Last night I finally started working on my book again. I didn't get very far, but I did at least work on it, and fine tuned it a little more. I have had the first ten or fifteen pages poorly written for years now, and never, ever seem to add to it. But last night, I sat down, and finally began typing it out, instead of leaving it scribbled in one of my composition books, and actually made it work a little. I know I talk about it al the time, but writing has such a theraputic effect on me. I love it. Maybe now, I can actually finish it, though I doubt it will be any time soon.Friday, October 17, 2008
Faclempt
Last night I finally started working on my book again. I didn't get very far, but I did at least work on it, and fine tuned it a little more. I have had the first ten or fifteen pages poorly written for years now, and never, ever seem to add to it. But last night, I sat down, and finally began typing it out, instead of leaving it scribbled in one of my composition books, and actually made it work a little. I know I talk about it al the time, but writing has such a theraputic effect on me. I love it. Maybe now, I can actually finish it, though I doubt it will be any time soon.Saturday, October 11, 2008
will the real slim shady please stand up?
I have been feeling strangely optimistic today. I mean, like I have literally been in a good mood for daaaaaaays. awkwaaaaard.anywho. I for once in my life am taking a proactive stance and getting my shit together. I had forgotten what it felt like to actually put effort into my school work, or do things I tell myself I am going to do, when I tell myself to do them. Is this what maturity feels like?
I guess the biggest reason is because I had this weird little epiphany last week. I have been sick for like three weeks, so I have had some good time home alone. Then one day I woke up pretty early despite having time to sleep in. And much as I tried to fall back asleep, I had this nagging urge to wake up. So I woke up, I mean whoever wins a fight with their subconscience? And then I cleeeeaaaaaannnnnneeeeeed. And I don’t mean the half assed stuffing some stuff under the bed and moving stuff around while I call it cleaning, like I have been letting myself slide with lately. I mean I actually cleaned, and it felt so good.
so then, in a good mood because of my clean environment, I sat on my freshly made bed, and just started thinking. And try as I might I couldn't actually envision a future. Like, I could say, I'll graduate, go to law/grad school, start working in some political office, but I just couldn't actually seeeeee it.
so then I started freaking out. Like, what if I have messed up so many times, that I have removed myself from God's plan and am just coasting down some path of despair. What if mediocrity was all that was left for me. and then it just clicked. I mean, reaaaaallllyyyy clicked for the first time. and right then I knew. Even though I don't lead some scandalous life, I am still not lined up with God. I have been such a surface everything - christian, friend, relative.... I don't put an effort into anything.
But it hit me, I just needed to line myself up, and then everything else will fall into place. I even had it reconfirmed the next day at church, which was a whole different experience. Ok, so much as I love to talk, and can be an attention whore... I ABSOLUTELY hate being the center of like... vulnerable attention. I hate compliments, I HATE pity, and I really hate showing emotion and all that junk. SO I'm at church, and the pastor was making a type of call to stand up. And let me just tell you what a skeptic I am. I always find some way to negate the relevance of one of those calls in my life, even when I hear it clearly. But this time, it was one hit after another, and I knew I had to just man up, and do it. SO in my head I'm thinking, a LOT of people are going to stand up right now, then we'll say a prayer and sit right on back down. Confident in that assumption, I stand right on up, only to see how many people WEREN'T joining me in my declaration. THEN to my horror, he announces that the people who stood are to be completely surrounded by the rest of the congregation and individually laid hands on and prayed over.
Thank goodness I know God's humor with me, but I still yelled a little in my head, knowing that it was far too late to sit back down unnoticed. And don't get me wrong, I am glad that I was prayed over, and for the fact that I had strangers praying for me, and even in their vague prayers, they were nailing the exact things I stood up for, reaffirming my reasons to stand up. I just hate that vulnerability sooooooo much. ughhhh. it makes me cringe. So long as I am controlling the situation, I don't mind being the center, but when it’s all eyes on me like that, I REALLY hate it.
but all that to say, that its once to once again feel at least a hint of the liveliness I used to have.
One other place I feel myself growing is in the whole relationship business. I am finding ways to let myself warm up to the idea of boys who may actually be good for me, and cutting away the ones who should have been gone a long time ago. I think I figured out why it is that I am so driven to the ones I know are only going to hurt me. I think it’s a little bit of fear of getting hurt by the other. I mean at least when I get involved with the assholes I am so well known for, I go into ready and anticipating thethe drama or whatever I am already used to. But it’s the idea of finding someone decent enough that I could actually open up to completely, something I don't think I have ever found, that scares me more. Because I know that to get to that place would take a vulnerability (there that is again) that would hurt me so much more if violated or broken. le sigh. it’s the err of my pessimism, I’d rather settle for what I know, than try for something greater. tsk tsk.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Fight Club
I got in my first kinda fight with my bestest friend in the entire world today, on her 21st birthday, anywhooo
I was thinking today, since I was work at 8 o'clock in the frickin morning, and the only thing I could do to stay awake was think about the randomest things, that I neeeeeed to get plugged into a church. Despite my stubborn inability to just give all my troubles to God, I, for the first time in far too long, feel God's hand directly in my life, I feel the desperate need for Spiritual feasting. The only problem is I have no idea where to go. I have been to Rock Harbor, NMC, and Newport, but while I enjoyed them, never really felt connected. I want to try them again at least once, and others in the area until I find the one that is home, but it is hard sometimes with work and all the other shit, to find the time, motivation, and comfort to go to church for the first time in a long time. Especially if you are going by yourself. Selfish as it may be to admit, and assured as I may be in my love for my Lord and Savior, it can still be hard to get to church, and devote the time that He far more than deserves to working towards pleasing Him.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Person B
This of course sparked another topic. Does God hold one sin higher than the other? If you believe that the action that comits sin is what's important, then yes, One sin can be held more severely than another. If it is in fact the act that is the sin, then the effects on not only yourself, but on others as well, could allow for varying degrees of sinning. But the problem I have with that is that it leaves no room for the uniqueness of each and everyone of us, and the exteremly different struggles we survive, or succumb to. I mean, is it fair to so egocentrically judge acts of others? Only the individual can even begin to comprehend the levels of spiritual warfare behind each other their struggles.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Rawwwr I'm a Dinosaur Rawwwr
So today has been a strangely enjoyable day. I slept in for the SECOND time this week, woke up and messed around with my p.i.c. Then, we took off to Westminster mall to get her car all handled, and we ended up shopping for 3 hours.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
dreaming of mexican men
All of this writing on here hasn't been my only writing lately. I don't know when I stopped trying to stifle my creativity, but damn I am glad that I did already. I am determined to get back into it like I used to, and I want to write a book. Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Fig Tree
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet." -Sylvia Plath, The Bell JarWell I am still awake, and in my desperation for something to do, just began reading old journals. As I was going through I was reminded of a book I read not too long ago, which moved me so deeply. Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar was another book I bought at my discount book store, risking a dollar and hoping it was good.
Like Peretti, this book was one I randomly picked up at some early hour one morning, and was immediately captivated. It followed the psychotic ups and downs of a teenage girl, as she struggled to find a peace in her mental state. The character's story closely parallels the story of the author, Sylvia, who commited suicide not long after the book was published, and had suffered from a lot of the same depression and nuerosis that her leading lady did.
The thing about that book which effected me so strongly, was that I could so intimately relate to her. Now, let me precursor this comparison by saying, that I am neither depressed, psychotic, or suicidal. What I mean is, the pain and struggles which served as a catalyst for her problems are things all girls can relate to and often go through. While the experiences in The Bell Jar are obviously far beyond the normal experiences of your average teenage girl, the severity of her circumstances cannot negate the way her sorrow reached so deep in me.
I love books like that. Books that grab you so deep inside. Reading this reminded me of my first time reading Redeeming Love by Francince Rivers.
girls just wanna have fun
Look at me, seriously on a roll with these posts. What can I say, when I can't sleep, I like to write (but not that again). Friday, July 11, 2008
Return of the Tide
I think my favorite part of my relationship with God is the fact that he constantly uses my favorite hobby, and most common past time, to speak to me. I am an avid reader, and have been since I was a kid, so not only do I appreciate relishing in the excitement of a good book, but it doesn't even compare to knowing that God knows me so intimately that he calls to me through my favorite obsession.eh, I am rambling. aaaaanywho. I am not particularly a fan of christian fiction, but I read Frank Peretti's Monster a few years ago, and have been a fan since. Well a little while ago I was endulging at my favorite asain discount book store when I came across a double book of his, for one dollar. This Present Darkness and ..... This Prierceing Darkness...? shoot idk the other, but yea for a dollar, so naturally I bought it (and nine others) and it has been sitting on my book shelf since. Frequent trouble sleeping left me wide awake at annoyingly early hours of the morning, and on one particularly nasty night when I couldn't sleep to save my life, I was up til 5 with nothing to do and no one awake to talk to. I naturally turned to my bookcase, but none of the titles called out to me, nothing matched my mood. I didn't even want to read Vonnegut, so I knew something was weird. Finally, frustrated because I couldn't pick anything, I opted to give up and just watch some old DVD. I just had this nagging need to read and then I saw This Present Darkness. Being in a more pessimistic mood with no intention of improving until I got some sleep, I wanted one of my dark humor books, or at least some vampire action, not christian fiction. But I just couldn't help but pick up that book.
Well, there is a point to this long ramble... I think. anyways, as soon as I started reading I knew why I had picked the book... I was supposed to. .:duhn duhn duhn:. I wouldn't have expected that, especially when the premise of the book is a parallel between human and spiritual fields in a science fiction/angel wars kinda way, that God would speak so strongly and specifically to me through it. Since, oh, page.... one, I have felt His stirrings in me. I now go directly to my porch, book under my arm and a cup of coffee in my hand, when I have early mornings.
This book kind of makes me nervous though. In most other cases, my revelation comes at the end of the book, as a sort of epiphany while I'm am thinking about whatever I just finished. And the few times that His message has been aparent since the beginning, it wasn't this.... intense. I mean, I am a fast reader, and usually get through a book in maybe a day or two. The story line of this book alone is interesting enough that I should have been done a long time ago. BUT instead I can barely read like ten pages a day. Its a little overwhelming. Not the book per se, but... I don't know.
I guess the thing about it is, I have been in the longest and most taxing spritual WAR I have ever experienced in my life. The glass ceiling that has been fortifying between me and God has done its damage, and my struggles this year have really gotten a hold of me. Stubborn Lauren, however, even when aware of these things, always has to be constantly reminded by God where she stands and how weak she really is. I know that the greatest reliance I could ever dream of is at my fingertips, and yet my foolish self reliance just won't let Him (or anyone else) in. When did I become such a pessimist?
Ok aaaaanyways. This book is really turning out to be an encouragement. Even in my still stubborn pessimism, when I question if I am imagining this Divine converstaion, or if its really there, I can feel God working in me. Lets just all pray that I can stand back up, and pull through.
I really do need to find a church around here. I keep saying that, and yet, I haven't been to a chruch service in far too long. I have been to, and liked a few churches around here, but haven't ever been able to get connected. I just which I could just find a church home out here, get plugged in, and get back to being grounded with the Lord. Lord, give me strength.
any who ( i really need to stop saying that)
I really do love to write. It has always had this soothing effect on me, and has definately always been my forte in school. I really should get back into it. I used to write songs, and poems, and stories. Being published has always been a goal in my life, but other than my journal, who thankfully in the world of computers helps me remember how to use a pen, and school papers, I haven't written anything in who knows how long.
I don't know why it is that the written word has always captivated me. Whether I am writing it or reading it, I just can't help but be addicted to language. and other languages... don't even get me started. I wish I could be fluent in so many languages. I even, as a middle schooler, added to my list of life goals (which I still have.... and strive for) to learn ten other languages fluently by the time I am thirty. With that nine years away now, I'm not too sure I can master ten, but damn it, I better know at least two.
Communication in general interests me. I love watching people react to eachother. We really are fascinating beings aren't we. How anyone can witness the complexity of human beings alone, let alone this world, or the universe, and not know that there is a God is beyond me. I mean I try to imagine, aaaaaaaaah so much. I shouldn't even start writing about it, because I just get going and going and going, and I probably don't make any sense. But I mean, have you ever tried to image what another sense could be. I mean, consider that if our human bodies are are not our souls at all, what are our souls? What are they made of, feel like, experience? I mean are they even visible. ugh, I am not making sense. I mean, what if, in the spiritual world, as sci fi as that sounds, there is no sight, or touch, or hearing, taste, or smell... but something that transcends that. (oh gosh, now I sound like a psycho). Its just that the the ambiguity of concept of Heaven, and God, and a spiritual world, leaves so much to the imagination. And, while I am sure that we indeed cast our eyes upon the Lord, and sing, and hear his praises, I don't think its in a way that could ever be confined so severely to the limits of our human senses.
ok I am done, now that I have sufficiently documented my sanity. hahaha
but I really do have to run, I've lost the little productiveness I had this morning when I got all long winded. adieu
"Before the tide comes back in, it first has to stop all of its going out." Frank Peretti
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Broken
Lord, revive me. I don't want this death of my soul anymore, but I can't seem to bring my self back to life, and I am terrified that I won't be able to make it through. Let me be Lazaraus again, as I struggle to recover, and please, I pray to you, never give up on me, just because I have. I'd coming home.... but this journey is a little tougher than the rest.be my strength.
Breathe Me (Sia)
Help, I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame
Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me
Ouch I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah I think that I might break
Lost myself again and I feel unsafe
Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me
Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me
Give me hope,
give me strength,
revive me.

