Happy New Year

The last day Tunesday of the Year, hey the last day of the year!!!  This day call for this song!

Here's wishing everyone a great day and a Happy New Year filled with blessings!!!

New Year's Resolutions (or lack of)

I have mixed feelings about New Year's Resolutions.  It seems like a lot of pressure to put on yourself only to fail and stop doing whatever you said you were going to do, and then you feel awful about yourself for quitting and you fall back into bad habits or start doing something worse.  I really only have two resolutions that I have to do everyday. They are give up soda completely and to make my bed up everyday.  I know they are simple but I need simple.

That being said, while I don't have many resolutions for the New Year, I do have goals that I want to accomplish in this next year.  I am going to sit down soon and write each of these goals down and how to accomplish them.  This is not an exhaustive list, because I think as people we should always be looking to improve ourselves.  But here is the rough draft of goals for 2014.

1) To start my Master's in Psychology.
2) To lose at least 20 more pounds and get extremely healthy.
3) To spend more time on this blog. This blog has become an outlet for me and I feel mentally and spiritually healthier. I hope to incorporate physically with that in the next year also.
4) To be more financially responsible.  I am not the best with finances and realizing that I want to put more effort into being more responsible.
5) To sew about 90% of my clothes in the next year. I love to sew and I have wonderful fabrics just waiting to be used and that keeps me from shopping as much.
6) To find an outlet where I get to help people, whether it be volunteering or an actual job.
7) To start up an Etsy store.  I love the crafty things but could never use them all myself and I think that would be a great way to make a little extra income.


That is what I have had floating in my head. I may think of others later and hopefully I can sit down later and expound on each of these.

What New Year's Resolutions or Goals do you have?

The Meaning of Christmas

A friend of mine and I were talking last night, mostly about Christmas and our plans and we both really like Christmas, but we came to the realization on how many people really don't like Christmas.  They told me to pay attention to when others were asked were they ready for Christmas, and the majority of the time the answer is "I'm ready for it to be over."

This extremely saddens me!  Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and giving in remembrance of why Christ came to Earth.  People have taken this holiday so out of context, all they see is misery.  Everyone looks at the presents.  Presents they are getting. Presents they have to get for family. Presents they have to get for Co workers. Presents they are getting people they don't even like.  Presents that cost more money than what they make in a year just to make a spoiled child happy for five minutes.  The one Present no one thinks of anymore was the first Present ever given on Christmas-Jesus.  If more people would think about why He came and what He did while He was here, and tried to do similar, they would be sooooooo much happier.  

My family has decided that we have so much more stuff than what we really need, that we are going to find people who can't afford anything for Christmas and spend our money on them.  We are all stubborn in our family, so everyone will still get everyone else a little something, but the majority of our Christmas money will go to someone less fortunate. (Next year, I will also be supporting only local stores and vendors for Christmas presents, if I don't make them myself, but that is a whole different rant in itself.) I believe our family will be so much happier doing this anyway.  We have always tried to help others around this season anyway, and we enjoy that more than when we get together and give our Christmas gifts to each other. We went to Kentucky last weekend to give away gifts and food, and that might as well have been Christmas day for me to see the gratefulness of those families. And then, last night at the nursing home, singing Christmas carols to those people and seeing them sing with us just made my heart soar. (I know that sounds cheesy, but that's how I felt.)  

I hope with just a week from Christmas that we (and I say we because I get caught up in this mentality too.) can remember the real reason for Christmas and that we can try to act like He did with love and compassion for others!

Joy to the World

I absolutely love this version of Joy to the World.  Mom and I love to go see Christmas lights, and  one house puts theirs to music. That is where I first heard it.  I found it on the radio just the other day and caught the artist and bought it as soon as I was at a computer.

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!!!

And this one is just amazing!!!

Applause

So there is a Lady Gaga song on the radio right now, and all it talks about is how she lives for the applause of her fans and peers.  That song seemed really sad to me after I got to thinking about the implications and meanings.  It is a catchy tune, and once you hear it, it is STUCK in your brain and won't go away while you are trying to sleep, but it is still sad.  If all she is living for is the applause of others, she will never be satisfied.

Then I got to thinking about other people that call themselves Christians (myself included). Do we really live for the approval of God or the applause of others? Do we do things for others because we know we are being Jesus to a hurting people or because the pastor will be proud of us and the church members will talk about how good we are?  Do we go to church because it satisfies our need to fellowship with God or because we get approval for being faithful?

I tend to go out of my way not to be like others because I don't like cookie cutter people, and I tend to get applauded for that, for just being myself. Now I could let that applause go to my head and go to more and more extremes to "just be different", but I would be exactly like Lady Gaga. She goes to extremes to shock her fans and hope that they approve of her methods.  I think its a little crazy to show up to an awards ceremony in an egg, but her goal was to shock and I was shocked and therefore she got the applause she craved so badly, but after that show was done, the applause and shock died, and now she has to think of even more shocking methods to get applauded, to fulfill that craving.

I have nothing against Lady Gaga at all, but I do think it is important for us as individuals to examine our motivation behind the things we do.  If we are just living for the applause like the song says, we will never be satisfied.  If we do our Christian deeds because we know Christ will approve of us, then we will know true satisfaction.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

Just a Reminder

There is so much pressure in the world to be beautiful and perfect and I think this picture sums up what we should be thinking about when it comes to beauty and perfection! It's found in Jesus!


Have a Wonderful Wednesday Everyone!

All I Want for Christmas

I have always loved this song. It really doesn't matter that I am single almost always on Christmas, it's just a really fun song!

Have a great Tuesday Everyone!!!