Reconsidering the "Good Life"

I watched a show on t.v. today called "Surviving the Cut". It's a show about military guys going through special forces training. It kind of struck me how awful the training looked. It was worse than I even imagined it could be. Kind of like all your fears coming to life. There they were, pushing themselves beyond what even they believed was humanly possible, and there I was, sitting on my couch eating a sandwich. What surprised me about it was that even though they were completely stressed out and fatigued, both mentally and physically, they, for the most part, remained positive about the experience. Throughout the whole thing they seemed to repeatedly comment about all the valuable lessons they were learning. They talked about how this terrible experience was making them stronger.

I hear people say stuff like that all the time. It's all over facebook and television, and everyday conversations. "Its the tough times that make you stronger", "There is always a valuable lesson to be learned". These statements are to tough times as "..and then I found five dollars" is to bad jokes.

This is the question I have:

If everyone seems to agree that the hard things only make us better, then why do we continuously strive for a life of comfort?

I feel like the clouds have parted, and I can hear angels singing or something. Seriously, total epiphany. I can't help but to praise God for this thought. I mean, goodness. Think about all the places life has taken us..the times when we sat and wished for a better life. Would you change it? No. Your life is what helped make you into who you are today.

I know that now you're probably thinking, "So what, you want me to run into chaos?" I admit it doesn't make sense. However, it makes perfect sense if you include God. A life lived for God does not look like comfort, but like chaos. THINK about who you could be, about who God could make you into if only you ran into his storm! It will not feel very nice, you may feel scared, your body will probably hate you, but when you emerge you will be resilient like gold, and shining like the pearls of Heaven.

Amazing.

God's plan for us is so great, and so overwhelming, How could anyone live life only for themselves? How could anyone not give everything to follow Him?

Please pray that we can all dismiss ourselves and run to Him. He is beautiful.

Making New Friends.

I would like to first put it out there that I am one of those people who looks down on those who choose to get a plant that "represents their relationship" or some stage in their life. People who give some guy who can even successfully make Ramen noodles something living with a note that reads something like "this plant will grow just like our love.." Blah blah blah. I need to put that out there, because I want you to know I'm not that person. However, recently I started decorating my new room and I thought that it would be nice to have a plant. So I went to Ross and found this really cute pot, and then bought the plant after work one day at good old Home Depot. Let me tell you it has been quite an ordeal. First of all, every road in Wilmington has a median (I hate them all!) and so fourty-five u-turns later my poor plant was dumped all over the floor in my car. Commence the vacuuming of the car. Then, I discovered that there was no hole in the bottom of my pot. Commence debate about proper drainage for a non-draining pot. We (Mary and I) decided that the best idea was to fill the bottom with rocks, though we had none, so that excess water would drain into the rocks and not drown the plant. Commence hike around the neighborhood in search of rocks. Still, I must admit when I got that stupid plant into place it looked pretty cute, and all the work I put into it only made it more endearing. Me and the plant had bonded, for sure. I placed it in my room where it is still pretty cluttered with stuff I have yet to put up from my move and it hit me that this plant was starting fresh. A new pot, a new location, a new purpose. Just like me. Aww.. So now this is my plant, and we are starting a new life together, and well I don't have any friends here yet so I have to make do okay?

Do you see now how cute it is?

Anyways, the move to North Carolina has been a fairly good one. I have always wanted to load up my car with everything I have and take off across country, and well, I did it. Honestly I didn't think I would do it at 20 years old, but life has never gone as I had planned. I have to say that I think driving here was a blast. Everyone told me, "Oh, how miserable", "You're insane, you'll probly fall asleep out of boredom", etc., etc.. It was the complete opposite. It was so exciting the whole way. America is beautiful, I got to stop and see friends and relatives that I would never normally get to see, I couldn't believe how much fun I was having. I stopped off at my roommate (from when I lived in Wales)'s house in Boone, NC which is high in the Appalachian Mountains. It was like a story book. There were windy roads, beautiful trees, antique shops. We went to Grandfather Mountain and Tweetsie Railroad. Ridiculous. Then I went from there to where I'm living in Wilmington, NC. Here we have the ocean, and it is glorious. We are surrounded by nature at my house. We have turtles, alligators, and squirrels that sit in little squirrel chairs. Check out this picture of the squirrel! So handsome.

Since I've been here I've started working at the Home Depot again, and I'm trying out this church called Port City Community Church, that I like so far. They seem really missions oriented, and also have an enormous college group. The small groups are starting up in the fall and I plan to join one of them.

I will not be starting college until next fall, however, I think that the time will go fast. For one, I'm going to Nairobi, Kenya to see my lovely sister this October, and in the summer I plan to meet up with my sisters in London, right in time for the 2012 Olympics! I hope. That said I will have to be buying tickets and making reservations SOON. Or else traveling there will be miserable during the Olympics, as well as expensive. Expensive is one thing I cannot yet do. Then there are the little things such as my parents coming to visit, and Mute Math coming to town on their new album debut tour. For those of you who don't know, Mute Math, besides being one of the best bands around, is my absolute FAVORITE band, and I will someday marry the band as a whole. Yes. I will.

Living with my Aunt Mary has been really great. She is very entertaining and she does cool things with me, like kayaking.

This particular location is Greenfield Lake. You might think it was named that because it looks strikingly like a green field, but of course, it is not named for that, and that is the unexciting case. It was very cool because there were tons of little water-passage ways to kayak in and out of while weaving through these sunken pine trees. It was very Louisiana. We had hoped to spot a gator, but we did not. Although we did see lots of turtles and birds. There happened to also be hordes of paddle-boaters out on the lake so kayaking enabled us to get away into more private areas where they couldn't fit. Can I also just say that there is no way to look cool in a paddle boat? Especially when you are wearing a life jacket. If there ever was a boat that would never, in any circumstance flip over, it is a paddle boat. It's a tale of people who routinely avoid anything thrilling seeking a thrill. Anyways, I'm hoping to maybe go sea kayaking soon. There are also a ton of really enticing inter-water ways (whatever you call them) that go behind peoples houses. It's how people get their boats to and from the ocean, but they look really fun to kayak in, and I'd like to try.

Anyways, that basically catches you up on what I've been up to lately. I was in a blogging mood, which is rare, so I seized the opportunity to share with you. I hope you come visit me, and we can hang on the beach and eat Squiggly's ice cream. It's my new favorite thing.

This would be the KitKat/Strawberry flavor. So good.

Love you all,

Audra