An Ongoing Process

I think we can all agree that sometimes we set the bar high for ourselves.  New Year's is the most typical time we do this.  I will go to the gym everyday! I will never fight with my sister! I will manage my time better! All are admirable, but rarely do these self-promises stick as we wish they would.  The desire to better oneself is not only present on New Year's day, the week, or maybe month after.  If we have the proper attitude, these standards are also present in our spiritual lives.

IF we're honest with ourselves, it becomes fairly obvious that the world we live in often works against the standards we set for ourselves. How many food or restaurant commercials do we see on TV? How many iPad games exist to suck up that "free time" in our schedules? My friends, the world works against us even in matters that are not matters of faith.   

Although the list is extensive and the variety of situations is vast, I would like to focus on one simple example that has been prevalent in my life the past week or so.
So I start with a confession.

A Modern Tragedy

Alexander Solzyenitsyn
From www.acton.org

It's happened again! I found a text I love! I am in a class titled "History of Ideas." Essentially, it deals with the best way to attain human happiness and success. Sounds interesting right? I thought so too...until I sat down and looked at the materials we would be reading. I'd never seen so many classical or political texts on one list. From the very beginning, I was prejudiced against the class material. I trudged through the language of Plato, the odd play by Aristophanes, the repetition in Aristotle, the politics of Machiavelli, and many other miserable journeys. Believe me. I've enjoyed bits and pieces along the way. There does tend to be the occasional oasis in the desert. The class itself was interesting once my professor translated the text into the language of my people: the language of the American youth. The class discussions could get passionate depending on what we were reading, and the professor always knows how to pick our brains for deeper analyses of the material. While I have not enjoyed the homework - or some of the ideas being conveyed (Marx and Nietzsche were my favorite philosophers to criticize) - the class concept is interesting.

This is the class that led me to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "A World Split Apart," a speech that received "boos" at Harvard University in 1978.

Favorite Song

You know when there's a song that's stuck in your head all day? I usually listen to it over and over and over, thinking it'll eventually stop playing in my head, or maybe I'll get sick of it.  Oddly, I've found that the songs that seem to resonate in my mind for several days (a week now for this one) tend to be Christian. I can't help but find that ironic. Aside from the soothing melodies and instrumentals that accompany Christian music, there's something deeper draws me to these songs. The one song that has lingered with me for a week now is "Lead Me" by Sanctus Real. Because it has resounded in my thoughts for so long, it has become my favorite song. The soft instruments in the background, the honest lyrics, the clear crisp voice, all of these contribute to the song's effect on me. The chorus exemplifies its effect on me:

"Lead me with strong hands

Stand up when I can't

Don't leave me hungry for love

Chasing dreams, what about us?

Happy Easter!

Good evening my friends!  Thanks for rejoining me this blessed Easter week. I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I had a wonderful time home these past few days. I spent time with my family and Daniel. My sisters and I got to go see "The Host," which I thought was fantastic. It definitely got me hooked on that song my Imagine Dragons song "Radioactive".  After we went and saw the movie, we went to IHOP, which has these AMAZING banana caramel pancake special thing going on, which is absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS.