Jelly&Jesus

I'm kinda obsessed with PB&J. It's probably clinical obsession. It's my go-to lunch since I was 3, and I still love it.

I recently made one, and as I was smearing jelly onto my bread, I realized something. I've made homeade jam before, and I know that when you use the almost, or slightly rotten fruit, you get the sweetesr result. And the fruit also need to be brought to a rolling boil, and be put into a hot jar to ensure a seal.

It sometime seems like life. There have been times when I feel like I butchered an oppurtunity. There are times when my life feels heated, and boiling. There are times when I feel squeezed into a tiny space, and yearn impatiently to get out.

These are the things that make jam. These can be some of the things the Lord uses to make us into a final product of jam, that lasts longer than the original product, straberries.

OM NOM NOM

in the details

april 23rd. 4.23

proverbs 4:23

keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

the thing i needed to hear most today is the numerical scripture referance as the date. tell me God isn't in the details. <3

Say What You Need to Say...

In the world of ambiguity of text messages and facebook messages, words, intentions, and emotions can very easily become muddled and murky. Sarcasm is almost imbossible to convey, and can often be mistaken for anger. Messages are mixed, and things get untidy very quickly.

I have to give mad props to John Mayer for his song, "Say"

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is brokenEven as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open

Say what you need to say

Obviously, don't go around blurting out whatever is on your heart and mind, but if there's something needed to be said to clear up ambiguity, or misconstrued messages, say it.

Proverbs 25:11

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver."

The Late Passenger-C.S. Lewis

One of the best poems I've ever read. Enjoy!

The sky was low, the sounding rain was falling dense and dark,
And Noah's sons were standing at the window of the Ark.

The beasts were in, but Japhet said, 'I see one creature more
Belated and unmated there come knocking at the door.'

'Well let him knock,' said Ham, 'Or let him drown or learn to swim.
We're overcrowded as it is; we've got no room for him.'

'And yet it knocks, how terribly it knocks,' said Shem, 'Its feet
Are hard as horn--but oh the air that comes from it is sweet.'

'Now hush,' said Ham, 'You'll waken Dad, and once he comes to see
What's at the door, it's sure to mean more work for you and me.'

Noah's voice came roaring from the darkness down below,
'Some animal is knocking. Take it in before we go.'

Ham shouted back, and savagely he nudged the other two,
'That's only Japhet knocking down a brad-nail in his shoe.'

Said Noah, 'Boys, I hear a noise that's like a horse's hoof.'
Said Ham, 'Why, that's the dreadful rain that drums upon the roof.'

Noah tumbled up on deck and out he put his head;
His face went grey, his knees were loosed, he tore his beard and said,

'Look, look! It would not wait. It turns away. It takes its flight.
Fine work you've made of it, my sons, between you all to-night!

'Even if I could outrun it now, it would not turn again
--Not now. Our great discourtesy has earned its high disdain.

'Oh noble and unmated beast, my sons were all unkind;
In such a night what stable and what manger will you find?

'Oh golden hoofs, oh cataracts of mane, oh nostrils wide
With indignation! Oh the neck wave-arched, the lovely pride!

'Oh long shall be the furrows ploughed across the hearts of men
Before it comes to stable and to manger once again,

'And dark and crooked all the ways in which our race shall walk,
And shrivelled all their manhood like a flower with broken stalk,

'And all the world, oh Ham, may curse the hour when you were born;
Because of you the Ark must sail without the Unicorn!'

1948

Unwanted Gift

If you have seen "You've Got Mail" you know exactly what I'm talking about. The two main characters are comparing lives, and one talks about how she can never say what she wants at the right time. Her chat buddy responds saying that when you say a "zinger" regret automatically follows.

I have this unwanted gift. I unfortunately know how to tear people up and down using words as my weapon.

As of late, I have seen detrimental effects even in circumstances when "I'm only kidding." Paired up with my Jimminy Cricket conscience, I immediately feel horrible. There have been inumerous moments when I want to grab my words and gobble them up.

I have lately taking to LITERALLY biting my tongue. If I see someone with an interesting hat or outfit appearal, the teeth come down on the tongue. If I hear someone sing extremely off key, the tongue comes down. Because that's what it takes.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

De Ja Vu

I don't know about you, but Jr High wasn't so great for me. There were instances with people where I just felt completely alone, misunderstood, and just like a Secondhand Serenade song.

Even until now, I would never choose to go back to Jr High. There were some awesome things that happened to me, and some crappy things that happened, and I'm grateful for what I learned, I'm also grateful 9th grade happened.

It's crazy because recently I've become a Jr High leader and hearing some things that kids are telling me what they're goinfg through, and what they're feeling makes me feel like I've gone back to Jr High.

Solomon says, "There is nothing new under the sun." -Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Even though Jr High was torment, I can say I'm glad I went through what I did so I can help the youth. It's cool because I see what I went through, and what others went through and how God is using what we went through to minister to other people.

As awful as the situation seems at the time, we have no way of telling what fruit will come from it later in life.

Essay

So I read this amazing essay in English a while back and recently found it and wanted to share it with you.

I have of late been thinking about numbers quite a lot, the number one in particular. The abstract qualities of numbers fascinate me, and I've been trying to relate them to other abstract concepts, like wholeness and love and perfection.

For example, a glass- Glass A. If Glass A has a small chip in it, it isn't less than one glass. If it has a small lump on i, it isn't more than one glass. The glass is still one; it is one of itself. It is a perfect Glass A.

This inspires further thought. It is impossible ever to duplicate Glass A's. The ideal glass exists only in theory. How, then, can two things ever have enough in common to be called twos. Put two glassed together and all you have is two ones. The ideal two does not exist. There is no such things as the ideal two.

I found this concept very disturbing. The ramifications of the nonexistence of the number two would be extensive. How could there be true love without two? I asked friends, teachers; no one had the answer. Fortunately, I came across a solution to this problem just recently, in e.e. cummings's poem "if everying that happens can't be done." He sets up the idea of the individual one with lines like "there's nothing as something as one" and "one's everyanything." He then reveals that two ones are involved with each other- in love. He unites these ideas, wrapping it up beautifully in the last stanza:

we're anything brither than even the sun

(we're everything greater than books

might mean)

we're everanything more than

believe

(with a spin

leap

alive we're alive)

we're wonderful one times one

One times one! It makes so much sense. We don't generaylly think of multiplicationusing two objects. Usually we think, "One apple one time"-equals one apple. However, Punnett squares have shown that multiplying one horse by one donkey will yield one mule. Decidedly, different from either of the originals, it nevertheless combines characteristics of both into one being.

So it must be with people. The love of two individuals, while independent of one another, blends together to form one love-their love. People speak of "our love" or the "love between us" or the "love that we share." The two ones multiply to equal one, but that final one is different, seems richer, fuller than either of the originals.

The implications are intriguing. I had no idea that numbers could mean so much. It's a paradox, because mathermatics is the ultimately logical system, totally intolerant of interpretation. I think these ideas merrit further development-after all, I haven't even begun to think about zero.

-Jennifer L. Cooper