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!

Running with Purpose: Finding God on the Beaten Path

I run. Well, we all run at one point.  We run to the grocery story, we run to our classes we just can’t seem to wake up for on time, and we run away from things when we’re scared (especially during a good game of tag).  But I run for a living.  Running is not a particularly popular way of life; though it suffers from fads and potential takers, it’s rarely as loved as it should be.  But I run.  And I love it.  I love that moment when my Nikes touch the concrete, and it’s as if all is right in the world.  Like I can do anything as long as I keep running.

Running Out of Options

Since I started cross-country for SFA, my running hasn’t exactly gone as planned.  I haven’t seen the improvement I want or should be having. My training last fall especially seemed to be going backward instead of forward, and nothing was right.  A lot of times, I was close to up and quitting.  I kept telling myself just to hang on a little longer, that it would get better. I told myself to keep working, to keep trying, but when my first indoor meet came in January, it wasn’t any better. I ran worse than I had the year before, and I didn’t get another chance to race again that season. I was upset and so tired of working for, what seemed like, nothing.

Finally, it got to the point where I was just sick of being upset and stressed. So, I turned to prayer. I prayed about what I should do: quitting the SFA team or sticking it out. And I did what all of us do (again, at one point in our lives): I asked God to send me a sign, preferably one that was clear - ha. I told myself I would keep trying my hardest, and if my workouts didn’t start showing even a slight improvement in the next month, then I would consider not running anymore.

Fighting the Good Fight

On one of the days following, a teammate and I were cooling down after a workout, and I ended up telling her about my situation.  She responded with something I completely forgot (believe it or not), but I know its impact was huge.  I knew God was telling me to keep trying for just a little bit longer.  Sign received.

My running started improving bit by bit each day, as did my praying. Each workout was a little better than the last, and for once, I was excited with what my body could do. My outdoor track season didn’t end exactly the way I wanted it to, but I was blessed with one great race, where I ran a personal record faster than I ever thought I could. Things don’t always come easy, RUNNING doesn’t ever come easy, but trials are a part of life, and in the end, it will be worth it.

Learning the ABC’s of Faith

 I’ve wondered a lot why God didn’t just make things get better right away. I’ve realized that if He had, I wouldn’t have learned that His timing is perfect. I wouldn’t have learned to trust Him. In Romans 5: 3-4, Paul tells us we should rejoice during hard times and troubles; that “we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.” I couldn’t just leave everything up to God. He gave me the talent of running and blessed me with the opportunity to be on the team at SFA, but it is my responsibility to use all He has given and glorify Him with what I do.  As long as I trust in God, I know I can trust myself.

I could have given up.  On running, myself, even God.  But I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.  I learned during hard times to find comfort in God. That in the end everything will be ok. It’s easy to be mad at God when things aren’t going my way. It’s hard to thank Him for everything that is going on in my life, especially the bad things, but that is what I have to do. Everything that has happened in my life has made me who I am and everything happens for a reason, so each day I really try to thank God for everything, good and bad, that helped me get to where I am now. Through all my ups and downs with running, I have learned so much more about myself and grown stronger in my faith.

Why I Run

This summer, I’ve been getting up to run around 6 AM before it gets too hot.  I don’t like the getting up.  I don’t like leaving the warmth of my bed and stepping onto the cold floor.  I think it’s ridiculous that it’s still dark as I brush my teeth while the rest of the world gets to sleep on.  It even takes a few steps into the run sometimes to make the grumbling in my brain cease.  To remind myself why I run.  It isn’t until I feel the light from the sky hit my skin that I remember.  Every morning, I get to watch the sunrise.  I get to see it spill over the rooftops of houses and color the trees into life.  I get to feel it’s first rays before anyone else.  Like it was meant for me all along.  That’s why I run.

I don’t do it to feel better about myself or my body (though it helps).  I don’t do it it because it’s my "me" time.  Or because I feel free.  I don’t do it for the time to think. I don’t do it for the hurt, the good kind, the kind your body thrives on.  I don’t do it because it’s exhilarating, especially on a good run.  I do it because it makes me happy.  I do it because on those days when runs don't feel good at all, God is especially present in the beauty around me: in the birds’ morning songs and the blossom of a flower and the flutter of a butterfly.  Not everyday is going to be easy or the best.  But that’s why He gave us a million beautiful gifts to enjoy, or to take for granted in a lot of my cases.

I have had lots of tough times in running, but I love it – running, not the tough times.  I couldn’t live without it.  I was made to run.  God blessed me with these running legs, so I’ll try my best to glorify Him through it. Yeah, it will suck sometimes, but, as C.S. Lewis says, “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.” I know running isn’t for everyone, but it is for me.

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will RUN and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Amanda Walters I have a hard time choosing favorites out of the things I love, but God and the Love He shows me every day is my number one.  I love spending time with my family and friends, and I habitually look on the bright side of life, trying to see the best in everyone.  I believe music, running and laughing give you a good long life, and that books can take you to another world.  I'm an Elementary Education major who can't wait to see what God has planned for my future. If you would like to contact Amanda, you can email her at: kiwiw_2012@yahoo.com

Sexy vs. Beautiful

It's summer again.
In Texas.
Everyone is wearing less to try to cool off.
So, what's a girl to do in these situations?

Check out this awesome blog on the Life Teen page by Jackie Francois about TRUE beauty and how our bodies (women's especially) are a gift.