So Much Like You (A Poem)

I'm surprised to find myself posting this poem.

I have a friend who is really into poetry, and I've been thinking about writing more poems myself. 

Today, I had a random urge to write a poem....and I came up with this. I haven't written a poem in FOREVER, mainly because I'm really bad at rhythms and rhyming things, and word choices, and iambic pantameter vs. trochaic hexameter,  stressed vs. unstressed syllables, and line lengths, and subtle vs. not-so-subtle symbols, and things like that.

The really cool thing about this poem is that it sort of turned into my own little psalm of praise, and it talks about how awesome it is that we are made in the image of God.

Feedback would be nice, and if you guys would like to see more of this sort of thing, please let me know! :)

So Much Like You

(a poem inspired by Song of Solomon 4:7)

by Hayley Robinson

“All beautiful you are, my darling.

There is no flaw in you.”

Oh, these words are so thrilling,

and how wonderful, that they should come from You.

You, a majestic and perfect God

who loves me for me and never changes.

How often I’ve fought

to never be thought

of as the strangest.

Yet, You have always sought

and have always pursued me.

You, perfectly and amazingly generous and good,

Who knows all things before they occur,

And so often I nod off to sleep,

Falling into a place where all is a blur

And then I forget who I am in You

Until You help me remember.

Without You,

I never could.

All beautiful am I?

Lord, how undeserving of these words am I,

that You of all beings--

You, among all things--

should find me flawless, perfect, and beautiful…

That You should find me

to be

So much like You.

You, who created time and space,

You who put the stars in place,

You who made the world with Your breath and Your word

With Your words and Your breath, O Lord,

You made the entire world!

You of all beings--

You, who are beyond all things--

Created me

So that I could glorify, worship,

and always be

So much like You.

“All beautiful you are my darling.

There is no flaw in you.”

Yes, Lord, I accept it now.

Surely I must be

If my place is to bow

before You.

Surely You created me

to be

So much like You.

And if my place is to be like You,

Then of course, I must be without one flaw,

Even though I’ve broken every one of Your laws.

You’ve so graciously forgiven me.

And each day you give me the chance to be

So much like You.

To breathe,

To act,

To speak,

and to always be

So much like You.

Question for the Reader: Do you like my poem? :) Do you write poetry? Who are your favorite poets? (Any Dr. Seuss, Emily Dickinson, and George Herbert fans out there?)

"And God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them." --Genesis 1:25b-28a

Photo credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhshZF8qrdMLWw9sm39JB-KRBoOSZqCD5RsjKYadXaZFQ1FG_mDqIt-x1hCZnH0_L0fXbyF6Bkf2TlQ3d98HlAoxGZZIr51wrOXgfqBGeruK7FJ_kFLPE0W4bdGL5Jvru5WQlTtotef7qc/s320/forget-me-not_1.jpg

Where I See Myself in 19 Weeks (and How You Can Help!)

A few months ago for the 30 Day Blog Challenge (which I still have yet to officially finish....sorry), I answered the question: "If I could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?" My answer was Europe.

But I have a confession to make: that was the general answer.

Every summer at my church, several people in the congregation go on a mission trip to an English camp in Eger, Hungary. For several summers, I've been dreaming about going to Eger with my church. Here's what has usually gone through my head: "I really hope to go there someday," or "I can see myself going there in the future." But more recently, I've been praying very hard about it, and the monologue in my head has turned into: "I'm ready to go to Eger this summer. And it's only 19 weeks from now. I'm sure I'll get there soon."

Here's some info about the English Camp that our church missions group will be going to:

The campers in Hungary are people my age: mostly teens, but specifically, they are young people from the ages of 12 to 21, and a lot of them don't know Jesus because of the gypsy cultural influence in their community.

When I think about my own life and background, I know that I am very blessed. God worked in amazing ways so that I could have several opportunities to know Him more. But then, there are plenty of kids out there who don't have the same background as I do, and while God has a perfect plan for them, I know that I can use my gifts and abilities to help them find out what theirs are in order to serve God, too.

I have three objectives in going on this trip:
1) To share the gospel by way of getting to know the kids and sharing my testimony with them.
2) To teach teens about a language that they are interested in, which also happens to be my native language: English.
3) To get to know the teens in order to establish friendships with them, so that they can get better at their English by communicating with a native speaker such as myself, also, so that they can know more about American culture as I also get to know more about Hungarian culture, and that they may be led to Christ by the example of all the missionaries coming to the camp.

Here's the downside: this trip costs money. In order to raise enough, I'm going to need some help. If you are interested, here is a way to start:
Buy a t-shirt! White Fields Community Church (the church I attend), for the very first time, is selling t-shirts, and all of the proceeds go to missions. Plus, they come in multiple different sizes and colors! If you're interested in buying one, check out this link: https://squareup.com/market/white-fields-community-church (P.S. All you have to do is click on whatever colored shirt you want in the middle of the page, pick the size, and buy it! Careful, though, at the bottom of some screens, you might find ads that say "You Might Also Like," which don't belong to the church.)

Within the next few weeks/months, I'll probably come up with some more ideas for people to help, but for now, if you have any questions, please let me know, and please consider buying a shirt for the missions team! :)

Another way to help in a big way is to pray. Here is a list of things that I'll need to prepare for this trip, and a list of things that the camp and the missions group will need prayer for, as well.

Please Pray for Me as I Try to Accomplish These Things in Preparation for the Trip:

• Applying for and getting a job in the near future
• Getting my very first passport, and making sure preparing to fly overseas goes smoothly
• Preparing my heart and mind to be a useful missionary and to help the missions team

Please Pray for My Church, the Camp Leaders, and the Future Camp Attendees as Camp is Coming Soon:

• All of the other people on the church missions team will have their hearts and minds prepared to minister the camp attendees in the way that God sees fit
• The camp leaders will have clear minds to have as much prepared that's necessary
• The future camp attendees will have open ears, minds, and hearts to learn English in a way that is the least frustrating and most beneficial to everyone
• Many of the future camp attendees will come to know more about Jesus and accept Him as Lord of their lives

I hope that I will be able to go, but in the meantime, I'll be praying that this missions trip goes according to God's plan, and turns out wonderfully, with or without me. If it is the Lord's plan that I go this year, please pray that I'll be able to use my gifts and experiences to minister in a way that is pleasing to God and brings more people to Him.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!

Don't forget to check out the link above for a t-shirt! :)

Questions for the Reader: Have you ever gone on a missions trip? What was it like? Do you have any advice about missions for me? Do you have any advice about traveling out of the country?

"For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!' But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our message?' Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.'" --Romans 10:13-18

"I'm Thankful For..." Link-Up

It's that time of the year again. Thanksgiving is a little over a week from now. Schools are studying Plymouth Plantation, the cooks of the families are making the longest grocery lists known to man, and Macy's, once again, is planning the ultimate parade.

But what is Thanksgiving really about? Surely it's not only about eating twice as much as you really should one day per year, and watching football or parades.

No, it's about taking time to think about all of God's graces and blessings in our lives that we have to thank Him for.

Here are a few of my favorite things to be thankful for:

1. Interests and Talents
Imagine a world where humans were talent-less, had no inspiration or creativity, and no capability to do something great for God. I'm so thankful for that opportunity: to wake up every day and decide to glorify God with the talents He gave me and the interests that He has set in my heart.

2. Family
This is one of the obvious Sunday school answers, but at the same time, it's actually profound. I remember reading an article several months ago about a cause supporting orphans in Romania who were psychologically harmed. It was so sad to see some of the videos that were posted and how none of those children had any family that was willing to give them support to lead exceptional and extraordinary lives. That's why I'm especially thankful this year to be with my family every day. Thanks to them, I'll be able to truly celebrate Thanksgiving, and I think that's something that a lot of Americans often take for granted.

3. Education
Education is a bit more than being past the point of unintelligence, or just being able to say that we're smart, or have a bigger brain than an alligator. Education is the gift from God in which we learn how to think, not what to think. I'm grateful that I have so many wonderful educational opportunities that teach me how to think critically, follow Christ, and pursue the interests and talents that (again), God has given me to glorify Him.

4. Friends
I've had some bumpy roads this year with a couple of friendships of mine. But through those rough times, I've learned to be patient and loving, and even trusting the people who care about me, even when there's a risk of getting hurt in the end (but there's also a chance of wonderful things to happen as well). On top of that, I've learned that I have to love the Lord above all else, because He is the only one who gives me self-worth. 

5. Communication
Where would anyone be without the ability to communicate? For crying out loud, this blog would be non-existent. We'd all probably be swaying to and fro in the fetal position trying to figure out how to live life on our own since we would have no capability to get help from others. I think that loving our neighbors strongly connects to communication. It's so fascinating how a 6 word tweet can bring thousands of people to a concert, or 500 words can change minds when they are spoken on a podium. I've even seen people's hearts turned around over one Bible verse. I'm thankful for our ability to communicate. Without it, we'd likely be able to truly love one another.

Now it's your turn! I have created a link-up for all of you readers to share what you are thankful for. If you're having trouble thinking of some, don't worry! The link-up ends on Monday, December 2nd, so you have plenty of time.

Don't forget to comment on this post, invite your friends to follow this blog, and have fun linking-up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods." --Psalm 95:2-3

The 30-Day Blog Challenge, Day 23: Hobbies

Prompt: List your top 3 favorite hobbies and why you love them.

1) Blogging!!!
Yes, indeed. Blogging is one of my favorite hobbies. Why? It allows me to write continuously (not just when papers are due at school) about life, the Lord and His ways and share them with people all over the world. I also consider it to be a way of professing my faith to others.

2) Baking
I'm definitely one of those people that think baking is therapeutic. I love the quote from the movie Julia and Julia in which the food blogger Julie Powell says, "You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say "nothing" I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." I love how baking is a science. If you simply follow the recipe, and measure things carefully, you'll end up with a perfect masterpiece. It's also nice when I'm at home, and everyone else is having a stressful or hard day somehow, just combining an egg, peanut butter, and sugar and baking it turns into something sweet and rewarding for them.

3) Music/Teaching
I wanted to list both of these on my hobby list, but I ranked them together so that it still counted as 3. :)
Teaching: I truly enjoy teaching, because when I prepare to teach a lesson of some form, I learn something too. I either learn a different technique of how to do something, or I learn a fun new fact that I never knew before, or I even learn more about the person that I'm teaching and build a stronger relationship with that person. I feel that it's a gift that God gave me, and I hope to keep learning how to teach even better as I grow.
Music: Have you ever noticed that when you tap your foot on the floor or your pencil on the desk, you're adding background music to your day? Why do grocery stores always play songs at a certain volume, or even at restaurants, a local Subway might play rock music in the background, or a special expensive restaurant might hire live bands to come play? Everyone enjoys music in different forms. It's something special that adds to everyone's life. Without music, life somehow seems a bit empty. Life all of a sudden feels bland or awkward or uncomfortable when there is not one sound to be heard. That's why I like playing music. It feels like I'm adding more to someone's day.

Question for the Reader: How do you like to contribute to other people's lives in big or small ways?

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." --Philippians 2:4

The 30-Day Blog Challenge, Day 21: On My Mind

Prompt: 5 things on your mind.

1) Thanksgiving
It's at this time of year that I really begin to think about what I'm thankful for. I know that I'm thankful for the obvious "Sunday School" answers: I'm thankful for my Savior, my home, my family, food, an education, etc. But what are the things that I'm thankful that I normally don't think about?

2) Friendships
When you attend an online school with thousands of kids all over the world, you'd think that you wouldn't feel very lonely. But this is one of the rare times that I truly do feel lonely. Part of that is because I'm an introvert, so I'm not very proactive when it comes to making friends and building relationships. I realized last week that in order to truly maintain friendships and relationships with people, you have to proactively seek out time with them, instead of waiting for natural events to give you the opportunity.

3) Talents
Some of you might be familiar with the mild stress, worry, and concern that comes from college prep in junior year of high school. Almost every college prep pamphlet, website, and program in the world tells high school juniors to ponder what they love doing, what they're talents are, and how to apply that to an expertise for adulthood. Obviously, it's kind of scary to think about. "What if I'm not as good at this as all the other kids my age are, so it's not as impressive to college entrance administrators?" "What if I turn out not to like this particular area of interest 10 years from now, even though I absolutely adore it now?" "How do I choose between these two interests?" "How do I turn as weird of an interest as this one into a career?" Lots of questions, lots of thinking, lots of unnecessary worry, because I know that I have a lot more time than I intuitively think. I just need to keep analyzing what I enjoy, and ask God to help me sort out what His plan is for me.

4) Reading
I used to really love reading a lot, but now I'm not finding the inspiration to do so. I think one of the problems is that I overwhelm myself with school reading by putting it off (because they're not always fun to read) and then I decide that I can't read anything because I feel guilty reading anything else but schoolwork. I'm figuring out that if I catch up and keep up, then I'll have a lot more time to read what I truly enjoy. But for right now, I'm very behind, and I need to focus hard on catching up.

5) 10,000 hours
Back to the talents again. An author named Malcolm Gladwell said that the approximate amount of time that a true expert spends in his field of work is about 10,000 hours, or around ten years. I think I know what I want to spend 10,000 hours in, but to look at that number is both inspiring and daunting at the same time. But that number keeps haunting me... Ten thousand hours of practice in order to achieve expertise. How will I spend ten thousand hours of my life?

Question for the Reader: What's on your mind?

"Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.'" --John 11:9