Also -

Today, I'd like to wish a very "Happy Birthday" to one of my favorite poets, Sylvia Plath. If she were alive today, she'd be turning 78 years old. Her story and end is a tragic one. It reminds me that life is beautiful and a precious gift. I'm including a video of Sylvia reading her poem "Ariel". apparently, this was written on this day, a few years before she committed suicide. It is a shame to see such a life cut short. She was so talented and bright, an inspiration for a new generation of modern women poets. Her foray into the genre "confessional poetry" changed the landscape of the craft.

I hope that you like it as much as I did. It's a stunning use of words, sounds, tonal textures. She was a master in the art of constructing visuals.

Getting Started

I'm on the precipice of beginning a very lengthy and intricate term paper for my seminar class. This "edge" is what I find the most difficult thing about being an English major. It's the process from idea to thesis.

Bah.

Well, I have a topic. I talked to my professor about it. He thinks that I have "a direction". All I need to do is... start... But yet here I am, telling you about it rather than actually, ya know, working on it.

(Sigh)

Somehow, this makes me feel better. I'm not sure how. But I will tell you this, I'm writing about the topic of meta-poetics within the sonnet form as a kind of "constraint".

Yeah.

I'm still trying to figure that one out. How do I come up with these topics? I will never know. I think I'm an intellectual masochist. Uh huh... that's it...

Academia can get really gross reaaaallllyyy quickly. It bites you on the rear and doesn't let go. Oh UCLA, you feed my sweet sweet sickness. And for that, I am most grateful.

Also - as a side note, I've had Taylor Swift's song "Mean" stuck in my head all day. I'm firmly convinced that it is the reason I've been unable to focus for 4+ hours. Ugh.

Coveting Prayer

Hello friends. I have some things to share with you that

really really require much prayer. As many of you know,

I'm applying to a French Government Program for next year.

The application opened a few days ago and I've been

slowly leafing through it all this morning. It seems so

overwhelmingly large and expansive. I have to get a

doctor's note and transcripts from all of my previous

schools attended, which are numerous.

The main issue is this: I have little to no control over

where I'll end up being placed. I can select, in order of

preference, the school "zone" of my choice, but there are

only 30 for the whole entire country. It's a shot in the dark,

essentially. My issue is this - I want/need to be in an area

that I can serve/attend a strong local church. With no

idea as to where I'll end up, it's really hard for me to

try and "plan" around finding a Church or a group to

get plugged in with.

This year, I'm relying on the power of prayer and the will

of the Lord to lead me where He wants me to be. This is a real challenge

for me. So I'm going to list some prayer requests. Please

join me before the Father in prayer! It would be much

appreciated!

Please pray:

- That I get accepted to the program. There are 1,500 positions

available, however, the government is beginning to scale back

these positions due to funding issues. Thus, making it more of

a challenge to be accepted.

- If accepted, that I would be placed in a region that has access

to a Christ-exalting local church. Specifically, I'm praying to get positioned

in the city of "Aix-En-Provence", where there is a strong local

seminary and church. I've met some missionaries from there who

really want to help me out. So please please pray specifically for that.

- That my application process would run smoothly and that I'll be

able to get all the documents/letters of recommendation

that I need in a timely manner.

Thank you all so very much! Our God is great and can do

wonderful things!

Prodigal

My small group leader showed this video today at small

group. It really touched my soul, because all too often...

I don't treat myself as a "prodigal son". I too often forget

that, at one time, I chose the world over my savior.

Thankfully, the Lord intervened and showed me the

wickedness of my heart. He took my heart of stone

and gave me a heart of flesh.

These lines in particular stood out to me:

"You held out Your arms, I see them still

You never left, You never will
Running to embrace me, now I know
Your cords of love will always hold".

These hold particular sweetness for my heart. This

makes me so thankful for the love of God and the

lengths to which He went through for my salvation.

As much as I'm holding onto him, he's holding on

to me. What a thought!

Check out the video! It's so beautiful! It may have made

me a little misty... Bah! The music is from Sovereign Grace too.

Love Love LOVE them.

Exciting Things...

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Exciting things happening over here.

And I thought I'd clue you guys in before

it all goes down.

I'll just come right out and say it.

I'm designing a photo website.

That's right. I'm officially taking the

plunge and making this for reals. My

friend Mandy, who is an amazing graphic

designer, has offered to aide me in my quest

for legitimate photography. Needless to say,

I am beyond pumped. So please stay tuned for

some cool images/sneak peeks. I'm seriously

beyond excited about this.

In other news, the Lord has been so kind and

gracious to give me a wonderful week. All good

things are from HIM. Really and truly.

p.s. The Santa Monica Farmer's Market is awesome.

So... I'd recommend going if you're in the LA area.

I bought myself a bouquet of pale pink gerber daisies

and they look very cheery on my desk when I'm up

studying into the wee morning hours.

Poignant

What we need most is not to hear God say yes to our requests.
What we need is to be filled with such deep confidence in the character of our Father
that when he says no,
we know He is doing what is right and good for us.
What we need most is the faith to trust him.

Some claim that strong faith is defined by throwing our energies into begging God
for a miracle that will take away our suffering,
and then believing without doubting that he will do it.
But faith is not measured by our ability to manipulate God to get what we want;
it is measured by our willingness to submit to what he wants.

It takes great faith to say to God,
“Even if you don’t heal me or the one I love,
even if you don’t change my circumstances,
even if you don’t restore this relationship,
even if you allow me to lose what is most precious to me,
I will still love you and obey you and believe that you are good.
and I believe that you, as my loving Father,
will use everything in my life -
even the hard and hurtful things -
for my ultimate good and your eternal glory,
because You love me.”

- Nancy Guthrie

Sidetracking...

I just thought I'd take another break from our scheduled programming to share with you a sweet and beautiful song by Ms. Kate Rusby. She's one of my favorite singers, with a definite Irish/English folk spin. Her music is so fulfilling to the soul and her voice just... sings! Just ignore the pictures in the video. Some crazy fan decided to collage a lot of her pictures. It's like a "Kate Rusby Slide Show". Personally, I think it's a little strange. Just enjoy the music, okay?

Here's her song "Falling". Happy Tuesday!

Yoga, Anyone?

I'd like to interrupt our regularly scheduled program to talk about an interesting and, apparently, hot topic right now: the Christian and Yoga.

Recently, Al Mohler posted this article giving a very detailed and historical overview of yoga within its original and intended context, as well as how it has "crossed over" into the mainstream of American consciousness and perception. Mohler writes:

"Most seem unaware that yoga cannot be neatly separated into physical and spiritual dimensions. The physical is the spiritual in yoga, and the exercises and disciplines of yoga are meant to connect with the divine."

I have to say, as someone who has practiced yoga in the past, I never really considered the implications of the poses and their significance. Granted, my foray into yoga was never serious and my instructor was a Christian who didn't use any of the meditative aspects of the practice. I've been considering yoga as a practice for quite some while, especially after taking a class on Indian and South Asian Art. It sounds strange that an art history class and yoga would correlate but, they have more in common than you think.

You see, in Indian culture and religion, specifically that of Hinduism, the divine is interpreted through a variety of physical and tangible ways, such as art. Therefore, studying the art of that culture means studying the religion. There is no way around it. And Mohler is right - the physical is the divine within that religious system. Take, for example, the concept of Hindu religious art. We would refer to it as idols. You see, the act of worship and interaction with the deity is through the physical senses, thus the need for sight, taste, sound, etc. In studying the art, I actually ended up learning quite a bit about the physical concept of yoga within that religious system. In our contemporary society, many people want to separate the physical practice from the Hindu religion.

This simply cannot be so. Yoga was developed as a Hindu way of worship. Even without the concept of meditation, the poses are meant to reflect spiritual disciplines and facets of that religion. This is often difficult for the western world to understand. Often, we don't comprehend that the concept of worship isn't limited to anything internal or, in the Christian sphere, singing. Worship takes many forms, across all of the religions. Hinduism happens to make their "act of worship" into an exceptionally physical one.

What does that mean for the Christian? Well, it implies a variety of things. As a Christian, I don't dabble in the religious traditions that I don't believe in. It wouldn't make much sense for me to worship at a mosque or celebrate the winter solstice with the Wiccan community. So why, therefore, is it considered appropriate for our culture to consume a religious practice in the name of physical fitness? Health practitioners argue that yoga has benefits that transcend religious connotations, such as lower stress levels and weight loss. To be frank, most physical activity has those same benefits. There are a multitude of alternatives to consider: pilates, rock-climbing, swimming. All of these have the same fitness results without the spiritual compromise.

As Christians, we are called to be separate from this world, while still abiding within it. How can that be our testimony when we are, frankly, engaging in the worship activities of another religion? Fitness benefits aside, this issue must be taken much more seriously within the Christian community. While there is nothing inherently sinful about the physical pose of the "downward facing dog", one must consider the cultural and religious implications of such a practice.

I write this as someone who really genuinely likes the idea of yoga. But to be honest, the compromise of faith is too great a price to pay. If it were possible to fully extricate the physical discipline from the spiritual practice, I'd be the first one in the class with a mat. But since that does not seem to be the case, I think I'm better off taking up another fitness activity.

Aujourd'hui

As most of you know... I'm embarking on a musical challenge. To recap: I'm listening through my entire music collection. Well, I've decided to post some of my favorite songs that I've been working through and explain why. Here goes...

The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight"

Well, this song was a "new find" for me in my collection. Apparently, it's popular on the radio and such. I really liked the momentum and the direction of the music. It's a great listen. I'm posting it because... well... I just like how it sounds! ALSO - I read a postmodern novel about 2 years ago called "White Noise" by Don DeLillo. In this book, there is an event called "The Airborne Toxic Event", from which this band derives their name. I read the book before the band even came out. Gosh. I love being a nerd. How cool is that?

Alanis Morissette - "Knees of my Bees"

I absolutely love Alanis. She's fantastic. She wrote music that a lot of ladies wouldn't have the guts to even attempt. She broke the industry standards with her unique voice and instrumentation. This track is no different. She uses the sitar in such a modern way, it's pretty awesome. Not to mention... her lyrics are pretty bomb. Alanis, there's such a soft spot for you in my heart.

Progress Report: I'm still in the "A"s. It's slow going... but I'm getting somewhere!