Pig Face

So I just watched this move entitled "Penelope"....its like a romance/fairytale/comedy (and not the other way around!) and aside from liking the whimsical costuming and stellar soundtrack, I really took alot away from the movie.

For this blog, I'll have to give you a basic and very vauge run down of the movie. Be warned that I am going to ruin the ending for you!

Penelope is a young lady who, because of a family curse, is born with a pigs snout for a nose. As any good fairytale goes, the curse can only be broken by marrying a man who fulfills the stipulated requirements....or so it appears. After her overbearing parents (mostly her mum) spend 7 years trying to find Penelope a suitor to break the curse, who all keep running away, Penelope decides to make it for herself in the big city. Following a series of tumultous events and twists and turns Penelope finally exclaims to her mother "I like myself the way I am" and suprisingly,causing her pig face to dissolve and voila! she becomes beautiful.

Funny that in the end it isnt the man who fixes her problem.What was the point of me rambling on about a pig faced girl?

Well, truth is, alot of the time I feel like a pig faced girl!! Waiting for a man to come along a break the curse and to make me beautiful. As much as I know this isnt the case, its hard to sometimes not buy into.

All throughout the movie, Penelopes Mother wants her to fall in love and for the curse to be broken, so she can be 'beautiful & normal', just like everyone else. I see the mother as representing the 'world', whether that be the media, friends, family, or whoever it is telling us what is beautiful.

I think as women (and men), we need to embrace who we are, how we were made and love ourselves,even like ourselves!! We don't need to buy into what the world tells us we should be, whoever our 'mother' is, we shouldnt listen to them. We can't expect anyone to make us feel beautiful, to remove the 'curse' in our lives and make everything peachy and live happily ever after. Its about accepting who you are, loving who you are, liking who you are despite everything else and not relying on others for fulfillment.

I really need to take my own advice, to get over the 'pig face curse' I've brought into my own life. I'm so grateful that truth in my life isnt based on this transient world, but rather on the rock...that is God!! With him all things are possible and my world is full of love and grace and most importantlly acceptance....pig face or no pig face!!!

Please excuse my dodgy photoshopping, just learning!

A penny for my thoughts

No need for a penny....I'll give them to you for freeeee!!!

Im watching Spiderman 3 and have had a bit of an epiphany...a bit unusual to have an epiphany whilst watching Spiderman, but I'm not very usual anyway.

Had a bit of a realisation about how transient our world is when it comes to love and fulfilment. Jumping from one relationship to the next to find that 'thing' that fulfils them. This isnt limited to romantic relationships either, friendships can be included in this.

When I think of love, I think of commitment and serving the person with no motivation for personal gain. When I search the scriptures this is what I find. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul gives an amazing description of love

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I know we hear that passage at like every wedding we have ever been to and sometimes it can lose its OOOOOMPH!!! Sometimes it grows a bit old on me too...but I know that instead I should soak this verse in apply it more and more to my life.

Sometimes I think I know more non-christians who demonstrate 1 Corinthians 13 better than christians. Imagine if we loved others as Jesus called us to? Possibly more people would look to him for love and fulfilment rather than eachother.

I certainly have so much to learn in love, all the elements Paul touches on I need God to transform in my attitude. I'm just such an idealist and wish life was like God intended it! I guess heaven is the only ideal....Love is a beautiful thing. Gods love is even more beautiful :D

What if we looked at every situation through love?

WOMEN!!!

***Just sent this email to some of the wonderful ladies I know...thought I may as well post it on here too***

Over the weekend I was at a Christian Conference and hear an awesome woman of God, named Melinda Tankard Reist speak on a topic entitled...'Resisting Objectification: addressing the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in pop culture'. I was truly distubed and horrified by some of the information that was presented. At one stage I felt physically ill and others I had tears in my eyes. Alot was stirred up within me.

Melinda and a group of women have started a company called Womens Forum Australia (WFA) who lobby against the objectification of women in the media and the sexualisation of children.. Alot of the work they do focuses on debunking and displaying to women the unrealistic images they come up against every day in the media.They have also produced a research paper which they have presented in magazine format named 'Faking it' which really highlights how women have been andcontinue to be objectified in the media. The WFA website www.wormensforumaustralia.org provides alot of information as to what the WFA stand for as well as the different issues they campaign for and promote.

Just listening to Melinda speak about this issue really struck a cord with me. I realised how much that I, as a Christian woman who strives to live a life honoring to God has become desensitised to how the world portrays women. I have always seen it as an issue, but didnt realise how mortifying and rampant it was in our society. As Melinda was explaining some of the advertising campaigns and statistics my heart was breaking. God loves these women so much, he died on the cross for them so they can be set free and live the life God has pre-destined for them. God loves women and Im sure his heart would be breaking over seeing his beautiful creations beind demoralised and treated with the honor and love he wants to lavish them with.

With issues like this, its hard to know what we can do to make a difference. Basically, I think it is matter of making a stance against not only being exposed to this material, but also not supporting the companies who promote the objectification of women and the sexualisation of children (such as womens magazines, explicit film clips, products with sexual marketing and advertising campaigns). Yes, it might seem a bit extreme, but if we either directly support or indirectly support these companies, we are giving them licence to continue this process. Also, we can pray. We can intercede. We can call upon God to come into this situation, turn it around and use it for his Glory. We can pray for the women who are not being treated with the respect and love God desires them to be treated with.

Like I said, I am not usually one to go on a rant and scream it from the rooftops, but this is one particular area I am passionate about and I believe that women need to be aware of the issues that face us everyday. With the pressures that face women from the media, it is hard not to buy into it and I personally notice myself slip in this area everyday. God loves us, he created each of us in his image and wants us to be living in him, whole and complete. We need to look to him for affirmation, adoration and acceptance. All women in the world need this and being educated in this area can help make a change.

I learnt so much from hearing Melinda speak and could have let you know so much more in this email about what I learnt. But i'm not one to force information or my opinions on people too much. If you would like to, check out the website. Search your heart, pray and listen to what God says to you about this important topic. Let other women know about it if you feel led to.

Thanks and God Bless

I'm Excited!!!

As Big Kev would say "Im Excited", for the first time in quite a while I am getting excited about the future.

Its exciting to know that you don't really know what is going to happen in the future. In the next 10 seconds, 10 days, 10 months or 10 years. For me, the thought of not knowing is quite exhilarating. Sure I have plans for what I would like to do, but life happens and things change.

Its even more exciting when you throw God into the mix. God has such amazing plans for everyones life and I am really anticipating what God is going to do in my life and through my life. I know its going to be far more amazing than I can even fathom.

He has amazing plans for your life too. Bigger than what you have even thought you could achieve. With God we can do so much more than we could without him.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future JEREMIAH 29:11

This is how excited I am!!!

Temporary vs Everlasting

So recenty I have had a bit of a revelation....or an epiphany (and yes I do know what that means).

I've realised that things done in human strength are futile. When we try to achieve things ourselves, they (a) either crumble and fall or (2) may last for a while and seem successful, but will eventually crumble and fall. Only things built upon the foundation of the Lord will stand firm and endure the test of time, things done in Gods strength are ETERNAL and EVERLASTING.

It's the same with those who seek satisfaction in life in anything but Jesus. When we seek fulfillment in anything other than God (whether it be money, pleasure, other religions, people, possessions, our skills), eventually these things crumble and fall. The Lord is the only thing that is firm, stable and solid in our world. God doesn't change, he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is permanent, everything else is temporary.

I'd rather build on a permanant foundation, not one that will errode and fall away.

How about you?

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. LUKE 6:46-49

Weddings

Due to my recent involvement in my best friends wedding, I’ve been thinking alot about weddings, nuptials and etc I’ve realised how much planning and effort goes into the actual wedding day.

Its amazing how much people put emphasis on the wedding day, organising the dress, suits, bridesmaids dresses, table settings, venue, vows, jewellery, hair, makeup, invitations, photographer, thankyou cards, brial registry, flowers, music, food, speeches. The list goes on and on and on and on.

I just made me think - what if people put more emphasis on the actual marriage rather than the wedding? If they put more importance on the state of their relationship rather than the state of the wedding.

I am by no means writing off weddings, I love weddings and plan to have a great one myself one day. But I just think if people put more relationship into their impending marriage rather than their wedding, then perhaps we would see less divorces occuring.

Your wedding day is a beautiful day, one to cherish and remember forever - I’m really looking forward to my wedding. But more than anything I’m looking forward to starting my life with the man of my prayers (not dreams!) and focusing on our relationship and life together rather than the wedding day and preperations.

n.b. This is no reflection on my best friends wedding - just a simple thought I had and observation on weddings in general.

Mondays

The Boomtown Rats once sang: "Tell me why I don’t like Mondays?"

How about I answer that for you:

a. Mondays start with an 8am lecture. An interesting subject nevertheless, but possibly one of the most boring lectures in the history of my uni degree. And what kind of mean person schedules an 8am Monday lecture, its like they are just asking for everyone to fail!!

2. I always have a late night on Sundays, whether that be going to a church service, hanging out with friends/family, watching TV or reading a good book, I can never get to bed early.

III. A consequence of my inability to go to bed early results in me savouring every last moment of sleep, which means I have limited time to get ready for my 8am lecture. This often ends up with me having no breakfast, which leads to my stomach making awfully embarrasing noises as it growls for food in my lecture.

However, no matter how much I dislike Mondays, there is a positive aspect that I like about Mondays. That it is a fresh start. Its like no matter what happended the week before, Monday signifies a new beginning. People always say they will start exercising on Monday, I’ll be more organised starting from Monday, I’ll stop picking my nose on Monday. Get the picture? Monday.

Like the bible says in Lamentations 3, God’s mercies are new every morning. He gives us graces every minute of every day (woohoo for that!). God can give us a fresh start any time of day, no matter who you are, where you have been or what you have done. Every day is Monday to God (well, not every day, but metaphorically speaking). So lets embrace Mondays!!!!!