Ach...I'm tired. Always have been. Always will be. I guess I'll learn to live with it. What can I say? I'm a teenager. It's my perrogative to stay up late. Except I break the trend there, cause on a normal school week, I'm up by 6:00, sometimes by 5:00...I suppose I could go to bed earlier...but what would be the fun in that??
I've had two people in the past week ask me the same sort of question. "Why is life so hard sometimes?" My answer, generically:
First, if life was a breeze, how boring would that be?? The thing that makes our lives exciting (beyond the fact that we live to serve our Creator God, and honor Him with everything we do) is the ups and downs of everyday things. The stuggles (fill in your struggles), the fun times (fill in the fun times you've had recently), the heartaches (losing loved ones, or whatever else you can think of that would fit here....like knowing me :D), the joy of serving others, the love we feel in our hearts towards our friends. All of these things make life what it is.
The key is to be content whatever happens, knowing that Christ will give you the strength to press on. Look at what Paul has to say:
Philippians 4:11-1311 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Second, Seek to please God. To do that you must have faith.
Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
I think it was John Wesley* that once said something like this: "If I know that tomorrow will be a long day, and will cause me much anxiety and stress, then I purpose in my heart to rise one hour earlier, to thus spend more time with my Dear Saviour, who gives me the strength to get through the day." Wesley had the right idea. Sure, getting up an hour earlier cuts off an hour of time when you could be sleeping. I mean, if tomorrows a long day, then you go to bed earlier and sleep as long as you can, right?? But sleep wasn't the important thing to Wesley. Yeah, you need sleep, but when it comes to the end of a day, and you are tired, even with sleep, it's gonna be God that keeps you going with a right heart attitude, not your tired, angry self.So, to wrap up, whatever you do, do it to God.
Paul:
Colossians 3:23, 24
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
*I'm really not sure who said this..if any one knows for sure, let me know. And remember, it's an paraphrase of the actual quote.
Okay, now that I've got my preaching in, I'll move on to other things. I wouldn't want my readers to be bored. =)
So..the reason I'm tired...well, this weekend has been a little hectic. On Friday, the orchestra had a performance. We got to play on stage where the city Symphony plays. That was cool. We were playing for an all-town high school orchestra competition. It really wasn't competing against any one else, just against ourselves. Remember what I've said about Federation?? Lots of stress, really important? Let's just say that this performance far exceeded the importance part. This was the biggest performance of our year. It wasn't really stressed as that until the day of, and then everybody found out that this was a really important performance. We did really good. There were 3 judges. The highest score possible was a 1 (that = an A, and a 2 = a B...and so on). Out of the 3 judges, two gave us 1's, and the other gave us a 2+. So we did pretty good.
On Saturday, we worked at a college garage sale. Basically once this specific college here in town gets out for the summer, they go through all the dorms, clean them out, and sell all the clothing, books, and things of that sort that they find in the dorms. Last year, over $11,000 was brought in. And they really don't charge a lot for the stuff. I got some really nice name brand sweaters with the tags still on them for $2 each. The thing is, they bring this stuff by the truck load into the rec center where the sale is gonna be, and dump it on the ground. Books, makeup, purses, jeans and coats all in the pile...Then all of it has to be sorted. Clothes by size, shoes by size and pairs, books by genre and type, etc...I leave that to the ladies. I sorted books for several hours, just cause I like to organize things, but mainly I went to the dorms and helped haul stuff away.
Saturday evening, my two younger sisters and I went to Arts Fest. It's a...you guessed it!! A Festival of ARTS!! Yeah. Anyway, 3 or 4 of the younger orchestras and 2 of the choirs played and sang at one of the performance areas. After we played, we went out to eat at Braums, then came back downtown to hear the city Symphony perform their annual Symphony Under the Stars pop concert. It's a free concert, and really is a blast...but this year, it was really cold once the sun went down.
Today, Monday, I did the exact same thing as I did on Saturday. Except I stayed there all day, instead of just most of the day. And tomorrow, we go back to finish up. Wednesday, the sale opens to the public. If you live close to town, and you know where "town" is, let me know, and I'll get you directions so you can go to the sale.
Okay, I'm typed out, and I want to go to bed. I'm sure you are quite tired of my random ramblings by now. I don't blame you. Until next time, Khuda hafiz.
J
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