Small Wonders

I missed a post last week. I started to feel bad about that, especially when I noticed that people checked in to see if I'd written anything new and I hadn't. I felt like I let my readers down. But then a new thought popped into my head. "Oh my gosh! I'm following a routine so well that my readers have noticed!" I'm not great with sticking to a schedule and I've been trying to put out a blog post every week. I didn't notice until now how well I've been doing with that considering my lack of experience with consistency. So yay! It's a reason to be happy instead of be down on myself, and that alone is victory!

So I've had various ideas buzzing around in my head about what I should write about this week. I haven't had a lot of success. Nothing greatly huge has happened that can dominate a blog post. It's been all smaller things. Oh, just had a thought! I'll write about small things that fill me with wonder.

1. Thinking about how far a raindrop traveled to land on your face.

2. How speakers make sounds. It's been explained to me, but I'm still in awe.

3. How cats appear to be part liquid, they take on the shape of whatever container they fall asleep in.

4. How God plants the most beautiful wildflowers in the middle of the wilderness, just for someone to discover and enjoy.

5. How a person can cry when overflowing with either sorrow or joy.

6. The beauty of the smile and laugh of an elderly person.

7. The innocent, completely free imaginations of small children.

8. No matter how many times you see a sunrise or a sunset, it can still take your breath away every time.

9. How that person in front or behind you in the grocery line could be the most amazing person that you'll never know because most people don't talk to strangers.

10. Sitting with an older person and listening to the stories of what they've seen and lived through in their life, decades before you were born. It's more amazing than any history book because they were there when it happened.

11. How one ball and two scoring areas can fill a crowd with so much energy. For the duration of the game, we're all together in this one thing that's happening in the moment, united.

12. How reading a book can transport you into another world, someone else's world that they live or that they made up in their heads. When reading, the writer takes you on a journey to what's in their mind. Something that only they could come up with.

13. How we all have hands but we all can't do the same things with them. One person can paint a masterpiece with them. Another can build an amazing machine. Still another can sooth and heal people with them. Another can play the most beautiful music. Someone else can write the most fantastic story. Yet another can lift an ungodly amount of weight. Another can do things with a sports ball most of us can only dream of doing. Others can scale buildings. The list is neverending and ever varied.

14. How some amazing people are famous and other amazing people aren't and the difference is only that most people know how amazing the famous person is.

15. How amazing it is that thousands of gallons of water can float above our heads as fluffy clouds that look no more threatening than pillows.

16. At the very moment that you're watching a sunset with so much awe, someone else is watching a sunrise with the same amount of awe.

17. How a smile can completely transform a face.

18. How we call laugh and cry in the same language.

19. How we all at some time or other have tried to come across as a person with no scars, when we all have scars.

20. How the birth of a baby is a miracle, and it's happening every moment of every day.

21. How billions and billions of people have lived on this earth, and no two have been exactly alike.

22. How we all have fears, no matter how much we try to hide it.

23. How we all make mistakes, but still judge one other's mistakes so harshly.

24. How God made two genders that are so alike and so different and fit together so wonderfully that it's a wonder we haven't killed each other.

25. How we all dream of flying.


Thanks for reading! And thank you for checking in even when I missed a week!

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Jerelle
The Hobbit Ninja

The Best Birthday

A week has gone by since my birthday, but the weekend of my birthday was crammed with so much amazingness that there was no time to fit it into my usual weekend post. Actually, I didn't manage to publish that weekend's post until a few days later and it was just something small so there wouldn't been a gap in posts.

My roommates went all out. It's our friend tradition to keep everything secret and surprise each other with fun themed birthdays. I couldn't have prepared myself for this one. I awoke on the morning of my birthday to an apartment completely decked out in brightly colored messages. Each message had a truth about me and the person who said it. When I say completely decked out I mean they were all over my bedroom, the hallway, my bathroom mirror, the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. My roommates had gotten a hold of a lot of people and asked them to fill in the blank for Jerelle is ________. They got answers from friends, my boyfriend, my church life group, my serving team at church, and my parents and siblings. I was completely blown away and each thing I read hit me right in the heart.

The theme was truth. For context, I have PTSD. I was abused. I've believed a lot of lies about myself for a very long time. God told me some time ago that I should collect truth and write it down and read it when my anxiety gives me trouble or I find myself believing lies. For example, one of my truths is "I am safe." I keep the list in my favorite journal. When I read through my truth list I calm down and I feel grounded again. The panic goes away. Drenching my life in truth has also had the effect of changing how I see and treat myself. I'm believing truth about myself that I've struggled with for many years. I'm taking care of myself emotionally and physically. I am finding peace and joy and freedom. In the Bible, Jesus says "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32). That is exactly what is happening.

 With the truths alone, it was the best birthday ever. But there was more! There was blue birthday cake. You didn't read that wrong. Blue, very blue birthday cake with strawberry icing (pink and blue, so fun!) and very colorful ice cream (it was a very colorful birthday all around).

Incredibly delicious food and a movie followed. We watched Into The Woods and it was fantastic! Also I got to listen to my very first vinyl record. I get it now. Vinyl sounds amazing and especially when it's Ella Fitzgerald! The very next day I got to see my amazing boyfriend and his family. He introduced me to the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted....EVER! We also watched Kingsmen: The Secret Service, which was an action/spy movie lover's dream! I am definitely in the camp of spy movie lover and this movie had a bit of everything. One really exciting thing was I got to be in not one, but two podcasts! I got to sit in and contribute to my boyfriend's Monthly Music Mixup and the movie review for Kingsmen! Both of which I will link to this post.

Monthly Music Mixup on TSCN.TV

TSCN Review of Kingsmen: The Secret Service

It was a birthday I will treasure forever and never forget. I was surrounded by truth, friends, fun, and the one I love. My heart was overflowing with truth and love from so many people that I care so deeply about. I couldn't ask for more. It was a birthday that changed more than just my age and I am so thankful that I have people in my life that want me to know who I am and how much I'm loved.

Thanks for reading!

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-Jerelle
aka TheHobbitNinja

Something Random

 I didn't publish a new post last Saturday so I thought I would do something small. I made up this story randomly for my youngest sister, just to make her smile. When she was younger she used to ask me to tell her stories. I told random stories and I just loved making her laugh. Now that she's on Facebook I can make up stories for her anytime. The story below is the first story I've written to her.

 There was once a blade of grass. He dreamed of growing long and tall, taller than all the other blades of grass. He longed to see the world around him and do great things. Each day he worked hard to grow and grow. Before he knew it he towered above the rest of his friends and family. He could see for whole inches, perhaps even a whole foot! But still he dreamed bigger. "I want to see 3 feet! A whole yard!" So each day the sun would rise and each day he grew a little taller, bit by bit. He was the first to see the lawnmower.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!

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-Jerelle