Genius?

"Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

-Albert Einstein. 

I've heard that Einstein was a pretty bright guy.  This quote just makes so much sense to me.  Some people are extremely gifted in science and mathematics, and we tend to dub them "brilliant," which in their field, they certainly are.  Some people write beautiful poetry, or vividly entertaining novels.  We like to call them geniuses as well.  Some people have amazing memories, and a knack for remembering the right fact at the right time.  Some people can see a picture in their head, and make it appear on their canvas.  We call them talented.  Some people can compose songs that have the power to control emotion.  We call them "musical geniuses."  

But how about those people whose talent doesn't really fall into any of those categories we label as genius? What about those who are extraordinary athletes who just seem to have an instinct in their sport?  What about dancers who know exactly how to hold their arms, or actors who know precisely how to convey an emotion?  What about directors who envision a play, or the choreographer who told the dancer what steps to perform? Or those who have singing voices which seem to intoxicate others? What about those who prepare gourmet food, or even just a delicious home cooked meal?  Or those whose gardens are always beautiful, because they just have a knack for making things grow? What about that person you always run to when you have car trouble,  or the guy who fixes your computer? How about people who can capture a moment perfectly on film? Or the teacher who knows how to make the most complicated concepts simple for his or her students? What about those whose home, desk, notebook, filing cabinet, etc., is always unrealistically organized? ( a task that I am certain I will never be able to accomplish. )

And what about those people whose special talent has no tangible evidence?  What about those who always make the a witty comment at the exact second that it is downright hilarious? What about those people that always know what advice to give a friend, or even a stranger, in a tough situation?  What about those who have an instinct for knowing when it is better to just listen?  And there is no denying that some people find it easier to forgive people, and that for some accepting those who are different from us is just easier than it is for others.  There are those of us who are just naturally more patient.  There are even those who just seem to be naturally optimistic and happy.  Maybe they have an understanding or outlook on life that comes more naturally to them than to others.  The same goes for people who are naturally kind. Who is to say that all of those talents, which they undoubtedly are, are not their own genre of genius?  

I am not preaching a sermon here. I am as guilty as any.  My friends will tell you that I have often confessed to having a low tolerance for "stupid" people.  That is my mistake.  I need remember that they may understand some things or have the natural ability to do some things that I cannot grasp.

The inner workings of no two peoples' minds are identical, so how can one say that because your minds function differently, once person is a genius, and one is not? I am not putting down people who are gifted students.  Mathematic, Scientific, Literary, Political, Economical geniuses all have their place, and are 100% necessary to society. And there are those who are gifted in seemingly every area; those people are enormously blessed.  But, so many other people are necessary as well.  IQ may say something about how you function academically, and anyone who knows me knows that I believe in academics (seriously, you are talking to a first class nerd),  but are academics really everything when you are talking about a person's intellect?  Their genius may be different from yours, so you may not recognize it, but it is there.  Everyone has some gift.  We may not all be Rhodes Scholars, but that is just not our brand of brilliance.

Like.

So I know I have already blogged once tonight, but I just thought of something really cool.

I often wonder why we have free will.  I mess up so badly, and I know it pains God, and others too.  I know I am forgiven, but still.  I know God doesn't want robots, but I never quite saw what the good in is it for us.  What is the silver lining of living in the fallen world?  

It just sort of dawned on me as I was stretching before crawling into bed: If we never messed up terribly, we wouldn't fully comprehend our need for forgiveness.  And if we couldn't comprehend our need for forgiveness, then we couldn't even get a glimpse of how much God loves us.  We will never understand fully how much he loves us, but at least our knowledge of how vital forgiveness is in our own lives gives us an inkling of God's love.  And since we know that this tremendous love we are experiencing is only a tiny fraction of the love he has for us, it gives us an example of the love we should have for others, even those who have wronged us, hurt us, and disappointed us.  Often times we say that we don't have to like everyone, but we have to love them.  Well, I am struggling with that now.  We don't have to like their actions, God doesn't always like ours, but he does always not only love us, but he likes us.  He wants to be friends with us.  It is impossible for us to really like everyone, even if we do love them in that vague sense of the word, but we should nonetheless try to like everyone we come in contact with.  We must keep in mind that God made them, and therefore not only loves, but likes them every bit as much as he likes us.

Just a thought.

Consuming.

It has been one of those nights.  One of those nights that seems completely normal, and then something just hits you.  It isn't always clear what it is that hits you, but you can feel the difference.  After leaving my Wyldlife leader meeting for this week at The Church at Sandhurst, I spoke briefly with a friend, exchanging stories about our more gullible moments, got into my car, turned on my ipod, and drove off.  

The song I selected was one of my favorites, "From The Inside Out" by Hillsong.  It has really become a classic worship song in the past year, and it never fails to put me in a worshipful state of mind.  Tonight was no exception.  I was having an awesome worship service right there in my car.  It was just me and God, and it was incredible.  Today I had been thinking a lot about what I where I want to go to college, what I want to do, where I need to be in the long run...all things that I really have no need to worry over right now.  It just hit me on the way home while I was singing at the top of my lungs (and probably looking like an idiot to all those who saw me), that the future is not what needs to be my focus right now.  I just need to focus on living for and loving God from the inside out, and he will work out all the details as long as I stay within his will. The song also reminded me of my trip to Jamaica last summer, and set me off praying for the children there who I worked with.  I want to see God as I did there.  Lately I've had difficulty staying focussed on this, causing me to make huge mistakes.  I'm turning it over.  I want to be consumed like I was before.

The next song I listened to was another of my old favorites, "How Can I Keep From Singing," by Chris Tomlin.  That one has really always been my anthem.  I really can never stop singing, and when I stop and think about how truly amazing God is, I'm either speechless, teary, or begin sing uncontrollably.  Tonight was definitely the singing uncontrollably.  My father is so awesome.  I hope that I do not seem like a hypocrite, because I'm sure that some who read this could find so many flaws in my life to point out, and say that there is no way all of this really matters to me.  It does, I'm only human though.  I'm only a human who just had an unbelievable experience with her Father, and is praying to be consumed once more.

Ready.

Spring break has come to a close, and I am really dreading going to school tomorrow.  Ironically though, I spent a great deal of my break thinking of school exclusively.  This may sound boring or even depressing, but it was just the opposite. It was thrilling.  This is because that portion of my break was spent looking at colleges.  For me, that is incredibly exciting.  I am one hundred percent ready for that part of my life, minus a few high school credits.  

It is not that I hate high school or anything like that.  In fact, I have really enjoyed high school.  I like my school, and I love my friends.  I just, well, this is quite difficult to phrase.  I feel like I am on some kind of biological timer, and it is quite rapidly approaching the time when I am supposed to leave what I know, and go do my own thing.  I can feel it.  My own life is about to erupt out of me.  I love my home and the people in it, but I can't stay here forever.

This last year I have I am going to make the most of, but I feel certain that I will be rather antsy all year.  I am incredibly indecisive, so chances are I will not know where it is I will be starting this new chapter of my life called "college" until this time next year, but dear Lord am I ready.  I am not wishing my life away, and I am not hoping the year will speed up.  I have simply come to realize that if I were to wake up tomorrow and it magically be graduation day, it would be bittersweet, but I would be ready to embrace life. 

Impatient.

Prom has passed, Gala is out of the way, And Spring Break has now officially begun.  We are a pretty good ways into the fourth quarter of the year. Everyone has spring fever, and many of my friends have bad cases of senioritis.  

Part of having many friends with senioritis is having may friends who are seniors.  Part of having many friends who are seniors, is having many friends who will soon be graduating and leaving.  Since I am still a junior, I have another year left here in Florence, while many of my close friends get to go out and try their own thing.  I admit that I am quite jealous, and very impatient.  I know that I should value and cherish the time I have left in high school, but it is difficult when some of the people are part of my fondest high school memories will no longer be around to create more on a day to day basis.  I'm going to be fine, but I'm going to miss them a lot. I've come to accept that next year will be very different, but I really hope that my senior year will be as much fun as my friends in the class of '09, and I fully expect it to be.

Just Thinking...

Okay, so I really have not blogged in forever.  I was on a streak for a while where I had so much to say, but lately I haven't felt like I had a whole lot to share. I do have one thought for tonight though.

Sometimes, you are presented with an opportunity that you never expected.  You may or may not know in what direction your life will go if you pursue this opportunity, but I think you have to go with your gut.  People you are close to may advise you to stay away, and they may be right.  But I honestly believe if your gut is telling you to go for it and see what happens, then that is what you should do. As long as it is healthy, of course.  Obviously if your gut is telling you to do drugs and your friends warn you against it, then they are telling you the right thing and you should listen to them.  But, in general, I think it's a little bit like taking a multiple choice test.  You are always told when that when wavering between two answers, you should go with your first gut response. I most certainly have missed questions by over analyzing questions and changing my answer at the last second. So, even if the opportunity you pursue turns out negatively, I'm willing to bet that you learned something from it, and are probably a better person for it.  That's all. =]

The Rhythm of LIfe

I haven't written in a while, and I don't really have a lot to say tonight.

I'm just gonna go with I do not understand timing at all.  You might want something so badly for so long, and as soon as you give up on it, there it is. So inconvenient.  But, we learn to take everything in stride, and keep living life to the beat of it's peculiar rhythm.  It has no steady tempo. Sometimes it seems to have stopped altogether, and sometimes it seems impossible that it could change so fast.  It may seem to be following one pattern for a while, and then have an unexpected change.  As if some new time signature that we cannot recognize has been thrown in. But we keep marching along to the beat, as if we had a choice.  The only choice we have, is are we just simply going to march to they beat, or dance to the rhythm?