A Cinderella Story

My day off began this morning at 11:23 when I woke up. Yes, I sleep very late when given the opportunity. I sat and pondered for a few short moments on what I would spend my day off doing until I realized that there were three days' worth of dishes sitting in the sink, a horrendous-looking floor and carpet, and a room that puts Hurricane Katrina to shame. Hence, my schedule for the day changed:

11:40 - dishes

12:10 - finish dishes, start vacuuming and mopping floor

1:15 - finish floors

1:18 - nutritious lunch of Ramen Noodles

1:30 - begin cleaning room

1:45 - start load one of laundry

2:15 - continue cleaning room

3:00 - start load two of laundry

3:45 - get distracted with old yearbooks

4:00 - continue cleaning room

5:45 - dust partially clean room

6:15 - start load three of laundry

6:45 - finish room and walk out to realize there are more dishes and three loads of laundry that need to be folded and put away

etc.

What I learned today? After getting frustrated at the fact that this should be my day off and doing every task with such a fact in mind, I realized something: don't mothers do this every day?? They are woken up at six in the morning (on a good day) and do everything I did today until the kids are asleep that night. AND they have to cook on top of everything. Cinderella realistically lived the life of a mother!

And so, my lesson for the day has been learned: appreciate the moms and future moms of today, and don't have sex. I don't want to be a mom yet.

Belief is Everything

My boyfriend, Aaron, and I had a conversation last night about God and faith that lasted about two and a half hours. That, in itself, says something about our relationship considering most couples our age can't even talk for two and a half minutes without making out. Weird.

He possesses a conviction that belief is everything. That things can be spoken into existence if spoken with faith in God and faith in the statement. It can, however, work the other way as well. If one holds a strong belief in something negative, he is essentially setting himself up for that belief to be true. For example, if a girl is always looking for the faults in others, she will ultimately end up seeing many of her own faults in addition to others'; or if she is always looking for faults in herself, she will find herself constantly looking for them in others.

This newly-understood fact that belief is everything caused me to look at my life in a different light. I realized that I search for the negative in situations, and so I search for such things in myself. I have always believed that closeness to God is based on time spent with Him, and so I feel distant from Him because significant amounts of alone time with Him haven't been made. My beliefs have, without my noticing, affected me in many negative ways.

This carries powerfully into relationships as well. Take Aaron and me, for example. For almost three years, we have believed in each other in incredible ways -- ways that, at the time, may not have even existed within us. I saw in him a very bright light as well as the most beautiful heart I have ever seen. Keep in mind, this was when we first met in high school. He was, at that time, a very very different person than what I first saw. But I believed in what God had shown me about him, and so I held on to it. Now, he is that same person who I first saw when we met. He is a speaker of life, a giver of love, a man with the heart of David. This isn't to say that it was because of my faith in him that he is the way he is today. That is all God's doing. But God does use other people's faith to work in powerful ways. Belief is everything.

And so, as I get ready to start my day with this new perspective, I'm reminded that it is not a waste of time to look for the best in people -- there is good in everyone. It is not wrong to have faith in the impossible -- nothing is impossible with God. And it is not impossible to love others just as God does -- Love Himself dwells within us.

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it."