Life can be measured by heart to hearts because that is where the true, the good, and the beautiful blooms. Heart to hearts are when your aching soul opens up to another aching soul and the exquisite delight of God's grace becomes prevalent. When we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to our very core, nothing but growth and change occurs from within. Life giving love is the "expansive" feeling of giving of ourselves and receiving another's empathy. Only selfless love can stem from such an intimate encounter because we begin to see Christ's image in another soul.
"To love another person is to see the face of God."
- Les Miserables
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Self - Reflection
Dear world, aka myself,
I feel like I write on this blog when I want to professionally publish any philosophical musings I have. These philosophical musings usually occur when I need to study and suddenly I just have to write down every single thought - good or bad- on a nearby scrap of paper or else I will dieeeee. How cool is it to discover hidden depths through writing that you didn't know that you possessed before? God is so at work in our day to day lives. He is so cool.
I love reviewing my internal growth through writing. I also have so much to continue to grow in. He is always so so so good.
Recently, I have been feeling very imperfect, but yet I still have this overwhelming sense of worthiness. I know that I am worthy of greatness and excellence and virtue, but I am so very imperfect and have very limited means of attaining these goals.
And yet, to be imperfect is to be human. I am learning to compartmentalize work and play in order to not have an emotional response when someone constructively criticizes my work, instead of viewing them as criticizing my worth. That's part of being a student athlete who has deadlines and dates that I have to attend to.
Edith Stein has wise words for women in her Essay "The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace." She says that a woman's professional activity "counterbalances the risk of submerging herself all too intimately in another's life and thereby sacrificing her own; however, an exclusive preoccupation with her professional activity would bring the opposite danger of infidelity toward her feminine vocation." There has to be balance in a woman's life or else she will be too involved in someone else's personal life and forget about her own life or if she is too involved in her professional life than she can neglect her duties as a wife and mother. In order to achieve this balance of thinking objectively while understanding that feminity is a gift, women must go to God and "surrender themselves completely into the Lord's hands." (78). Have I mentioned before how much I love Edith Stein? She gets it. I just want to have her over to my room, drink tea and discuss masculinity and feminity.
And yet, to be imperfect is to be human. I am learning to compartmentalize work and play in order to not have an emotional response when someone constructively criticizes my work, instead of viewing them as criticizing my worth. That's part of being a student athlete who has deadlines and dates that I have to attend to.
Edith Stein has wise words for women in her Essay "The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace." She says that a woman's professional activity "counterbalances the risk of submerging herself all too intimately in another's life and thereby sacrificing her own; however, an exclusive preoccupation with her professional activity would bring the opposite danger of infidelity toward her feminine vocation." There has to be balance in a woman's life or else she will be too involved in someone else's personal life and forget about her own life or if she is too involved in her professional life than she can neglect her duties as a wife and mother. In order to achieve this balance of thinking objectively while understanding that feminity is a gift, women must go to God and "surrender themselves completely into the Lord's hands." (78). Have I mentioned before how much I love Edith Stein? She gets it. I just want to have her over to my room, drink tea and discuss masculinity and feminity.
Junior year has been pretty hectic so far. There is a general shift in how I present and view myself this year academically and socially and I am still adjusting to my journey and season of life. Actually, junior year has been heavier and more serious, but also so much fun. There is less awkwardness, but more pressure because you are pretty set in your major and have to work through it.
But there is also this internal peace in knowing that I am where I need to be in my life and that I have the ability to take risks and grow in confidence and grace. There is still a blessed openness to God's Will.
And now I really do need to get back to studying,
TTFN!
Robyn
Monday, June 2, 2014
Chemistry
When I was in high school, I decorated notebooks in the hopes of organizing my life. But I also found that I enjoyed the subject more when I added artistic appeal. It makes me smile, but Chemistry was one of those subjects and now that I am enduring summer classes at community college, I've taken the old highschool chemistry off of the dusty shelf and found this poem on the back of it. I LOVE this poem and I can't help but think of how the things that touched us greatly in our formative years stay within us and keep singing in our souls as we journey to adulthood.
Peace,
Robyn
Peace,
Robyn
Barter
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Friday, January 3, 2014
A Woman's Worth
This post comes from a very deep place within me that I'd like to share with my sisters out there. I think the topic of worth has been a theme for my semester and I think it also applies strongly to men too, but in a different way. But since I am a woman I'm only going into the woman's side of things.
This past semester I've seen the need of a woman discovering her worth and placing her being within her Creator's tender arms only and not in man's. I've seen this great need around me of women who have so much love to give, but are not finding the proper outlet and thus experience loneliness. Or maybe we have been hurt and our trust is harder to win over and we experience bitterness. Sometimes it has nothing to do with being hurt and everything to do with our human failings like being prideful or selfish and not trusting God. Being a woman is hard, I think, because we don't understand our nature and God's plan for our lives. But we know that deep within our being there is this desire to care for others by nourishing old friends and developing new friendships. We are carriers of light and life designed to spread warmth, joy, and love. We are literally created to nourish a life within our wombs and we also have a unique way of developing souls. A mother has this ability to perceive and understand her child like no other. Even though being a lady and nourishing others are very broad, general concepts, I believe that a woman has a unique capability in drawing out another's soul, of probing and uncovering deeper layers because our nature seeks to understand.
Whether society likes it or not, men and women think differently, but we are made to work together beautifully. I think I learned that being a woman requires being submissive sometimes or being a listener while seeking to understand and delving deeper into another's journey. All of us experience brokenness because we are not perfect! But here's the thing - we will never be perfectly emotionally satisfied in this life. Only God can and should fulfill our heart's desire because as St. Augustine says we are restless until we rest in thee.
But how do we place our trust in God alone? How do we place our core being into his bloody, scourged arms? That, my friends, is called the journey of life. It is a good and honorable challenge to daily deny ourselves and continue to seek and strive toward a greater unity with God because that is where we will feel the most secure. We will fall, but hopefully, with God''s grace, we will also rise. But sometimes outside forces distort and disrupt our ability to grow closer to God. Sometimes we are called to bear these crosses silently and sometimes we are required to seek healing by exposing our wounds to others. God will bless our efforts, even when we feel like they amount to nothing. He alone has the power to grant healing and mercy. The closer we lean God, the more we are our true selves and can give ourselves to others.
It is so important that if you or someone you love is going through doubt and brokenness that you can lead them toward the light. It is also important to share your brokenness with those you trust because He can work through those wiser than us to help grant healing. The beautiful sacrament of confession offers so much healing when you need release from sins that are weighing you down.
I'm praying for all my girls out there who doubt their worth! You are a daughter of the King.
This past semester I've seen the need of a woman discovering her worth and placing her being within her Creator's tender arms only and not in man's. I've seen this great need around me of women who have so much love to give, but are not finding the proper outlet and thus experience loneliness. Or maybe we have been hurt and our trust is harder to win over and we experience bitterness. Sometimes it has nothing to do with being hurt and everything to do with our human failings like being prideful or selfish and not trusting God. Being a woman is hard, I think, because we don't understand our nature and God's plan for our lives. But we know that deep within our being there is this desire to care for others by nourishing old friends and developing new friendships. We are carriers of light and life designed to spread warmth, joy, and love. We are literally created to nourish a life within our wombs and we also have a unique way of developing souls. A mother has this ability to perceive and understand her child like no other. Even though being a lady and nourishing others are very broad, general concepts, I believe that a woman has a unique capability in drawing out another's soul, of probing and uncovering deeper layers because our nature seeks to understand.
Whether society likes it or not, men and women think differently, but we are made to work together beautifully. I think I learned that being a woman requires being submissive sometimes or being a listener while seeking to understand and delving deeper into another's journey. All of us experience brokenness because we are not perfect! But here's the thing - we will never be perfectly emotionally satisfied in this life. Only God can and should fulfill our heart's desire because as St. Augustine says we are restless until we rest in thee.
But how do we place our trust in God alone? How do we place our core being into his bloody, scourged arms? That, my friends, is called the journey of life. It is a good and honorable challenge to daily deny ourselves and continue to seek and strive toward a greater unity with God because that is where we will feel the most secure. We will fall, but hopefully, with God''s grace, we will also rise. But sometimes outside forces distort and disrupt our ability to grow closer to God. Sometimes we are called to bear these crosses silently and sometimes we are required to seek healing by exposing our wounds to others. God will bless our efforts, even when we feel like they amount to nothing. He alone has the power to grant healing and mercy. The closer we lean God, the more we are our true selves and can give ourselves to others.
It is so important that if you or someone you love is going through doubt and brokenness that you can lead them toward the light. It is also important to share your brokenness with those you trust because He can work through those wiser than us to help grant healing. The beautiful sacrament of confession offers so much healing when you need release from sins that are weighing you down.
I'm praying for all my girls out there who doubt their worth! You are a daughter of the King.
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