Something to Think About

I've been reading in Ellen White's Education for one of my classes and I've enjoyed it a lot. Although, sometimes it's hard to enjoy it when I have to read so much of it in one sitting and I feel like I have to rush through it. In any case, I've read quite a bit of it while I've been home and there was one paragraph that really stood out to me that I wanted to share. Oh, and if any of you happen to have this book, or if you have some time to look it up on whiteestate.org, I would really recommend reading the chapter called "Bible Biographies; that has been one of my favorite chapters yet.

"Every nation that has come upon the stage of action has been permitted to occupy its place on the earth, that it might be seen whether it would fulfill the purpose of 'the Watcher and the Holy One.' Prophecy has traced the rise and fall of the world's great empires- Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test, each failed, its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied by another." ~pp. 176-177, Education

When I read this, I couldn't help but think of the powerful nation that we live in. When it was founded, it was founded by mostly God-fearing men and its foundation was built mostly upon Christian principles and belief in a loving God. In general, it would have been considered a Christian nation. As time has gone on, Americans have tried desperately to push God out of the picture. It seems like history is repeating itself yet again as this nation is going through its test and failing, and I wonder to myself how much longer it will be until its glory fades, its power departs, and its place will be occupied by a greater nation- one that will last forever, ruled by a just and loving God.

Funny Exchange

Tonight after Bible study, Kelsey and I were standing at the door of her apartment when she spotted lightning. Here is the slightly dumb exchange which passed between Kelsey and I:

Kelsey: Look lightning!
Kristin: Where?
Kelsey: Outside (pointing out the door and toward the sky)!

Perhaps it was funnier if you had heard us saying it. But as soon as these remarks were made, Kelsey and I looked at each other and both realized how ridiculous each of our remarks had been. Anyway, I hope this was somewhat amusing to the rest of the blogging world. If not, at least Kelsey and I can have a good laugh reminiscing.

Happenings in Redbud 1

We, the residents of Redbud 1, often have trouble, especially later in the evening, with our brains not functioning at the level on which we wish that they would. Our brains tend to get quite tired from their work throughout the day and we have a bit of trouble attempting to make sense of and sensibly complete our homework. This was the crisis we faced tonight.
Emily was talking with me and we were both lamenting the fact that we had had large, mind-dulling tests earlier today and they had made our minds slightly fuzzy. She then told me, "I don't wanna write my paper," and I concurred that I did not want to write mine either. I then gave her some nurse-ly advice:
"Maybe you should stand on your head for a minute and then all the blood would rush back to your brain and it would be useful again!"
I also shared this advice with Beth-Anne, who was also having difficulty focusing and being productive. We decided to give it a try.

Here we have me and Beth-Anne trying out my "nurse-ly" advice.

Emily does not seem to find any merit in it.

After this invigorating break from our respective homework assignments we came to several conclusions:

1. Standing on your head may not directly make your brain useful again; however, when finished standing on your head you will most likely find that you are more awake than you were previously and that you have indirectly stimulated increased blood circulation.
2. Standing on your head also produces a side effect of a headache.
3. Kristin has been away from nursing school for too long.

Lengthy Absence

It has indeed been a long time since I last blogged... In fact, I wonder how long it will take for people to realize that this blog is here, seeing as they have probably given up hope that I will ever blog again. In any case, this will be a short blog because it is currently late at night and I want to get some rest while I can this weekend. Next week promises to be one of the worst schedule-wise.
I just spent much of this evening looking at my friends' blogs and catching up on their lives. It made me kind of sad. As I read through the blogs, I began to realize how very long it has been since I have had a meaningful conversation with many of those people; I began to see how much of their lives I have been missing, and it made me miss them even more. The sad part is that I go to school with a great majority of the people whose blogs I read, and I could theoretically see and talk to each of them. But life has become too busy.
That last sentence was said with some bitterness, which I thought must be supplied because it's difficult to read tone in sentences like those. What am I busying myself with? I suppose the things that I have been filling my life with are important. I mean, I do need to do my homework, I do need to exercise, and eat occasionally. They are all things that must be done, but I think I've done a particularly awful job this semester of being a friend. I have drifted away from so many people and have begun to realize how very lonely I've been because I've been so busy with "life" that I haven't had time to talk to people or to enjoy time spent with them. How on earth did I allow this to happen? And what kind of a life have I been living without the people I care about so much?
It makes me think about another friend that I have often neglected. So often, it's easy for me to say a quick prayer, telling God that I will have to talk to him in more detail later in the day. So often, I find myself wishing that I had more time that I could spend with God; it seems like I never have as much as I would like. And though I have my morning devotional time with God, I find myself wishing that I could spend more time praying and more time reading the Bible. This past summer was an incredible growing experience for me in my walk with God, and I've noticed lately that I've been missing the quality of the friendship that I shared with God this summer. I find myself missing God, similar to the way that I find myself missing my friends. And all because I've become to busy with "life." But honestly, what kind of life have I been living without that close bond with the God that I love so much?
And this is the question that I leave myself, and each of you, to ponder as I head to bed. What kind of life are we living if we are living without the One who is love? It's not that I'm living my life without God, and maybe you aren't either. But I haven't been living my life as closely connected to my God as I wish to, and I think it's time for some renewed connections. Relationships and friends mean so much to me, so much to humans, because that is the way that God designed us to be. And I think it's time I start truly living a life worth living- one that's full of friends and my God.