Keep going

Only a few more weeks! I keep telling myself this. Each year around this time I begin to struggle staying focused. School becomes less of a priority as little things take its place.

"Time to do a reading report!" I tell myself.

2 minutes later...

"Oooo 'Top Celebrity Styles of Spring'! I need to read this."

Thankfully God doesn't get spring fever. With His help we can succeed. In school, in work, in all areas of life.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

The politics of a henhouse

I like chickens. They're fun to look at. They're pretty. They produce eggs. And, they're surprisingly human. On the surface chickens seem pretty simple. Wake up. Go outside, maybe peck at some bugs, poop, take a dust bath, do some more pecking, lay an egg and call it a day. What I've found, observing my family's chickens, is that its not that simple.

Each chicken has its own personality. The rooster is in charge of the house. He's the first one out of the house in the morning and the last one in. He always has what's best for the hen's in mind. Whenever I dump scraps over the fence instead of hogging them, Lars calls the ladies and shows them where the food is. The rooster always has to know where all the hens are all the time. Before going in the hen house at the end of the day the rooster always does a sweep of the yard. One time a hen was taking her sweet time going into the house. Sultan and Napoleon, our two roosters at the time, kept on glancing in the house, counting the hens, and looking back out. Finally after a conference between the two Napoleon was sent on reconnaissance mission. Racing around the yard he found the hen and sent her to bed.

The hens are VERY clicky and moody. I'm not sure if this is because they're women or if its a chicken thing. A hen's life revolves around laying eggs. If a egg is coming, its going to happen whether you like it or not. With limited laying beds in the chicken house things can get intense. One time Dani was on the prime nest. She had just laid an egg and was resting. Gloria, queen bee, comes in and stomps over to Dani. Gloria hops up into the nest and glowers over Dani for some time. It looked awkward. Finally Dani relinquished control of the nest.

The worst group if chickens are the teenagers. They are exactly like human teenagers. They look awkward. They act awkwardly. They hang out together. They're getting feathers where they didn't have any. They're voices are changing and they're annoying. These chickens don't really care what you think. Hanging out in the chicken house and pooping is all they really care about. As a result the wood chips need to be changed more often and sicknesses can spring up. Half the battle of cleaning a hen house is getting the rebels out into the fresh air and sunshine.

I love these crazy birds. God made them each with a personality. The God that created the milky way, gravity, and DNA also created each and every chicken. That makes me smile.

The kingdom of God

Life in Your Way
Induction

Some of you need to hear this for the first time, and so this is from our hearts:

The Kingdom of God is for the burnouts, the broken, and the broke, the drug addicts, the divorced, the HIV-positive, the herpes-ridden, the hopeless, for the outcasts that have been created by the church, and for the outcasts of our society that have been created by us.

The Kingdom of God is for the brain-damaged, the incurably ill, for the barren, the pregnant-too-many-times, and the pregnant at the wrong-time. This is for the over-employed, the underemployed, the unemployable, and the unemployed. This is for the swindled, the shoved aside, the left aside, the replaced, the incompetent, and the stupid. This is for the emotionally starved and the emotionally dead.

The Kingdom of God is for the bigoted, the murderers, the child molesters, the brutals, the drug lords, the terrorists, the perverted, the raging alcoholics, over-consumers, the incredibly ugly, the dumb, the ignorant, the starving, the filled, and the filthy rich. The Kingdom of God is for everyone and the Kingdom of God is for me.

How often I forget that Jesus loved/loves EVERYONE! I sometimes feel that I need to get to a certain stage of holiness before I can approach God. Thankfully, Jesus shattered this myth during his time here on Earth.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" Mark 2:15-16

If Jesus hung out with sinners and tax collectors, he surely has room for an inconsistent, prone to stray-from-the-path, anxious, graduate student in His Kingdom.

Just for the sake of doing it...

A few months ago I posted a quote from one of my favorite celebrities, NPR's Ira Glass. In the quote, Glass says that if a person wants to get to the level of success they want, they must first churn out material. Week after week of written, published, completed, finished material. I have not done that with this blog. As a result I feel my writing and overall creativity has suffered. That is why this blog is a blog just for the sake of it. Everyone has to start somewhere right? This is my kick-starting the creativity within me again.
This semester has definitely had its ups and downs. Grad school is a step up from college. I am enjoying my classes. Its really nice to be finally learning material that is relevant to my profession instead of hearing about counseling in small bits and pieces scattered throughout long lectures on the history of psychology or research methods, counseling is front and center. It really interests me and so far I'm glad I chose it.
Starting over in a completely new environment has been somewhat of a challenge. Meeting new people, starting new friendships, new relationships, all involves getting out of a comfort zone. Its harder than I thought it would be. Meeting people is the hardest. If I am around a group of people for a while I usually become friends with them. The problem with graduate school is that you are only around a select few people. Out of those people you may or may not want to be friends with them. That means a majority of the friends your going to make have to be met outside the classroom setting. Meeting people in the caf, in intramurals, through networking-are all situations that are tough. I'm sure eventually I'll make more friends. For now though, with one week until break, I'm not trying.
Can't wait for spring break. There I will snuggle into my comfort zone and not think about coming out until I'm back at school. There. That felt good.

A time for everything

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I can't think of anything that encapsulates life on Earth more beautifully. I am currently getting my MA in Clinical and Mental Health Counseling. One of the things that is frequently brought up is the need to remind our clients that they are not alone. It is normal to go through rough patches. It is normal to have great days. Life on Earth is a diverse experience. But it is a beautiful experience. How would our life be if we were always on a high or always in a funk? Through diversity of feelings and experience we see God's handiwork. Amen, and hallelujah!

Good advice

"Things have a beautiful way of turning out right."

Those were the words of a 89 year old lady. I was at my best friend's grandmas house for the weekend. His grandmother had the mind of a 55 year old. She told me all the gossip of her small town. She bragged about her grandson. She watched the super bowl with me. That simple phrase was the last thing she told me before I went to bed.

"I have that written on all my checks!" She told me as she ripped out a check and handed it to me. Sure enough, it was written on the lower right hand corner. "I just love that phrase!"

Older people, they know what they're talking about.

Its coming

Cue the music from the movie Jaws. Duuuuuuh nuh! Duuuuuuh nuh! Duh nuhnuhnuhnuh! Its not a serial killer, monster, shark, or anything scary for that fact. Its snow. Yep, snow. I'm going to school in Berrien Springs, Michigan. All I've heard about the place is that it snows. A lot. But, so far, there hasn't been any. This is a odd occurrence for Southwestern Michigan in mid January. Berrien's proximity to Lake Michigan makes a dumping point for the storms coming ashore. But, for the week I've been here, there hasn't been a flake. Everyone is treating this differently. The main feeling I get from the locals is concern. And uneasiness. "Its kind of eerie. Its not supposed to be like this." a friend told me. "Take a good look at the ground while you can because you won't see it for a few months!"

The snow has finally come. Tomorrow morning its supposed to be anywhere from 8 to 12 inches. So now we wait for the inevitable to happen. Its nerve racking! Today was mild, nearly 45 degrees. Tonight there was a brilliant sunset. There was no wind. Its the calm before the storm. I keep looking out window, expecting to see some form of snow but nothing. Its like the horror movies. You know the killer is in the house somewhere but you have to follow the protagonist walk agonizingly slow through each room, the tension mounting...

JUST SNOW ALREADY!