DAY 8:
I couldn't imagine living my life unsure of my purpose. To honestly choose to believe that I'm just some floating organism, lost in the universe, when there is another option?! The Bible, inerrant and powerful, offers everyone meaning in life. To live to love, to give, to grow, to know to show. To receive life eternally, to praise the Creator, to be in community, and to share all of these things with the people that are still lost.
I have purpose, I have life. I have a reason to live, and unbeknownst to Hoobastank, the reason is not a "you". It's to honor, serve, and mirror my Creator. When I spend my time letting Jesus change me, day by day, I don't have time or interest in greed, lying, gossip, slander. I then have my focus set on loving, being joyful, giving generously, serving. Too many people look at the Cross as fire insurance and Christianity as too many rules. But what about loving, giving, uplifting, encouraging, motivating, and living an inspired fulfilling life sounds like a rule book? If you focus on doing what you are called to do in Christ, you won't have time to do what God says not to do, and in the process you are guaranteed a fuller life.
I wake up, knowing that I have been created individually, given new life and perspective, and I wake up with motivation to live better because I have life in Christ.
If you are wondering about this Jesus thing, or you want a new view of Jesus, allow Him to "reintroduce Himself". Ask me, ask Him. Search the Word. Don't hate the author if you've never studied His work.
Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love
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DAY 7:
This week has been an interesting one. If you did not hear, I got a new job! I have accepted the position of Executive Assistant for the Patient Safety Department at the Tennessee Hospital Association. This comes with a lot of excitement, anticipation of the transition, and a little sadness of the schedule and commitments I leave behind. I will be going to bed early, waking up early, and will no longer work the desk at Body Shop Fitness or be at so many events with Infinity Events and Catering. This, to me, is like graduation. It will be different to be out of the comfort zone I have acclimated myself to, but my real friends from either place will continue to be my friends. Today, I am so thankful for both where I have been and where I am going to. I have been looking for some time now to find my place in the world: a full-time career doing something that is important. So here I go. I am thankful to those who gave me the opportunities to be where I was and who helped me grow while I was there. Yet, I look forward to the coming weeks, months, and hopefully years of getting acclimated to new territory, learning and growing along the way. I thank God especially. Change can be hard, and with so many things out of my control in life, it's so nice to know that Jesus Christ alone is my solid rock, who does not waver in the storm or leave me in the valleys. He is right there in the ups, right there in the downs, and there in the times when I'm not sure what I'm feeling. I struggle sometimes with moving on and leaving places and people behind, but God has given me such peace for this move, that I remain completely content. Excited, but not fearful, and I am thankful for that. Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. DAY 4:
Last week, I took my car in for an oil change, and Midas found a decent sized screw in one of my tires. They said it was pretty packed in there and may not ever actually puncture through, and if it did, they didn't know if it would blow out or leak or do nothing at all. Well, having already gotten a flat tire on the side of the interstate before, I was worried it would pop while I was driving, before I got a chance to get it fixed. Well, on my way home Sunday night, I stopped by a friend's house. As I was just about to head down the driveway, I heard a "shhhhhhhhhhhh" sound and I knew immediately that the screw had decided to take action. Thankfully, my friend's husband had a jack and daylight and some tools to quickly and easily change to my spare. It just could not have been better timing!! So today, I'm thankful that God is watching out for me, and I'm thankful for wonderful friends who helped me out of my mess! Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. This is it. I spoke of this a little over a month ago, and I am finally doing it.
This is the 30 Day Commitment Cleanse. DAY 1: I am recovering from two sprained ankles right now. I have cancelled Zumba, taken off of work, and cancelled social plans. What may surprise you is that I'm not really upset. Yes, the dip in my paycheck will hurt a little, but this time has been very valuable to me. Over the past week, I have slept, and read, and played with my little sister. I have prayed, studied Scripture, and spent time with my family. I have been forced to rest. And I am embracing it. I am thankful that I have time to experience the peace of God. I am thankful that I have the stillness to appreciate His glory unfolding in the creation around me. I am thankful that I have time to engage in quality conversation catching up with people whose friendships I hold dear. This time of rest has given me the time to write and send letters. This time has given me opportunities to build patience. I am thankful, and I am content. Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. So, I have been MIA for long enough.
But now, I will but writing much more often! My friend, Laura Canfield, has been doing this "100 Happy Days" thing for 40 days now. It's inspired me to do the same. So, this is going to be my "30 Day Contentment Cleanse", to keep my perspective in check and hopefully encourage you to do the same! So thanks Laura! During my last semester of college, I took a capstone class, directed at reflecting on life, school, and who you are becoming. I wrote the following poem one week for a class assignment. As I now think back to my week in Haiti last fall, I again reflect on the importance of love. I feel that the words I wrote then are possibly truer even now. "Love is a language anyone can understand" If I, so bold May call you friend I shall be glad Until the end Where love exists We start anew. There is no pain Love can’t undo For now I see Why love was left Past hope, past faith Past all the rest Love is not A mortal word But came from one Outside the earth Love is more Than something felt Love is when You die to self You love and then In brokenness You serve Him while You're still a mess Love is not A fairytale It’s what you do Not how you feel If we could learn To really love Then surely peace Would come to us Use grace to make Your quarrels small. Where love resides… It conquers all! I hope you enjoyed this. In Haiti, some kids were just desperate for attention. We were the love of Jesus visualized in action and quality time for them. Showing love is so much more important than being able to translate the words "I love you".
Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. I'm tired of dating.
No, this isn't a spiritual call to singleness, and no I'm not suggesting you make the same decision. I'm literally bored with the concept in our society called dating. This is not descriptive of every single relationship in existence. There are MANY healthy relationships around me. However, I don't like how dating is in most of American culture. Did you know some cultures court? As in, they find only a candidate suitable for marriage to exhaust romantic efforts on. They are serious. I see so many guys, and really, girls for that matter, get into relationships that were never going to work from the get-go. I've seen plenty of guys treat dating like a game and only halfway try to pursue a woman, but I've seen equally as many females settle for flattery and a nice face, even if the guy really doesn't possess qualities of that lady's desired future spouse. So do what you want. I'm sure I will still go on plenty of dates before I have a ring on my finger, but a date or two isn't a big deal. I just don't want to spend too much time or effort if I see that the guy I am getting to know really isn't someone I want leading my marriage in the future. This may sound silly or way too intense, but understand I highly value quality friendships with people of the opposite sex. I just think focusing on friendships instead of constantly desiring someone to buy me dinner and listen to my problems is a better use of my time. Whether you are a man or a woman, realize there is no pressure to date. God is constantly pursuing your heart, and if you start reaching back to Him, you may find the contentment you really want until you're ready for any serious commitment to another human being. Also, if you focus on developing deep friendships, you may, in good time realize your friendship has naturally turned into a sustainable relationship. Just my thoughts. Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. Death. It will make you stop in your tracks. It will make you hug a stranger. It will make you forgive an enemy. It shows you what really matters. Instantly. Death is hard to see, but knowing it's coming is weird to experience. All of a sudden you have a new focus. Watching someone literally fight to breathe and then eventually fade out of breathing is the most agonizing process I've ever seen. The reality is just as one of the nurses said, "Sometimes we prolong death, rather than prolonging life" She was right.
Sometimes the person may be fighting.. for you to let them be relieved from suffering. It was hard watching my nana the past few months leading up to her death, but the last hours were by far the hardest and most surreal. Many have asked how my family and I are doing. Everyone is taking it a little differently. This is how I feel: Glad that nana can finally rest, sad that she is no longer with us, and grateful. Grateful because in the last few months, I've spent more time with that side of my family than I probably have in my whole life. And I'm grateful for each and every one of those family members I still have the opportunity to love on going forward. Life and time are precious gifts. Don't waste them. Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love New Year's Resolutions: To make or not to make? That really is the question.
Yes, I made a list. I'm list-oriented. But I didn't make lofty resolutions I know I will give up on. Last year, I experienced my first year (appropriately my first year out of college) of transitioning and "living out" my life instead of just writing down what I wanted it to look like. If I felt like reading one night instead of chatting on facebook, that's what I spent my time doing. If I wanted to go hiking, I made short term plans and started packing. If I wanted to learn to swing dance, I went to the free event at Centennial. If I wanted to eat Mexican, and no one was with me, I went. Alone. One change at a time, over months, made a very smooth transition into the new year. I had been picking up new and healthier habits, like budgeting and saving money, and I slid right in to the new year without feeling pressure to "make resolutions". Instead, I decided to focus in on specific ways to improve. Setting resolutions isn't why people fail to keep them. It's because their goals aren't well-set. Goals should be practical and should expand on your already established habits. So here are some goals I've made for myself and how I intend on keeping them: 1. Host two zumbathons for charity. First, I decided a theme for my year, which is service. In finding ways to serve and give, I used what I already had (Zumba Instructor) and found a way to combine them. I looked up how to plan a zumbathon, and it is a really great cause that doesn't take too much preparation. It's very doable. 2. Compete in Body Shop Fitness's annual powerlifting competition. I have already been working out for years and have even already concentrated my training. But at the competition in 2013, I realized not many girls competed. Deadlift is a good event to enter. It is something I am already decently strong in. I recently maxed out at 215 lbs! So competing, to me, is just the logical next step. 3. Read 1 book every 2 months. Irony at it's finest, right here. I am not known for my love of literature, but I have already been in the process of reading 4 books. I think this goal is reasonable because I have already started a few and this way I'm encouraged to finish them all, but not rushed to where it overwhelms me. You may very well know how to make goals, but if you just signed up for a new gym or started throwing out all the sweets in your house, you may need a new perspective on the new year. With each day, consider how to live life better. As you narrow in on your passion and what you want the theme of your year to be, you can start thinking of how you want that to look as the year progresses. Here's to moving forward! Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. I don't get it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like this world is constantly rushing. It's like there is one way of life and not only do you need to achieve certain levels, but you need to achieve them in a certain time limit. WHAT?! This is crazy. Birth-->School-->More school-->"Good" job-->Success-->Wealth-->Marriage-->Family-->Death Spoiler alert! I have been dating my boyfriend for about two months, yet SEVERAL people have asked me if "things are getting serious" and if "he's the one". I know they are just curious, but it's been TWO MONTHS. I think it is just too early to tell, and I feel no need to jump in and get super serious when we are still in the "getting to know you" phase. Yes, there are people like my friend Brooke, who knew almost instantly that they had found "Mr. Right", but I don't think that is a standard situation. But this is a much bigger problem. Once on the Fast Money part of Family Feud, the question read: "After how many dates does a relationship become serious?" The NUMBER ONE ANSWER: "TWO". TWO DATES!!!! You hardly know someone enough to fall in love with them and prepare to make a lifetime commitment to someone in two dates! Again, some can, but it's the mindset we as a culture have adapted to, which has caused us as a whole to become an impatient and unsatisfied society. We want to get, do, know NOW.
Instead, why not enjoy where we are and schedule in times to smell the roses? Just a thought. Laugh. Inspire. Believe. Love. |
AuthorNative to Nashville, TN, Taelor Barnette is a hyperactive over-thinker, who likes to express herself though written word, pictures, and dance parties, all while she tries to figure out her God-given talents and how to use them to help leave this world a little better than she found it. Archives
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