

stay in awe of things that are "big" to you while you can. because numbers change, big things shrink; or maybe it is just you growing with the numbers. or, the numbers are growing with you (and the rest of society).

is this positive? or negative? that is a whole different story obivously-- do you see the glass half empty or half full?

that is, if you can still see the glass... or has that shrunk to you too?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

We live in a bubble.

You might think I say that because we live in the suburbs, and we are supposedly closed off from the real world.

This might be true in some cases, but let's dive deeper into that.

Ok, we live in a bubble within our clicks of friends we hang out with.

That may be true to. But try again.

Bubble of population. Bubble of neighbors. What's the next layer of Bubble?

The bubble of ourselves.

We live in our own bubbles. Admit it. If facebook isn't doing enough by
forcing us to be obssesed with ourselves, it's within our constant indulgence in complaining about all the problems of life-- too much homework or not getting to go to the movie or breaking a nail.
I can't say we're all guilty of this. I know there are souls out there who's bubble layers are very thin and they pop it often to help And care for others. But I write this blog post because I live in a bubble often. A bubble where sometimed thr things that only matter are what effect ME.

Outside of our bubbles are other bubbles- individual bubbles with other individual people inside them, too. But the oxygen is replaced by sadness in some of their bubbles. It begins to suffocate them and they can't take the pain.

That's why we need to pop our bubbles. To not only save ourselves a life of selfishness and greed but to help, encourage and LOVE others who are in need. Which, just fyi, is everyone on this planet.

We got alot of work to do then, don't we?

Spreading love is worth it. Being love can be simple. Once you show people that simplicity, they might want to live in love too (and not in a stuffy bubble).

Sadness is real, depression is real, everyone needs love; and it's everyone's job to give and have that love. And to encourage in everything you do.

Pop the bubble.

Twloha.com

Monday, March 12, 2012

You Got Mail

Dear You,

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes or cleans so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Yes,I am the vine; you are the branches--MY branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. At all. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Oh yes, I have loved you more than you will ever know. Now, remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
And you always shall be; if you remain in me.
With Love,
Jesus