I'm eating spaghetti right now, just thought I'd share that with you all. It's supremely yummy. Maybe it's that spaghetti is just an inspirational food, or maybe something's finally ready to come out of the wood here. I haven't written in a while. I won't apologize for that, but I'm excited to be writing right now for the very reason I started this blog: I just love what happens when an individual puts pen to paper, or here, fingers to keys. God does some pretty epic stuff in the lives of tons of people everyday, and it's part of our job to share that in some way, be it the spoken word, art, music, or, my personal favorite: writing.

So, that said, I'm thoroughly happy to be writing again. God's been doing some awesome stuff in and around me. First off, I am very blessed to be in Cincinnati right now. Although it's not where I'm going to be forever, I have no doubt in my mind that once again, God knew what he was doing. Suprise, I know. Naw, it shouldn't really be a suprise at all, somehow, it always is though. Ha. Humans are dumb. You'd think we'd get that God knows the right plan, but somehow we pull a Peter and ask him if he's sure he wants to take that route. (Mark 8:32-this was in the sermon Sunday at my church and I was floored. I had never noticed this before, but Mark says taht Peter rebuked Jesus! "What was he thinking?!" we say, but I'd need more than just my fingers and toes to count how many times I've done the exact same thing. I find it interesting, and so completely human, that we hold Bible characters to such a high standard. They're people just like us, and I guarantee we mess up just as much as they did. When we hear about their failures, though, what do we do? We ask how they could've been so silly to do or say or think that. Oh irony, how I'm amused by thee.)

Sorry, that was a really long parenthetical...I feel like I may be all over the place today, so just bear with me =] Aaaannnyyyway....basically God's blessed me with some pretty cool people and opportunities in nati city. Lately, I think that, instead of showing me personally things so much, God has been using other people to teach me. See, I've been trying to pay more attention to those around me. It's good to take the focus off yourself. And it's remarkable how, when you stop looking just at yourself, what you can learn from others about me, myself and I.

I have always believed that other people was one of the greatest blessings God ever gave us. He uses friends to show us our faults and our strengths, to encourage us, and to hone us into better versions of ourselves. I want to share with you now what some of these people have been teaching me lately.

1. This remarkable girl isn't intimidated or scared of anything, or so she claims. I'm seeing day by day that a lot of us put up strong fronts so no one sees our weaknesses, myself included. We think that only putting out the elements of our person that we feel confidence in, or that we think will be the most protective and undamageable, is our best bet to making it through this life unscarred. That's a lie though, a suprisingly widely beleived lie, but a lie none the less. Not letting anyone see the real me only damages that person inside that's being supressed and confined. Catapillars can't stay in their cocoons forever.

2. I can only handle this individual in small doses. Some people just rub you the wrong way, I guess. But they're still there, so what do ya do? Come to find out, lots of people have problems. While that's not an excuse for acting a certain way, maybe I'd understand them a bit better if I took into account that I'm not the only one who's had a hard time growing up. Believe it or not, I think that most of us have. This individual teaches me patience, no matter how stubborn I am to learn.

3. Some people, like this one, are just easy to mess with. It's funny to throw those verbal punches, all with the claim of "jk" attatched. Now, I love a good joke. I throw them because I can take them in return. I've realized that not all people are like me, though. Sometimes jokes can hurt just as much as the real thing. I'm not ok with hurting a friend, even if we did get a good laugh out of it. Plus, how many times do our "just kiddings" actually have a hint of truth behind them? I'd say that, at least for me, quite a lot of the time. Sometimes, well, probably a lot of the time, I should just keep my mouth shut.

4. This individual has the biggest heart in the world I've determined. She loves and cares about people waaay more than most, just like God asks us to. Funny thing is, if you knew her past, it'd suprise you that her heart is still in good enough tact to love so much. Sometimes it seems, though, that the hearts that are the most damaged are the most loving. Not, always, but when that damaged heart chooses to push all the junk aside and love people anyway, even though they've hurt you in unspeakable ways, that is true bravery. To love despite, that's bravery, and that's something I want to have.

5. This girl has made me aware how much I judge people. Labels characterize our society, and it's hard not to slap a label on someone before you even find out their name, not to mention anything deeper than that. This girl doesn't always make the right choices, but who does?! See, in our minds we have declared certain sins worse than others, and we're quick to judge each other as we see fit. But I've been realizing that frankly, we all have issues, and to God, we're all sinners. But you know what? We all know who still loved us and died for us, despite our issues: good ole JC. Why on earth, then, would I refuse to love someone because they still mess up? Well, then I say, "I didn't say I didn't love them!" But I don't see how we can treat someone with disdain or judgment and still say we love them. It's just ridiculous to judge someone for their faults when we have our own log sticking out of our eye. This one is a hard thing to get over, because, unfortunatly, it comes so naturally to us. I have to stop judging, though, and instead, love those people, so that maybe, just maybe, I can be a true friend, and help them be better, and*, at the same time, allow them to do the same for me.

(*it truly pained me to write that run-on, but I felt it necessary.)

6. The last thing on my heart right now is something that a bunch of people have been showing me, but one in particular. I wrote a blog a while back about being beautifully made by our Creator, and truly embracing and believing that. I think maybe I forgot about that for a while. Especially for girls, its a hard thing to remember. Always comparing, always feeling unsatisfactory, always trying to be perfect: that's us, ladies. But that is NOT who we were created to be. This friend of mine wrote something quite moving the other day. She said, "My body was not meant to be used for men to lust after. It was not made to seduce men. It was made for the sole purpose of glorifying, praising, and honoring my Creator." And I was just so blow away by that insight, because it's so true, yet I've never thought of it like that before. I don't know why exactly God made me the way he did, but it's not like he messed up or just threw me together. No I was formed, crafted, and created by a perfect God who is in the business of producing nothing less than perfection. Forgetting that is detrimental, but realizing it is like looking in the mirror and seeing a completely different person. Maybe I was made with imperfections-according to society, that is-because God wanted me to give him the glory for creating me that way, or so I could find my fulfillment in him, not others, or maybe so I could help someone in their struggle for body peace. Whatever the reason be, I know that to my creator, I am perfect.

On that same note, I find myself astonished at the cutting remarks we ladies are so good at producing. We do this, at least I do, to make ourselves feel better, to take the focus off our imperfections by putting the focus on the shortcomings of others. I have found that there is almost no other force among women that is more harmful than cutting each other down. So I'm trying hard to replace these hurtful, judgmental, and unnecessary comments with only compliments. Uplifting each other should be our first priority, not judgment.

So there I am, lots of stuff going on, and a lot to figure out. But I think the bottom line of all this is that we're all God's creations, none better than another. I think that a grasp on that can change our world, one life at a time. Spread the love <3