World Wide Wonder

Two years ago today, I stepped onto a plane to begin my semester abroad in Greece. 

Two years ago today, I left America for the first time.

Two years ago today, my life was absolutely changed. 

That may sound like an exaggeration, but I truly have never been the same since that day. The next time I stepped foot in America, my heart had been broken and rebuilt into something new. It's still being built new all the time-but that's another conversation. 

Two years ago, I did not know what wanderlust was. Now, it fills every part of my being. Some days-like today-I can barely live life without feeling like I am going to burst. Some days, I can only dream about leaving everything behind and getting on a plane to a different place. My desire to travel was spurred by getting on that plane two years ago. 

I have been incredibly, amazingly, surprisingly blessed to have been to 10 different countries since that day. I have been overwhelmingly blessed to now have friends in countries all over the world! When I think about that, I can barely breathe through my joy. I have friends now who are currently living in a different countries-whether through study abroad, mission work, teaching, etc.-and when I think of the things they are seeing right now, I can hardly hold myself together. There is something so incredible about being in a new place, taking in new scenes, experiencing new cultures, and especially meeting new people. I long for the day when I can step into a new place and experience life with different people. Sometimes my wonder creeps into my bones and pushes out through every part of me, making me feel like I'm going to explode. I am still amazed that one step two years ago inspired that in me. 

I wonder if I would have ever felt this way if I had not taken a risk to sign up for a semester abroad. I am thankful for that experience because I fear where I would be if God had not shaken my world in that semester. I fear that I would not be as fearless in the world and in God had I not gone abroad for that first time. I am so thankful for the experiences, friendships, and memories I have from two years ago. I am thankful for the people who challenged me to rethink how I love. I'm thankful that I can feel more gratitude in the difficult times now. I'm thankful that I am learning to take a step back from my culture every now and then. I am just immensely, overwhelmingly thankful that God has given me this wanderlust, and that He has given others the same desire to go and get to know others in different cultures. 

This is the place where my heart was changed. I am now filled with a world wide wonder.

Feeling Adventurous

In the obsession of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty soundtrack, I decided to build my own adventure playlist. Because I'm feeling whimsical and daydream-y and such. And because, why not? It's pretty much just a folksy mix of songs that would be good for coffee shops, plane trips, car rides, falling asleep to; whatever suits your fancy. So feel free to follow it if you have Spotify, and even moreso, feel free to add your own tunes to it. 

If all goes well, I've posted a link to it for quick access.

Go For Adventure

22 Favorite Quotes from the Screwtape Letters

I made it a goal this break to read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, finally, considering I finally had time to sit and absorb myself in it. I apologize to everyone on my Facebook and Twitter, I really tried to keep the quotes at a minimum, but they were just so good I couldn't help but share sometimes. Anyway, in an attempt to keep myself from copying the entire book into Facebook statuses, I kept a note on my phone of some of my favorite quotes from the book, which I will share momentarily.

In the two weeks I took to sit and read and absorb this book, I was given so much insight into how Satan works in our lives. I am amazed that a man could sit down and write an entire book from the perspective of a being that is absolutely the furthest thing from the reality he believes in, but thankful that Lewis had such a brilliant mind as to contribute these Letters to the world. It was such a surreal moment reading each chapter as Screwtape addressed almost every sin I have ever dealt with and many I didn't even realize were something I struggled with. A huge part of me felt peace rush through my body though as I read the words that admitted I wasn't the only one in the world who experienced these moments of weakness. Clearly Lewis understood the struggle enough to address it, which I can only imagine means he must have faced the same things I have and, even more, currently am dealing with. I sing praises that C.S. Lewis was such a brilliant man, and even more that God was able to use him to reach into society through his literature. 

So without any further ado, my top quotes from The Screwtape Letters:

"All mortals tend to turn into the thing they pretend to be. This is elementary."

"Indeed-the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

**"When [God] talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamour of slef-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I'm afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever." **

"The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring two-pence what other people say about it, is by that very fact forearmed against some of our subtlest modes of attack."

"Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, 'By jove! I'm being humble!' and almost immediately pride-pride at his own humility-will appear."
----this one appealed to me cause I have often caught myself double-thinking my motivation for doing something. It made me aware that this type of double-thinking is one way Satan tries to steal glory from God.

"Let him think of it [humility] not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely a low opinion) of his own talents and character...By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools."
---God created us perfectly and our doubting ourselves does not mean we are being humble.

"For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them."

"He does not want men to give the Future their hearts, to place their treasure in it."

"Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they 'own' their bodies."

"We teach them not to notice the different senses of the possessive pronoun..."

"And all the time the joke is that the word 'Mine' in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. In the long run either Our Father [Satan] or the Enemy [God] will say 'Mine' of each thing that exists, and specially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong--certainly not to THEM, whatever happens."

"There are things for humans to do all day long without His [God] minding in the least--sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working. Everything has to be twisted before its any use to us."

"On the other hand we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything--even social justice."

"Thus we make it fashionable to expose the dangers of enthusiasm at the very moment when they are all really becoming worldly and lukewarm; a century later, when we are really making them all Byronic and drunk with emotion, the fashionable outcry is directed against the dangers of the mere 'understanding'."

"...Love is not enough, that charity is needed and not yet achieved and that no external law can supply its place."

"Anything, even a sin, which has the total effect of moving him close up to the Enemy, makes it against us in the long run."

"If the thing he prays for doesn't happen, then that is one more proof that petitionary prayers don't work; if it does happen, he will, of course, be able to see some of the physical causes which led up to it, and 'therefore it would have happened anyway', and thus a granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective."

"To watch a mean do something is not to make him do it."

"Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is 'finding his place in it', while really it is finding its place in him."

"He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality."

"Pilate was merciful till it became risky."

"...the act of cowardice is all that matters; the emotion of fear is, in itself, no sin and, though we enjoy it, does us no good."

**Absolutely my favorite quote from this book! Truly a moment of really grasping how God works in His desire for us to give up ourselves and put Christ on. It is not a selfish request, but one that will give us even more freedom and joy than anything we could ever give ourselves in life.

Precious Things

Sometimes I just get so excited about the smallest things in life. Tonight, while out with my mom, I found the most precious journal for $6 with "Enjoy the Ride" scribed across the cover. So tonight, I bought another journal-as if I don't have enough already. And tonight, I came home and made a Pinterest board dedicated to journaling tips and prompts. And tonight I wrote my name and this little quote on the inside of my new journal. So tonight, I embarked on a new journey of keeping my mind alive through journaling--all because of a little thing I like to call "impulse shopping". And maybe this will fall through like my other attempts at keeping a journal have in the past, but I have a different feeling about this little precious thing. But maybe that's just because I'm feeling inspired by my impulse buy and the Walter Mitty soundtrack I've had on repeat on my computer.

So enjoy the ride...cause that's really what life is, right?

Quote: "My journal is a storehouse, a treasury for everything in my daily life:
the stories I hear, the people I meet, the quotations I like, and even the
subtle signs and symbols I encounter that speak to me indirectly."
-Dorothy Seyler

As good a time as any

Last week I shared about my conviction to really focus on living in the future. I wanted to follow up and share this quote that came across my Pinterest feed. Thought it fitting for the idea of really living now.

"Beautiful Things Don't Ask For Attention"

Quick review and recommendation for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: It's incredible, go see it now!

Okay, now that we've cleared that up, let's talk about this movie and what it teaches and why it captivated me from the first preview I saw 6 months ago. Walter works for Life magazine as a film developer. He lives a life of daydreams-constantly interrupting his current life as he "zones out" into a world of fantasy and adventure. I don't know if I've ever related to a character as much as Mr. Mitty. His interactions with people are awkward and conversations brief. But finally, he decides to stop daydreaming about adventure, throws fear to the wind and just GOES! Yup, runs out of work, jumps on a plane and ends up in a different country with just the clothes on his back. Oh how I dream of that! To just say "BRB!" Get in my car, on a bike, in a plane or on a train and go somewhere I've never been, with just the clothes on my back. To live a life of whimsy and free-spiritedness. My heart aches for that. 

Two quotes from this movie that have been swirling in my head since I walked out: "To see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to, to draw closer, to see and be amazed. That is the purpose of life." That is the motto of Life Magazine in the movie. Don't tell me that's not a good quote! It captures the essence of what I wish for every day. I think some days it's to see things thousands of miles away but some days it's just to take a closer look at the things around you. It's to do something that scares you every day. To look around you in any circumstance and be amazed at its wonder. That is the purpose of life. 

The second is this: "Beautiful things don't ask for attention." I hesitate to give too much information, but at one point in the movie, the photographer Sean O'Connell is sitting on top of a mountain looking through his camera at a snow leopard, telling that snow leopards don't like to be seen and he utters these words. Isn't that the most wonderful sentiment. Things that are truly beautiful in life don't ask for attention. They reveal themselves just long enough for someone to notice them but are gone before they can be praised. The most beautiful part of a sunrise is only there for a second before the light boldly shines across the sky. And never once does it ask for us to look at it. It goes dutifully about its business every day, noticed or unnoticed. 

So maybe those thoughts will echo in your head as they have been in mine. But I love the fearlessness in this movie! It's a perfect tale of overcoming fear and challenging yourself to realize your true potential in life. 

So now, get off the couch, grab a loved one and jet it to the closest theatre to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Please and thank you!

Where time meets eternity

I have been reading "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis while on holiday from school. I don't know that I have ever been so enlightened by a fiction book. Each page just captures and convicts me down to the core. 

For those of you who don't know, the book is a series of letters written from Screwtape, a demon, to his nephew Wormwood, also a demon. Screwtape is advising Wormwood on how best to win his human patient over to Satan-known in the book as Our Father Below. It's incredible reading Lewis' words and hearing the echo of our Christian/religious language but in such a different light. 

Anyway, I am stuck on this chapter I just finished. I can't say that this will be one of those "10 Ways to Live In The Present" lists that's have recently scattered my Facebook newsfeed. But I just had to process through some things and hopefully challenge you to join me in changing our outlook.

The most recent chapter I read focused on turning the patients focus away from the Present and toward the Future. I have been keeping a note on my phone of quotes from the book and this one stuck with me for this chapter. 

"For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them."

I love it! The present is the only time we can actually connect to eternity. And not only that, but we are given a freedom in life when we turn our attention to the present instead of the future. I don't know about you, but I want that freedom. But I am also so convicted in these words. As I approach my last semester of college, I cannot even tell you how many times I have had the "future" talk. And I am just as guilty about initiating the "future" talk. It's so near to my thoughts as I wonder where I'm going to live after I graduate, what kind of job I will get, if my current plans will work out, and even if I am following God's will in making these plans. It's something that both horrifies me and completely excites me as I face this new horizon. But those thoughts are robbing me of the present. And there's a sobering thought in not knowing if I will even make it to tomorrow, much less graduation or moving somewhere new. I am not promised any of my future. But I do have today. 

So then I have to ask myself, what does it look like to live in the present? Here is where my mind goes somewhat silent. I kind of have been grasping around for those answers and so far here are a couple small ideas I have come up with. 

-Maybe living in the present manifests itself in being late to something because I saw an opportunity to invest in someone else. In other cultures, people show up late all the time because they do not see time as a commodity. So maybe sometimes it's okay to be late for good reason! 

-Also, maybe it means taking advantage of the few moments I have to talk to the cashier at the grocery store. It has to be strange being such a small blip in so many people's whirlwind life as they pass by with their milk and eggs. So maybe that means asking how their week is going or paying them a complement. Something more deserved than silence as you wait for a total.

-It most definitely means stepping away from social media. That's where I have been most convicted lately. I have admittedly wasted countless hours switching from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram to Pinterest the past few months. Anything for a distraction or way of feeling valued when you get a like or favorite. It's a weakness our generation faces daily. But no real good comes from any of those minutes ticked away looking at my phone screen. I need some face-to-face action!

-I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure a good place to start is changing how you think. I'm so guilty of living day to day, week to week, milestone to milestone with my goals. Of saying "oh next semester, I'm going to..." Or "When I graduate, I can finally..."

No! Why not now? Tomorrow's an okay place to start, but even more so right now! I may not be around long enough to say or do what I really want to accomplish. That's motivation enough. 

And along with changing your mindset, maybe that means rethinking how you dream. I am a major advocate for chasing your dreams, no matter how crazy they may seem but I think too often we-myself entirely, overwhelmingly included-get too caught up in "one day I want..." and don't focus on the time we have right now. Let's face it, there may be some dreams that you just don't have time in your life to achieve. Maybe I won't get to live in England like I've always wanted. Or maybe I won't ever get to meet One Direction. Or maybe I will never work in a different country with trafficking victims. But that doesn't mean that I can't have other wonderful, beautiful adventures right now while I am still alive.

So this is a wake up call to myself and others to simultaneously go after your dreams right now while you have the chance but to stop focusing solely on reaching your dream and realize you can't live in the future because you might be missing out on the freedom to live in the present. The future, as Lewis implied in the chapter, is a series of unrealities. They do not and will not exist. Ponder on that! The future is just one big ball of question marks that trap and tangle us up. We worry ourselves sick about what we will do in the future and in the meantime, we are missing our chance at experiencing eternity. So again, I'm sorry for the unanswered question, but maybe this will be a challenge to you to figure out what your Present is and how you can truly experience the freedom we are granted when we really exist in it.