My, Helena, what is this gibberish in your title?
T4 stands for Thankful For, but it's a cooler, shorter, and more confusing way to write it.
In this random series, I will pick something I am currently very thankful for and expand upon it, historically and also in my dry-humor style of writing. Let me follow the WHOA method.
Why
History
Observation
Application
Thankful For #1: TOOTHPASTE
WHY
We are gross without it. It makes my teeth white and shiny, it makes my breath fresh, while preventing cavities! It's wonderful.
HISTORY
To sum it up, toothpaste didn't get good until the early 1900s. Before that, you'd be dealing with chalk, bricks, or salt in your mouth. That's pretty disgusting.
OBSERVATION
After brushing your teeth, supposedly orange juice tastes horrible. This is due to a chemical reaction. And oddly enough, apples are supposed to taste better after brushing your teeth. Aw now I want to go try it!
APPLICATION
To me, it's best on my teeth/mouth. I have used toothpaste to clean silver, however, and it worked brilliantly. We aren't supposed to swallow toothpaste because of Fluoride, which is toxic in larger volumes and can cause diarrhea and nausea.
There yall have it. T4 #1 complete.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Considering Things
I'm such a book nerd that I'll be reading one book and it makes a reference to another book and off I go in a tangent into the other book. I'm currently reading My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares... which is so far very interesting, very fictional, but alas the science fiction love-story historical nerdiness of it is just enough to hook me into page-turning bliss. In it was a Lewis Carroll quote about memory... "it's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards" and I liked this quite a bit. So much that I looked it up... and read the chapter of the book it's from... which so happens to be the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, called Through the Looking Glass. Now you see how nerdy I am? That's nothing. It gets so much worse. Here's a passage from that same chapter that I really liked and wanted to write about :)
'Oh, don't go on like that!' cried the poor Queen, wringing her hands in despair. 'Consider what a great girl you are. Consider what a long way you've come to-day. Consider what o'clock it is. Consider anything, only don't cry!'
Alice could not help laughing at this, even in the midst of her tears. 'Can you keep from crying by considering things?' she asked.
'That's the way it's done,' the Queen said with great decision: 'nobody can do two things at once, you know.'
I get caught focusing on the current situation and I forget to "consider things" :) What a long way I've come. Rather, what a long way God has brought me. What a crazy journey, through which He's refined me. He's put me through the furnace of affliction. He's tested my faith in every direction. I fail to take into consideration the various ways He's delivered me. Some of my most random prayers have been answered beautifully. He gives me a hand, and I want the arm. I scream "NEXT!" I'm the drive-thru person in "Dude where's my car" saying "and then" over and over to God and to others :/ NO AND THEN!
I am more than thankful for what He's given me. I need to rejoice in this current state of bliss, and reflect on how wonderfully merciful my God has been to me and my fearful heart. This reaction of jumping on to the next expectation is obviously a reflex to my being very very fearful. Bear with me. I'm very confident as a person, because I'm very confident in my God, who carries me! But I've never been down this road before. I've never felt like this in my entire life. It's a very new territory, it's frankly breath-takingly beautiful. It's also big. It's epic. It's deep. It's very real. The fact I'm in it glorifies God. But wow. I have to keep reassuring myself that God would not start a good work in my life and not follow through. God always follows through. That He wouldn't bring me here were it not for a bigger purpose. The loving God who formed my heart with His hands would not let it break beyond repair. Man, that's a lot of trust.
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it! Take also my future, and my hopes, and my goals, and my dreams. Sort through it, I know it's a mess. I tried to put some post-its and I highlighted some of it, so it stands out to You, but honestly only You know what's really important and what will come through. Do with my life what You will. Take me to where You need me. In every part, good or bad, let me give You praise.
What I want, at the end of this day/week/month/life, is to be that woman that loves Jesus more than anything else. Prepare me to be that woman that is worth more than rubies! A woman that brings good, not harm, all the days of her life. When You deem me ready, Lord, You'll bring me to the next step. No more "and then," just a patient, thankful heart is all I want for today.
So this is my lesson in contentment, patience, and the art of considering things.
'Oh, don't go on like that!' cried the poor Queen, wringing her hands in despair. 'Consider what a great girl you are. Consider what a long way you've come to-day. Consider what o'clock it is. Consider anything, only don't cry!'
Alice could not help laughing at this, even in the midst of her tears. 'Can you keep from crying by considering things?' she asked.
'That's the way it's done,' the Queen said with great decision: 'nobody can do two things at once, you know.'
I get caught focusing on the current situation and I forget to "consider things" :) What a long way I've come. Rather, what a long way God has brought me. What a crazy journey, through which He's refined me. He's put me through the furnace of affliction. He's tested my faith in every direction. I fail to take into consideration the various ways He's delivered me. Some of my most random prayers have been answered beautifully. He gives me a hand, and I want the arm. I scream "NEXT!" I'm the drive-thru person in "Dude where's my car" saying "and then" over and over to God and to others :/ NO AND THEN!
I am more than thankful for what He's given me. I need to rejoice in this current state of bliss, and reflect on how wonderfully merciful my God has been to me and my fearful heart. This reaction of jumping on to the next expectation is obviously a reflex to my being very very fearful. Bear with me. I'm very confident as a person, because I'm very confident in my God, who carries me! But I've never been down this road before. I've never felt like this in my entire life. It's a very new territory, it's frankly breath-takingly beautiful. It's also big. It's epic. It's deep. It's very real. The fact I'm in it glorifies God. But wow. I have to keep reassuring myself that God would not start a good work in my life and not follow through. God always follows through. That He wouldn't bring me here were it not for a bigger purpose. The loving God who formed my heart with His hands would not let it break beyond repair. Man, that's a lot of trust.
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it! Take also my future, and my hopes, and my goals, and my dreams. Sort through it, I know it's a mess. I tried to put some post-its and I highlighted some of it, so it stands out to You, but honestly only You know what's really important and what will come through. Do with my life what You will. Take me to where You need me. In every part, good or bad, let me give You praise.
What I want, at the end of this day/week/month/life, is to be that woman that loves Jesus more than anything else. Prepare me to be that woman that is worth more than rubies! A woman that brings good, not harm, all the days of her life. When You deem me ready, Lord, You'll bring me to the next step. No more "and then," just a patient, thankful heart is all I want for today.
So this is my lesson in contentment, patience, and the art of considering things.
Consider anything, only don't cry!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Love Me a Challenge
I'm big on taking on big projects. I love me a challenge. I like to know the odds are slim, and it thrills me to attempt. Even more, it thrills me to succeed. This boldness can be used for good, for God, for His kingdom. It can also lead to long-term problems. With success, I get this rush of pride. With failure, I feel inadequate. Neither glorify God. I'm learning to let God bring me what He wants me to do. I now pray about whether these "projects" would glorify Him. If so, bring'em, Lord! :)
Ecclesiastes has a ton to say about this. It hits home to me every single time. It sounds like me.
"I undertook great projects..." Ecc 2:4
To paraphrase..... I built great things. I thrived at creating and designing. I was more powerful and wealthier than others around me. I gathered up a fortune. I did anything I wanted to. I never said no to myself.- Ecc 2:4-10
this part is the punchline....
"Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecc 2:11
And it's true... the emptiness that comes after a "great success"... I always think of Olympic champions or record-setters. I think "well what now?!" and there is this great emptiness. You can keep repeating what you're doing, you can try to improve regardless of how unlikely. Ultimately... you run out. You realize setting a new goal doesn't really help. You're just going to end up right back where you started. Only God can bring us happiness.
Here's my encouragement:
"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat and find enjoyment? To the man that pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Ecc 2:24-26
The word of God is so powerful.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecc 3:11
Ecclesiastes has a ton to say about this. It hits home to me every single time. It sounds like me.
"I undertook great projects..." Ecc 2:4
To paraphrase..... I built great things. I thrived at creating and designing. I was more powerful and wealthier than others around me. I gathered up a fortune. I did anything I wanted to. I never said no to myself.- Ecc 2:4-10
this part is the punchline....
"Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecc 2:11
And it's true... the emptiness that comes after a "great success"... I always think of Olympic champions or record-setters. I think "well what now?!" and there is this great emptiness. You can keep repeating what you're doing, you can try to improve regardless of how unlikely. Ultimately... you run out. You realize setting a new goal doesn't really help. You're just going to end up right back where you started. Only God can bring us happiness.
Here's my encouragement:
"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat and find enjoyment? To the man that pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Ecc 2:24-26
The word of God is so powerful.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecc 3:11
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