Time to brush my teeth

I told a friend tonight that I've been spending most of my time alone lately and that it's changing my perspective on a lot of things. I don't know if I said it because it's true or if I said it because I am trying to get accustomed to the fact that it might be true, but nonetheless I know I've been spending a significant time by myself lately and it definitely has altered my perceptions. I've spent so long, more than just these past years at ACU, always trying to be at the right place at the right time with the right people doing the most fun thing I could be doing at that very moment. The age of cell phones has gotten us out of making plans and sticking to them and carried us into an age of calling around until we find the best option. Anyway, my friend responded that spending most of your time alone is the best thing to do. I don't know that I agree, but I do know that, although I definitely have benefitted and grown from community, I think my leaps-and-bounds kind of growth comes from the times when I hang out with just me. I quit trying to impress myself about a year ago and so it's become rather refreshing to be able to be myself with myself and my thoughts and really get where I'm trying to go without an ego or false self perception getting in the way. I'm working towards the point where I'm no longer trying to impress anyone else, either, and though I'm getting remarkably close let's be real, I'm a 21 year old female. So I just started this book called Two Views on Women in Ministry for a class I'm in and it's making me realize that I have very strong beliefs and very strong opinions and rarely do I have anything concrete to back up those beliefs and opinions. Don't get me wrong, I can straight fool you into thinking that I do have solid research and conviction to back it up, but really all I have done is stolen someone else's conviction and plagiarized it as my own. Perhaps plagiarized is a strong term, but as I read this book that's how I feel. It's a good feeling, though, because it makes me want to study and learn more about why I think I believe what I do. Recently I have had this hunger for the Word that I have never before had in my life. A hunger for the Word has now replaced what used to be a hunger for a hunger for the Word. Now I've skipped the guilt and gone straight to seeking answers to questions, rather than wishing I had the desire to seek answers to questions. Get it? Doesn't matter. This post has lots of tangents and few readers. Time to brush my teeth.

I'm back...

My favorite days are characterized by one very specific quality. It doesn't really matter the day of the week (though I tend to like Thursdays...) or the time of year (although nice weather does put me in the best of moods...) or who I spend time with (well, who am I kidding...that actually affects my choice of favorite days quite strongly.) My favorite days are actually the ones in which I realize how hysterical of a sense of humor God has. Some people resent the image of God as a puppet-master, but I tend to be drawn to it for this very reason. I appreciate and fully attribute those funny little situations that I learn from and am humbled (see next paragraph) by to God's supreme sense of humor. I hope it's not disrespectful to view God in this way, because for me it draws me closer to Him and helps me to relate to His loving nature.

Example of the day: tonight as I was studying for a midterm in my Women in Christian Service class (taught by Jeanene Reese, my hero, but THAT is another blog...) I was reading about spiritual disciplines and spiritual giftedness, the purpose for their practice, etc. I became inspired to really embrace the study of spiritual disciplines and to further study spiritual gifts. The discipline of Simplicity has been tugging at my heart recently and the gift of discernment has been weighing on my heart, so I marched my little self up the stairs to the new Theological Reading Room in our library and found three books related to these particular topics. As I walked out among the Theology grad students, the Spiritual of the spiritual, I was feeling rather intelligent and rather spiritual and rather wise with my three books tucked under my arm. I made my way to the check-out counter so I could get home to begin reading up on my newly-found passion. I assumed the girl at the counter would probably be pretty impressed, too, when she saw the subject matter and that I was checking out three of them...until I heard this:
Girl: "Um...you have a $5 fine on your account."
Me: "Really? Oh...well does that have to be paid before I can check these out?"
Girl: "Yeah...you have to get it below $3."
Me: (annoyed, because I need to get home to start increasing my spirituality) "Ok...well, what is it even for?"
Girl: "Sex and the City DVDs."

Simplicity? Discernment?
Got it. :)