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Religion
In The Waiting
In our instant satisfaction society, we aren't conditioned for patience.
26 December 2018
255
In our instant satisfaction society, we aren't conditioned for patience.
Popcorn. Ramen. Social media. Amazon. Google. Netflix.
We click a button and it's ours.
No waiting. No line.
So now when we get to waiting seasons in our life, what do we do?
Google it? Hope the billions of results contains the answer we're looking for?
Put it in the microwave and hope something pops into place?
To explain our tendency to run towards instant satisfaction, let's break down the story of Adam and Eve.
The first humans, breathed into existence and perfect harmony with God. The Lord specifically warned them against eating from one tree but allowed them free range of any other tree in the garden.
But, it only took one day. One snake, to deter us from the Lord and His truth.
Satan tempted Eve to eat from the forbidden tree and convinced Eve that God didn't have their best interests in mind. Then, Adam and Eve succumbed to the instant satisfaction, thinking that that fruit would fulfill them. Although God personally did not give Adam or Eve a reason to doubt, it only took one encounter with Satan to disrupt their harmony with Him.
Immediately after they ate the fruit, they realized that they were naked. They were embarrassed and afraid so they hid.
Adam and Eve, masterpieces of the Lord, were ashamed and ran from their own creator because they succumbed to their demanding desires.
When God tells us to wait, He's not keeping things from us, but preparing things for us!
The story of Adam and Eve illuminates the humanness in us. The fact that we fall short, yes, but the illustration of the all-knowing and fully-trusting God.
Now let's take the story of Job.
Now, Job was a wealthy man with a large family and an abundance of livestock.
Then Satan challenges God, explaining that Job is only good because he was abundantly blessed.
The Lord allowed Satan to test Job:
Livestock, all dead.
Servants, dead.
Ten children, his legacy, dead.
Every "abundant blessing" Satan named was take away in only a couple of days.
But get this. Job BLESSES God in his prayers.
After, sores covered Jobs body and his own wife encourages Job to curse God and give up.
But, with patience and persistence, Job refused.
The humanness of Job's characters started to crack through as he turned anxious and bitter.
But through this patience, God intervened and commanded Job to be brave.
The Lord restored his losses and Job because of Job's hope and trust in the Lord through his waiting in suffering.
So why does he make us wait?
He makes us wait because waiting shows our intentions.
Once you have to wait for something, whatever it may be, you can dig deeper into that desire. Is it selfish or is it of God? Is it something based on circumstances or is it based on God's promises? If your intentions aren't to glorify God, pray about God's will in your desire. God has three responses to prayer: Yes, Not yet, or I have something better.
He makes us wait because waiting builds character and patience.
As you start to wait for a longer period of time, you can decide to become stubborn, prideful, or angry. Or, you can make a conscious effort to be patient, compassionate, and still in God's consistency in it all. A season of waiting can build or destroy aspects of your character.
He makes us wait because of intimacy and dependency.
Finally, when you wait and work on your patience, you have to let go of your independence and depend on the Lord and His plans. This dependency is an act of surrender to the Lord as well as an invitation for peace and intimacy in the silence that comes with waiting.
Think about this:
We have beautiful and complex seasons. But these seasons change slowly, right? Sometimes the winter takes a while to turn into spring. It seems like we wait forever for the snow to melt so that the first small sprouts can grow. It can be frustrating, especially knowing how beautiful the next season will be to come. But, there's so much going on behind the scenes. We eventually see that the leaves start growing and the birds start chirping and everything starts to adopt color. But, what we don't see is the tree collecting nutrients for the leaves to grow or the animals gathering food and getting ready for mating— we don't see the roots digging deeper in the ground or the birds preparing to migrate back to their original homes. All of those things seem so small but make such a great impact.
The Lord is doing the same thing in your life. Even though you might not see it or feel it, it's happening. Dig your roots into the word and prayer to prepare to bear this season and the seasons to come. In the same way we get excited about the coming spring and the life that comes with the season, get excited to see the work the Lord has done just for you. Know how beautiful the next season will be to come and praise Him for what He is doing now.
Pray about this gradual but beautiful change in the waiting because it's coming, I promise.
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Social Media
Tumblr, By Banning 'Porn,' You Also Banned Self-Expression And The Art Of Sexuality
Tumblr used to be the place to show women and men that their bodies come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. But now, that inclusivity is under threat because of censorship.
10 December 2018
562
Recently, Tumblr has changed the restriction policy on its context to ban "primarily includes photos, videos, or gifs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content — including photos, videos, gifs, and illustrations — that depicts sex acts." The intent of this involved the problem Tumblr has with child pornography, and rather than spend the money to verify ages and add age restrictions to content, the platform is putting a blanket ban on this type of media.
What could go wrong?
As with most blanket statements, there's no nuance. Images are bad, thus they are banned. The only wiggle room Tumblr have was the exceptions of "art," such as sculptures and drawings, or related to political or newsworthy speech. But what is considered "art"? Is photography not included (and what about self-photography)? And couldn't nudity or sex be a political statement within itself? By placing a blanket statement on restricting sex, genitalia, and "female-presenting nipples," they are opening up political statements made about sexuality and about the female body to be banned.
For example, the Women's Marches included women carrying posters depicting vaginas and breasts. Would images of this be subject to complaints under this policy? They technically are illustrations depicting real-life genitalia and "female-presenting nipples," so that is up for political sabotage. If someone who disagrees politically with the women's movement for body autonomy, or the woman's right to make decisions over her own body, they could flood Tumblr's complaint pool to hinder the efforts of women spreading their message through images online.
And for those questioning the possibility of misuse of this policy, it's already happening. Take an innocent illustration of two boys hugging. Yes, it was flagged on Twitter. This is just the beginning of an unintended attack on the LGBTQ+ community who had used Tumblr as a form of expression. Sharing sexual experiences and pictures of one's body can be freeing in a homophobic society. One LGBTQ advocate for allowing pornographic media Kitty Stryker shared that Tumblr used to "[represent] us... indie performers who created their own content outside of an often racist, transmisogynist, fatphobic industry".
By taking away the right to share nudity and porn on this platform, Tumblr is wiping out a community's way of having a conversation on sexuality, and where the alternative is PornHub.
And why is this platform so much more concerned with "female-presenting nipples" when images of violence are allowed to remain unrestricted? One New York Times writer points out that "we seem to ignore public debate about the censorship of sex and the human body, reflecting the American tendency to get more offended by the sight of a female-presenting nipple than by guns, hate speech or violence".
Rather than take away a platform that allows expression of different sexualities and body-positivity, we should take a look at the promotion of violence culture through our online networks. Furthermore, allowing people to share their bodies fights beauty standards made by PornHub, which breeds unrealistic beauty standards of what is or isn't "sexy." Tumblr used to be the place to show women and men that their bodies come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. But now, that inclusivity is under threat because of censorship.
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Dating
When compatibility is found, True love is made
True love is consistent because we consistently give it, regardless of our current emotion.
30 July 2018
236
Unsplash
There's a tendency in American society, today, to only pursue love's emotion without considering the cost of doing so. This pursuit is derived from the fact that we are surrounded by the mysticism of finding "the one." We delude ourselves into believing there's an inherent checklist of sorts, that of which one person is suitable to live up to; thus finding our soul-mate. Although this seems worthwhile, it is a faulty and inadequate method of determining compatibility. In formulating a collection of attributes or characteristics, we begin to actively seek out why someone is flawed and doesn't measure up to those standards. Secondarily, if the relationship ends, this belief leaves room for us to feel completely despondent and as if we have no hope for relational happiness in the future since they were "the one." We then become blinded and bludgeoned by what once gave us so much life and clarity. As Shakespeare said, "and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
I heard a phrase some time ago which exemplifies this point: "finding love is to find our soul's counterpart in another." Although I believe there's truth to that statement, the idea it presents can be particularly dangerous to hold as authoritative and representative of the true nature of love. To believe that we will inevitably find our counterpart, in that, there's someone 'out there' who's meant for me, seems to detract from the most fundamental aspect of love: the verb or action which gives worth and meaning to the expression. To express the love you claim to have, in a way that is relative to how you feel, will ultimately make a mockery of the one of whom you are pledging yourself to. You're not actually loving them, you're loving the feeling.
To long for and strive after such a person, after a love as unfounded as this, is the equivalence of chasing after the wind. A fallacy that is based on little more than romantic poetry and linguistic eloquence. Like an addict, we seek out the next high when the feelings fade because this is what we personify love to be: a feeling. Yet when the inevitable day comes that our emotions fade, whether in our twilight years or simply when that burning infatuation dwindles, it is then that the truth comes to bare. Either our love was true, having been rooted in thought and action, or it was little more than a fleeting feeling.
To outline it plainly: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Without the emotion, love is a drudgery but without the will it is a mockery. If your will is not committed to the one you have pledged to love, you're making a mockery of that person. Therefore, when you come and make that commitment make sure your will comes with you, otherwise, your goodness will be like the morning cloud and like the dew, it will go away.
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Arts Entertainment
Call Me Sentimental, But I Keep Photo Albums Of All My Memories With Friends And Family
When I told her that I make photo albums, she responded, "You really like tangible memories."
25 July 2018
128
Chenghui Jiang
Over my freshman year summer, I spent time with one of my high school friends by going out to eat together. When I told her that I make photo albums, she responded, "You really like tangible memories." I never thought about it, but it's true. I do.
I absolutely love printing pictures out and sticking them into a photo album. This tendency comes from my mother, who did the exact same thing for so long. She enjoys reminiscing about the adventures and stories. I didn't know this until I started printing photos, but my mother has about seven photo albums of me. I helped her organize these photos into a somewhat chronological order. I had forgotten about the memories I had: missions trip, family trips, amusement parks, middle school graduation, mall trips, high school, club getaway, and movie nights. For every photo, it was fun being transported to that moment, remembering exactly what happened during that time.
A photo album feels official... ex-best friends, estranged family members, suitemates. These people can all go in a photo album. You get to choose who goes in and who doesn't. Although I could leave all my photos on my phone, there's something about turning a page that makes me happy and eager to see who I placed next in the album. It is exciting to see the older memories too. I looked at a picture taken of my middle school award ceremony and thought, "What kind of style is that?" I also feel privileged to see all of the people in these albums, some of whom I don't see often. My cousin, church friends, high school best friends, and family are people with whom I actually spent a lot of time.
For each photo album, I have a routine. I write the date (and time if necessary) on the back of every photo. I place them in chronological order and then slide the photo batch into the photo album. I get the albums where I can write notes on the side, so I annotate each photo with my own thoughts on the memory. I get the photos printed at Walgreens, where they have sweet deals.
As a thank you present for my mom, I made her a photo album of my high school memories.
What do you do with your photos? Do you also make photo albums?
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Health Wellness
Yes, You Can Suffer In Silence Even If You're Famous
Pain doesn't discriminate, and success cannot heal the mind.
19 June 2018
87
Pexels.com
Mental illness is surrounded by a debilitating stigma, even today in our age of increasing acceptance of people as they are. From depression to schizophrenia to substance addiction and everything in between, people around the world suffer from mental illness, and it is estimated that about one million people commit suicide every year, so why isn't mental health taken as seriously as any other illness when it is arguably more treatable or preventable than most other illnesses?
According to the World Health Organization, one in four people in the world are personally affected by mental disorder. That is nearly 200 million people affected by mental illness. That's just about the same number of people that populated the United States in 1967. Despite our increasing awareness of the mental illness epidemic, many people still suffer in silence.
Concealing one's mental illness is a common thread amongst those affected for fear of being looked down upon or judged by their peers. Some people who may feel most alone in their illness may be those who are expected by the general public to be the happiest, like celebrities, public figures, etc. However, it could be that expectation of those who are rich and famous to live perfect lives that is driving so many celebrities to attempt to conceal their internal struggle and, in some cases, to take their own lives.
Robin Williams, August 11, 2014.
Marilyn Monroe, August 5, 1962.
Kurt Cobain, April 5, 1994.
Avicii, April 20, 2018.
Kate Spade, June 5, 2018.
Anthony Bourdain, June 8, 2018.
These are just a few, and the most recent, deaths by suicide of those who the public idolized and assumed lived seemingly perfect and exciting lives. The list, sadly, could go on and on and could go back for decades. What is not included with the statistics of the people that took their lives due to mental illness are the people who attempted to overcome their illness through means of their own and their deaths were accidents. If we included the accidental deaths (self-harm, overdose, consumption, etc.) caused by mental illness with the intentional deaths, the number of people who die from mental illness every year would be increased significantly.
I remember in vivid detail the day that the news announced that Robin Williams had died by suicide. Everyone was shocked, even some of the people who were closest to him. Why is that?
All too often people ask for help or divulge their inner demons, especially those with depression, and are met with confusion as to how they could be suffering in such a way that seemingly contrasts their daily life so greatly. Robin Williams was an incredibly successful and affluent actor and comedian with a large fan base and continued support throughout his career, but money and success can't heal the mind. Kate Spade was one of the most influential designers of today's fashion world and her family and friends said she was bright, vibrant, and consistently made people laugh, but pain doesn't discriminate. Avicii was one of the most successful DJ's in modern music and was highly respected and loved by friends and peers, but he was unable to overcome what darkness riddled his mind.
No amount of money, fans, fancy cars, world tours, movie roles, awards, or anything for that matter can be the cure to a mind that is overcome with illness, yet celebrities are still seemingly held to a higher expectation to have their mental health in order, lest they be unjustly labeled as rich, crazy, or off the handle.
Those who live their lives with mental illness, famous or not, need to have hope that they have a support system. Not only through family and friends, but through society's understanding, acceptance and willingness to help those who come forward with their struggle, necessary support and help can be provided for those in need, and, hopefully, the heartbreaking rate of suicide throughout the world will decrease over time.
If you or someone you know is suffering from mental illness/suicidal thoughts, please don't hesitate to utilize your resources. There are always people willing to help!
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or use www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org for online chat.
If you'd like to learn more about suicide prevention and other resources, please visit the Suicide Prevention Resource Center at www.sprc.org
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