Big Ball of Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey

Introvert

I am reading a book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.  I am very intrigued by what I have heard about this book.  It is also interesting because a couple of years ago, I decided to stop fighting what the world was telling me about how it was better to be outgoing.  Why be something I'm not?

Introverts are not necessarily shy--that is a perception that is placed on them by society.  I'm not shy.  I have things to say about many topics.

The world is more introverted than you think, too.  I would love to explore more about what that means for the Church and for those in leadership positions.

A few years ago when I was a youth minister for a summer, the pastor tried to make an extrovert out of me because it was the kind of person they expected should be a youth minister.  It didn't take.  It did leave me with feelings of self-loathing because I could not be what that kind of congregation wanted.  I told my therapist last year that I was happy to be an introvert, and I was finally at peace with that aspect of my personality.  I don't think she ever got what I was trying to say.  I'm not shy.  I'm not socially withdrawn.  I am just me.

I am this person God created.  My personality was created.  I will live within the traits that have made me wonderful up until this point in my life and until the end.

Moreover, I will encourage those whom the world labels as shy.  That is not a bad thing to be--it is only when we look upon those people as defective that that's what they become.

I am wonderfully made.

Reaction

Let nothing upset you,
Let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins all it seeks.
Whoever has God lacks nothing:
God alone is enough.
---St. Teresa of Avila

I'm always working on how I react to things.  Most of the time I feel like I am yelling at the kids (or dh) for things they do wrong, i.e. spilling drinks, running through the house, fighting.  I need to memorize this poem.

The Me Who No Longer Exists

In the mail today, I received a "special one-time offer" for me to re-subscribe to Citizen Magazine which is published by Focus on the Family. This notice arrived about 14 years too late for it to do any good.

I'm not the same person I was fifteen years ago. In fact, the person I was a decade and a half ago wouldn't recognize me and would probably say I'm not even a Christian.

So what happened? I started thinking for myself. I gave up what I had been taught by the church as a fact, and I researched and studied to find out the truth. Divinity school is where it started; and since I graduated ten years ago, I've kept changing. I'm not the conservative evangelical that is being targeted by this offer that came in the mail.

If I had this magazine, I bet I would vote exactly opposite of what it says in its voter's guide. The "trustworthy Christian perspective" wouldn't be my Christian perspective. I am simply not the person to which this piece of mail is addressed.

That person died. Or maybe evolved is a better word.
I just know that I have never been more confident in my beliefs and values. I've never known better what to support and what to fight.

And above all, I wonder at how God can change a heart so radically as mine was changed.

The Facts About Amendment One

I'm against it. It would have to be rescinded in the future if it passes, so why not save us the trouble and vote no.