Milkshake
A good friend of mine from college started a vlog a while back and introduced “Dramatic Reading Wednesday”, where he recites lyrics from ridiculous songs in a very earnest and sincere way. Only Craig can make it as funny as it is.
I requested Milkshake for this week. (And steph!!! is the only one who reads this blog who knows just how much this song cracks me up.) So I give to you a dramatic reading of My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard.
Pop Culture Quote Monday
Come on, you guys. That one isn’t that hard!!!!! You can do it!
A: You can never go too far. B: If I’m gonna get busted, it is *not* gonna be by a guy like that.
Types of Growth – the Apples
My pastor and I had a heart to heart last night after rehearsal. I talked to him about my recent questions about residue, and he reminded me of something very, very important.
We’re used to setting a goal, running the race, and crossing the finish line. We’re used to projects that have deadlines, due dates that must be met, to do lists that we check off. In a nutshell, we’re used to completing what we started.
But our spiritual life isn’t like that. To quote Nietzsche, recently quoted by Eugene Peterson, our spiritual life is a “long obedience in the same direction”. Being reminded of that seems like I should be feeling bogged down, but instead I felt relieved. The words “long” and “obedience” are typically have negative connotations. We like things done fast, and done our way. But I’m just glad to know that I’m never gonna be done with all this. And unless you’ve run the race like this, you probably have no idea why I’m glad about it.
We finished a fruit of the spirit series in January and one of the key points our pastor laced through each sermon was this idea of how we are constantly trying to glue the fruit on our tree instead of letting the fruit come from within us. Putting the fruit on might work for a while, but eventually the fruit will fall off the tree. We tend to concentrate so hard on being the person we think we should be, and work on attaining all those fruits of the spirit. When instead we need to focus on the only one who gets that fruit to grow.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some apples to knock off my tree.
Top Ten Romantic Song Lines
10.) I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive
9.) So we build/We build/We clear away what was and make room for what will be/If you hold the nails, I’ll take the hammer/I’ll hold it still, if you’ll climb the ladder/If you will, then I will, build
8.) I will take a heart whose nature is to beat for me alone/And fill it up with you – make all your joy and pain my own/No matter how deep a valley you go through/I will go there with you
7.) How could I know I would have to leave you?/How could I know I would hurt you so?
You were the one I was born to love!/Oh, how could I ever know?/How could I ever know?
6.) How could you be so careless with her heart? (I understand this doesn’t sound romantic, but any man who even thinks about the importance of handling a woman’s heart with care is a rare one, and therefore a man I find very romantic.)
5.) All that I am/All that I ever was/ Is here in your perfect eyes/they’re all I can see/I don’t know when/Confused about how as well/just know that these things will never change for us at all
4.) ‘Cause what I really want to say/Is what the sun would say to the sky/For giving it a place to come alive
3.) The smile on your face lets me know that you need me/There’s a truth in your eyes sayin’ you’ll never leave me/The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me if ever I fall/You say it best when you say nothing at all
2.) I give you my life and all I am/But what I have to give/So I hand you a candid photograph of this little boy/’Cause I have nothing to my name/But I can give you that
1.) Love’s as strong as death my love /Unyielding as the grave/Relentless as the desert sun/And rivers cannot wash my love away ~ away/I won’t let it wash away/And many waters ~ it cannot quench love (Technically, this is scripture, but it’s also a great song)
How many do you know?
Mad World
Years ago my friend Russ drug me to the movie theater to see the movie The Beach. It was not a good movie, nor one I enjoyed.
I did, however, appreciate the extremely formidable question it posed to my heart. How far would I go to get what I want? How far would any of us go to keep what we have?
Are we willing to go as far as Kiwi (see above video) – hours, days of work, all to create a false reality just to taste a glimpse of what we dream to attain? Are we willing to step on others, like Tilda’s Swinson’s character in The Beach, and even let them die to keep the power and paradise she craved?
Something about the Kiwi video breaks my heart. I used to think it was because he died for just a taste of a dream. I used to think it was because he didn’t have wings, would never have wings, but wanted to fly so badly he created an environment that gave him the feeling of flying.
But now I think my heart breaks because I’m too afraid to take risks like that. I’m not willing to go all the way. Sometimes the tiniest sliver of doubt makes the wall around my heart go right back up, and a voice inside my head tells me that settling isn’t so bad, and the alternative is just too hard. And most certainly not worth it.
Which camp do you fall into? Do you go too far? (Like Tilda.) Do you go just enough? (Like Kiwi) Or do you not go at all? (Like me.)
Stephanie Nelson 