Dude

April...

Life is full of ups and downs. Right now, my classes are on a down.

I cannot seem to please anyone with my projects (any one that counts, that is.... for a grade).

But in life, you have to take them as they come.

Meanwhile, my spirits are lifted by the thought that I just celebrated Easter!

It is truly a wonderful holiday, the best one. It is the base of my faith, without easter, it would be nothing.

So for those kids that like their candy in those little eggs, go for it. but remember to teach them about the REAL reason for this past Sunday. (I like my chocolate too, just a little miffed that it has become mostly about the candy and eggs and new dresses and less about the celebration that our Savior is alive.) We need to bring back the Celebration and remember-

"He is risen."

halleluiah!

~me

Tada

Here I sit waiting for my next class.

I found something interesting among my things the other day. Some old art projects. I cannot believe how bad they are now that I look at them. How on earth that teacher gave me a good grade I shall never know.

It got me to thinking about growing up. Specifically growing spiritually. Do you ever look back at your life and think, "wow, that was a dumb mistake" after the fact, even though it seemed allright at the time? I did that one fairly recently. I know that I let Him down sometimes, but He picks me back up again and I keep going.

But sometimes people don't grow up spiritually. They think God is their "fire hydrant" and that's about as far as they go in getting to know Him. Being a Christian means being a good example. It means growing up- knowing God. It means not letting others around you influence you to do bad stuff. It means having a wondefully abundant and joyful life in the midst of all the bad stuff that goes on.

It means having an impact. Don't just write off stuff you see or hear "all the time" as being commonplace. If it's wrong, rebuke it. If it's not tasteful, don't watch it. To be a Christian is to be sold out. Don't go halfway and think that you've "done your quota". Serving God is a full time position.

Are you doing your job well?

In the News....

A quick note to commentors on my previous entry- thanks for the comments! :)

now on to this entry:

In the news today, two children, 2 and 5 years old, were with their older uncle (he's 17) and another young man (18). Simple enough beginning, right? Two guys babysitting their younger relatives. However, their activities were not so normal. The older youth were smoking marajuana and the younger ones were trying to sniff it. The older boys thought this amusing and VIDEO TAPED this activity. They are now in jail awaiting trial and the two children are in foster care for the time being.

Okay, so what has this world come to? The moral lessons in this are huge (such as don't let young impressionable children inhale illegal substances) but beyond the phsycial implications of how much those two stupid boys could have damaged their young relatives, I am still wondering
WHY ON EARTH THEY VIDEO TAPED IT. Wow, the stupid award goes to these guys. Doing something appauling and illegal, so why not record it so grandma can see when she comes home? If you di something illegal, don't record yourself! that's a HUGE neon sign saying "I want to go to jail!"

Of course, the simplest way to avoid getting in trouble with the law is to avoid illegal activities. Doesn't take too much brain power to comprehend that.

And people say this is a civilized society.

Argh.

Art. I just listened to a teacher and a student discuss what exactly art is for almost two hours. THEN I got to listen to the teacher bash my project I spent literally every spare moment of my weekend working on because she said the idea was good!

So just what is art? I believe that it is whatever you want it to be. I mean, the little kid's fort made out of popsicle sticks that has hot glue or elmers glue spilled all over it is art. It might not be refined, or sellable, but to that kid, it is an expression of the fun he had in making it. (then if you were like me you'd ask momma to please be allowed to burn it so you can see how fast the glue melts- i was a weird child).

Then you have Rembrant. The dude was insanely good at what he did. Michelangelo, did a while chapel for crying out loud, and his craftsmanship has withstood the test of time, unlike the kid's popsicle stick fort. Mic did what I consider FINE art. SELLABLE art. But regardless, both are an outward expression of an inward desire, either to make a client happy or simply have fun. It's weird how much can be thought of that way.

As for now, I shall go bang my head against a wall trying to please this teacher. But at least the next project is based solely on how well I make it look like a vegetable.

~the art fiend