God's Refining Fire in our Lives

This week was Spiritual Emphasis week at my school. We had an excellent speaker, who made us realize that talking about spirituality didn't have to be boring. He was the most hilarious guy any of us have ever heard speak, and he used some amazing analogies to make sure we got the picture. The comparison he used that stuck out to me the most is that of God's Refining Fire and a silversmith. He said that our sin is like the imperfections that come to the surface when gold or silver is put in a fire. He said that God wants to do this to us. He puts bad things in our lives so the bad things in us will come out and he can "scrape them off." Once we've dealt with a hardship in our lives, we don't have to deal with it again. God wants to make us pure of imperfections- more like Him.

Hunters Hunting in Life?

In the short story "The Most Dangerous Game," which my English class just read, the main character, Rainsford, makes an interesting statement that there are hunters and huntees in real life.  I think this is somewhat true. I think there are leaders and followers in real life, and the followers make themselves vulnerable to the leaders. However, the leaders aren't always out to get the followers. There are some situations of hunting other humans in ways like terrorist attacks and serial killers, however. These aren't as common as the typical animal relationships, and they are harder to recognize. Humans definitely hunt animals, but humans don't typically hunt each other.

My Spiritual and Social Goals for Freshman Year

I've never been a really spiritual person. Jesus is my Lord and Savior, but I'm not a go-to-church-and-sing-about-it kind of person. A lot of people think I'm not a Christian just because I don't talk about it, but I most definitely am. I want to set some goals this year so people don't have to TALK to me about it to know I love God, they'll know just by the way I act. My spiritual goals include trying to be more Christ-like and, I know it sounds cheesy, but trying to think "would Jesus say this?" before I open my mouth. I've said a lot of things that I didn't mean to come out the way they did, and really hurt some people without even knowing it, so this is something I really need to work on. I know I'll fail at this sometimes, but I'll do what I need to do to make it right, then keep trying. My main goal this year is to NOT worry about what people think of me. I'm friends with so many amazing people, and I love them all. They don't care how I look or dress. All they care about is my personality, and they have showed me that it's not what's on the outside, it's SO much more important to let the inside come out and be who you truly are. If people don't like you for THAT, it's not worth it to try to win their approval by acting, dressing, or looking a certain way. I've been doing that for so long, I'm just over it. It's too big a hassle to try and get rid of all my flaws because we all know I have a lot. This picture is a collage of the words in this paragraph. It's the words that stand out to me and make me think about how I can keep to my goals and keeps me motivated to stick to them. 

How A Book's Theme Can Change Us

This picture represents a theme from the novel The Giver, a required summer reading book.The book is about a boy named Jonas who takes on a huge challenge and has to overcome many things.  He has to make the decision of letting his brother die, or risking his own life to save the baby. He chooses to help the boy, so a pretty dominant theme is "Be willing to risk yourself for those you love." This picture is a perfect example of this theme because a man is holding a little girl, probably his daughter, out of the water during a flood. The water is probably very dangerous, with broken glass, nails, animals, and many other things lurking underneath it. He is willing to get hurt so his little girl won't get wet, and should a problem like this come up, we should be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others. Books can help you realize simple changes you can make to really help others.