Your Giant Meatball

The title of this post has a point, I swear.

One of my favorite movies is Horton Hears A Who...like the 2009/2008 version. And I can quote large portions of it. One of the lines, for example, is when Horton is talking to the Mayor, and the Mayor is like "Horton, I have to go, apparently there's some problem with the Giant Meatball in the Edible Parade." and Horton says "You take care of that Giant Meatball, sir, and leave the freaking out to me."

I freak out about a lot of things. Especially recently, with all this debate craziness, plus other stuff on the side. And so, when I'm talking to God, my talking involves a lot of "what if"s. "But God, what if this happens? What if things don't go the way I want? What if I don't say the right thing?" So I was thinking about that today, and I remembered Horton's wise words:

"You take care of that Giant Meatball, sir, and leave the freaking out to me."

Let's break it down: I sort of see the "Giant Meatball" as the silly little thing that you think is really big (hence the "giant"), but really isn't. In the end, it doesn't matter too much, and it's just silly. So you can take care of that, and go do whatever needs to be done with it. But then what? Let's look at what God says...

"Leave the freaking out to me."

You can take care of your Giant Meatball, but that's all you can do. Don't freak out about it. It won't help, trust me. Leave it up to God. He has a lot more capacity for it, and He can handle the "stress" a lot better than you can.

So, in the end, no matter what your personal Giant Meatball is, remember that number one, it's only a giant meatball. Yes, it's giant, but it's a meatball. It's not the end of the world, and it's not going to determine your entire life. And second of all...you can take care of whatever needs to be done with your meatball, but ultimately, you can't control what happens to it. Leave that to God. don't worry or stress about it...just give it to God. So, I say again...

You take care of your Giant Meatball, friend, and leave the freaking out to God.

Outside of Ordinary

I don't think there's such a thing as an ordinary person.

Have you ever seen a snowflake? I haven't, not that I remember, because I think there's a curse over Houston that says it can never snow here.

...but that's a different story.

Anyways, it's said that no two snowflakes are the same. Yet, unless you look closely at one...you would think they're all the same. I think it's the same case with people. People generally look at least something like each other...but when you look at who they are, they're all different. And when you really stop to think about it, is there anyone exactly like you?

A quote I recently heard that I loved is from Dr. Seuss..."There's no one you-er than you." When you stop and think about it, it's so true. There's no one better at being you, than...you. If you're looking for something that you're better at everyone else in, here's something. You're the best at being you!

I think God loves variety. He didn't have to create hundreds of tree species or thousands of different galaxies, but He did. In the same way, He didn't HAVE to create billions of people, all unique, all with their own special sets of talents and personality traits...but He did.

In the end, you're extraordinary. I've always been confused about that word, because it's like, doesn't "extraordinary" just mean "more ordinary"?

Um..no.

"Extraordinary", in my opinion, literally means outside of the ordinary. It's like in debate, when you say a plan is extra-topical. You're saying that the plan is outside of the resolution. So, I think extraordinary is being "outside" of ordinary.

So today, just take joy in being you. Because there is no one you-er than you!

You just can't put me in a box!

You probably could, actually. But you've heard the expression...it's like, when someone surprises you by saying or doing something unlike them, they say, 'You just can't put me in a box!" Meaning, basically, you don't know everything about them and can't assume things about them, more or less.

You know where I'm going with this. We can't put God in a box. Obviously. But it's true. Lately God has been really surprising me with the stuff He's blessing me with and telling me...things I don't expect.

Duhh, of course I didn't expect it. That's not the way God works. Just because I think something is going to turn out a certain way, because of my extremely limited experience, doesn't mean it will. God isn't confined to my expectations.

So, just a quick note and reminder..you can't put God in a box. I think He loves to surprise us and He loves doing things just because. Basically, expect the unexpected!

You know what I mean.

...I say that a lot. And sometimes, a variation: "I know what I mean." Haha, it's true. Sometimes no one really can really figure out what I'm trying to say but me. Since sometimes I'm less-than-eloquent with my words, I tend to give up and say, "Oh, you know what I mean!" And sometimes even then, the person I'm talking to..does not know what I mean.

So, most of the time I know what I'm trying to say, but what about the things I do? Sometimes I do something and then I'm like.. "Uh, Katie, why did you just do that?" But you know what? God knows why I do things, and He knows what I mean.

Psalm 33:15 says, "He made their hearts, so He understands everything they do." Think about that for a sec. He gets it. He understands the temptation of sin, He understands your struggles, and He knows what you're trying to say better than you do. Sometimes we, or at least I, think that God is so high above everything that He can't really relate to us; He knows all, yes, but He doesn't understand it.

Haha..what?

Of course He understands it. He made our hearts. Nothing surprises Him. He gets it. And that's so encouraging. That's part of His mercy: He shows us mercy and cuts us slack because He understands that we're not perfect, and He knows how weak we are.

God is not sitting up in heaven with a stick ready to beat us when we do something wrong. Why? Because He made us. And He understands us.

You know what I mean?

Don't Be A Hippo.

No, I'm not going to dedicate an entire post to talking about hippos. Sorry.

"Hippo", however, is sometimes short for "hypocrite", and that's a much more interesting topic.

I was reading John Calvin's book, The Institutes of Christian Religion, and this caught my attention: (Which is rare because in general, I don't find this book extremely interesting..)

"...to speak of those who want to be called Christians, although they have nothing of Christ's but his name and sign. How dare they claim his sacred name?...They are guilty of falsely pretending a knowledge of Christ, despite the eloquence with which they talk of the Gospel. Doctrine is not a matter of talk but life."

I think sometimes we forget that being a Christian is more than praying everyday and going to church. If we do that, and talk about Christianity..but then live for ourselves the rest of the time, what kind of Christians are we? What kind of name are we giving Christ?...Not a good one.

You know "All talk and no game"? It's like...let's say there's a person who talks and talks about water-skiing. They talk about how much they love to water ski, they buy all the equipment for it, and they talk about how great they are at it. But when they go out and actually do it, they really stink. It's sort of like that for Christians. No matter how much I talk about Christ, or how many Bibles I buy, or whatever, if I'm not actually living a Christian life, then there's no impact.

I know it's hard, and everyone messes up, but I think it would be really cool if more Christians actually lived...Christian. Let's try not to contradict our talk and our claims of Christianity by living for ourselves, because that's hypocritical.

...Let's not be hippos.

What-everrr.

Life has its ups, life has its dips, good thing we have potato chips!

...Okay, maybe not. But it's true. Life has both ups and downs. And the downs have a tendency to get me really down.

It happened again. Something in my day didn't go my way, and because of that, I'm grumpy all day.

Is that a good habit?

No.

So what is?

I think we should have a "whatever" mindset, particularly for the small things. If one of my plans falls through, should I get all mad about it and let it completely ruin my day? No. That's where the "whatever" comes in...Okay, so that happened. Whatever. I have more time to do other things now. See? Whatever! I think if I, especially, learned to accept things as they come..I would be all-around happier, and probably more productive.

The other day, I was thinking about the phrase, "Go with the flow." I like that phrase. Not for any particularly deep philosophical reason, I've just always liked it..probably because it rhymes. But I have a habit of putting things into pictures, or relating things to experiences I've had. So, with that in mind, "going with the flow" makes me think of one time, when my family went to Hawaii, and my dad and I were pretty far out in the water, just floating, and rolling with the waves. When a wave rolled through, it was fun, and easy to roll with it until it faded out. If I tried to fight it, I would end up getting water up my nose, and would usually end up getting carried with it anyways. The point is, obviously...that it's kind of easier to go with the flow.

I think it was C.S. Lewis who said "Some people say to God, 'Let Your will be done.' and others say 'Oh alright, have it Your way.'" Either way, we're going to end up rolling with the wave. So when bad things come our way, it may be easier to accept them with a little grace.. "Whatever You want, God. Let Your will be done."

The Beauty of Him

God is really beautiful. And he's so good. Psalm 104 just really sticks out to me...he is so good. :)

Psalm 104

¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great you are!
You are robed with honor and majesty.
² You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
³ you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
you ride upon the wings of the wind.
⁴ The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.

⁵ You placed the world on its foundation
so it would never be moved.
⁶ You clothed the earth with floods of water,
water that covered even the mountains.
⁷ At your command, the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
⁸ Mountains rose and valleys sank
to the levels you decreed.
⁹ Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,
so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You make springs pour water into the ravines,
so streams gush down from the mountains.
¹¹ They provide water for all the animals,
and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds nest beside the streams
and sing among the branches of the trees.
¹³ You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,
and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
¹⁴ You cause grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth—
¹⁵ wine to make them glad,
olive oil to soothe their skin,
and bread to give them strength.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well cared for—
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests,
and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.
¹⁸ High in the mountains live the wild goats,
and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.

¹⁹ You made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to set.
²⁰ You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals prowl about.
²¹ Then the young lions roar for their prey,
stalking the food provided by God.
²² At dawn they slink back
into their dens to rest.
²³ Then people go off to their work,
where they labor until evening.

²⁴ O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
teeming with life of every kind,
both large and small.
²⁶ See the ships sailing along,
and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷ They all depend on you
to give them food as they need it.
²⁸ When you supply it, they gather it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they are richly satisfied.
²⁹ But if you turn away from them, they panic.
When you take away their breath,
they die and turn again to dust.
³⁰ When you give them your breath, life is created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord continue forever!
The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!
³² The earth trembles at his glance;
the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
³⁴ May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;
let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!