March 2008

I’ve been thinking…

I’m excited about learning… Not as excited as I should be as is noted by my often seen lack of discipline in the studying department, but I’m working on that. I have just a few (17?) units left until I have my Master’s degree. So now is the time that everyone is asking what my career moves will be… Is it bad that I don’t care if I ever have a career? I have ideas for a career and I intend to do some of them throughout life… I’m definitely not going to just sit around… but…

I’m excited about love. What? Yeah. I am. I’m excited about how I’m learning to love. I love Jesus more today than I did last week… and as a result, I love people more and better than I did last week. I’m excited that as I learn to love Jesus and others, I think less about ME ME ME! (Much further to go on that….)

I’m excited about family… as I look to the future, trusting that someday I’ll have “one of my own.” I can tell I’m “getting older” because my hands are wrinkly (oh wait, they’ve always been that way!) … because I think about how I want to raise my children, all the time. I think about baking cookies with them and helping them learn not to drop egg shells into the dough. I think about making them eat their vegetables. I think about teaching them to love Jesus and to live with purpose. I think about going on walks to the park and meeting other moms, telling them about Jesus while my kids tell their kids. (Yeah, they will!) I think about taking them on mission trips from a very young age. I think about how I will love my husband and how much I’ll learn about love from him… I think about how fun (and attractive) it will be to watch him be a daddy. I think about how much he’s going to irritate me sometimes for the very same reasons I find him adorable! :o) I know it will be good, but not easy. I like that.

And all of that is more important to me than any career - even if it is a career of ministry… I’m not saying I will never have one… But if I don’t is it a sacrifice? Is it giving up my dreams? No way! No matter what, I’ve not wasted my time getting my Master’s. I came to learn… to be more equipped for a life of ministry that God has called me to, serving Jesus and equipping others to do the same… even if I’m here to learn to teach my kids and help my husband (who I am assuming will probably have similar passions to mine or I probably wouldn‘t marry him).

I may have a “career” for a while or an attempt at one in some form or fashion, being that no one is asking me to marry them quite yet… or even on a date. Feel free to pray about that for me. ;o)

But I’m excited about today too and I’ll live in it while I’m here… My life is a blessed one and I’m trying not to take that for granted… Whatever God gives me, I will serve Him in… And that’s all I can say about that.

(Sometimes I feel like I’m not supposed to say these things… but there you have it. It’s true!)

I hope I was more like Jesus today than I was yesterday and I want to be more like Jesus tomorrow than I was today.  I want to learn to pray like He did.  I want to be real and honest like He was.  I want to walk wisely as he modeled and to have a heart full of compassion as he displayed.  Jesus battled in prayer and so, I want to do the same.  I’m learning more about that and it’s not an easy thing.  It drains me… And yet, it nourishes me as I look to the Word for guidance in my prayers and as I walk in faith that leads me to obedience.  I’m glad that God doesn’t require perfection but asks for honesty.  I was very challenged and encouraged as I read these words tonight…

“The desire to make a good impression has become one of the most powerful of all factors determining human conduct.  That gracious (and scriptural) social lubricant called courtesy has in our times degenerated into a completely false and phony ettiquite that hides the true man unde a shimmer surface as thin as the oil slick on a quiet pond.  The only time some persons expose their real self is when they get mad.

“With this perverted courtesy determining almost everything men say and do in human society it is not surprising that it should be hard to be completely honest in our relations with God.  It carries over as a kind of mental reflex and is present without our being aware of it.  Nevertheless, it is extremely hateful to God.  Christ detested it and condemned it without mercy when He found it among the Pharisees.  The artless little child is still the divine model for all of us.  Prayer will increase in power and reality as we repudiate all pretense and learn to be utterly honest before God as well as before men.” (A. W. Tozer in God Tells the Man Who Cares)

“In our address to God we like to speak of Him as we think we ought to speak, and there are times when our words far outrun our feelings.  But it is best that we should be perfectly frank before Him.  He will allow us to say anything we will, so long as it is to Himself.  ‘I will say unto God, my rock,’ exclaims the psalmist, ‘why hast thou forgotten me?’ If he had said, ‘Lord, thou canst not forget.  Thou hast graven my name on the palms of they hands,’ he would have spoken more worthily, but less truly.”  (David M’Intyre in The Hidden Life of Prayer)

I don’t want to be like the Pharisees.  I want to look like the artless little child.  Pure.  Genuine.  Without pretense.  Utterly honest.  Frank.  True.

I can’t be that on my own… but through Christ who strengthens me, I will grow to be more and more like the child and less and less like the Pharisee.

“ESFPs are cooperative, “here and now” people-persons that enjoy excitement and love new adventures. Because of their highly social nature, they are especially lively when they are the center of attention and hate being alone. ESFPs have a practical side that allows them to finish work efficiently and are often good problem solvers.”

“ESFP like action and excitement, and are able to link together people and resources. Because they accept and deal with people as they are, they are able to understand what is necessary in order to motivate them to get jobs done. They prefer a work setting that is lively, action oriented, and harmonious.”

“outgoing, social, group oriented, dislikes science fiction, does not like to be alone”

“The dominant function of ESFPs (Extraverted Sensing) is concerned with the reality that is perceived through the senses. This type’s prime directive is to examine the tangible through taste, touch, sight, feeling and hearing. ESFPs’ need for new experiences surely results from this function.”

ESFP Career Matches

ESFPs are often happy with the following jobs which tend to match well with the Entertainer/Creator personality.

Actor Administrative Assistant Artist Child Care Church Worker Coach Comedian Computer Programmer Computer Specialist Consultant Engineer

Entrepreneur Fashion Designer Human Resources Interior Decorator Lawyer/Attorney Marketer Military Musician Painter Photographer Psychologist/Counselor

Receptionist Recreation Worker Sales Represenative Scientist Social Worker Supervisor Systems Analyst Technical Specialist Trainer

What do you think? Is this accurate?

 I looked outside and saw this…

… and being the So. Cal. girl that I am, I became very excited!  Snow for the second time this week!!! :o)

And so, it was time to go outside and play and take pictures:

(Oh by the way… this is where I live now!  Lovely, isn’t it?)

Then, I came in and drank some hot coffee!  It’s a good thing I had the forethought to make it before hand because I was soooo cold!

They say it’s coming down about 2 inches an hour.  I love it!  :o)