Monday Inspiration: July 6, 2015

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Happy Monday. I know I am late in like every time zone. Anyway. A new week has begun. Those of us in our study caves are glancing up from our kerosene lamps and books at our quickly fading calendar countdown for the big exam.

I bought a one-way ticket today, *holds breath*; yep, it’s pretty weird. But lately, everything is changing–so, gotta roll with the punches. Can we take a minute and talk about the Fourth of July weekend sales? I got four articles of clothing for $30. It was amazing. The rest of the weekend, I was either staring at corporations bar notes, a sparkler or at news about the Greece referendum. #Grexitgotmelikewhoa

I hope your week is also off to a good start, good deals, exciting changes and increasing knowledge. Wishing you much productivity and peace.

XoXo.

GY

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” C.S. Lewis

“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.” Claude Monet

“I’d rather look back at my life and know that I was brave instead of calculated.” Joy Williams, interviewed by Alan Light of The New York Times

أحياناً يبتعد شيء جميل لتقترب أشياء أجمل، فقط كُن صبوراً

 

In other words:

Sometimes you lose something great to gain something greater.

“Love cleanses, beloved.” Michael Hosea

“For although we don’t know why everything that happens to us is sent by God as a blessing, we should be convinced that everything that happens to us is for our good.” St. Basil the Great

“Life, even with Jesus, is hard. And life, especially with Jesus, is unfathomably beautiful.” Angela Nazworth

“There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in.” Elizabeth Gilbert

[Images from Tumblr]

Reflections Before Bedtime #31

By: Gabriela Yareliz

It’s funny how we end up meeting the people we need. People who teach us, stretch us, challenge us and sometimes see us in a much more accurate way than we see ourselves. Maybe, it’s not funny…maybe, it’s serious; so serious, it’s sublime.

A Moment With G.K. Chesterton

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I have been recently intrigued by G.K. Chesterton. I thought I would share some selected quotes and snippets from his writing.

All quotes are the words of G.K. Chesterton:

  • “Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.” – What’s Wrong With The World, 1910
  • “Love means loving the unlovable – or it is no virtue at all.” – Heretics, 1905
  • “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” – Chapter 5, What’s Wrong With The World, 1910
  • “The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.” – Chapter 19, What I Saw In America, 1922
  • “Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.” – ILN, 10/23/09
  • “Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.” – ILN, 5/5/28

My intrigue grows… He is wise, clever and philosophical; many of my favorite traits.

Independence Day

“God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.” C.S. Lewis
By: Gabriela Yareliz
I believe in a human race that was created with the greatest expression of love which is freedom; freedom to choose. There can be no true love without freedom to make it so. I believe we, the human race, chose wrong, and that sin is the transgression of God’s divine and moral law, which is eternal and a reflection of His character. I believe God took the ultimate risk in creating creatures that could reject him, and we did. I believe in a God who stepped down from His throne and became one of us to die for us and reconcile us with Himself, so we could have hope and life. We talk about Atticus Finch, but Jesus was the ultimate defense attorney. And I believe that every day we choose between life and death, resignation and faith, self and love.
Freedom, is the ultimate expression of love, and I believe it goes deeper than what we see it as. We can be “free” but be imprisoned by pain, lust, addictions, ambitions, anger, unforgiveness or the past. And we can literally be in shackles, but be free (see Nelson Mandela).
This independence day, I hope we all find ourselves striving to be truly free.
“Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.” C.S. Lewis

Reflections Before Bedtime #29

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Brain-dump edition (these are always random):

1) We will always need our moms.

2) It is amazing when someone who knows what he or she is talking about comes to your aid and defense. It’s a good feeling. I suppose this is how our clients feel when we represent them in court.

3) Dear Donald Trump,

Did you forget that the majority of Miss. Universe titles have been won by Latinas? There is no Miss. Universe pageant without us, and now, we are showing you. We are honorable, hard working people who are now teaching you a lesson in human dignity and respect.

4) We idealize superheroes because we recognize that evil can be found at the turn of a corner, and we need to be saved from ourselves and the monsters we create.

5) No matter what the world says, purity and integrity are still sacred.

6) Today, my mom and I saw two elderly friends run into each other unexpectedly, and one said to the other, “You are still alive!” What a way to greet one another. The truth is, the fact that any of us is alive every morning we wake up is a gift.

7) While looking at an American clothing company ad I wondered, does the world think of us like that? Do teens around the world think we are dirty blonde teens in short-shorts on the shoulders of some muscular guy with a farmer’s tan and perfect wavy hair, running through fields with American flags draped on our shoulders? Do they think our schools are as brutal as the movies and TV portray? #weird #idontwearshortshorts

8) Dear Bar Prep Course Companies,

How many hours in a day do you think we have? Because we study for the bar, the gods give us 15 extra hours of stamina and focus on top of the regular 24 hours, apparently. Oh, and we don’t sleep, eat, or leave the house. We live in another dimension.

I am off to take a quiz, and I am going to take advantage of today’s 15 extra hours. *wink* Much love.

Reflections Before Bedtime #28

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Ever since exams and since one of my mentors passed away, I have been in the weirdest, frazzled little state of mind. The smallest things seem to trigger the biggest waves of emotion, and my perspective is very “big picture.”

The bar exam is keeping me busy, focused and anti-social (as it should be); and my loving family is feeding me, loving me and reassuring me that everything will be ok. (They might be questioning my sanity at this point– I am not sure).

Sometimes, we live life at a really intense emotional level. How do you know if you are in one of those intense emotional states? When you are there, just the fact that you are alive is enough to bring you to tears of gratitude within seconds.

All of the studying, health concerns, the world with all of its craziness (looking at you, Donald Trump)– it all has me feeling pretty drained in every capacity.

I am making an appeal to myself tonight– I have got to get it together. I won’t bore you with a detailed brain dump, but I will share something I found to be encouraging:

God said, “Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24

I read that passage in Isaiah yesterday, and I have been thinking of it ever since. No matter what we come face-to-face with, God has an answer even before we ask.

If you are feeling anxious about anything tonight or frazzled at the way life sometimes surprises you, know that tomorrow is in God’s hands and that He is listening to your prayers. That part of the book of Isaiah is all about how God offers us healing. And it has a reminder: “He has made you beautiful,” (Isaiah 60:9).

I think it’s time to rest.