We Are Made Of Love

Thought via Path

Anyone in Des Moines tonight, come to the Civic Center and her Drake’s Choirs sing Carmina Burana w the Des Moines Symphony! – Read on Path.

My favorite author/pastor Rob Bell on why he supports gay marriage. YES.

My favorite slow jam: Vince Gill and Kelly Clarkson “Don’t Rush.” Live at the VMAs. 

The always-inspirational Ze Frank talks about happiness, and the “happy list.” I love this SO much

While it might snow on my “spring break,” I wish I was here!

(Source: lordskate)

Describing You

It might just be a college thing, but I tend to not like myself very much. Recently, I noticed that, although I’ve been pretty happy with various areas of my life, I’ve been discouraged when it comes to thinking about myself. Such thoughts are dangerous, because they can sink negativity into other parts of life as well. Why does this happen?

I’ve found that what exactly we think of when we think of ourselves is incredibly important. Too often, we think of what we are NOT, rather than what we ARE. This gets us down on ourselves, and leads us to be weaker, lesser versions of ourselves.

While it’s a great, humble thing to acknowledge that we are not perfect, we DO have to acknowledge that we are ALWAYS perfect enough to move forward in life. We are created to be loving, whole versions of ourselves. We are not the “nots” in our lives: the “not good enough”s, the “not thin enough”s, or the “not smart enough”s. The list can go on and on. We can always work to improve ourselves, but it must always be to improve upon all the great things that we ALREADY ARE.

Live the Love that you’ve been given by God, and be free in who He created you to be. We are all uniquely, beautifully different: Who are you?

Justin Townes Earle “Automobile Blues” live acoustic. This is my day. Plus, the singing and guitar work are incredible

So many times in the day I wished I was here

(Source: dear-caio, via loveyourchaos)

Life Affirmation

I am thankful. I am in gratitude for this very moment. Today, I am blessed with life! Not only that, but this life was given to me by the God that created everything. Even more mind-blowing is the fact that he made ME.

I am created to be happy, to be grateful, and to live this life, in this moment, to the very fullest. Because of this, I am always exactly where I need to be. And wherever I am, this God is with me as well. Because this God is Love, I also have Love with me wherever I go.

I will not succumb to the temptation that I am LESS: less smart, less talented, less ready than I need to be to take on the challenge of the everyday. I will instead accept the scary truth that I am everything I need to be, and if I feel limited or inadequate, then it is my own fault. I accept the fact that I cannot blame anyone else.

I will go through life spreading the Love that is always with me, and living in kindness and positivity, simply because that is who I am. There is never any reason to not be this way: I will always be this way because that is who I am and I am never anyone else. I never will be.

I will live this life with excitement and passion, because that is exactly who I am. Everything is of consequence, everything matters, because Love gave me this everything, and it is mine. And I am thankful.

Small Opportunities

I have an amazing opportunity. Every time I go to work (which is about five days out of the week), I get a chance to interact with a completely new set of people. I work as a part-time host at a restaurant, and these are people that I might have never met before, and might never see again.

The thing that I often forget is that I have the opportunity to be a bright spot in someone’s day. These guests in the restaurant don’t know me, and it’s a possibility that they don’t care to. However, I can still offer them a friendly conversation, a positive attitude, and at the very least, a genuine smile.

The place I work is a rather fancy establishment, and while there are a few regular customers, my favorites are the people that come for special occasions. The anniversary couples or birthday folks who want something “special” for their evening, or the teenager who has worked a month bagging groceries just so he can take this cute girl from his math class to a nice dinner. I have the opportunity to make sure that these people know that they are loved, simply through showing genuine kindness and positivity.

Sure, there are days when you don’t feel like it. Past problems, nagging to-do lists, grouchy co-workers, and impatient guests can harsh the mellow of who we are truly meant to be for each other. But if someone rejects your genuine kindness, that isn’t a reflection on you! If people have built a wall against such things, kindness is something that chips away at the cold stone. Keep swinging, and it will eventually fall.

We all have these opportunities bazillions of times throughout our day, we just often miss them because we all tend to live with our heads down. Well, no longer, I say. I will live with a head held high, embracing these little things that I and we so often miss, including these opportunities to show kindness to one another. And if I can, so can YOU.

Because, in the end, it’s worth it. They are worth it. YOU are worth it. =]