Everyone's a winner!

This is a very very excited Mary.

I'm done NanoWrimo (well, I'm done my book).

I got my word count, and when you reach your word count, you win.

I win.

Love wins.

Everybody wins.

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/sites/all/themes/nanowrimo_ywp_2/wordcount/nano_ywp_10_winner_300x300.png

More, More, More

The other day Oprah had her "Favourite Things" show. Now, I do not watch much television. In fact, since I have been at university, I have yet to watch any, save a couple episodes of Glee. But, my roommate does have a television, and she does enjoy talk shows, like Oprah. I used to love Oprah's Favourite Things when I was a kid. I guess it had something to do with the way people got stuff, beautiful stuff, for no effort. I have always loved stuff, but it wasn't really the stuff: it was that stuff can give people higher social status. Anyway, this show was crazy. I just watched it for a few minutes, and people were going crazy over the littlest things. The audience was nearly brought to tears when Oprah announced she was giving away her favourite cashmere sweater. They screamed, and it bordered on manic. And I thought "what the flip? It is only a sweater." All the people in the audience already had sweaters, you could tell. Some of them were wearing them. It was sort of disturbing, really.

The thing is, our society is always concerned with MORE, MORE, MORE. But that is not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us something that is, quite frankly revolutionary and counter-culture: "He must become greater, I must become less." (John 3:30). Following Christ has nothing to do with getting more and being more. It means giving more, loving more, being less, being humble. Hebrews 12:1 says, "let us throw off everything that hinders..." So maybe it is our stuff that is hindering our walk with Christ, the stuff we think we need, but what is keeping us from the truth that Jesus is all we need. In a world where people are always trying to get more for themselves: "successful" careers, a nice house, and a comfortable salary, it's time we started thinking of how to get rid of this stuff that hinders us. It's time we stopped hungering for material things and started hungering for more God: more awareness of Him, more time in prayer, serving Him more.
So that's what I am doing this Christmas season. I am forgetting about the stuff and thinking more about loving God and loving people. I am thanking God for what I have, and it truly is more than I need, and I am sharing my resources with others.
One beautiful part of this revolutionary, Christ-following way of life is the way everyone wins. I, the North American person blessed with what could be called riches, can give to people who aere in need. In doing this, I am blessed because giving truly makes me joyful, and because I am acting in God's will, which always is a happy thing to do. And they are blessed, by getting education or clean water or enough food. As Gandhi said something like this:
"There is enough in the world for everybody's need, but not enough for anybody's greed." Let us not be greedy. Let us be grateful. Let us be generous. Let us love.

Nov 20

It's the first snow here.
I reached 50 000 words on NaNoWriMo, but I am still not finished my novel.
I am having a relaxing day.
I am rereading The Irresistible Revolution and, once again, evaluating my life, looking at my life from a distance, to see in what ways I can be a better follower of Jesus. Mother Teresa is quoted in the book as saying "Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more."
Another quotable guy is Paul Hawken:
"Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television."
I thought of that quote today during the first snowfall. It's really beautiful here, when it snows, as it turns out. I think it is really beautiful all the time. I could not really going to a university without so much natural beauty- I might go crazy. But the thing about the snow, everyone was excited. People were outside with their tongues out, catching snowflakes. People were having snowball fights outside of their dorms. People were taking pictures, people were writing things in the snow, and I even saw someone with a sled. Couples went for walks in the snow. It was a time here that everyone was happy and excited. And I think that was because we do not see the snow all the time. In February, it snows, and nobody cares. But in November, it is the first real snow, and people are thrilled. Nature is amazing when we appreciate it. Well, it is always amazing, but we miss out on that beauty if we do not appreciate it.

Mmmmmm

I am content.

I just finished a mug of hot chocolate.

I am listening to Coldplay and procrastinating from writing my book.

I'm at a really intense part (don't worry, he doesn't die. That was the plan, but then I liked him too much once I began writing him)

It's so intense.

Like a double rainbow.

This is a picture I took a year ago last month. Can you see the rainbow?

November

November is a busy month for me. I am doing NaNoWriMo, and that added to schoolwork (lots of midterms and papers this month) and my other activities gives me just about ZERO free time. I am very thankful for IB, it gave me really good time management skills, and I think I am doing pretty well to balance all my activities. NaNoWriMo sure adds stress though, and later nights- but I am about 1/4 done, which is pretty good, since it's just the fifth day. If you didn't know, NaNoWriMo is also known as National Novel Writing Month. Basically, people from all over the world participate (more international than national) and try to write a 50000 word novel in the month of November. It is certainly challenging. We are doing it together, as sisters. :)
In other news, there is a hurricane today, or at least that is what it feels like. I am surprised the power hasn't gone out.
In even more other news, there was not a hurricane yesterday so I went for a fun bicycle ride. The leaves have not all fallen off the trees around here and they are very beautiful!
Also, I had my first drink of egg nog the other night. Christmas is coming!
The photo above is of a glass of egg nog!