Thought for the day

"Faith is not intellectual suicide." 

Instead, faith encourages the intellect through paradox: challenging our perceptions of reality vs. God's truth, forcing us to reconcile human error with an all-loving God and causing us to define what we believe and accept what we cannot know.

breakdown of the blogging hiatus

blogging over the summer...epic fail.

instead i have been-

• working
• working with a marching band
• practicing piano
• making new friends
• watching movies and eating ice cream
• helping with Orientations and meeting plenty of new students
  
• attending a wedding, passing my Praxis II tests, going to a festival
• spending time alone and contemplating my revelation that I am actually an introvert
• and other typical, random summertime events
  

school starts in less than two weeks. yikes.

perhaps i will return to the regular sharing of my thoughts, views and opinions once school has begun (though i highly doubt it).

so for now i will simply leave you with this. i hope you appreciate the moments as they come and make the most of every opportunity.

questions...and possibly some answers

Recently I put my facebook status as "Megan wishes she had someone that likes to challenge and stimulate her intellectual abilities." In response, a friend posed the following question:

"What is the purpose of meaning?"

After I have had time to explore my own thoughts, research others and compare their opinion to my own I will post an answer to this question.

In the meantime, feel free to toss this around and see what you come up with or even offer a new question for deliberation.

contemplations on previous musings

this post is in response to several of the previous assertions found in this blog. my hope is to expand, clarify and bring new insights to topics that have already been expressed.

1. live your life (in response to "life-what is this phenomenon?" posted 2/6/09)

I have decided that life is indeed made up of three main aspects.
a) how we react to the multitude of various stimuli presented daily
b) the friendships we create and how we maintain them
c) how we treat others
Obviously, there are many variations and details within these three criteria but I believe that these are the main points.

2. birthday revelations (in response to "what's my age again?" posted 2/5/08)

I still feel as if I am stuck in the middle. My 21st birthday is in 8 days and though I will soon be past the final legal age-barrier, I don't feel any older. For instance, I am currently watching the Disney channel (yes that's right). Is there any point in life where you actually feel your age? Or is life spent in this constant state of flux between crib and grave? This topic is still under construction.

3. a beatles-esque revolution (in response to "revival" posted 1/13/08)

I still hold to my original thoughts on this topic. However, I do have some ideas to add. We are so jaded about revival. We have sat through too many services where speakers have pleaded, shouted and cried just to return to the same church, same schedule, same life. It is not the speaker's or worship leader's job to revive us. It is not the topics or emotionally-charged music that bring us back to life. In order to experience revival we must submit our hearts to God and be open to His restoration. I have enjoyed the revival services this week because the music has been good, the speakers real and because of the emphasis on REVOLUTION. The following was taken from the Revival posters that have been put up around our campus.

"Is brokenness cliché? Is religion redundant?
Why do we even need a revival?
Perhaps these are the questions
you find yourself wondering.
Could our own hardened hearts
be keeping us from living the life God intended?
Perhaps we don't need a revival at all...
We need a revolution."

And just in case you missed it: the opening rendition of the Beatles' "Revolution" was in reference to the fact that this week is Spring REVOLUTION not Spring Revival.



and now for a new topic...music soothes my soul, cheers my heart and brightens my day. i absolutely love it and (though this is far from original) i would die without it. ok, so perhaps this topic isn't new. but i have recently become addicted to music and wanted to share it with the world. also i have discovered that i love arranging music. orchestration and choral arranging is one of the most exciting classes i have had on this campus. it's not so much the class that i love, but the fact that i really enjoy arranging music. it's a creative way to express music without all the stress of part-writing. basically it is perfect. and perfection is refreshing in such a broken world.

annoyance

i REALLY dislike when girls choose a boy over their friends.

enough said.

life-what is this phenomenon?

i feel like i am unsatisfied with life but should not be. and i'm not entirely sure why. i have some ideas; none of which are anything serious. so i think i should just get over it.

but really, what is life? is it breathing, having a heartbeat? is it the sum of our experiences? is it the choices we make on a daily basis? is it merely a coincidental result of matter colliding in outer space? is it following the purpose of God? is it a combination of these?

i know what i believe. do you?

but am i unsatisfied because of the choices i make or the random occurrences throughout my day? am i unsatisfied because i'm not following God's will closely enough? i have a feeling it may be all of these. which means i have a lot of work to do...

nothing really

i'm so over blogging (contrary to the fact that i am currently doing so). but only temporarily. i'm sure as soon as classes start and i have no free time i'll feel this undeniable urge to blog. but such is life. or at least my life. i never feel like doing something when i have the time to do it. however when my days are crammed full and i don't even have time to breathe i suddenly want to take a million photos, watch old movies, go for a bike ride, bake cookies......or blog.

spring semester starts tomorrow. i'm not ready. end of story.

here is my attempt to sum up 2 weeks of san diego in 1 sentence-san diego was undoubtedly amazing and someday i will live there. i think the pictures say enough. (ok so that was technically 2 sentences but who's counting?)

i have realized lately that one of the qualities that is most important to me is being considerate of others. i try to be considerate of the people around me and i expect them to do the same. however many times this expectation is too high. why don't ppl show respect or make small sacrifices for someone else or think of others first? is it because putting others before ourselves goes against the human nature? because we're all inherently selfish? quite possibly.

the snow is pretty and all but i'm truly ready for spring. bring on the sunshine.

that's enough random ramblings for now.