Hemp

So, being the psychology major that I am, I performed a little experiment on myself a few months ago. Whenever I felt sad, I decided to make a hemp bracelet and watch The Office. The idea was that watching The Office would cheer me up, and that eventually I would connect those and be able to stop the negative feelings by making bracelets. I realize now how random that is, but I just really love hemp :)

Who would have ever expected it to work?? I seem to have successfully conditioned myself to be cheered up, pretty much completely, simply by making hemp bracelets. Anyway, I've decided to put that to good use! I am participating in Invisible Children's 25 hours of silence for 25 years of war event on April 25, and part of participating is raising at least $25 for the implementation of the Protection Plan (download here). If you want more information about it, go to invisiblechildren.com/25 or watch this video.

Anyway, I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to raise money and last night I saw the tangled mess of hemp on my desk and the light bulb went on!So here's the deal: I won't ask for more than $1 for a bracelet (or it could be an anklet if you want). If I don't know you personally, you can shoot me an email (elsie.elise@gmail.com) with your address, and donate the money on my fundraising page here. And I'll mail it out to you as soon as I can! So. If you would like to help out, comment with your wrist size (take a piece of string, wrap it around your wrist, and measure how long that is) and whether you want the flat (see above picture) or spiral kind (pictured left). I would absolutely love it if y'all contributed! :)

Smile

Have you ever noticed that smiling comes naturally?
    Frowns are always contrived.
        Frowning is against our nature.
            It's a side-effect of our brokenness.

When we smile, we're defying that dark part of us.
    We were made for the light.
        We were created to smile.

It's no fun going through life without expression.
    Blank.
    Apathetic.
Try smiling at the people you see every day.
    Strangers on the street even!
        See what kind of reactions you get.
Be nice and cheerful in your daily interactions.
    Make someone's day!

Stand out.
    Be a light.
        Rebel against the darkness
            in you and in others.

I've found that, in trying to brighten someone, anyone's day,
    I brighten my own
        without even trying.

Let's just try smiling
    and see if we can start a chain reaction.
        and bring light to our broken world
            one broken person at a time.
                Starting now.
                    With you.
                        With me.
                             :)

Aspirations

Sunflowers.
    Bright, yellow, reflections of the sun that gives them life.

Me.
    Dark, broken, a poor reflection of the Son that gave me life.

I want to be a sunflower.

Butterflies.
    Fragile and beautiful, they still fly in the wind.
        They aren't afraid of breaking.
        They were made to fly and so they do.

Me.
    Terrified of breaking, I neglect the purpose of my creation.
    I was made for joy but live in darkness.

I want to be a butterfly.

I want to praise God with my very existence.

I wouldn't crush a sunflower or destroy a butterfly.

    Why would I crush my own spirit?

        It has the potential to be just as beautiful.

Car Karaoke

I had another post typed up, about how I was struggling with being positive the last couple days. But I just didn't feel right about it, so I gave up and decided to go to Wal-mart. It's a beautiful day so I rolled the windows down, blasted my music, and just enjoyed the drive. I even took the long way to get there. Oh, and I was rocking my new sunglasses, legit Ray-bans that my brother found and gave to me! I got to Wal-mart and discovered, to my great excitement, that Glee's newest CD was out! So I bought it.

I rocked out the whole way home, windows down, hair going crazy, singing at the top of my lungs. Luckily I didn't pass any people walking that might have overheard my impromptu karaoke, so I didn't have to worry about how I sounded. Let me tell you, nothing cheers me up like singing to Glee while driving. Except maybe cats. Specifically Maru (youtube it). Weird, I know. But I'm sure everyone has those quirky things that make them happy.

Anyway, I got home and went to finish writing that other post, but just deleted it instead. No pity parties here. Yes, being home makes it hard for me to smile sometimes, especially when "home" isn't home. But fighting for my joy is just that: a fight. I can't give up so easily. This spring break is going to be tough, but I'll get through it. I just need to work a little harder. And after all, it's only one week. And I'll get to see my brother. And my best friend. And, before and after our spring break trip, I'll get to spend time with my kitty. Just keep focusing on the positives, Laura.

Here Comes The Sun

Look out your window. It's obvious that God designed the world to be a happy place. Why else would he make the sun so bright and yellow, flowers in every color of the rainbow, bright green grass and a beautiful blue sky? The world is bright and beautiful, and as creatures of it we're going against nature by being grey and dull. We were made for smiling, for laughter, for joy! And sure, every so often the dark clouds roll in, but the sun is always there behind the clouds. Clouds come and go but the sun is constant. In the same way, we always have the capacity for joy, but sometimes we lose sight of that when the clouds start obscuring our view.

Of course, the sun does set every night, but the moon is still there to give us light. Sure, it's not as bright as the sun, but it's just as good in its own way. Moonlight is cool and calming while sunlight is warm and energizing. And just like it isn't day all the time, we're not necessarily completely joyful all the time. But we never have to fall into despair. There is always the light of hope. It may not be as bright as the sun but it calms us and gives us just enough light to see where our next step will be.

We are all flowers in a field, all different colors, different shapes, and different sizes, and all beautiful. We have everything we need to survive: sunlight, water, and nutrients. The water and nutrients are literal in this metaphor, because we obviously need food and water to live. However, humans can definitely survive without sunlight. But not without hope, without joy. These are the things we cling to. All plants grow towards the sun. As we grow we reach out towards that hope and that joy, and it shapes us. And even when the clouds come and cover our joy, we hold our heads high because we know that it hasn't disappeared, it's only temporarily hidden.

There is such a thing as false hope. Artificial light has the same effect on plants as the sun: they grow towards it. But with a simple flip of a switch that light is gone. There is no switch that can turn off the sun. There is no power that can defeat our hope and joy if they are founded in God. He is constant, and he will never disappear. Sometimes we lose sight of him, but we never have to lose faith.

Holi

Today, I experienced joy. Joy in the form of powdery colors raining down from the hands of both friends and complete strangers, all different races and nationalities. There was nothing weird about walking up to someone you'd never met and attacking them with color, rubbing it into their hair or clothes or, even better, their face. One random guy wanted to take a picture with me, and we were laughing and smearing color all over each others faces while it was taken. I don't even know his name or what he looks like without a rainbow face, but I'm glad I got to share that moment of silliness and laughter with him.

Who knew that something so simple as a couple hundred people in a big field with plastic bags full of colored powder could be so incredibly fun? For those few hours things like race and skin color didn't matter, and even if they had, those slight discrepancies in pigment were totally covered up with the vibrant colors of pink, orange, green, and yellow! We were just a group of people celebrating beauty and life and dancing around in a field together.

And this joy and sense of unity didn't end when we left the field. The rest of the day we proudly flaunted the oddity of being completely covered in random colors, waving at everyone we passed, trying to make them smile, and more often than not succeeding. Today was just so beautiful in so many ways. No one cared about how they looked, because in a few seconds someone would inevitably come to spread green powder all over their face. When a newcomer was spotted, with their bright white, clean shirt, we all shouted, “Fresh meat!” And swarmed them until they were sufficiently colorful. I've never seen so much happiness, so many smiles and so much laughter over something so simple.

We need more holidays like this. Days for dancing in fields out in the sun, no inhibitions, not a care in the world, just beauty and joy and laughter and celebration.