happiness

Wise thoughts from one of my favorite saints, John of the Cross:

"Very few people have the courage to be happy.

It is difficult to tear the heart away from the things of earth,

from riches, from honors.

Yet happiness is not outside us, in these things:

‘The kingdom of God is within you.’

For the kingdom of God does not consist in food and drink,

but in justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

 Convicting word from someone who counted the cost of living for Christ alone!

just say no

This is an issue I am so passionate and COMpassionate about. 

I watched my Dad die from smoker's cancer, and it was HORRIFIC. I am on the PSC college campus quite often and and see SO MANY young people (teens-30's) get out of their cars/trucks and leisurely light up before class. 

It saddens me to know the terrible future that awaits them because of these choices.  :-(
May they have the courage to just say no (to begin with) and count the cost to life and health later on. Smoking is linked to so many "evils". And 30% of all cancers are smoking-related! Honestly, I wish it could be banned completely. 

detrimental secondary social agents

A college paper:


Socializing agents are people and institutions that help with integration of an individual into society. These agents are necessary to the social development of an individual so that they can interact with society properly. Social skills have to practiced, so that they can become a natural part of our lives. People who do not learn these vital social skills are often not ever able to function in normal interpersonal relationships, work environments, and school settings.  Social class also is a socializing agent. In fact, the people we interact with in our marriages, families, friends, schools, colleges, churches, and workplaces are most likely dictated by our social class. The social classes are divided into the lower class, working middle class, and the higher élite class.

Primary agents of socialization include family and friends. I believe that having a family, or conversely the lack of family, plays the primary role in a person’s environment. Family members can be the most influential in forming who we are and what we become. They teach us how to relate others, how to relate to authority, and how to get along with diverse people. Within the folds of a family, we learn to develop, to love, to hate, to relate, to appreciate, to resent, and to forgive. A family influences birth order, personality, and temperament. It is also true that family can inflict the most pain, abuse, and trauma as well. Peers also are a vital part of a person’s socialization. Friendships can help form a person’s personality and teach them interpersonal communication skills, especially in formative years. Later on in life, both family and friends form a necessary support network for a person.

Secondary agents of socialization include religious institutions, schools, and work places. School is where most children learn social skills that help to integrate them into society in general. Church, temples, and synagogues are important secondary agents in social development as well. And then there is the media. As a teacher, I see too many of my students obsessed with video games, iPods, Facebook, and anime. They seem to have little inspiration or ambition to achieve or do anything else. Skyrim is absorbing, World of Warcraft is addicting. All these media-themed secondary agents  have unhealthily substituted for primary agents: family interaction and conversation, the development skills and talents, involvement in the community, physical activity, and proper interaction with others. This world spits out socially inept individuals who seek to only dwell in a egocentric universe, centered around fantasies and make-believe lives. I've seen it too often. It's too sad, and almost unavoidable: second-tier agents overshadow the first rate ones.

DA finale

Downtown Abbey's season finale was tonight on Masterpiece Theatre. Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! It was mawvelous, dawling! And then the "Making of" was splendid to catch up on the storyline. I am glad to see Mary & Matthew together, at last!!! And Maggie Smith is brilliant as the Grande Madame of the earldom and family.
 :-)

revolution of my mind

I am reading K. P. Yohannan's Revolution in World Missions right now. I was dusting some of Mom and Dad's old bookshelves and found it lurking.

I am shaken. Chapter 4 "I Walked in a Daze" speaks about his first impressions of the United States. And I am convicted.

Here are some of the passages:

"Those of us who grow up in Europe and Asia hear stories about the affluence and prosperity of America, but until you see it with with your own eyes, the stories seem like fairy tales. Americans are more than just unaware of their affluence--they almost seem to despise it at times...

A friend in Dallas recently pointed out a new church building costing $74 million.  While this thought was still exploding in my mind, he pointed out another $7 million church building going up less than a minute away. These extravagant buildings are insanity from a Third World perspective. The $74 million spent on one new building here could build nearly fifteen thousand average-sized churches in India. The same $74 million would have been enough to guarantee the evangelization of a whole state--or even some of the smaller countries of Asia...

If the affluence of America has impressed me, the affluence of Christians  impressed me even more. The United States has about 5,000 Christian book and gift stores, carrying varieties of products beyond my ability to imagine--and many secular stores also carry religious books. All this while more than 4,000 of the world's nearly 6,500 languages are still without a single portion of the Bible published in their own language! In his book My Billion Bible Dream, Rochunga Pudaite says, 'Eighty-five percent of all the Bible printed today are for the nine percent of the world who read English. Eighty percent of the world's people have never owned a Bible while Americans have an average of four in every household'...

The saddest observation I can make about most of the religious communication activity of the Western world is this: Little, if any, of this media is designed to reach unbelievers. Almost all is entertainment for the saints."

So my mind goes there. Yes, THERE.

I am a spender, a shopper, a collector. And have been for years. I love beautiful clothing and beautiful things.
I love concerts and shows, movies and books.
I also love God more.

So...
How do I spend my money, my hard-earned salary?
And do my spending habits make my God happy with my priorities?
Do I support evangelistic missions and national Christian workers with my finances in proportion to how much it is in my heart and prayers?
I determine to do better.
I must do better.

gifts for this week

81. Little girl kisses from my precious nieces

82. Pansies and snapdragons in bloom and ready to plant

83. Paying off another credit card

84. My fav sushi roll at Ichiban, with Mama and Cindy last Thursday

85. A "thank you" card from a friend

86. Multiple opportunities to witness to my students

87. A clean and organized laundry room

88. Finishing the packing away of Christmas decor...finally!

89. Catching a few minutes here and there to read

90. Enjoying the last two classes of this semester, and this degree! :-D

91. My Wireless Mobile Mouse

92. Valentine's chocolate!!!

93. Text messaging

94. The remembrance of a faithful father, Opa. RIP.

95. Hanging out with Aly, Wes & the Jones girls at Monterrey's yesterday, and for white queso...YUM!



"Give thanks to the Lord! His Love Endures Forever!"

being real

I look across my house- at the college papers, tax preparation info, business-running clutter, and nieces' play toys- and I can't help but think of that verse in Proverbs 14:

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest."

This was the verse that God used to assure Mom that it was okay to not have a "spit-polished home, 24/7" while we five were young and growing up.

As much as I hate clutter, there it is staring me in the face. I really am a clutterbug who hates clutter, I admit! I pick up, I clean, I pick up again, but it is never gone for long periods of time. And how it all accumulates, I do not know.

I wonder, what is it inside me that yearns for a clutter-free home?
Am I prideful?
Do I strive too hard to make things perfect in my life?
Do I worry too much about the "background behind a picture" or what people will think if a picture of it all is posted on FB?
Or is it as simple as wanting a clutterless home and a peaceful living environment?

I don't know at this point. I hope it is the latter reason, for it is the one with nothing to confess or repent for! I may never know...I just want to be real.