Who I want to become/be:

Gentle

Disciplined

Mirthful

Joyful

Steady

Truthful

Faithful – and Full of Faith

Dependable

Flexible

Enjoyable

Musical

Creative

Hospitable

Peaceable – full of Peace

Trustworthy

How am I going to become those characteristics?

How does one go about becoming or having more of a particular characteristic?
Or of "improving one's character" ??

So I have decided that I need to be more healthy. 
like being conscious about how much ham and cake and cookies and soda and ice cream and candy and other sugary, non-beneficial snacks I consume.
and really, I want to work on expanding my tastes. I want to learn to like more vegetables and more ways to use fruits in recipes....i want to expand my cooking to more than just convient single meals and desserts....lol....

...and I might even try setting a goal like 50 situps/crunches a day -- 25 in the morning and 25 whenever in the rest of the day....even if its right before bed....

and i still have this burning desire *lol that phrase provokes giggles from me*
to learn and progress in swing dancing. I find this amusing and see no particular harm in it, as long as I am aware of myself during it.
And I am almost to the point of...*da-da-daa!* going and paying for a class by MYSELF!
which may not sound particularly grand or impressive....but for the reserved, and easily frightened/intimitaded person I currently am, this is a HUGE step forward....at least, I hope...... *lol*


That, and that I have a dream room almost worked out.
I have really wished that I could be on the "trading spaces" show so that my room would get all tricked out, per se....but I don't think that there is a high chance of that happening....
.....actually, now that i think of it, there is a better chance of me getting on the show "what not to wear" then on "trading spaces"....wow! lol.....the irony.....

well anyway....i have a rough list of things I want to change about my current room, and what i want to my room no matter where i live to work.... and I'll probably just keep adding to it until it is finished :             
            

so Rob showed me the Fantasy Name Generator and I got very excited and found a bunch....if you feel so inclined, you may give me your opinion on which one(s) you like.....
*happyhappyjoyjoy*
 

The following is from one my friends' myspace blog. It intrigued me a lot...especially the last line....I'm not sure if I agree with it or not.
Tell me what you think.


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Tuesday, November 21, 2006 

The kind of quote they should put on magnets or something.
Current mood: whelmed
Category: whelmed Religion and Philosophy

I'm reading The Silence of Adam (still) and I got to this paragraph yesterday and read it about ten times.  Every time I read it, I hear it louder in my head like a battlecry that is gaining momentum.  I thought I share it and I'd love to hear some of your reactions:

Men who learn to be facinated more with Christ than with themselves will become the authentic men of our day. Men of this generation must learn to count the cost of following Christ (the cost is easily calculated: everything we have); we must feel the emptiness of our souls until no cost seems too high if it brings us into contact with him; we must resist the influence of a "Christian" culture that values self-discovery and self-fulfillment above abandoning ourselves to God. To put it simply, we must be more concerned with knowing Christ than with finding ourselves.

The following quoted excerpts are all from "The Sacred Romance" by Brent Curtis and John Eldrige (who has written a few other books I am currently finding insightful and meaningful to where I am at in life).


"For centuries prior to our Modern Era, the church viewed the gospel as a Romance, a cosmic drama whose themes permeated our own stories and drew together all the random scenes in a redemptive wholeness. 
But our rationalistic approach to life...has stripped us of that, leaving a faith that is barely more that mere fact-telling. 

Modern Evangelism reads like an IRS 1040 form: It's true, all the data is there, but it doesn't take your breath away. 

"To reduce revelation to principles or concepts 
is to supress the element of mystery, holiness and wonder to God's self-disclosure.  

'First principles' may enlighten and inform, 
but they do not force us to our knees in reverence and awe, as with Moses and the burning bush, 
or the disciples in the prescence of the risen Christ" 
(Excerpt from A Passion for Truth quoted inside of , and preceded by quote from The Sacred Romance on page 45)

Could it be that our lives actually make sense, every part--- the good and the bad? 

Those deep yearnings that catch us by surprise when we hear a certain song on the radio, 
or watch our children when they aren't aware of being watched, 
are telling us something that is truer about life than the Message of the Arrows. 
It seems too good to be true, 
which ought to raise even deeper suspicions that it is true. 
As Chesterton recounts in Orthodoxy, he "had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician...I had always felt life as a story; and if there is a story there is a storyteller."

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Ask any one who knows me well -- I have always seen life best through music and stories....so these excerpts speak to my perception and framework for sorting and responding to life.

I had An unplanned mini-retreat with God today.

AA meetings are something that you can't understand until you attend.

And the beauty of an "Open meeting" is that you don't even have to be an alcoholic to attend.
So I went with 3 other classmates as part of the requirements for Mental Health Nursing, on weekday about a month ago.

The AA members are so honest with themselves and with everyone present. The word that comes to mind is "awe" because it seems uncommon for a group of strangers to be able to not only share, but to be honest in a way that not often experienced outside of very close friendships or therapy sessions of one-to-one...
and most of those people there were not quote "christians"....but they were people who acknowledged they had a problem, that they could not fix it themselves and that they needed a power outside of themselves, that is greater than them to enable them to maintain sobriety.

It was real life. In the trenches. And it refreshed me and humbled me to see how honest these fellow addicts could support and hold to accountability their own, when the general sense of "christianity" is that we are failing at making disciples and having meaningful small groups....

I encourage you to drop by an open meeting of AA or Al-Anon for familiy members if you get the chance.

It broadens your perspectives and paradigm.

bleh.

life continues to revolve and turn and I find that it makes me dizzy.

i continually have that feeling (metaphorically speaking-- mostly) of catching my breath in between sprints.
I keep getting caught off guard by things and nearly blown away.

If you have EVER been curious what the "double minded man" in James 1: 5-8 looked like, I am a prime example of that scripture embodied.

IT SUCKS!
I am sure that there is a way to end that, but I am very stuck in that right now.

sigh.

Its tough for me in my walk with Jesus right now.

More on this later?

It was very helpful. I talked to her about water baptism and speaking in tongues and the experience in the prayer rooms. 

I feel more at peace about all three now...She said that "God works at the point of your faith" so those who are taught that God begins working at the time of water baptism, God honors their faith, and works in their lives.

And for those like me, who have been taught that it is the inward work of the Holy Spirit when you are baptised in His Spirit, then God honors that and works in their lives. God works in both groups at the point of their faith.

That relieved a lot of anxiety and pressure I was feeling that I needed to be baptised soley because that was what everyone else thought I should do. If being baptised in water is something that my Jesus would have me to do, I will obey Him. But I want that to come from Him, and not the traditions of humans -- if I got baptised right now, it would be for the wrong reason. 
And I firmly believe that the right thing, at the wrong time, is still the wrong thing. 
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WOW! I need to tell you all about my "Acting on Faith" experience of last night!!!!!
It was incredible!!!!!!!!!
I almost thought I was going "crazy for the sake of God" becuase i totally felt like I was out of my mind, but it obeying yielded the Peace of Christ, so I am confident that Jesus was leading me and I stepped in Faith.

I heard from my Lord and i listened, but it took about 4-5 times for me to obey....but it was worth it!!!!!!!!!!
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Oh and I should probably tell you all that the decision was made today that I am not living with Selam and Virgil for the upcoming school year.
Pray for the next few weeks, as I have some big changes in store for me.
More details upon request.

ok, I'm tired...that's all the details you get for right now.
BUT what I haven't covered is that I I had :
an opportunity to serve my brother,
an "almost vision"
an encounter with something I haven't yet,
a lesson,
a teaching moment,
good laughs,
some redeemed time,
and TIME spent with at least THREE awesome people today in conversations

and some other rad things.