Puddle of Thoughts

I'm not sure what to write about because there are so many tidbits that are sitting in my brain, that I have been brewing over.

One of my friends can be very unsympathetic to me when I am expressing frustrations. Her unsympathy usually just adds to my frustration, which makes me wonder why I share "concerns" with her at all. But after such an incident this weekend, I pulled back from the situation and started analyzing the friendship. Would I really prefer a friend who only listens compassionately and lets me wallow in my frustrations or am I better for having a friend who won't let me wallow in my problems? You see, despite her unsympathetic comments this weekend, she got me thinking about my expectations and the perspective I was bringing to this particular situation. I realized that I need to be approaching my situation with a different mind-frame from the beginning in order to be productive and to limit my frustrations. So all in all, is my unsympathetic friend just what I need...someone who won't let me get away with pity parties? I decided that ultimately both compassion and bluntness need to work together as to build up individuals instead of creating an environment of discouragement or victim-minded individuals.

I am now working with my church's youth group...have I mentioned it before? In October I will be teaching Sunday School twice, who is going through the Old Testament this school year. The first lesson will be on The Law and The Tabernacle and the second lesson is on the book of Numbers. I am so excited about these lessons, especially the former. I love studying about the Law and Tabernacle and seeing the correlations between them and the New Testament, or between them and our relationship with God. Super cool...God created everything to speak of salvation and love for His people. I think if I ever became a Bible teacher/professor, I would want to only teach on the Old Testament.

I've started a new Bible Study...No Other God by Kelly Minter. It's a study on idols. I think my biggest idol is self-gratification...the thought that I deserve whatever I want, whenever I want it. This mindframe affects my wallet (because I never have enough money), my eating (extra weight from the extra brownie or four), and my relationships (a 'what's in it for me' attitude). So during this study, which will take me into mid-December, I'm going to be focusing on this idol. I don't want to be controlled by my desires but to have my desires controlled by me.

Well, I think that will do it for today. It's a beautiful crisp fall day so I'll celebrate by having another cup of coffee!