Encouragement

A photo posted by Amanda (@mandalyn93) on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:28pm PDT

Life hasn't been easy, lately. Autumn, as a season, tends to be correlated with loneliness in my life. This autumn is no different.

The relationship I was in has ended.

I'm realizing how few close friends I have left living in Arizona.

I'm preparing for more friends to leave.

Thankfully, in all seasons, there are written words and a few friends I can turn to for encouragement. This Tuesday, I want to share some of these words with you and why they mean so much to me.

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. || Matthew 5

I first heard this passage from my yoga instructor a few years ago. It's a different take on The Beatitudes, which are eight verses offering peace and hope to those facing difficult trials in life. This translation is written in second person, which makes it much more personal and easy for me to grasp and recognize that these promises from God are applicable to my life. It's a nice way of reframing life, knowing that even when I feel pretty down and out, I'm still blessed and embraced by God.

Oh, pretenders, let's go down... let's go down, won't you come on down?

Oh, pretenders, let's go down... down to the river to pray.

"Oh, but I'm so afraid" or "I'm set in my ways"

But He'll make the rabbits and rocks sing His praise.

"Oh, but I'm too tired, I won't last long."

No, He'll use the weak to overcome the strong!

Four Letter Word, Pt 2

These lyrics are from mewithoutYou and hold a lot of biblical allusion (for example, saying the rocks will sing His praise is a reference to when Jesus entered Jerusalem a week before being crucified.) The call to go down to the river to pray is an encouragement to leave my comfort zone and seek God without making excuses. It's also incredibly encouraging to remember that my weaknesses can be used as an opportunity to express God's strength.

Rest in my arms,
Sleep in my bed,
There's a design to what I did and said.
Vito's Ordination Song

Mmm, more lyrics. This time, it's Sufjan Stevens. My friend Raquel (one of the few I know I can always talk to) introduced me to this song and I've spent countless hours listening to it on repeat in the past two years. From the time when my parents sold my childhood home (if this hasn't happened to you yet, beware: it'll do a number on you) to the countless nights spent frustrated and stressed over homework, this refrain has acted as a reminder that God's arms are open. They are a place of rest, and there is a holy plan for all the shit that goes on in life.

Comparison is the thief of joy.
Theodore Roosevelt

Sometimes it's really hard to not play the comparison game. It's hard to not look at some of my friends and say "How come you deserve a cute long-term relationship?" or "Why do you have your dream job, and why don't I have mine yet?" Then this simple sentence hits me like a ton of bricks. Comparing myself to my friends, my former classmates, and my acquaintances will get me nowhere good in life. I'm reminded, time and time again, that I am my own person and I am taking a path unlike anyone else around me. I shouldn't be jealous of other peoples' lives, I should be busy enjoying my own.

Tonight I'm taking a little time reading and typing up notable entries from old journals. It's really encouraging to see how I've grown over the past two years. Some difficult and crazy things have happened, but blessings have been numerous as well. I'm excited to see where God will take me next.

A photo posted by Amanda (@mandalyn93) on Mar 17, 2015 at 11:10pm PDT

And last but not least, the final written words I turn to when I need encouragement are my old journals. You never really know where you want to go if you don't remember where you've been, and I've been in some pretty stinky places. My old journals remind me of the hardest things I've experienced, what I thought as I was going through them, and who I relied on and what I did to make it through. The tried and true remedies of the past stand for the future.

A Deeper Look at Gluttony

Morgan McCloy/NPR 

Look at all that tasty, tasty food.

The bright colors and pretty arrangement make you want to eat it all, right?
Same here. Especially those White Castle burgers.

This week, I'm going to refine the reasoning behind my upcoming New Year's Resolution. If you read last week, you probably remember these three points I used to vilify gluttony:

1. It demonstrates insecurity and a distrust in God's nature as provider, 
2. it implies a greedy (can't get enough, don't want to share) intent, and 
3. foods that lead to gluttony are often not vital to life.

The first and second point are intertwined, and the first point of this argument is rooted in my faith. As a Christian, I am called to trust in God as my provider. This means not worrying about where my next meal, roof, paycheck or doughnut is coming from--even if I'm six weeks unemployed.

With all that has been provided in life, why should we feel the need to overindulge? I know I have access to healthy, filling food, so why do I chose to eat a lot of unhealthy food in one sitting? I'm pretty sure it's because I have insecure feelings about food. Like, "oh man, I need to get five doughnuts and eat them all right now with a beer because I'll never be able to find/buy/eat doughnuts ever again."

Goldmine 🍩💖

A photo posted by Amanda (@mandalyn93) on Aug 28, 2015 at 11:05pm PDT

Other times, greed kicks in. Have you ever bought and consumed an entire box of Oreos/Thin Mints/Goldfish crackers? Me too. But why not share the goodness with someone else? Are we afraid of being deprived of some special sensory event? Is it because we spent $4 on that food item? Three Oreos will taste just as good as twenty nine Oreos. One handful of Goldfish crackers will be just as delicious as an entire carton. Greed pushes us to hoard and consume in excess.

These desires and actions are a valid life experience, but also ridiculous, illogical and unhealthy. There will always be more Oreos at the grocery store. There will always be more doughnuts at Bosa. It makes zero sense to eat more than one doughnut in a sitting (or honestly, more than one doughnut in a week) and the same goes for Oreos.* We, as humans, don't need to feel insecure about these foods disappearing, and don't need to be greedy and hoard them.

We have no business in eating all of the sugar, carbs and fat that come from consuming so many unhealthy foods in one sitting. These foods are generally empty calories that aren't providing needed nutrition (fiber, vitamins, minerals, protein, unrefined carbs or unsaturated fat) or sustainable energy for life. There's a reason gluttony is associated with unhealthy things and not apples or cucumbers or tomatoes.

Gluttony detracts from our ability to live healthy. It adds unnecessary, empty calories to our daily diet while leaving us hungry for more. USDA's Economic Research service shows that Americans eat an average of 500 more calories a day presently than they did in 1970. David Just from Cornell University said "I suspect we're eating too many calories from all foods," as he cited the above data in an interview with NPR as a likely cause for obesity increasing in America. "All foods" includes sugar, oil and fat consumption, as pounds per capita vegetable and fruit consumption increased at a slower rate than oil and fat consumption in pounds per capita according to the USDA.

That about sums up my thoughts on gluttony and why I am planning on watching what I eat in the upcoming year. Obviously, a doughnut now and again isn't going to kill me, but I also have no need to eat three a week. I need to work on trusting God to provide for me, to share my junk food when I do get it, and to actively choose to eat healthier foods.

*Disclaimer: There are times when moderation can be thrown out the window. Just look at this feast my journalism classmates and I reaped in Nicaragua when we were working on a deadline and our sources weren't cooperating. That being said, I am a firm believer in moderation. And when excess consumption is done in excess, it should get toned down. Enjoy all things in moderation--even moderation.

Resolutions

I decided to start my New Years' Resolutions early.

One of my resolutions for 2016 is to be more active. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean becoming a gym rat (I hate the gym) but it does mean choosing to spend more time moving. I spend all day sitting at a desk, and when I'm not sitting at a desk, I'm probably eating doughnuts or pizza or drinking lattes or laying in bed watching Netflix...so, yeah. I need to choose to spend more time moving and less time stationary.

This is where I'm starting early. I went to the gym last night for the first time in six-ish (!!!) weeks, and it was hard. Mostly because I forgot my headphones, though. I went a mile in ten minutes on the elliptical and managed to jog a little on the treadmill without falling (I broke my patella in the end of July, and went to physical therapy and was back to pretty dang good. But after sitting in desk for six weeks, my right leg isn't exactly ready to run yet.) I lifted some leg weights, too, and my real goal for now is to get my right leg to the point where I can run come January.

My favorite deadly sin is gluttony.

A photo posted by Amanda (@mandalyn93) on Jan 9, 2015 at 12:10pm PST

Another resolution (that I'm definitely NOT starting yet) is to cut gluttony out of my life. Gluttony is defined as habitual greed or excess in eating, and IMHO, is one of the most overlooked and under-fought sins in life. In preparation for tackling that part of my resolution, I'm going to research a few theories behind why gluttony is a sin.

For starters (and without research, actually) here is my defense for why gluttony is lousy and why we should cut it from our lives:

1. It demonstrates an insecurity and distrust in God's nature as provider.
2. It implies a greedy intent.
3. Foods that lead to gluttony are often not vital to life. Like doughnuts.

Next time, I'll expand on those three things. I'm excited to share this journey with you hooligans.