January 21, 2013

This Kind of Marriage...






So, what's the point of all these videos? The title of this blog post may seem strange to you, seeing as I am only a sophomore in college. But, I have known or been acquainted with so many girls who have gotten married or engaged recently, I felt like talking about marriage a little bit and what I think about it. The three videos above are wordly fabrications depicting marriage, or the beginnings of ones. I picked popular movies, and they all are very different from one another. What should love be in marriage? What kind of thing keeps it all together? At the end of movies we often don't see what becomes of the marriage, we only see the beginning of it. I know some of you are from broken homes and I know some are skeptical of marriage. Many girls already have their weddings planned out. The video below is a song from Sanctus Real that I know most of you have heard, but I think it is absolutely beautiful.
 
 
If you just listen to the lyrics of this song, it is very powerful. This is the kind of marriage I want. This is the kind of husband I want, this is the kind of Jesus-centered love that I want. And it's not easy, getting that. It's not easy finding all of this at once. It doesn't happen  at the snap of a finger. It takes work, like what Noah says in The Notebook, but this hard work is through Christ, not through human love. The line -
 
 "...lead me, with strong hands;
stand up, when I can't;
don't leave me hungry for love,
chasing dreams;
but what about us..."
 
- that is my favorite line out of the entire song. The whole idea of Christ leading a relationship is key. Like I said before, it's hard. None of us are perfect, and not all of us have always had something like this. Granted, I'm not even thinking about marriage until I finish school, but it doesn't mean I don't think about it. Referring back to the first three videos (maybe not The Princess Bride, that one was just for fun), us girls drool over those fairy tale endings. The Notebook... going back to your first love and realizing you are soulmates. Pride and Prejudice...even through all your differences, you find common ground and realize you would do anything for each other. The Princess Bride... your knight in shining armor comes to save you from a fate worse than death, and..... you just need to find another priest. I believe a lot of the time, girls make marriage a fantasy and want that love for the rest of their life. It won't always be that way. The reality is that you make a committment that will have struggles. And what is that committment without a strong leader? A strong leader in Christ, I might add.
 
For you guys reading this, what kind of leader would you be? I know you are too young to be thinking about marriage, but what kind of husband will you be to your future wife, whoever she will be? It's never too early to practice. What do you want to give her in life? As a girl, I can tell you that she will be looking to you for guidance and leadership at that point in her life. Own up to that. Would you be ready to take that responsibility on? Be a stronghold, don't leave her 'hungry for love', never lose the meaning of the committment. The good news is that you've got help in Christ. And He won't leave you to do that on your own, because you won't be able to 24/7.
 
 
 
I think the lyrics of this song are such a great depiction of what a marriage should look like. This society has skewed that meaning and made marriage into some sort of unattainable fantasy. I just want something as real as that. What girl doesn't? Anyway, thanks for reading, those are just some of my thoughts on the matter.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"We love because he first loved us."
-1 John 4:19
 


January 19, 2013

Selfless Serving

Well. I have survived the first week of the semester. It was crazy. So much nursing stuff. And I can honestly say that I have rarely been more anxious for something than I am for this upcoming semester. Some of that is nerves, some of that is excitement, and some of that is just pure uncertainty. My clinicals are going to be awesome, I can't wait to start putting some knowledge into action. But, that's also the scary part...I am going to be dealing with actual patients. Their livelihood is in the nurses' hands! It's amazing, this feeling of knowing that I'm going to be trusted by patients to take care of them, I'm going to be the hope of healing for some of them. That's a scary thought, but a role I've wanted to play from a very young age. I believe in physical as well as mental healing, and supporting patients mentally is also what I want to do. Being an RN is only the beginning, and I have to learn my way around in the hospital first. I feel as though it's going to give me a sense of serving like I've never felt before. It's also a type of serving I've never been more excited to do.

I think serving is a huge part of being a Christian. I mean, that's not why I'm going into nursing, to fufill my Christian duties, but you can't be humble without first having the experience of serving somebody. Serving doesn't always mean doing things for the less fortunate although that's a great way to serve and keep the world in perspective. Serving can mean being there for your roommate. Serving can mean listening to a friend without constantly trying to give advice. Serving can mean doing something little for your friend without a word. Serving can mean just giving somebody a hug when you know they need it. Serving can be doing tasks in the hospital, no matter what that is, giving your all so your patients are more than comfortable. And these are the things that make the biggest differences in people's lives. The only thing is that the serving you do, no matter what form, must be selfless. If you're looking to gain something by serving, then it's not the right kind. If you're looking to win approval by serving, it's not right. If you're looking to improve your reputation by serving and letting everyone know just how much you have served, it's not right. I've always had sort of a quiet personality. It hasn't been in my nature to really speak up about things. But, I admit, I've been guilty of serving for different reasons before. We all have. Those days of service we all sign up for...why do you sign up? Did your friends sign up? Was everybody doing it? Or did you just genuinely want to serve and the opportunity presented itself? It could be any of those, I'm not trying to undermine the greatness of those service days. But, we all have personal motivations that we need to make ourselves aware of. This is an area I've grown in, and I have much more growing to do, but I must say, it's one of the things that makes me the happiest.


 
 
The thing I'm trying to get at is that I'm going to need to drop my defenses and pride to be able to take care of my patients the way they need me to. I'll be doing some of the dirty work, I'll be reluctant at some points to carry out a task. But I just need to keep in mind that the serving I do now will impact people for a long time. The serving you do on a daily basis gets noticed whether you say anything or not. Just food for thought.








"The greatest among you will be your servant."
-Matthew 23:11

January 8, 2013

Mountain Fever

Hello Everybody!

I apologize for the delay in posting. But, I have to catch you guys up! So, this last week, I went back to Colorado to see old friends and renew some relationships. It was absolutely wonderful, and I wouldn't have traded that week for anything!

You know, friendship is a beautiful thing. Even when life keeps you apart for a year or two, some friends just never leave your heart. Even if you lose touch for a little while, you can come back together and it is like you never left. Being back in Colorado renewed some of my happiness. I love all my friends in Texas and I don't know what I'd do without them, but some of the people I saw back in Colorado just left me feeling happy and okay with where my life is right now. Not that I wasn't feeling that before, but God just gave me some peace with being back in Colorado. I didn't just see my friends, I saw some old family friends and it was great seeing them as well. I'm so glad I got to see most of my closer friends! It's funny, seeing those mountains again and feeling the cold in Colorado made me feel like I was finally home. I honestly can hope that it is in God's plan to bring me back there someday. No filter needed to see the beauty of those Rocky Mountains!



Another cool thing happened. Of course, I saw my dad and everything, but I needed to find a stethoscope for my clinicals next semester. Well, who better to ask than my dad who has had one his entire life? So, I ask him, and turns out he had an old one, a really good quality one, that he used during his career and being a paramedic and all of that. It turns out we had his old one down here in Texas. So, I will be using that one for clinicals. It's kind of a cool feeling, using my dad's old stethoscope. It feels like a 'passing the torch' sort of moment. I mean, it's not old, like I said, it's of very good quality and works like new. But there is something awesome about using my dad's stethoscope. All this medical stuff is something I feel close to my dad with. I feel like I can ask him advice and I can talk to him about it, which is a good feeling, considering it hasn't been that way with him with many things. One of my best memories with him is doing a cadaver lab with him my senior year of high school. My dad was the chaperone with our group and he was like a kid on Christmas day. You could tell he loved this stuff, and I got to share in that experience with him. He wanted me to experience that and I could tell he was excited to do that with me and see me experience what he had done a million times. This is kind of the same thing, I went to him for advice about the stethoscope and he was just all the more willing to help me. It made me realize that maybe I have forgiven him for everything. I don't have to be comfortable with his choices or anything, but him, as a person, I think I'm on the mend towards forgiving him as a person, which is a good feeling. There comes a point where you get tired of holding grudges and being bitter. Anyway, that's all I have for you guys for today! In less than a week, the beginning points of my career are going to happen! Just call me Nurse Morgan! :) haha.









"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory."
-Ephesians 1:11-12

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