You think she’s an open book, but…

Coming out of hiding just to post this paragraph…

“I’m not worried about little girls wanting to pretend they’re princesses—after all, they’re just in it for the dress-up aspect. The princesses I’m worried about are twenty-two, thirty-two, and forty-two—women who act fragile in order to be rescued at any age. I’m not anti feminine… I don’t feel belittled pouring your drink, ironing the clothes, or walking through the door that’s held for me. But I was taught to take charge when appropriate, and to speak passionately and intelligently. I was taught to expect men to respect me for my mind and my convictions—not for my ability to stroke their fragile ego by playing helpless. I was not raised to play cute, to play dumb, or to play the part of a damsel in distress. I learned to work hard, to develop my skills, to contribute in society, so it drives me crazy when women only depend on sexuality or their fragility. I think there’s a better way. If you’re a woman who gets by with batting your eyelashes, faking incompetence, using your push-up bra, and then complain that you’re not taken seriously in your career or given responsibility in your church, I think you may have believed the reigning cultural lie about what makes us attractive. And if you’re a man and you celebrate femininity only as far as it presents itself through beauty and tenderness, please consider widening your view of what it means to be a woman. Instead, consider things like strength, intelligence, passion, and compassion. Let’s set a new example for young women who are watching us closely. Let’s teach them by example to be women who work hard, who pay attention to their dreams, who give themselves to making the world a better place.”
– “Bittersweet” by Shauna Niequist (via underthecarolinamoon)

I will live my life without millions of dollars…without everyone (whoever “everyone” is) knowing my name.

I will live my life knowing pain and struggle…but less pain and struggle than others have been asked to bear.

I may live my life without the fairy tale romance…without the fairy tale anything.

And that is really fine…and really o.k.

But there is beauty everywhere, and love everywhere, and grace everywhere. My not-so-secret fear is that I will live my life without knowing and appreciating those things. Without seeing all that I can and loving each that I can. My heart’s soft-spot is not for Hallmark commercials or babies or puppies, but for mountains and waterfalls and children holding hands and grandmothers and priests. There is beauty and love running rampant in my life; yet my culture is constantly telling me to strive for more “things”, to never give up “the fight”, to never settle or be content with what I have. I already have more than I deserve, more than most people on our planet enjoy, more than I would have known to ask for had someone not told me what to ask for. Happiness and contentment are certainly not the goal…but there is a plague of desire that attacks my heart and tells me to long for things of this world that do not matter.

Beauty and love and grace…I will live with those things and see those things and be grateful for those things.

And that is really fine…and more than o.k.

This list is a bit premature as the year is not yet over. I’ll hopefully see one or two more as the week progresses, BUT I have a bit of time now so I will go ahead.

Background: I love movies. Like, really love movies. I actually save money to be able to regularly go to the theaters the same way people might save money to go out to eat, or to buy a new pair of shoes. I don’t care about shoes…I care about movies. The really wonderful thing about living somewhere like Dallas is that there are TONS of really great theaters that have discounted rates. So between the discounted tickets, the student pricing, and the not buying shoes…I see films pretty regularly. The list below is a list of movies I saw in the theater for the first time over the past year. I will refrain from listing the 2nd or 3rd showings, as I tend to see movies I really love more than once if I can. I will also not bother with the date, as no one else in the world other than myself could possibly care if I saw the movie in April or July.

• Sherlock Holmes
• Invictus
• Avatar
• Nine
• It’s Complicated
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Valentine’s Day (the worst, for sure)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
• Alice in Wonderland
• A Single Man
• Strawberry Shortcake: The Berryfest Princess (there are lots of little girls in my family)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• Cop Out
• Clash of the Titans
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Robin Hood
• Sex and the City 2
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• The Losers
• The A-Team
• The Karate Kid
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
• The Last Airbender
• Despicable Me
• Inception
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
• Salt
• The Kids Are All Right
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Eat, Pray, Love
• Going the Distance
• The Other Guys
• The Expendables
• Easy A
• Catfish
• The Social Network
• Life as We Know It
• RED
• Due Date
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Love & Other Drugs
• Tangled
• Black Swan (maybe my favorite)
• The King’s Speech (favorite #2)
• Skyline

So before the year is done, I’m hoping to see 127 Hours and The Tempest. Two that I’m SUPER sad that I missed are I Am Love and Biutiful. I’ll have to rent those. All in all, a pretty good movie year! 🙂

Our current culture values the mysterious…the strange…the things that we can’t understand and so we assume they automatically have a super deep meaning and value.

Here’s a hint – the more “mysterious” you are, the harder it is to be in a relationship with you. Interesting only gets you so far.

The End.

Riddle me this – from my single adult perspective, it seems that most people’s top priority in finding a spouse/partner/mate is attraction. I’d venture to say specifically sexual attraction, though I’m not sure how many would actually admit that.

And upon this sexual attraction and chemistry you are expecting to create a meaningful relationship based on a connection much deeper than sexual intimacy.

You see where I’m going with this?

To put it bluntly, here is the message: Be sexually attractive to snare a partner and then build a relationship that is not based purely on sex.

Hmmm. Am I the only one that doesn’t get it?