Thanksgiving

I haven't blogged in a long while. And to my avid readers, because I know you're out there... somewhere, I apologize. Has my life been filled with Barney Stinson "Thats is SO going in my blog!" moments? Yes. Have I had the will to do anything about it? No.

This break has been fruitless. I have no means of transportation so my chances of getting a job are very very slim. So my days consist of watching Phineas and Ferb, knitting, playing guitar and writing the great American novel. I'm so legit. Could I blog? Yes. Do I blog? No. Are we sensing a pattern here?

However today is Thanksgiving, and here I am to air my grievances against it.

Let me start this rant by saying that I adore Thanksgiving. It's the day we eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat till we can't eat anymore. It's a little bit beautiful.

However, when I awoke this morning to a "Happy Thanksgiving" text from a friend, I did something awful. I thought in my head. "Today, I am thankful for my awesome hair day."

Seriously Kirsten? Seriously? That's what you're thankful for?

Granted, my hair does look awesome today, but that's not the point. The point is the complacency into which we as a culture and myself personally have fallen.

If you ever feel the need to pray for me, pray that I never become complacent. Because honestly that's one of my biggest vices. Complacency leads to laziness which seems to have earned the title for the least offensive sin ever. But I can attest the exact opposite. It's lethal. It pulls you down and makes it seem like noting's happening until you've reached the point of no return. Laziness is not cool.

But that's where we are. We're thankful for our cars and our pretty faces and our good hair days. And yes, all those things are gifts from God, but do we value those tiny, insignificant things above the true gifts of God?

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." Not in all your good things, not only in the pleasant times, not just when you and God are on awesome terms and everything is going your way. In all circumstances, be thankful. This means be thankful in your storms and in your weakness. Be thankful when nothing is going the way you want it. Be thankful when you don't understand what He's doing at all. Because this is Gods will. That's the main thing. It's His will. Do we value our own comfort and will above that of our Creator and Savior?

Disclaimer: I'm about to quote Katy Perry.

After a hurricane comes a rainbow.

Ok, that was rough, but it's largely true. Now to steer away from Katy Perry and back to the bible.

Romans 8:28, possibly one of the most well known verses says "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Going along with what's said about thankfulness in Thessalonians, it is the will of God that we be thankful, not just because of the good, but the bad as well. Because in the large scheme of things, God's got this one. Seriously. He works ALL things together for good for those who love Him. Not the good things, not the pretty happy churchy things, not the things that you'd be happy to share with everyone. All things. So even in the worst parts of life, even when we don't understand, we can know that God understands everything, and He orchestrates everything together for the good of His bride.

So we're thankful when life sucks. We're thankful when we fail. We're thankful when there's death and destruction and all sorts of awful sin, because nothing is too big for God. When we, in our tiny view of time and space and reality, foolishly think that we know what He's doing, or that He's doing nothing at all, loose the ability to be truly thankful. Because you have to be broken down to be rebuilt. You have to go through pain to grow. You have to truly realize how depraved we are and how perfect God is to truly be thankful. We often loose sight of the great chasm between the character of us and God. We delude ourselves into believing that we're not that bad, or that God is not that good. But when you drop your pretenses, and look at the situation for what it really is, the only response to God is begging for forgiveness. And because He is good, the only good, He does. The only response to priceless forgiveness is endless thanksgiving.

So lets make thanksgiving every day (Not the eating part, because that could open a whole different can of unpleasantries). I'm thankful for my failures, because through them God has proved victorious. I'm thankful for my weaknesses, because in them God is my strength. And most of all I am eternally, truly and mournfully grateful for my Saviour and best friend, Jesus, and for His never ending redemptive love that surpasses anger, His mercy that surpasses justice and His death that allows me to truly live.

Hey

Hey is for horses.

Ok, I am fully aware that it's "hay" that is for horses, but you get the idea.

I absolutely, cannot stand when someone starts a virtual conversation this way.

Now, don't get me wrong, I say "hey" as much and anybody, but that's not what I hate. I hate when it stands alone. A single "hey" as if it's something of actual substance. "Hey" is not information to be shared. "Hey" is neither a verb, a noun, or any other part of legitimate speech. It is an interjection, and School House Rock taught us that "Interjections show excitement or emotion. They're generally set apart from the sentence by an exclamation point, or by a comma when the feelings not as strong". See that? Set apart from the sentence. For an interjection, in this case the word "hey" to hold any legitimate weight, it must be apart of a larger entity, working toward a bigger cause.

But come on, you know what I'm talking about. Someone texts you with just "hey".

Seriously? Seriously. Hey? Is that all you have to say to me? You took time out of your life to write the word "hey"? This word can indicated many things about a persons intentions.

How does one usually respond to a "hey"? With another "hey", of course. To which the first "hey"er will without any doubt, because this is exactly how predictable the human race is, will say "What's up?" Don't believe me? next time this happens to you, I bet you a dollar that it will go down that way, and I'll throw an extra 50 cents on it if they follow that "what's up" with an ever charming "lol". I know, I'm a big spender. When a person opens a conversation with a rouge "hey" it can mean several things. One of them being that they wish to talk to you, but have nothing to say. In which case, I say you probably shouldn't be talking if this is the case. What ever happened to the world where if someone didn't have anything to say, they just didn't say anything? Now, I know this seems kind of hypocritical, seeing as how I am an 18 year old Caucasian female with a blog, but bare with me.

If you're going to start a conversation, please have something to say. As previously established, the "hey" "hey" "what's up lol" conversation is very common, so why not cut out the awkwardness for the other person and start your conversation with "Hey, what's up?" or even easier, "What's up?". See, that's a question. It's inquisitive, and albeit not the cleverest of inquiries, it is an inquire, none the less. It's even better if you open with an actual topic of conversation, because nothing is more awkward than a "conversation" with someone you don't really know, about something you're not really sure of.

"Hey."

*Awkward time in which the recipient of the the text tries to figure out what to say*

"Hey."

"What's up? lol"

*Awkward time in which recipient tries to figure out what so was funny about that question that made this person elaborate with and "lol"*

"Nothing much."

BECAUSE IT'S ALWAYS NOTHING THAT'S HAPPENING.

Seriously, I bet you another 50 cents that next time you ask someone "what's up?" providing you're not bffs or whatever, they will reply with "nothing much". Because our lives are THAT boring, obviously. Actually what it is, is an inborn rejection of the mass digital media. We know, deep down that for this many people to have access to our information and even to us is not natural. So we put up defenses, we say that nothing much is happening, because seriously, you don't really want to know whats up. You don't care that much.

Another thing about "hey" (Yeah, I'm still going) is that it's rude. It's a call for attention, a demand in fact. To ignore a "hey" is to ignore someones demand on your time. It's like, seriously, you're wasting not only your time, but mine for a mundane conversation? You couldn't think of one intelligent ting to say? Is your time and your God given ability to think as an intelligent creature that invaluable to you?

So do me a favor. Next time you're tempted to start a conversation off with a "hey", stop, and think of something really clever or funny to say instead. I know you're dying to talk to this person because they're, like such a babe, but trust me, if their level of intelligence is higher that that of a squirrel, they'll feel awkward with an interjection standing on it's own. Think of something funny like "Hey, I just saw a fish riding a recumbent down the highway. Thought of you."