Beautiful

Progressive

"Progress, no matter how slowly, is all that matters."-Don Miller

I feel like I've made some good progress this week. Physically, spiritually, mentally, relationally, creatively. Slowly but surely. I feel pretty accomplished at the moment, and that feels absolutely incredible. I haven't "arrived" by any means, but it finally feels like I'm getting somewhere. I've learned something about progress this week: it's really stinking incredibly hard to make.

It means doing things that absolutely horrify me, putting forth time and effort, and fighting through tears, frustrations, and a lack of motivation.

It's determination and sacrifice and pushing myself further than I think I can go.

It's when everything in me wants to give up, and God, in a way I don't understand, gives me strength and I'm able to keep going.

It's casting off my pride and begging God for mercy.

It's choosing to go forward in relationships when they feel distant and incomplete, knowing that if I give up on them, there's absolutely no hope of improvement.

It's knowing that good things rarely come quickly.

It's consistency.

And it's pain. Lots and lots of pain. Heart-wrenching, excruciating, eye-opening pain. Pain that is progress in disguise.

I want to challenge you to do something difficult. Pursue that friendship. Do what God tells you to do, no matter how ridiculous or insignificant it may seem. Try something new. Train for that marathon.

Allow yourself to feel the pain of progression. Only then will you allow yourself to feel the joy of progression.

Pro-LIfe vs. Anti-Abortion

I know a lot of people who are passionately opposed to abortion. They call themselves "pro-life." However, recently I have heard several "pro-lifers" say that they would love to kill Iranians, the mothers who are crazy enough to have abortions (after they give birth, of course), and, well, pretty much anyone who disagrees with them. I'm not exactly sure where "wishing death" falls under the category of "pro-life." If you truly support life -all of life, everyone's life-, then say you're pro-life. If you support unborn babies and want to kill everyone else, then call yourself anti-abortion. The end.

Ok, so, like the people who call themselves pro-life and support murder, I lied. That wasn't the end. I would like to add this quotation, because I like it and it's related.

"I must say I am still passionately pro-life, I just have a much more holistic sense of what it means to be for life, knowing that life does not begin at conception and end at birth, and that if I am going to discourage abortion, I had better be ready to adopt some babies and care for some mothers."-Shane Claiborne

Book Club 2010, Session 1

Hello, friends!

So...I thought it would be fun to have a book club of sorts. Actually, it's not a book club at all. I'm just going to review the books I read. I'll probably post at the beginning of each month. I read 5 books in January. That might not seem like a lot, but it's kind of a big accomplishment for me because I'm a really slow reader and I don't usually have a ton of time to read.

Well, without further ado, let the reviewing commence.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I was already familiar with the storyline, so it was easy to follow. It also doesn't hurt that Dickens is an absolute literary genius.

Favorite Quotations: "Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused."

"Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business."

"Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?

"I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you."

"For it is always the person not in the predicament who knows what ought to have been done in it."

"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree."

"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if preserved in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change."

The Christmas Angel by Abbie Farwell Brown

Review: This book was in the same binding as A Christmas Carol because it is somewhat similar to and, in some people's opinions, better than A Christmas Carol. It was decent, but it was weak, especially when compared to a literary classic like ACC. It was similar enough to be unoriginal but different enough to be really lame.

Nothing quote-worthy.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Review: This book was not at all what I expected. It read like Blue Like Jazz. (Well, I suppose BLJ reads like TCITR, but I read BLJ first, so...) It was low-key and didn't have a complex, dramatic storyline, which definitely works for me. It was pretty awesome. Pretty much anything else I'd want to say has already been covered in all the tribute-to-J.D.-Salinger blog posts that have been written this week.

Favorite Quotations: "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."

"My aunt's pretty charitable -she does a lot of Red Cross work and all- but she's very well-dressed and all, and when she does anything charitable she's always very well-dressed and has lipstick on. I couldn't picture her doing anything for charity if she had to wear black clothes and no lipstick while she was doing it. And old Sally Hayes's mother...she'd get bored. She'd hand in her basket and then go someplace swanky for lunch. That's what I liked about those nuns. You could tell, for one thing, that they never went anywhere swanky for lunch."

"I hate actors. They never act like people."

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Review: I was told by many people that it's the best book I'll have ever read and that it could possibly change my life. It wasn't, and it didn't. Therefore, it was rather disappointing. It had a much more distinct storyline than some of her other books. I wasn't expecting that, so it threw me off. The whole circular/beginning and ending deal made it feel really complete. It's not a bad book really; I just don't love it.

There were a few good quotations but nothing spectacular.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Review: This book presents some really interesting concepts. I'm definitely going to need to read it a few more times to fully grasp it.

Favorite Quotations: "What I'm saying is I think life is staggering and we're just used to it. We all are like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we're given- it's just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral."

"I didn't want to live in words anymore; I wanted to live in sweat and pain."

"Fear is not only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life."

"Progress, no matter how slow, is all that matters."

"When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are. And when you stop expecting material possessions to complete you, you'd be surprised at how much pleasure you get in material possessions. And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you'd be surprised how much you like spending time with God."

"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder."

Well, thanks for reading!

Much Love,

Marissa