Prayer in a Fast Paced World

We live in a fast paced world. We have fast transportation like cars, planes, subways, and even Uber. I can get a meal to go in less than five minuets. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get where they are going. Our world is constantly going, constantly staying busy.

In your busy world, how often do you stop and pray? If you are anything like me, you probably pray quite often. However, many of them are sent up hastily and frantically. So often I talk to my Father in heaven only when I need something like success, healing, forgiveness, love. Those are wonderful things, but how often to I pray to God just to praise his name and thank Him for all he has done for me? How often do I set a large chunk of time aside to talk with God? Not as often I as wish.

Don't misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with sending up quick prayers to heaven. If fact, I think it's wonderful. It's pretty extraordinary that we can talk to the Creator of our world anytime and anywhere! However, let me tell you a story. During two days of spring break, I went to Lincoln Village with RUF. It was a fun time!  On our last day helping at Lincoln Village, we were directed to go pray for their organization in a room that held pictures of some of the kids from the school for about 30 minuets. At first, it was inspiring, but soon I started to feel tired. I could feel myself starting to want to drift to sleep. I felt like the disciples who fell asleep when Jesus was praying. I had a hard time concentrating for only thirty minutes, and it was then I realized that I too often approach God hastily and when in want.

Habits are hard to form, and time seems to be limited. Priorities get mixed up, and our world is in an impatient hurry. If you've gotten mixed up in the rush, slow down and take time to pray. I find it brings peace and helps sort through thoughts. Maybe you can't identify with me. Maybe you reverently pray every morning or evening, and that's wonderful! I look up to people who have that discipline. God's still at work in my life; I'm still learning and growing, and I'm comforted by that.

DIY Inspirational Board

School and life can be stressful, especially with finals coming up! Here's a simple DIY to decrease your stress and increase your inspiration.

What you need:
A bulletin board
Wrapping paper
Bible verses and quotes
Scrapbook paper
Stapler
Glue

1. First, pick out your wrapping paper. It doesn't need to be wrapping paper, but that's what I used. You can use any kind of paper as long as it is big enough to cover your board in. If you use wrapping paper like I did, I suggest using one that is fairly thick so that it won't tear easily. Cut it to fit your board and staple each corner to the board.

2. Print out some of your favorite verses and quotes. I used Microsoft Word to type up some of my favorites and then printed them out. Once printed, I cut them out.

3. Next, pick out some cute scrapbook paper. Cut the scrapbook paper to the correct sizes, so that you can place a quote over the paper and still see the scrapbook paper sticking out from each side of the printed quote as pictured below.

4. Glue the printed quotes on top of the scrapbook paper.

5. Staple them to the board, and you have made a wonderful place to get inspiration, peace, and comfort.

Add whatever else you would like! I added a picture of a vintage bike because I thought it was adorable, as well as a checklist to stay on top of things. You can't really mess this DIY up. It's quick, easy, and fun!

A Sister & Best Friend

Sisters make the best friends. It always breaks my heart to see sisters who don't get along and fight all the time, because you really can't have a better friend than a sister. I'm persuaded that my sister is the best, and here's why.

She's sympathetic: Recently, I was stressed, and my sister was very sweet, caring, and sympathetic towards my feelings. She encouraged me and showed me how blessed I am to have a sister like her.

She's encouraging: Like I mentioned above, my sister is very encouraging. I've watched her grow up encouraging teammates in basketball and friends in ballet. I've seen her encourage younger ballet company dancers before auditions, and be a wonderful role-model. 

She's enthusiastic: My sister is very outgoing and people oriented. She's very enthusiastic and tries her best to include everyone. She usually does a wonderful job at it too, but I'll never forget the day when she saw a new girl at dance and decided to make her feel welcome. A little too enthusiastically, she introduced herself and it scared the girl a bit. It was quite humorous.

She's funny: It could be a humorous comment at the dinner table or singing a silly song, but she makes me laugh. I enjoy getting to spend time laughing with her.

She's a beautiful and dedicated dancer: My sister has been dancing for about fourteen years now, and she's very talented. She has had several huge partnering roles, as well as solos that have displayed her strength and flexibility. She's been the Bluebird from Sleeping Beauty, the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker, and many other roles. This Friday and Sunday, she will be Cinderella! She's worked very hard on this ballet. You won't want to miss it! Click on the link in my Facebook post to order tickets or get them at the door!

Dear sister, you are all of these five things and so much more, so here's to you my forever friend. I look forward to seeing you dance this weekend. I know you will dance beautifully; you always do. Take a deep breath, you're almost to graduation, and soon we'll be lying in the summer sun at the beach! I love you!