Yep, this is happening again.
So, my last three posts have been kinda long, and two out of the three were pretty serious. Therefore, I am taking another kinda sorta day off and just posting this video that I am thankful for. I am not in the video, but I think it captures my personality and overall essence pretty well. I really appreciate it. Watch and enjoy.
You’re welcome.
Thnx video.
Summer of Thankfulness
This has become a serious debate in my house.
Today I am thankful for doors. Recently my family has been feuding over the fact that my dad does not like to use his door. It is always open, even when he is asleep at night. This would normally not be a problem, but he complains every morning about being woken up while he is sleeping, because either me or my sister will get up in the middle of the night or get home late (take into consideration the fact that he goes to bed at 8:30PM). Honestly though, it is normally just me that is doing the waking up, so I have been begging him to shut the door at night so I do not have to hear him complain everyday, but I have not seen success. That got me thinking about doors and how grateful I am that we have doors and why I choose to take advantage of them. Here are a couple reasons:
Prevention of unwanted pests, which can include people. A closed door keeps many unwanted things out.
Retention of cool or warm temperature. Keeping a door closed can keep a room cool or hot.
Isolation. If you need alone time or time to think and focus on something, you can go to a room and shut the door.
Variation of lighting blocker. If it is light outside of a room, a closed door can keep the light out and the room dark and vice versa.
Addition for fighting. A slammed door can add emphasis to any good fight.
Conclusion of a day. A closed door can mean you are going to bed and prevents noises that would keep you awake out.
Yuppification. Yuppification means the act of yuppifying, and yuppifying means making something attractive to young residents. A good front door can make a house very appealing to young people looking for a new home.
The last one was kinda lame, but I learned a new word while making it though, so its a success, I guess. All of that to say that I am thankful for doors because they offer PRIVACY, get it, that’s what the first letter of all of the above things makes. I’m pretty clever, aren’t I? I appreciate doors because they allow me to go to a room and have the privacy to read a book, change clothes, nap, have alone/quiet time, watch TV on my computer, sleep, etc. Doors can be a great thing, and I think we should all be more thankful for them because not everyone has the privilege to have their own space with a way to close it off from everyone else.
Thnx doors 4 providin privacy.
Summer of Thankfulness
I try to open every post in some unique way, today I have nothing.
Today I am thankful for leadership. I am thankful that I have had leaders in my life who have taught me lessons and helped me grow. I am thankful for having the opportunity to be a leader to other people. Finally, I am just thankful for the quality of leadership.
I’m now going to cover those in reverse order. First, the quality of leadership is something to be appreciated. I think before I explain why, I should explain what I believe a leader looks like. A leader is not someone who brags about being a leader or needs affirmation about being a leader. True leadership is doing something for others and then not telling anyone about it. It does not mean go on to facebook or twitter and talk about how great your leadership experience was; it means just appreciating that you were able to serve a few people. Just you knowing you did it should be enough, needing everyone else to know you did it is not true leadership. Leadership also does not just mean being in charge, it means using the authority you have been given to benefit others. People who consider themselves leaders but think they are better than other people and should be given special privileges are only concerned for self. True leadership is realizing you have been given some authority and then using that power to benefit others and lift other people up. True leadership is service. A leader should always be ready to step up and serve others, even if it means doing the hardest and most demeaning tasks that normally the person who picks the shortest straw has to do. Leaders should be willing to humble themselves and realize that they have not been put into that position to be a trophy but to be in the pit crew. I have been reading a book about leadership and have listened to a couple leadership sermons the past week, and the same theme that kept coming up was that leaders are servants, the lowest of the low, not kings, which are considered the highest. Leaders should be concerned more for the people they lead than themselves. Okay, rant over, but when you meet people with that leadership quality, it is so refreshing. If I meet someone who expresses true leadership, I immediately want to be their friend. More true leaders are needed around the world. When we start focusing on others instead of ourselves, the world will be a better place. Therefore, I think the quality of leadership, and when you see that quality in another person, should be something to be thankful for, especially because it is so hard to find.
Second, the opportunity to be a leader should be something to be thankful for. I am not saying that I am perfect and express all the qualities of true leadership, but over the years people have given me the opportunity to be a leader. It has ranged from leading a big group at camp to having one-on-one, mentor conversations with kids younger than me. These opportunities have been so great, and I know I said true leaders should not brag about their experiences, but I never said I possessed all the true leadership qualities. I always walk away from times where I get to be a leader filled with joy and appreciation that I have been put in that position. I think everyone should be thankful when they are allowed to be a leader, because that means that someone thinks highly enough of you, whether it is the person in charge or just the one kid who asked you to be their mentor, and you have shown enough qualities of leadership to be placed in a position of authority. It is a great honor and experience to be a leader, so I think those times should be celebrated.
Finally, the leaders in your life should be appreciated. Everyone has a leader in their life, whether it is a mentor, a teacher, a pastor, or just a parent. Whoever it is, that person, or people, should be appreciated. They have devoted part of their life to serving you and making you into the person you are today and the person you will be in a couple years. A leader challenges you and forces you to grow, and they should be thanked for that. I am so thankful for all the leaders that I have had in the past and all the ones I have now. They have helped me through some stuff, and I could not be more thankful.
Leadership in general is just a great thing. I think the term scares and intimidates some people and makes other people mad because they have been hurt by someone who considered themselves a “leader,” but when we look at the true idea behind it, it is something to be thankful for. There are people who show true leadership, and even though they are hard to find, they help redeem the whole concept. It is those type of people, and the instances where people are really touched by leaders, that we should look at to judge just how great or poor the idea of leadership is. Personally, I am always going to be thankful for leadership because of the impact it has on my life.
Thnx leadership 4 bein so important in my life.
Summer of Thankfulness
This is basically going to be one big subtweet, but it is directed at everyone, so that makes it okay, right?
I am sick of seeing sad tweets. It seems like that is all I saw last night while scrolling through twitter. I hate them, and they serve no purpose. How is tweeting about how awful a night is going to fix the night? Trick question, it won’t. Trust me, I have tweeted my fair share of sad tweets and they have not fixed anything. Therefore, this blog is going to be showing why those kind of thoughts that make a person feel so bad that they have to tell the whole world about it should not consume us enough to make it on to the internet.
Today I am thankful for life, and I believe that if everyone took a step back and appreciated life every time they became sad, it would help cheer them up. Think about it, no matter how bad your night was, unless you got some very unfortunate news about health issues, then it is probably not going to kill you. You are still alive if you are reading this, which means that you have the opportunity to make tomorrow better, or even just make the rest of your night/day better. Only you can decide if you want to sulk in a little misfortune or if you want to pick yourself up, realize that it could be much worse, and then decide to make the best out of the situation. You have been given the chance to experience this thing called life, and live on this planet, and for probably almost everyone reading this, you also live in America, the cushiest country of them all. Don’t even try to say something to me like we have it so tough here because of some issue. I’m gonna be real here for a second, when you have to walk hours to get clean drinking water, then you can talk to me about how tough your life is. We have it good, and we should appreciate that more. We are growing up privileged, so an argument with a parent or friend or significant other, a circumstance not going your way, or a little misfortune should not be such a big deal. If we have the ability to connect to the internet to go on twitter to complain about something, we should not be complaining. We have been given a great life, and if we took a step back to look at the big picture and believed that everything will work out, which it will, then it would take much more than a break up to bring us to devastation. We should be more devastated that there are people out there in the world suffering from hunger than being worried about the barista at Starbucks messing up our order. Life is precious, and if we acted with that truth constantly in our head, we would walk around more grateful for everything around us rather than criticizing every little thing that does not go our way. Also, when we actually begin to look at the big picture, life is amazing. Think about it, we are one person, but then we get to be friends and have community with other people. We get to meet many different people during our lifetime and make companions that will be there for us forever. We also get to do may great things in our life, like traveling and pursuing passions, but if we spend all of our time down on ourselves, we will miss out on these things. We can even see greatness in the little things, for example, trees produce oxygen, we use oxygen then put out carbon dioxide, which trees then use to make more oxygen. Like what?! How does that fact alone not get you pumped about life? This world is so intricate and beautiful and awesome, why would you not be excited to wake up in everyday? I know there are some people that can make this world bad, but that is only if you allow them to. No one can make you feel bad about yourself unless you let them. Surround yourself with people that build you up and life can be beautiful, trust me, I’ve learned that the hard way by trying to surround myself with the “cool people” instead of people that will lift me up and support me.
All of that to say, everyone should be thankful for life. You are alive and getting to experience another day. You can choose to be happy, or you can sulk about something not going your way. It’s your choice, but as for me, I am going to choose happiness. Just so everyone knows though, this post was not directed at anyone specific and none of the examples I used came from actual people, they were just what I thought of on the spot. I just think everyone, including myself, probably myself the most out of anyone, needs to hear this. Life is great if we let it be.
Thnx life 4 allowin us 2 experience gr8 things.
Summer of Thankfulness
So, its Saturday and I have to get up early in the morning…I am really not feeling like posting today.
I have not missed a post yet this series, which is a miracle, but it has also made me a little burnt out on blogging. So, today is simple, I am thankful for this picture of this dog. Why? Because I can and because if you do not like and appreciate funny animal pictures, then you must live a sad life.
My friend and I used to send this to each other to make each other laugh, so I figured I should bless my blog viewers with it.
Thnx pic.
Summer of Thankfulness (Sorry if this post was disappointing to anyone, but I have now written twenty of these and needed somewhat of a break. You write twenty blog posts everyday for over two weeks and then come tell me if you are still gung-ho by the twentieth day, spoiler alert, you won’t be)
Still trying to perfect horizontal line placement, did I succeed?
Today I am thankful for Jesus talks. I know that some of you are probably upset because this is very similar to my conversations post, here it is if you haven’t read it, Summer of Thankfulness: Conversations, but I promise it is different. Okay, so you probably are not upset, but just humor me and pretend like you have a huge concern for what I write about. I do enjoy conversations, especially one-on-one conversations, and yes, Jesus talks fall into that category, but they are a special type of conversation that deserve to be appreciated on their own. Conversations can be about anything, but Jesus talks are when two or more people sit down and just talk about Jesus, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do. This could be a couple friends sitting down to just chat, it could be a couple friends trying to minister to other friends, it could be accountability partners talking about what they are struggling with, it could be a mentor/mentee (is that a word, it has a squiggly, red line underneath it, but I have heard people use it before, ohh well) meeting, it could be a devotional/Bible study that two or more people decide to do together. Jesus talks cover a wide variety of conversations, basically, if two or more people are talking about how great Jesus is, then it is a Jesus talk. I just wanted to take the time to talk about this one specific category of conversations.
Now that I have covered all of that with the infinite amount of wisdom I have (that’s a joke), let me explain why they are so great, if that even needs to be explained. First, it allows two people with similar life philosophies to connect with each other. Think about it, people who consider themselves Christian have a certain outlook on life that probably differs from people who do not consider themselves Christians. Therefore, when they get together to talk about the backbone behind their belief about life and its meaning (Jesus), then the two people are able to connect on a deeper level. For example, people who like comic books go to Comic Con because they like to be around and have conversations with people who also like comic books. Just like that, Christians also like to have conversations with other Christians. Like why would you not want to have a conversation with someone who believes the same thing as you? In addition to creating connections, Jesus talks allow you to brag about what God has done. You get to brag on the One who took you from being dead and made you alive, you get to brag on the One who defeats any evil in your life, and you get to brag on the One who knows and is in control of all. If you believed in a being, supernatural or otherwise, that created the world and makes your life meaningful, wouldn’t you also want to talk about it all the time too? Finally, Jesus talks give you a warm feeling inside. They allow you to see how God is not only working in your life, but in others’ lives too. It makes you feel good that God is going to do great things in the life of someone you know well enough to have deep conversations with. Even if the talk is about something you or the other person is struggling with, it is still encouraging to see that you or they are aware of what is going on and want to fix it. And if anything else, it gives you an opportunity to pray with another person, and if you have been around me at all this summer you know I am a big advocate for people praying about things.
Okay, I think it is time to end this. This is my longest post in a while because I have been trying to keep them somewhat short, but that definitely did not happen tonight. I would just like to finish by saying that I love Jesus talks and am thankful that I am surrounded with likeminded people who will have this type of conversation with me. Also, if you ever want to have a Jesus talk or I have ever asked you to have a Jesus talk, just hmu (that means “hit me up,” which means to give me a call for all you uncool people) and I will talk with you in a heartbeat because I want to hear about what Jesus is doing in your life, especially if we have had a Jesus talk before because follow up talks are just as good as the initial talk, just like frozen pizza.
Thnx Jesus talks 4 bein gr8.
Summer of Thankfulness
I honestly have no idea what I want to write about…
Okay, that is kind of a lie because after writing that I know exactly what I want to write about. Today I am thankful for times where I do not understand. Here’s why (yes its another list, sorry if you do not like these, but not really, I’ll add color to the text if that will make you feel better, which it probably won’t):
Okay, that was only four points, so not that bad, and the colors helped, right? All of this to say that next time you do not understand, be thankful that there is One who does understand, and that this times of confusion can be beneficial if you just look at what can come after.
Thnx time when I do not understand 4 makin me better.
Summer of Thankfulness (I found out how to do a horizontal line, does it look nice or no?)
I really should start writing these earlier in the day.
Today I am thankful for rest. I am definitely in a time of rest this summer. It has been low energy and low stress all summer long, and I am very thankful for that. I believe that rest is something that we should all be thankful for because not everyone could say that they have time in a day to just sit and veg in front of a screen. Therefore, if you ever just get an hour to sit down and not deal with anything but the drama on the TV show you are watching, think about how privileged you are to be able to do that. It is a luxury, not a right, to be able to take time out of the day to not worry about or work on anything. However, I do think everyone needs a little rest in their life. I know there are some people out there who say that they always need to be working or doing something, but I guarantee that if they were offered a week away on a beach somewhere, they would accept in a heartbeat. We all need time to sit down and relax. It is an opportunity to refuel and recharge so that you are able to go back to work after the rest is over. I am very thankful that this summer has shown to be am extended period of rest before I head back off to school, and I am going to keep taking full advantage of this opportunity to just hang out and relax.
Thnx rest 4 bein a way 2 refuel and recharge.
Summer of Thankfulness
Almost forgot to post today, but good thing I didn’t because today is special.
Today I am thankful for my blog. Do you wanna know why? If you don’t, press the “x” at the top of the screen and quit reading. But if you do, then here’s why: I have now been blogging for two years! This is my two year anniversary with my blog. What type of gift do you get someone on a two year anniversary? Whatever it is, I am gonna go out and buy it for myself tomorrow to celebrate. I cannot believe that I have been doing this so long. It seems like just yesterday that I was starting this blog with these three posts (you shoud read them, they are pretty good): My Summer With The Youth of Georgetown, The Woes of Being Gulli….I Mean Trustworthy, My Bathroom Picture Experiment. Now I am up to 41 posts, almost a 1,000 views, and 24 followers for some reason. Who knew people would think I am as funny and cool as I think I am. I am just thankful that I have been able to capture some of my memories and thoughts in blog form so that I am able to go back and read about them. I know that is what a journal would be for, but what is the fun in keeping your life off of the internet, also, I would definitely lose a journal after just a week of having it. I am glad that I am allowed the opportunity to poorly write my ideas on the internet for free and allow other people to view them. Its pretty cool and pretty weird all at the same time, which is how I would describe myself, so it is a perfect match. I would just like the thank WordPress for being good to me the past two years, and to everyone who I have ever talked about in a blog, thanks for making these past two years memorable enough for me to post about them on the internet.
Thnx blog 4 bein the best blog on the internet.
Summer of Thankfulness
This post is probably gonna disappoint some people.
Today, and really every day of the year, I am thankful for Nacho Cheese Doritos. I appreciate whoever came up with the idea of making tortillas, and then whoever decided to make those tortillas into chips, and then whoever decided to put nacho cheese flavored powder on those chips. They are definitely the best snack ever, closely followed by Cheez-Its. I think this picture makes my point for me…
Why would you not want to consume these?
I know I’m gonna get judged for this post and people are gonna think I am a lard who just sits around and eats chips all day, but whatever, I’m comfortable displaying my liking of snacks on the internet. Trust me though, the moment I get to just eat Doritos all day and make a living, I am taking it, and I will have no shame in my game.
Thnx Nacho Cheese Doritos 4 bein the best snack.
Summer of Thankfulness
The Life of Hayden 