What I'm Reading Wednesday: Part 3

Books and fall just seem to go together like peas and carrots like my mama always says. (Thanks, Forrest for the quote mash-up.)

When the temperatures drop, the sunlight wanes, and the leaves start to fall, the best thing that I can think to do is find one of my cats and force them to sit on my lap while I curl up with a good book. It's so perfect while my cat pretends to like me for 3.4 seconds before he decides to dump me for food.  Whatever, I don't need you. 

I'm really, really loving the books that I'm reading this fall.  I've got the bases covered between a classic or two, a modern non-fiction and a super-challenging Jesus book.  

So, here's what I'm reading on this almost-autumn Wednesday.  

|| 1. || 

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcom Gladwell

Here's a quick rundown on what I want to do with my life: become a sociologist and publish my findings to help solve world problems. (Told you it was quick!) Here's what Malcolm does with his life: be a sociologist/psychologist and publish his findings to better certain aspects of the world.  

Obviously we are meant to be.  This is the second book that I'm reading by Gladwell and it doesn't disappoint.  The thought-provoking content with the extremely readable writing style make this an easy read and most definitely an enjoyable/interesting one.  Go read Gladwell right now and come back and tell me all about how much you love him when you're done.  Ready? Go! (The credit for this obsession goes to Allie who knew that Malcolm and I would hit it off. So really, thank her.) 

|| 2. || Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

I read Sense and Sensibility when I was in seventh grade, but I'm a little tard-ay to the part-ay when it comes to Austen's most famous work.  I started this about a month back and haven't moved very fast at all. Read: I haven't picked this up in at least three weeks, but I'm counting it as currently reading anyway.  I'm not even supposed to know that I'm going to fall in love with Mr. Darcy by the end.  Right now, he's still the arrogant and pompous brat that Austen is leading me to believe him to be.  So, shhhh, don't tell me that he turns out to be the heartthrob of the 1800s because that would definitely ruin it for me.  

|| 3. || Not a Fan

Kyle Idleman

I've been reading this book since July June May April March errrmmm . . .  February.  I mean, that's only like seven months.  Not too long . . . 

Despite my dismal time it's taking me to complete this book, I.LOVE.IT. Idleman comes right out and challenges you to be a true follower of Jesus rather than just a fan that sits on the sidelines.  And let me tell you, it stings quite a bit.  Well, at least it did for me.  But that has motivated me to make some changes in my life that have been a long time coming.  

|| 4. || Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fable

Thomas Bulfinch

(I think his name is Thomas at least . . .) 

This book came to me on a lovely August day that also regrettably served double-duty as the first day of school.  I was told to have it read for a test in a little over a week.  So there I was, day of the test, scrambling to read the last 90 pages that I had somehow neglected. I mean, between school eight hours of the day, cross country practice for two, commuting for two, sleep for six if I'm lucky and all of the other random stuff I'm supposed to cram into my day, I don't know how I couldn't find the time to read!

I shouldn't be complaining.  People much busier than I am found a way to finish, so obviously it was me.  Needless to say, my 45 minute study hall didn't quite give me enough time to get through all 90 pages, so I still have a little to read! I hope to finish this one up with a cup of hot chocolate or chai tea some cool weekend morning.

And that is what I am reading this Wednesday.  You should definitely feel privileged because it's not like the whole internet knows this or anything.  Nope, just you.

I have some decisions to make next!  This tower of paperbacks is the compilation of some of the books that I have acquired but not yet read! Besides P&P, I want to know: What would you read next?

Did you hear about . . .?

First of all, let me just put this out there: No, I am not going on anymore vacations (tears, much tears.) even though my last two mysteriously titled posts may lead you to believe so. 

Good. Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns . . .! Sorry, my Disney escaped there for a moment). 

How many times have you heard the words "did you hear about . . ." and without even thinking leaned in a little bit closer to get the latest scoop? If I'm being honest, you could find me in this exact senario playing the role of either the news-bearer or the news-receiver multiple times a day. 

And I hate it. But it feels so good. Relaying secrets, stirring up drama, and repeating stories that most likely aren't true but will probably gather an audience are all things that I do over and over every.single.day. 

But why? 

What do I gain through mindless chatter and intentional gossip? 

Let me play the role of my former math teacher/current cross country coach and answer my own questions here for a moment. 

Here's what I gain: temporary satisfaction, attention from others, knowing the latest news, when in awkward situations, something to fill the silence, and the reputation as someone who sticks her nose into other people's beeswax just so she can let the rest of the world know. 

Yep, that's my reward for running my mouth and tearing down the reputations of others just to build my own (which by the way, is a lie. How is it even logical that I could conclude that people would think of me as a better person if I babble on and on about others? Answer me that.). Are those things listed as so-called "rewards" worth the feelings and social well-being of a fellow human? 

Absolutely not. 

God makes it clear how he feels about gossip. Like extremely Windex-clear. I didn't realize how much God had to say about gossip until a quick google search enlightened me about all that I had been missing. 

Take Proverbs 10:18 where we learn that whoever slanders others is a fool. 

Or 1 Thessalionians 4:11 where we are told straight up to keep our noses in our own business. 

Look at Proverbs 21:23. "Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble." 

Hmmm, not too, too hard to see what God is trying to get across to us. If you're in need of some more proof, check out Proverbs 16:28, Matthew 12:36, and Exodus 23:1. 

None of those concepts are new to me though. I know how God feels about gossip. I've known it for my entire Sunday school life, but that doesn't stop me from mindlessly running my mouth just to be the top dog in the rumor mill. 

However, I feel as though God has really convicted me of this lately. I haven't felt the same amount of satisfaction after I passed on some juicy tidbit of information. Instead, I wish that I could take my words back and have everyone forget the pointless speech that I had just poured out of my mouth. 

But it doesn't work that way no matter how much that I wish it did. 

Remember how I said in my last post that things in my life were going to change? Well, get ready because here comes the change. 

To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."

God has blessed me with a mind that can do amazing things. And guess what! If you're reading this, you have a mind too! And your mind came from God whether you believe that or not. He has beautiful plans for each and every one of us. I can bet you that those plans don't include sitting around a table with your best friends, sipping pumpkin spice lattes (because it's fall! Duh!) and talking all about how Laura cheated on Ryan with Morgan's boyfriend, Dan, and now Laura and Morgan aren't friends anymore. 

No! His plans for you and me are so much more spectacular than limiting our minds to discussing rumors that no one even knows for sure if they are true. 

So I decided to run my own mini version of Jen Hatmaker's experiment Seven. However, instead of physical, material things, I've decided to purge myself of one of the biggest things that distracts me from loving God with all that I have. You guessed it: gossip. 

From September 2 - October 2, I am going to work my absolute hardest to keep gossip off of my lips. Instead of gossip, I will replace that mindless chatter with encouragement, heartfelt praise, prayers, and new ideas. If I find that I cannot do that, then I will just stay silent during moments that I am tempted. 

In James 3:8, James writes that no human being can tame the tongue for it is a restless evil and full of poison. I have found this to be more true than I would have originally thought. All of my previous attempts to vanquish gossip have crashed and burned. Hard. I will have to learn to call on God and rely on Him to help me get rid of this harmful addiction. 

So here's to one month of uplifting, encouraging, and positive talk! 

Love, 

Allison

When Intentions Aren't Enough

Well, hey there, Blog! Haven't seen you in a while!

Can I confess something though?  I didn't miss you.  Yeah, the truth hurts sometimes, but I'm not one to skimp on honesty. 

I had the most amazing summer of my life.  By far.  Between traveling overseas for the first time in my life to see and experience some of the most beautiful, spectacular things that I have ever seen or done and being challenged physically, spiritually, and emotionally constantly at camp for two weeks, I had plenty of blog material, let me tell you. 

However, sitting down and typing out all that I had seen, learned, and done over these past few months wasn't on the top of my to-do list. In fact, it was more hastily scrawled in the bottom margin of my list as an after-thought. You know, the thing that you always leave for last and never actually get done? Yeah, that was blogging for me. 

You see, my blog hasn't really turned out exactly the way that I had envisioned when I was poring over names, color schemes, and facts about me when I brought this blog to life last winter. I had ditched my previous blog for two main reasons: 1) It was a travel blog and traveling isn't something that I do frequently enough to make my content interesting and enjoyable for me to write about and 2) I started to care more about the comments, the views, the followers, and the connections that I was making more than anything else. 

And that's not the way I wanted it to be. 

However, I've watched myself get too wrapped up in all the glam and glitz of blogging again instead of being who I want to be. 

Initially, this blog was dedicated to all the beautiful things in my life. The little details that would usually go unnoticed, the big events that rocked my world, and all the amazing things that God was teaching me as I worked to draw nearer to Him.

Instead, I've found that once again, I'm much too concerned with gaining more Twitter followers, commenting on other blogs with the purpose of gaining readers instead of genuinely wanting to share some input, comparing my blog's design to other blogs, and all together NOT focusing on the beautiful things in my life. 

Good intentions are just that: intentions. No matter how many times I tell people that the reason I blog is to show the glory of God, I am a big, fat liar. And that won't change until I make my intentions reality. That means that some changes need to happen around here. Intentions need to become action to become results. 

This summer I was faced with the question of what is keeping my faith from thriving rather than simply surviving? Although it was posed to me weeks ago, it is still up there, rolling around in my brain. 

I found the answer recently after reading Seven by Jen Hatmaker. If you aren't familiar with the premise of the book, Jen, in an attempt to rid herself of all the excess in her life, embarks on a seven month challenge where she seriously alters one area of her life for a month at a time. For example, the first month, she attacks the area of excess food. For an entire month she only eats seven foods (chicken, sweet potato, apple, and spinach are among three other foods that I can't recall). 

Yes, you read that right. For 30 days, this woman limited her diet to seven foods. I think I've passed that already just today and it's only 10 am! 

Throughout her mission, Jen learns what it's like to truly purge the excess stuff in her life that is distracting her from a thriving relationship with Christ. Although not everything in this book made me nod in agreement, the overall message made me stop and reflect on all the materialism in my own life that is keeping me from loving Christ passionately and to the fullest. 

You may have guessed by now that this is the start of an excess purge. Effective immediately both in my life and on my blog. I don't think that I'm going to be cutting my foods down to less than the number of fingers I have, but I do know that things are going to change. 

It's looking like this for my blog at the moment: no Twitter, no Google Analytics, no more blog design updates (unless I actually am in the mood to, not to keep up with the Jones), no "filler posts" that I write just for the purpose to keep the page views coming, and no following blogs just to get followers. I'm weighing the pros and cons of turning off the comments and taking my blog off of Bloglovin' too, so those changes may be happening in the near future. 

Whew. When I said change, I meant it.

I'm excited for this blog to be what I intended it to be: a place for me to record the ins & outs of my life. No glitz, no glam. Just the raw, real me. 

Love, 

Allison 

"Help!" - My Running Playlist

My running playlist needs help.  Sometimes at night I can hear it screaming for an update through my headphones across the room.  It's a desperate situation.

I'm afraid that it's all my fault though.  I've neglected my most-used playlist for way too long while other lesser important playlists received my full attention.  In case you're thinking that your playlist is in pretty bad shape too, let me share a few gems that totally get me pumped to hit the pavement (sarcasm, much sarcasm).

Here, we have a great tune for the heat of a run.  You know, the moment when it's getting tough, but you're ready to take anything that is thrown at you.  So intense.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets my legs going like some good ol' Lizzie Mcguire. 

Okay, next! A great song for when you don't feel like going anymore.  Your legs burn, you're doubled over and chances are, you're moving at appx. 2 miles per hour. For this situation, there's no option better than having some Gretchen Wilson reverberating in your ears.   Redneck Woman, anyone? 

If you're not pumped up to the point where you want to lace up and head out the door right now, let me give you one more song from my playlist that is sure to do the trick. Ready or not, it's coming!

That's right, some classic Shania.  I don't know about you, but all that cheetah print that she's rocking DOES impress me much.  Oh, 90's fashion, how you humor me. 

All joking aside, you now know how rough my running playlist has been treated so I'm trying to repair the damages that my poor music selection (freshman year, I'm looking at you) have inflicted.

I want to know what YOUR favorite song(s) to workout/run to is/are.  Sure, I've googled "songs to run to," but I don't really love a lot of the suggestions that I've seen.  I'm turning to you guys to be my DJs because I'm nearly positive that you have better music taste than I did whenever I last updated this list. So let me know because I would love to get my playlist up and running (so punny!) again!