deep breaths

So for Sister's Appreciation this year, one of the raffles I won was for an Aquarium trip! 5 of the brothers took 6 of the sisters to the Aquarium of the Pacific after a nice, home-made breakfast. Today was my first time at the Aquarium and it was definitely an extremely fun, exciting and surreal experience. All those fish honestly look like those Windows XP virtual desktop screensavers. We all had good laughs today, ate alot of good food, touched alot of sharks and rays, looked at alot of pretty fish and had a really great time. The way they served us so willingly and generously was so encouraging and it really grew my heart to want to serve others back as well. :o)





I love Aquariums! They're so beautiful


Cant believe God made this.. God is so awesome.. haha

Recently I've been trying to train myself to be more productive and efficient with my time, and to be more discerning about where I spend my time, who I invest it in and so on. I'd be happy to say that this week I've improved somewhat, but I am no where near where I should be-- so I guess what I COULD say is that I'm excited to keep getting better at this.

I've been feeling alot of anxiety, confusion, fickleness, and worry about decisions I need to make for the near future, various areas I would like to commit to (or not commit to) and what kind of things I will be capable of handling in the future. I wonder-- is "having the heart" for these things enough? Does it suffice to merely "have the heart for it"? I always thought -- in some cheesy, idealistic way-- that this "having the heart" was more than enough for anyone to handle anything. But the more that I think about it, I find that it's not as true as I sought it out to be.

I have a heart for alot of things, but different commitments, obligations, responsibilites and roles that I possess limit my capabilities of doing every single thing I "have the heart for". So how do I filter out the things that I should hold off or put aside, so that I can ensure that my time and energy and "heart" is really invested in the best and most "excellent" things?

I dont want my ambition to overpower me and I dont want this overflowing passion to be uncontained in a manner where I will flippantly commit to things I will not be able to wholheartedly devote myself to.

If our greatest commandment(s) is to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' and to 'Love your neighbor as yourself', we should want to invest in the things that will help us to be stretched, yet focused on these 2 things.
hm.. I just need to take a deep breath, clear my mind, and to cement my feet into His word and hold tightly to Him through prayer.

This is what I thought about as I was studying for microbiology today.

--

A cool video alot of people sent me today: Hope it encourages you too
http://www.thedoorpost.com/joy/claytonsstory

Give thanks-- kevin, kelvin, theo, aLocke, and paul for being wonderful brothers, sisters to share them with, the evidence of God's grace in encouraging fellowship, productive study times, power naps, ice cream, laundry days, writing in my bible, tChoi, pastor Aaron, being encouraged, difficult things You help me to understand and scary things you help me to anticipate confidently

Did you rise the sun for me,
and paint a million stars
so I might know Your majesty?