Feeling beautiful

This post is mainly for the girls. I mean, I guess the boys can read this too, if they have an issue with feeling beautiful. (:

I'm not sure what exactly sparked me to write about this.  I know part of it was my boyfriend, Abe, who told

me to write about the significance of being yourself.  Then, I just kind of thought about the whole topic of loving yourself and feeling worthy of being called beautiful.  I know I struggle with this quite often.  I compare myself to other girls a lot of the time, though it has gone down since I've been in college.  It's not just

comparing myself though- sometimes, it's just not liking what I look like.  I have been dealing with pretty bad blemishes on my face for about six months now, and they are just now starting to go away.  During this time, I've felt pretty low.  I was going to give up make-up for Lent so that I could see that I don't need it in order to feel beautiful.  However, I only lasted one day.  I felt like a failure. 

While that may seem silly, I didn't think it was.  I don't think a girl should have to put a bunch of makeup on

her face to think that she is beautiful, yet I was being a hypocrite.  I didn't think that I could go forty days without a little makeup because I thought I would look ugly without it.  And I simply did not want to feel ugly.  I mean, does anyone?

So....I decided to give up buying makeup for Lent.  I know, what does giving up that have to do with Lent?  Well, in my mind, it makes sense.  Every time I thought I needed to spend some of my money on a makeup product, I reminded myself that I already have quite a bit of it, and that God made me perfect just the way I am. I don't think He wants me to waste tons of money on makeup when He already thinks I am beautiful. 

But it's fun, right?  Makeup is fun.  I'm a real girly girl, I guess.  Some of my friends never really wear makeup, and I think that's great.  But I just simply love it.  I don't love it because I think I need it to feel pretty, but I love it because, to me, it is like art.  It's kind of like painting my face?  Haha, that sounds silly and some of you may not get what I'm trying to say.  I guess that by not allowing myself to buy makeup for awhile has made me believe that I don't need it.  It's made me see that it is something I enjoy, and something that I can enjoy minimally.  I don't have to put ten products on my face like I used to.  Now, I feel confident with three.  And...I would probably feel okay with none.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that YOU are beautiful.  Beauty comes from within, so if you want others to think you're beautiful you have to show it from the inside out.  Who cares about the outside?  External beauty will fade, but internal beauty will only grow as time goes on.  Sure, it is fun to learn a new

way to style your hair and to put some makeup on to enhance your already great features.  Of course it will make you feel confident and beautiful if you do some of those things.  However, you have to realize that it is not by doing those things that make you beautiful.  It's how you act and how you show love to everyone.  

Thanks for reading. I hope you feel beautiful today. 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
-Matthew 23.27

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
-1 Samuel 16.7

Precious life

For my last term of my freshman year in college, I decided to take an English class that is called The Rhetoric of Agitation and Social Control.  Essentially, this class is about studying different protests and the effectiveness of them. In this class, I have to write a fairly long research essay about a particular movement that I am interested in and want to learn more about. I was torn between choosing to write about pro-life movements or animal rights movements (I was thinking about animal rights because while researching, I found these disturbing facts about the foods we all eat).  Ultimately, though, I chose to write about pro-life because I am simply more passionate about it.

When it comes to abortion, I get very passionate and emotional about it.  I don't know much about politics, but I am real passionate about certain social issues.  When it comes to voting for our politicians, I have and always will vote for the candidates who are pro-life...even if I don't know much more about them.  Many people think that this is ridiculous and naive, but, frankly, I just don't see how anyone could be pro-choice.  And I don't want my country to be ran by people who are.  Unfortunately, the majority of it is.  At least I think it's unfortunate.

But I know plenty of people who are pro-choice.  Some members of my family, some of my closest friends, some people who claim to be Christian, and the majority of students and professors who walk around the Augustana College campus everyday.

Anyways.  Despite my overly emotional views on abortion, I've came across legitimate information that has led me to actually form a solid argument against pro-choice.  Imagine that...haha.

Did you know that at the moment of fertilization the baby is immediately chosen to be a boy or girl?  Did you know that between weeks one and four, the baby's nervous system begins to develop (brain, spinal chord, hair and skin)?  This means that the baby has the foundation to feel, sense and think.  The heart and primitive circulatory system also starts to form around this time as well.  All of this occurs in just 4 weeks.

At week five, the first heartbeats begin.  Blood also begins pumping throughout the baby's teeny body.  Arm and leg buds appear at week five as well.  The lenses of the eyes begin to work at week six and the baby's nostrils are also formed.  Fingers start to develop at week seven and teeth start to form under the gums.  Toes start to appear as little notches on its feet as well as the eyes and nose.  During week eight, the tongue starts to develop and the fingers and toes start to appear.  After eight weeks of pregnancy, the baby's length

is 0.61 inches and its weight is about 0.04 ounces.  At nine weeks, the baby has begun to move, as most of the joints are formed by now.  The small fetus can now wrap his or her fingers around something that would be placed in the palm of his or her hand.  Fingerprints are evident on the skin.  At ten weeks, the most crucial part of the baby's development is complete- now it's time for rapid growth.

However, isn't it ironic that this baby inside the womb isn't even considered a fetus (medically wise) until week ten?

If you want to know all the details about a baby's development click here.  If you want to see images, click here.

Most abortions occur between weeks five and twelve.  Many women, as you probably know, feel as if they have the choice to determine whether or not they want a baby.  But I think that is insane.  How could anyone ever kill (I'm using this word because this is essentially what the abortionist does...see the video below) an innocent baby?  People

say that the baby isn't really a living thing because it depends on its mother.  But what about when a baby is born?  He or she would still die without his or her mother.  Life starts at conception: a cell is a living thing.  If we found a cell on another planet, we would call it life. Why isn't it considered life here?

But..maybe the development stages aren't enough to argue with.  Do you want to see how an abortion is performed?  I'll warn you, it's graphic and disturbing and painfully sad, but if you want to see it watch this documentary created by an ex-abortionist.  It shows how the abortion is performed using ultrasound technology.  Honestly, if you are pro-choice, under ANY circumstance, I challenge you to watch the video linked above.  It may change your view or it may not, but either way, you'll be informed.

I guess I just wanted to provide you all with some information about what abortion is and how the baby starts to develop as early as weeks one through four.  In the video, it shows how the baby feels pain when she is being eliminated from the mother's uterus.  It is a fact: the baby feels pain and even shows signs of

screaming in pain (watch the video for an explanation).  How could we ever allow this to be legal?

Have you ever heard of a partial-birth abortion?  It is when a baby is mostly all the way born, but its head is not out yet.  Before the head comes out, the abortionist or doctor or whoever, inserts a sharp object and punctures the head with it.  This is one way of how people used to perform a late-term abortions, but it is now banned by the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act signed by President George W. Bush in 2003.  Of course, this seems logical that this of all methods is illegal.  However, President Obama supports it.  When the bill was presented to him when he was in the Illinois Senate, he opposed the bill three times, while it passed with flying colors by the rest of Democrats and Republicans alike.  If you don't believe me, you can go here or you can watch this video (this video is more detailed and it shows clips of Obama openly supporting abortion extremely and it shows him dodging specific questions about why he is pro-choice).  In the first part of the video, Obama says something along the lines of, "I have two daughters, and if one of them messed up in some way, I wouldn't want them to be punished with a baby." So now, babies are a punishment?  Where did the respect for LIFE go?

I know that in defense of all of this, some people will say that women still have the right because they could have been raped or been a victim of incest.  Those are truly awful situations, but do you think a baby should be punished for it?  I'm sorry, but I don't think any situation is an excuse.  No situation is completely hopeless.  I may seem completely rash, but I'm just being honest.  Your mom chose life. Don't you think you should, too?  If you want to read more about why pro-lifers think that abortion is still the wrong choice in cases like rape and incest, click here.  Along with reasons why abortion is still the wrong path in these cases, this website also provides two real-life stories from a man and a woman who were both conceived in rape.

I don't know if you know my boyfriend, Abe, but you should check out his story.  He talks about how he had high chances of being aborted, yet his mom chose life.  I encourage you to read it here.

Life is precious.  People are treating life as if it isn't nowadays.  Not just with legalizing abortion. The many people who use drugs and alcohol excessively, have promiscuous sex, gamble their lives away, commit suicide, etc.  Sadly, many people in this world are losing respect for life and are not realizing the amount of joy and happiness a life can bring.  Shouldn't an innocent unborn baby have the chance to live?  Many people just assume that if a baby is born into a bad environment, it will suffer anyways, so might as well get it out of its suffering before it is even born.  The truth is, however, that no one knows what the future holds.  We see people turn from rags to riches everyday.  Why would you automatically assume the worst?

If you feel like this post didn't educate you enough, click here. This website is my favorite that I've found so far in terms of gaining knowledge on what abortion actually is.

These are just my thoughts on this.  I know not all of you are Christian, but I figured I'd share Psalm 139 with you if you are.  This verse talks about how God created us in our mother's womb and knows all of our days before we are even born.  It's a really beautiful verse.  Thanks for reading, and I hope that you all take these thoughts, websites and videos into consideration. 

  God, investigate my life;
  get all the facts firsthand.

I’m an open book to you;

    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.

You know when I leave and when I get back;

    I’m never out of your sight.

You know everything I’m going to say

    before I start the first sentence.

I look behind me and you’re there,

    then up ahead and you’re there, too—

    your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful—

    I can’t take it all in! 

Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit?

to be out of your sight?

If I climb to the sky, you’re there!

    If I go underground, you’re there!

If I flew on morning’s wings

to the far western horizon,

You’d find me in a minute-

    you’re already there waiting!

Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!

    At night I’m immersed in the light!”

It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;

    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
 you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

    I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

    you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

    before I’d even lived one day.

Your thoughts-how rare, how beautiful!

    God, I’ll never comprehend them!

I couldn't even begin to count them-

    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

    And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

And you murderers-out of here!-

    all the men and women who belittle you, God,

    infatuated with cheap god-imitations.

See how I hate those who hate you, God,

    see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;

I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.

    Your enemies are my enemies!

Investigate my life, O God,

    find out everything about me;

Cross-examine and test me,

    get a clear picture of what I’m about;

See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong-

    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

-Psalm 139: The Message

Faith

Tonight, I saw Life of Pi with my boyfriend, Abe.  I have been wanting to see it since Christmas time, but I just never could.  So, tonight Abe and I decided to go see a movie...we're kind of entertainment junkies.  We saw that Life of Pi was playing at the cheap movie theater...two tickets, soda and popcorn for each of us all for under thirteen dollars. How cheap :)

Anyways...I should probably say that this post does contain some spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happens in the movie then you probably shouldn't continue reading.

I did not know what to expect from this movie.  I knew it was about a boy stranded out in the ocean alone with a tiger, but that's about it.  To my surprise, it was a very religious movie.  The main character, Pi, sees beauty in all religions and feels as if they all work together.  He considered himself a Hindu, Catholic and Muslim.  I thought it was pretty crazy at first, but the amount of faith this little boy had was pretty incredible.  I know a lot of people who feel strongly that all religions are completely different and only their religion can lead to heaven.  Then again, I know other people who think that no matter what religion you are, you can get to heaven  if you practice it with all your heart...essentially, God is the same throughout all religions.  Honestly, I don't know how I feel about the whole topic.  All I know is that I do believe that if Pi died (which he didn't), he would have gone to heaven.  Just because he practiced and believed in three different religions doesn't make him a sinner in my eyes.  He believed in God with all his heart...and I think that is all that matters.

As I said previously, Pi ends up as a castaway.  The boat he was traveling on to Canada with his family and their animals (a lot of animals, by the way...they owned a zoo) sunk.  He was forced into a life boat, where he spent about 270 days by himself along with some of his animals.  He started off with a zebra, monkey, a mean cat-like animal (sorry, I don't know what it was), and a Bengal tiger.  The first three animals died off, but the tiger remained.  He says in the movie that because of the tiger, he survived.  It kept Pi on his toes, aware of what was going on at all times.  This was partly because he was afraid the tiger would attack him if he wasn't careful and also because he felt like he needed to take care of the tiger.  Eventually, they both floated to an island shore where natives rescued them.

The natives asked Pi how he ended up alone.  He told them his story, but they said  it was too unbelievable.  They told him that it was not realistic- a tiger could not have survived with him.  So...he told them another story.  He made the animals into people this time- his family.  He told a graphic story about how his family members died in the boat with him (symbolizing the monkey, zebra, and cat animals who died).  Then, he said that it was only him who remained (symbolizing the tiger).  Of course, there were more details, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make.

See, Pi told two completely different stories to the Japanese natives.  The one with the animals and the one with the people.  And the crazy thing is that no one really knows what story is true.  Many people believe that it is very likely that there were no animals on the boat with Pi- that it really was his family with them, but they all just passed away.  Then there are others who believe that it was the animals on the boat with him the entire time.  It's all a matter of perspective.

Do you believe in miracles?  Do you believe in something greater than yourself, something that you cannot see?  Or do you prefer facts, things that can be logically proven by science?  Are you a realist?

Honestly...I believe that the tiger was on the boat with Pi throughout the entire journey.  I think that story is much more exciting and beautiful than a story with humans, where everything is realistic.  I guess no one will ever know which story is real, it's up for interpretation.

It all comes down to faith in the end.  Faith that miracles do happen, that God is real.  Pi had an enormous amount of faith- he believed in the story with the animals- and that is really inspiring to me.

Check out Abe's awesome blog post here :)

Hope, always

Recently, I've been addicted to the show The Walking Dead.  I know, I know...the title sounds pretty scary and it doesn't really seem like anything that myself or even my friends would want to watch on television.  However, Abe said that it was really good, so I gave it a chance.  And...well, I'm really glad I did.

If you aren't familiar with this series, it's pretty much about a zombie apocalypse.  Basically, it is a disease that everyone has in them, and once they die, they turn into a zombie.  And once a living person gets bit or scratched by one, they die.  I know that it sounds kind of dumb and really unrealistic, because that's definitely what I thought it would be like.  However, since I've been watching it, I've realized that there is so much more to this series than I ever could have thought.  There is so much emotional and psychological issues that the characters endure, which makes it really interesting to me.  I don't like the show because of the zombies.  I watch it because of the characters and their relationships with each other.  As with any good TV show, the characters all have something unique and different about them that really makes me become emotionally attached.

Now, before you write this off as some TV show that is completely evil, just hear me out.  I know a lot of people who would tell me not to watch it because of its graphic violence...and just the idea of dead people coming to life is enough to make people say that it is demented.  But...well, I don't think it is.  Actually, there are a lot of Christian undertones (and positive messages in general) to this TV show.  And I am writing about one of them.

At one point in the show (spoiler....), the main character, Rick, witnesses his son, Carl, get shot accidentally by a hunter in the woods.  He searches desperately for help, eventually finding a farmhouse with people inside that can help him.  Hershel, the owner of a farm and a veterinarian, helps to heal Carl's wound to restore his health.  However, he does not have all of the medical equipment at hand to do the necessary surgery.  The equipment is in a medical car down the road at an abandoned high school.  Two other guys, Shane and Otis, go to fetch the medical supplies so that Hershel can perform the surgery.  Because of all of the zombies that are where the medical car is, it takes quite a while for Shane and Otis to return to the farmhouse.  Hershel tells Carl's parents, Rick and Lori, that he Carl cannot survive for much longer without the medical supplies.

After hearing this, Rick and Lori go out on the porch and try to make sense of things.  Lori asks Rick if it is even worth it to try and save Carl's life because either way he will die.  He will either have to die in the farmhouse or by the zombies.  Lori kind of tells Rick that she hopes he won't make it because she doesn't want Carl to have to live in this world anymore.  She says that if Carl dies now, he would be free from all of the pain and suffering.  Rick responds with saying that Lori needs to have more faith.  Not necessarily in God (although the entire series hints at the idea), but just faith and hope in general that everything will be okay.  He tries to make Lori understand that they cannot give up and that they have to keep fighting for Carl's life and for their own. He tells her that although there are tons of evil and ugly things in the world, there are still plenty of beautiful things. Though it is hard for her, Lori begins to realize that Rick is right- the needs to have more hope despite of the never-ending tragedies that make up her life.

I know that we are not dealing with a zombie apocalypse (and after watching this show, I hope that never does happen...although I don't think it ever could or will), but we are dealing with tragedies everyday.  Our world is becoming corrupt and immoral whether you like to hear it or not.  We are dealing with pain and loss and suffering on a daily basis, even if it is not as extreme as in The Walking Dead.  However, we need to still have hope and faith.  Without hope, we are nothing.  I am nothing.  The world just needs to have some hope that things will work out in some way.  We can't stop fighting for what we believe in, no matter what or who tries to tear us down.

I hope this makes sense.  I just really wanted to write about it and share it with you all.  If you haven't seen this show, I would really recommend it.  Please don't just think it is completely evil.  As someone who hates everything evil-like, I'm here to tell you that it's not.  It's actually taught me some really great life lessons....as cheesy as that sounds, it's true.

Thanks for reading.  :)


-Emily