"So, do you have a boyfriend yet?"

Now that I'm in college, I feel like I get asked this question by every relative and adult that I know. Seriously, it seems like I can't go a week without someone asking me if I've found "THE ONE" yet. I got asked this question by someone I ran into the other day at the supermarket, so I just smiled and said no, and then we continued our conversation. While I was driving home though, I began to think about it and it really bothered me. It doesn't bother me that I'm currently single, in fact I'm actually enjoying this time of singleness. It bothers me that people seem to think that finding a boyfriend should be the priority of my life. Why is this? 

Well lets take a look at one contributor....the media. Almost every TV show, movie, book, magazine, and song out there have finding your soul mate as the main focus. Since a HUGE majority of them talk about love and romance, it teaches us that those things are two of the only things that matter in life. Now I'm not saying that these things are wrong at all, but since when did they become the point of life? We've all been brainwashed into thinking that the point of our lives is to go through school, find a boyfriend or girlfriend, get married, have kids, raise them, and then spoil our grandkids. This sounds like a great life, but that's not the reason why we were put on this earth. 

The purpose of our lives is to glorify God, and not anything short of that! I wish people would start asking me how God is working in my life, or about my relationship with Him, rather than my relationship status on Facebook. I know that my purpose is to grow in my relationship with the Lord, and let Him reflect through my life, not to just find a nice boy to marry. If I do find a Christian man to marry, then that's wonderful! But if I don't, then it's not the end of the world! That's not the main purpose of my life anyways. God can do marvelous things through marriage, especially since it represents God's relationship with the church. But what good does it do if you get married without realizing your original purpose? I'm not going to speak like I know anything about marriage since I've never been married before, but by looking at my parents, I know what a relationship is supposed to look like. My parents absolutely adore each other, but they still put God first. God is their first priority in life, and because of that, their relationship reflects Him. If I do end up getting married someday, I want a relationship like that....I want my husband to love God more than he loves me. 

I believe this mixed-up-priority business is also a contributor to girls with low self-esteem. I know SO many girls who find all their self-worth in boys, because they've been tricked into thinking boys are the key to happiness. If we go through life thinking that we NEED to find a boy or else there's no point to our lives, then we will be absolutely miserable! Every time you get rejected, you feel worthless. When you're single you'll think there's something wrong with you. It's not healthy to be thinking this way. When you start finding your worth in the Lord, that's when you can find joy in every situation. 

So when it all comes down to it, if I find a man that I believe will help me fulfill my original purpose in life, then I will be more than happy. But if I don't, it doesn't matter because my purpose in life still remains the same....to Glorify God.

Distractions.

Distractions. They have a way of creeping into our lives. Sometimes we don't even notice them until after they have come and gone. Distractions are tricky things... you see, they all have this way of seeming really important at the time....It's only afterwards that you realize the amount of time you wasted. In my life, my smartphone is a large distraction to me. Not only do I use it for texting and calling, but I have social media apps such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I have one or two games, Snapchat, my email, the internet, YouTube, and Spotify. These can all be useful apps, but in my life, they're more of a distraction than anything else. How many times have I sat there looking at my phone screen instead of talking to someone else in the room? That's an opportunity wasted! How many times have I scrolled through my newsfeed on Facebook instead of reading a book or doing something that actually holds value? Another opportunity wasted! These things aren't bad in themselves, it's when we let them take over our time that they become a poor choice. Facebook and Twitter wouldn't be such large time wasters for me if I didn't have them on my phone. 

So here's the plan....I'm deleting them. I'm getting rid of everything on my phone that distracts me. My phone will basically consist of iMessage, the calculator, and flashlight. I'm just so sick of wasting my time! God gave me this life so that I can LIVE it not WASTE it! I don't want to look back at my life and wonder what I could have done differently. I want to enjoy it now and take every opportunity God gives me, to live my life to the fullest in the place where I'm at. I wish I could say that my phone wasn't a problem for me, but honestly, it is. And there are obviously a lot more things I can be doing in order to accomplish this goal of minimal distractions, but my first plan of action is against my smartphone. I'm excited to start this challenge and begin accomplishing tasks that I would've been distracted from otherwise. So here are my goals. The short list of things I want to do over the summer, without my smartphone there to distract me.

1. Read more books!

I. Love. Reading. I absolutely adore it. This summer, I would LOVE to tackle my reading list. So instead of going online to Facebook, Twitter, or my personal favorite: Reddit, I'm going to dedicate more time to exploring books.

2. Get to know a new person EACH day!

So this might sound like a ridiculous goal, but I'm really looking forward to this one. I love meeting new people! I'm working as a tour guide this summer, so I meet at least 5-10 new tourists each day. However, meeting them and getting to know them are two different stories. I'm going to actually take the time to get to know them beyond just their names and where they're from. A lot of pretty amazing people come through my tours, and it's about time I take advantage of that and let them impact my life in any positive way they can.

But now here's my challenge to you. Figure out what's distracting you! Is it your laptop? Is it a game? Is it the TV? Or maybe you're like me, and your distractions come from your phone. After you figure out what's distracting you, it's time to make the decision......do you want to continue letting that object distract you? or are you going to do something about it? If you would rather keep things the way they are, that is 100% fine. I just know that in my life, I will benefit greatly from removing all the distractions I can. The choice is absolutely up to you! I know that I'm not going to regret this, and I hope you won't either :)

Thanksgiving.

"I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 

I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. 

I have learned the secret of living in every situation, 

whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little."

-Philippians 4:11-12

I've started to read a book called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp....and it has completely made a difference in my life. In this book, Ann challenges her readers to find thanksgiving in EVERY circumstance. Ann writes about the heart wrenching experiences that she has had in her own life, and how she was still able to give thanks no matter what. "Our salvation in Christ is real, yet the completeness of that salvation is not fully realized in a life until the life realizes the need to give thanks."  You might not agree with this statement, and the first time I read it I didn't know if I really believed it either. But this book challenged me to start writing down all the gifts from God I encountered in a day. It started out with basic things, and the more I was looking for blessings, the more I saw them. And the more I saw them, the more I wanted to see more of them. I've only been writing them down for about a week now, and I've encountered over 50 Gifts in my everyday life....and those are only the ones that I took the time to write down. I keep a journal, with encountered gifts such as these: 

2. The smell of the air right before it rains.

5. Walking barefoot in grass.

12. Colorful children's books.

17. Stopping to listen to the whole congregation sing.

25. Sunshine on cold skin.

29. Smiles from strangers.

32. The reliable 'ticking' of our bathroom clock.

40. Sitting still.

44. Old buildings, each with a unique story.

50. Shimmering dew on grass.

52. Old couples holding hands.

It's things like these that I began to notice....and even find joy in. How often do we go through our everyday life and not take the time to notice the little things? And not only notice them, but to thank God for them? 

My way of thanking God is by acknowledging these small gifts and writing them down. I believe the practice of noticing blessings and writing them down will help me when I experience hard times later on...because I know that it's inevitable. This practice now, will help me to see God's gifts later when it's more difficult. And not only will it help me later on, but it's helping me right NOW. It's helping me enjoy life more, rather than going through the motions. Instead of just driving to work in the morning, I can use that as an opportunity to find a gift. I actually take the time to look at the buildings and people I'm driving past, instead of passing by like they don't exist. Life is short and time is valuable. So why not use the time we have and find joy in everything! This week I challenge you to READ THIS BOOK! I'll even let you borrow my copy! My second challenge is to start writing down the small gifts in your life. Anything from the feeling of folding warm clothes straight from the dryer, to spontaneous lunch dates with old friends. Start noticing them! Life is just too short to let it all pass by.