maggie moo's

In high school, and actually still today, my friends' and my favorite place for ice cream was Maggie Moo's.  There was just something about sitting out in the humidity of a southern summer with the sweet taste of that half-liquid dairy dream cooling your palette while the rod-iron porch chairs imprinted a waffle pattern on the back of your legs.  It was our place to unwind from our "stressful" summer days of part-time jobs and sunburns.  The hardest part of the night was always picking out your mix-ins.  Oh, the choices! I went a few weeks back with a few of my friends from college. One of the girls was debating what she wanted to get in her ice cream, but didn't want to overwhelm the flavor.  She wanted to get the perfect concoction.  It's such a hard life making decisions between M&Ms or caramel sauce.  

I have made a lot of "life" decisions lately.  The days of a twenty-something seem to constantly be spent thinking about tomorrow: what will further your career, where do you want to settle down, with whom do you want to settle down, what will be best for your future family?  We want to set ourselves up for success.  I've made a lot of these choices lately.  I've moved my whole life around based on some very distinct missions God outlined for me to complete.  And I was happy to do so.  The thing I love about God is that He's as hard to predict as a Tennessee Spring day.  You never know when a curve ball is going to come, and you wished you didn't wear your rain boots on a bright and sunny day.  Then, there are those moments that He shows us love, and give us a choice between coffee or birthday cake ice cream.  Neither is wrong, and both satisfy a sweet tooth.  

I'm learning to embrace those opportunities.  To see that He loves me enough that sometimes He wants me to just do what I want (within reason, of course) every once in a while.  He is my Father, after all.  And every dad wants his daughter to learn, grow, achieve and obey, but sometimes he just wants to see his little girl smile.  When given opportunities that you don't see a distinct path that God lays out, and neither choice is wrong, God has given you discerment and wisdom as one of His children.  Choose what brings a flutter of joy to your heart, and makes you want to spin like Cinderella to see your Daddy smile. 

jeep

I bought my own first car at age 22.  He's a beaut.  I call him "Tom".  Reason 1: He's a Jeep Patriot. Reason 2: My step-dad co-signed for him.  His last name is Thomas.  He's a namesake car.  I try to live my life completely and totally Biblically lead.  I want the Lord to breath advice, insight and wisdom into me life through His breathed Word.  This gets a little tricky in the modern world.  The Bible doesn't outline traffic directions for motor vehicles.  The Bible doesn't give me advice for defensive driving.  It does tell me about respecting authority, which helps.  

It was brought to my attention by my fabulous small group of Junior and Senior girls that some Christians believe since the Bible doesn't outline dating, it's unacceptable.  As a 17 year-old, this is confusing and conflicting.  "I live in America, and my parents aren't going to arrange a marriage for me, so how on God's green earth am I supposed to marry a Godly man if I don't date him or get to know him on a level that shows me his character in a romantic, providing setting (that others will just define as dating even if I don't)?" This is foggy.  And scary.  At seventeen, I wanted to do everything right.  I wanted to be a good girl, and walk the straight and narrow. But am I going to be judged if I date?  Better question: am I going to be a weirdie if I take a stance against dating?  In the same manner that the Bible doesn't outline a red-light, green-light strategy, but does tell me to obey the law and authority, it doesn't say anything about "dating", but it does talk about relationships between women and men.  

My encouragement to teens, read Matthew 6:33 and 10:37.  Is your relationship with Jesus at a point where the boy or girl you are dating or want to date will feel neglected and second-best by you because of your relationship with Jesus?  Ask yourself, are you the person you want the man or woman you want to marry to be looking for?   If not, you're not ready to date.  If so, continue to delight yourself in the Lord, exploring His Word and guidelines for your life that will put you in a state-of-mind and give you the actions to act Biblically spilling into your relationships (Psalm 4:23).

The Bible doesn't give me specifics about dating, or driving, or cupcakes.  But it does equip me strive for a life of righteousness that will allow me to live Biblically in 2013.

mirror, mirror

Snow White was beautiful, because she was pale. PALE! Ten percent of Americans spend on average $300 per year to tan indoors. That's roughly $9,417,421,200 spent annually on tanning alone in the United States by my own calculations. And Snow White (yes, fictional, but historically pale was pretty) was beautiful. Y'all, I guess this means beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or even in the eyes of culture. 

Body Image and perceived beauty is something no woman will ever escape. We're shot at left and right with images of women that have the bookoos  of bucks that it takes to pay for a personal trainer, make-up artist, hair stylist, chef, small army of beauty.  It's their job to be beautiful, and we're expected to keep up.  

And then there was Pinterest.  On top of it all, Pinterest is telling us, "Look how easy it is! Just do 700 pushups, 1,000 crunches, and 10,000 jumping jacks before every shower, and wake-up four hours early to chop and bag some really cheap berries, melon and lean fish to create perfect portions to take to work, and y

ou'll be a swimsuit model by Friday. Oh, and make this cookie, brownie, Oreo creation for your friends tonight, but don’t you dare taste it. AND don’t forget to plan the perfect party outfit for that bridal shower you planned that you should make these individual goodie bags for with hand-sewn, chevron cardigans in each."

Puh-lease.

It doesn't work...I've tried it. :)  You will crash and burn. Don't judge.  

4 out of 4 girls will tell you that when they walk into a room they check out the girls first. Size up the competition, I guess.  We like to see what we're up against.  What everyone else is comparing us to.  4 out of 4 girls will also tell you that they worry more about what the girls in the room are saying or thinking about them than the boys. (P.S. I made those stats up, but it’s true. Just ask 4 women.) It’s like not only do we see our own mirror, but we want to look at others as for our mirror. We want to see ourselves like Ashley with perfect hair, Bethany with the perfect make-up and complexion, and Jennifer with the awesome body.

We've all heard that advice before: Everyone us made differently. You're beautiful the way God made you. You were made in the image of God. It's a slap in the face to God's creation. Your body is a temple, treasure it.  

All these things are true.  I'm not saying otherwise at all, but do they really help us feel better? Do they really put you at peace? If I'm being honest, the answer is no. 

How do we get to that point when we look at ourselves and can say, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, in the trap of body image misconceptions I will not fall”?

At age 23, I look back at my 17-year-old self, and wish I could tell her a few things.  And one of them is that I’m glad you looked so darn cute in that outfit for that photo, but I wish you had spent your time and thoughts a little more responsibly.  And I’m positive that when I’m 50, I’ll still have more to say to my younger self.  That’s just because this isn’t going away. The fact of the matter is I can’t tell my 17-year-old self that when you’re 23 you’ll be perfectly satisfied with your body and how you look.  Because that would be a lie.

Luckily what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  After a very awkward Easter where the Easter bunny put protein powder in my basket in hopes of me gaining weight after a stage of extreme under eating, I decided I needed to get some things right. 

TO BE CONTINUED…

welcome to moe's

Moo Moo Mr. Cow, please! Hold the sour cream, add some guac.  

This may or may not be a staple in my diet.  I also may or may not hold the record for most visits to Moe's in the past 3 years in the city of Knoxville.  The manager may or may not know me by name.  He may or may not know my order by heart.  He may or may not know my life story.  He may or may not know where I work.  He may or may not ask me for advice from time to time.  He may or may not have given me a Valentine two years ago.  He may or may not have met my family.  We are NOT dating.  That one I know for a fact.  

I ate a Moo Moo today for lunch.  Brad, the manager, wasn't there.  But I thought to myself about how much life Brad and I had done together just by me walking through the burrito bar line.  How many memories we'd created over Moe's bucks and a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine.  

Sometimes I get lost in my relationship with Christ thinking about how deep I want to go with Him.  I put pressure on myself to go deeper.  Then, I get scared thinking I might not reach that depth.  So, why try?  

When in all reality, I just need to do life with Him. I think about how many people I now know deeply because I started out just being in the same room as them, just spent some time with them. That will create the memories.  That will create the lessons.  That will create the relationship.  

So, go have a burrito with Jesus. 

split ends

You know how they same some situations are like ripping off a band-aid?  Just get it over with.  It's going to hurt, so just rip it quick.  The satisfaction of it being over quicker will outweigh the pain in theory.  

In the same way, I think some situations are like split ends.  

You can make a habit of temporarily picking at them to get rid of them, like me, but then that can just cause more breakage and damage in the future. Sometimes, you have to invest the time and money in a haircut.  It may hurt your pocket, and it may not be the look you wanted at first, but if can give you a different perspective and overall help the health for the future.  You could hate it, but everyone else could think it looks so good on you! Sometimes, we're too concerned with what people will think.  Sometimes, you have to depart from the hair in order to ensure overall health in a situation.  

This is gibberish to anyone reading, but in my situation currently, it makes complete since.  Maybe one day it will for you.  

t-shirts

I tell people that I could make a timeline of my life out of t-shirts.  There's definite distinction in what stage of my life I was in by my t-shirts.  You could tell a story from the state of a t-shirt: how much it's been through, how many falls it's taken, how many mistaken bleach incidents, etc.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love stories. 

As part of my job, I have the privilege of going on adventures with students anywhere from birth to college.  Whether to the beach, outside to the playground, or, like this week, to Rome, GA to Darlington School for Summer Camp 2012, there's always a story; and usually a t-shirt.  Summer camp was a week of competition, heat, injuries, and, above all, genuine worship and life-change.  Through battle on the recreation fields, teams learned the spirit of competition.  Off the field, they taught each other, and me, about becoming rooted in the Truth through Jesus Christ, and only through Jesus Christ.  

I have the greatest job in the world.  I am humbled by the opportunity to file my taxes at the end of every year for being paid to be in ministry as a means a living.  What a blessing.  Some say it can be a curse, and at times I would agree.  And then, we have nights like tonight.  

You can tell a story from the state of a t-shirt at camp: whether it's sweaty from your perseverance on the rec field, what team you're on, if you fell off a child's scooter while coming down a hill too quickly.  

Two girls on my team gave their lives to Christ, and displayed it through publicly professing their faith in Jesus Christ through obedience in the waters of Baptism.  Incredible, how Christ can take broken people with "jacked-up" lives, and create a picture of redemption right before our very eyes.  

We sat in an acoustic worship as we watched students be baptized tonight.  In front of me, sat a girl and her boyfriend, both in high school.  The girl was wearing a henley t-shirt.  A step up from a normal t-shirt because she probably wanted to look good for her man.  The boy was in a simple black tee.  Probably the only one he had left sweat-less from the blistering hot week.  Perched beside them was her sister.  Her t-shirt was sopping wet.  

You can tell a story from the state of a t-shirt, and this one has the best story.  She came into our group questioning faith in general, and from the outside of the youth group.  She came with questions, and she came with brokenness.  I watched as my group grew together, sewing seeds in each other's lives, and becoming vulnerable to one another in their struggles.  They weren't afraid to ask for help.  Something I don't always expect out of tough high schoolers.  She listened.  I could tell she was listening. I could tell she was thinking.  Her sister was praying for her.  Her sister was trying to set an example for her.  I could tell she was watching.  And there she stood in front of me.  Holding her sister's hand, praising the Lord, and dripping.  That t-shirt was dripping.  She has a new story, and so does that t-shirt.  

diets and duvets

I have a huge four post bed white antique bed with a yellow duvet cover.  It's my safety zone. It's my comfort when I'm sick. It's so inviting at night.  It's the centerpiece and statement piece of my room.  You could say I have a love affair with my big yellow bed.  It is also my enemy: the vice to my aspirations to be a habitual morning runner.  I've heard time and time again that the best thing to do for your body is to run in the morning.  Get your blood flowing.  Jump start your metabolism. Wake yourself up.  Clear your mind.  I want all of these things for myself.  Mainly because I don't get enough time talking to God.  I used to run all the time at night, and it was my convo time with Him.  Now, when I get off of work, I'm toast.  I want to watch the Bachelorette, cook a turkey burger, and lay on the couch.  Ruins my running plans.  So does my big yellow bed.  The moral of the story is: I have a self-control problem.  I can't control my time in a way that is disciplined.  Most the time my bed calls my name despite the fact that I want to be skinny.  But my mentality has to change.  Christ was self-disciplined in every aspect of His life.  If I want to be more Christ-like, I have to be able to use my self-control to exhibit my salvation through my actions, not achieve salvation, but exhibit it.  The Spirit living in me should have divine effect on my attitude toward my bed.  Despite how much it pains me to wake up in the morning, eat right, treat my body with care, I have to give God the opportunity to manifest Himself in my body through my discipline.  I will still have days where my diet and duvet lead my astray, but I'm learning.  Self-discipline exhibits Christ.  That's worth more to me that watching the back of my eyelids.