Thoughts

A lot has happened in the past two days.

An emotional breakdown occurred yesterday after I read a Facebook post that wasn't even directed at me, but completely hurt me on the inside. But then such a bizarre thing happened... God gave me the challenge of either showing grace or turning my back without forgiveness, and I chose the former. Such a seemingly horrible day for me turned into a faith-builder; sometimes God picks odd ways of growing us, and this was definitely an odd way.

Today's evening brought a few hours of me and my closest friend having a big long "life talk" as we rummaged around Osky to get things for Iowa Jazz Championships (at Wal-Mart... go figure). At one point, I brought up that my biggest pet peeve in life was people who are lazy, rude, and disrespectful. There is someone who I have known my entire life who fits all three of these categories, and it makes my gears turn whenever they try and force that stuff upon me.

In fact, as I type this, that exact person just yelled at my mother as he sits on the couch, leeching off of his parents and not paying either of them the slightest bit of respect. It angers me.

And then we started talking about someone who is the exact opposite.

This girl is not much older than me. She has pretty much been homeless for several years now, and she is currently living with two of my adult friends. She works two jobs, goes to school, and has a smile on her face after the long day. Or atleast every time I see her she does.

I realized tonight that I have nothing but admiration and respect for her. We always prize people over their accomplishments, awards, etc... but to my knowledge, this young lady trumps almost all of the people that I personally know with her work ethic and ambition. She never lets any issues stop her from achieving her goals, and she has a positive, up-beat attitude about life. In fact, the things that she has overcome make me feel ashamed of myself for complaining and whining over little setbacks on a daily basis.

So that's what I've been thinking.

Well, almost.

My final year at Iowa Jazz Championships is coming up tomorrow. I currently have a mixture of excitement, anxiety, nerves, joy, and nostalgia in my heart.

There...

That's everything I've been thinking about.

:-)