For the Better: What I have learned so far in 2015

On the journey home from SEEK2015, my friend for life and I talked a lot about how to apply what we learned at the Conference to our lives this year. I boiled it down to the six topics you see below, and I wanted to share it with all of you! I hope it will edify you as much as it did me. 

Can I be comfortable with Christ in my life? Hey Christ!

Add Christ to your daily vocabulary. I don’t have to go around like a Jesus freak to share him in my life and affect others’. If we can be so comfortable with telling our friends where we went to lunch and the last movie we saw why can’t we just as easily mention that we went to mass earlier? Or share the funny joke we heard in the homily? Or tell people we are going to the circle tomorrow night? Do not be afraid to use casual Christian language even with people outside of our typical circles. Be Bold!

Make work fun. Make faith fun. How? Do it with others.

I once heard a story: There was a man dancing on the side of a busy street and everyone thought he was crazy. Another man came to dance with him and everyone thought they were weirdos. A third person, a woman, came to dance with the two men. Everyone thought “Awesome! They are having so much fun!” Yes, they were a little bit strange, but how much fun is it to be different with real, authentic people who accept who you are? Now take that to heart on the matter of faith. Share your faith life with others and you’ll never be lonely or bored.

Pandas are flagship species, name an actual endangered species.

Pandas get all of the attention in the conservation world - and your heart - but in fact hold little to no essential value to the environment. They rarely even move. Yes they are cute, but other species like the Proboscis Monkey (look it up) hold a higher value to the environment and are actually critically endangered, but ignored. Transition! Choose a passion to follow in life where the market is not already flooded. Everyone jumps on the fads and cultural buzz words for about five minutes. Right now let’s jump on the (insert current cool thing to support) band wagon. Everyone wants to save pandas but are they the most important thing in the world? What about intrinsic truth? How are you working now for the truth and how do you plan on sharing the truth in the future and a lifetime? Have you considered mission work, working for a church diocese, and a vocation either to the religious life, priesthood or sacred marriage? Just think - you could work both for the church and important current issues!

Are you investing properly? Who is in your 401(k)?

Friends come into and leave our lives often, and what a blessing it is to have and have had them in our lives when we do. But are you investing as much time and energy with your own family members. Sometimes I offer too much to my friends (and Hulu) neglecting to call my brother, texting my sister hello in the morning and sending a letter to my grandmother. Family is forever, don’t forget it. Relationships aren’t easy but are you giving fair time to them. Maybe if you invest they will improve.

You are who you… eat?

Surround yourself around people that are positive. Make real decisions to determine who you want to be in your life. At the same time remember that you are the person that other people surround themselves with. Are you a good example for them?

Don’t pick up the phone it’s yo Mama! (I learned this a long time ago, but needed to share it due to immediate insistent need. So just do it already)

People of today are digitally addicted; fact. TV, Phones, (un)social media, Netflix, Hulu, texting, video games, candy crush, et cetera. Please, for the sake of humanity consciously take a minute to consider how much digital intake you are consuming. Could you be using your tech too much? Do you look at it unceasingly? Can you go an hour during class time without checking Facebook? Do you sleep with your phone? Could you spend your time doing something else? What would you do without your phone glued to your face you ask. What about studying, praying, serving others, spending time with others, working a hobby, visiting friends,and having a face to face conversation, antiquing, going star gazing... good heavens entertain yourself! Challenge yourself to cut the amount of attachment you have with a technology toxic relationship; you will be happier without him.

Good Luck!

BONUS SECTION! Choose 5! It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3. 

Last year I used this method to help me find tangible ways to grow spiritually, and I've decided to continue it each year. 

1.      Pick a virtue to focus on for the year; e.g. year of humility- Think as often as you can about your virtue and how you can apply it to your daily life.

2.      Then pick two- Pick two things to add to your daily life. Think outside the box, but here are some ideas: daily mass, daily devotional, rosary, smiling at everyone you pass, saying a short prayer while you wash your hands, et cetera

3.      Then pick two- Pick two things to eliminate from your daily life. You know what they should be... but here are some examples: cracking your knuckles, cursing, slothfulness, complaining, et cetera.

My best tip is for you to be simple, be genuine, but be serious.

Happy New Year! My prayer is that we will all grow closer to Christ this year. 

Andrew Wayne Lusk (known to Campus Minister Jodi Phillips as A-Dubs, A-Dub-a-Bub, A-Dubalicious, and so on and so forth) is a Senior at Stephen F Austin State University studying Art History. He is passionate about his faith, and loves to share it with others. His other passions, aside from Proboscis Monkeys, include making crazy exclamations ("What the hey-ho?!"), winning at Nerts (it's a crazy card game), and inviting people to fun parties at St. Mary's. Oh, and he has great hair. That's real. 

Love

Love. This word, these four simple letters, have been thrown at us since before we were born. We get used to hearing, “I love you,” from parents, family members, and friends and replying in kind. As we get older, we dream of a passionate love, the kind Nicolas Sparks would write about in one of his oh so addicting novels. We want to be swept off our feet and you can bet Hallmark plays this up to make a buck. This word is literally everywhere, whether it’s talking about the kind of love mentioned above or love of yourself, it’s hard to walk into a store without seeing the word placed decoratively somewhere. And why not? As one of my childhood favorites Aquamarine would inform you, “Love is the closest thing we have to magic.” Maybe that’s why people so desperately cling to the idea of love, because if someone doesn’t love you, what importance do you really have?

Okay I know that took a depressing turn, but bear with me for just a little bit longer. I was recently scanning the aisles of Half-Price Books, one of my favorite ways to pass time as long as I have my Starbucks, leggings, oversized sweater, and all other Basic White Girl attire intact. As I sipped my Vanilla Macchiato, I wondered aimlessly over to the religion section. My normal area being fiction, I was surprised to find a small section devoted specifically to Catholicism. I quickly scanned the books and picked out a few that visually caught my eye. Well for anyone who knows me, I have a hard time picking out food to order off a menu so picking out a book takes me all day. An hour later, while I’m placing the discarded books away I came across a battered copy of No Greater Love which is a compiled set of Mother Teresa teachings. She’s my role model so all other books went back to the shelf and I practically skipped up to the front as I bought the book. I made myself read only a section a day, allowing myself to truly take in what she was saying, and I’d like to share with you what I learned.
         

Mother Teresa was often described as being simple or childish in her ways and words. Personally I disagree. She saw and understood this world better than anyone because she wasn’t looking for the world, she was looking for Christ. She seeked and she found, but it wasn’t just in the Church that she found Christ, she found Christ in each and every person she encountered. Take a second and imagine what that is like, to see your God in every person you meet. That means the janitor, and the sorority girl, and the professor that assigned you that long essay, and that girl that just doesn’t know when to shut her mouth, and that boy that sits alone to eat lunch everyday… yeah it means everyone, not just your friends. If you saw God in each of them, can you help but love them? I would hope that answer is no, I want to love them too. This kind of love is a special kind though, it’s not one manufactured by Hallmark, it is so much more than that.

This is the love we see in children. Jesus told Nicodemus to, “Become as a little child.” That doesn’t mean to grab your blanket and throw a tantrum when you don’t get your way. This means to give love freely and to pray honestly with “an earnest desire to love much and to make loved the one that is not loved.” YOU GUYS WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE SOMEONE FEEL LOVED. This is like the worlds coolest superpower that God gave to each and every one of us.  Even cooler is the fact that it doesn’t take a grand gesture to show somebody that they are loved, it is the intensity of the love we put into our gesture. That means that if you honestly mean the smile that you give to the stranger in the street, it means more than the Christmas gift you spent $49.95 on due to a feeling of obligation. To Mother Teresa that smile was more than just a way to spread the love, it was a way to change the world.

One of Mother Teresa’s main themes was that love begins at home. Since we are all either on break or have recently returned back to campus dwelling spaces, I’m sure we have a good picture of what life at home is like. For me, home is a combination of loud voices, high emotions, hectic schedules, but more than anything love. My beautiful sister reminded us of that tonight at dinner when we were all light heartedly teasing my brother and she said, “Okay listen guys, I just want you to know that I love you always.” The teasing instantly stopped as all seven of us recited that we love her too. Naturally, we tried to beat each other out with the amount of love, but our cup overflows with love for each other regardless. After we have taken the time to love each other at home, our love then easily pours out to our neighbors. Thereafter the lovebug takes like a virus and spreads.

To end the blog, I feel obliged to inform you that true love is not an easy love. A famous quote from Mother Teresa is, “I have found a great paradox that if you love until it hurts there can be no more hurt, only more love.” Love is sacrifice, it is putting someone else’s needs before your own. Love is humbling yourself to know that in order for someone to open up to you, you have to first be willing to open up to them and you have to be willing to see the world from their point of view. God made each and every one of us in His hand and with unconditional love. God unconditionally loves you. He wants the same from you, and the best way to show God that love, is by showing each individual the same love. So you probably want an answer to my original question, if someone doesn’t love you, what importance do you really have? Well the question itself is illogical because God loves you. He says, “I have called you by name and you are mine.” You are important and you have the power to make someone else feel that way as well.

Sara Bushland is a Sophomore at Stephen F. Austin State University. She is studying Rehabilitation Services with a Specialization in Orientation and Mobility, largely inspired by her youngest sister. Sara is fearless when it comes to grabbing people's attention on campus, enjoys making people laugh with her, and is pretty fond of #authenticrelationships. Feel free to e-mail her at sbushland@gmail.com!