this is a man who understands discipline and desire

"Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with.
It is the only decent way to live."
M. Scott Peck, M.D.

Okay, that...is such a truthful statement.

The Road Less Traveled is one of those books full of so many quote-worthy passages, people like me who like to underline lines to remember end up underlining half the sentences of every page, of every chapter. Read it.
It is written by a guy who is Christian, but by no means do you have to be Christian to identify with, or at least be stimulated by, his thoughts on Discipline, Love, Growth and Religion, and Grace. You just have to be human and somewhat open-minded.

forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead

Someone on the radio was talking about this verse, and I heard him say that
a relationship with Jesus Christ is new everyday.

Yess. I believe it



Oh, but You’re the one who looks at me
And sees what I was meant to be
More than just a beautiful mess

Denise Scott Brown's advice to young architects

"Denise Scott Brown: Architecture is a difficult career. You probably shouldn’t be an architect unless you absolutely have to because it’s a hard career, you will never earn very much, you’ll work long hours, it’s not up to you when you work, and it can be very heartbreaking when everything you want to do you find you can’t do.

Robert Venturi: You have to be very dedicated.

Denise Scott Brown: If you’re not drawing all day and doodling plans, don’t do it. But if you do, give it everything you’ve got."

(http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/art-news/2010/01/26/venturi-scott-brown-reflect-vegas/)

The part about it being very heartbreaking when everything you want to do you find you can't do...that's what worries me the most.
Sometimes I just don't think I have the personality (or enough obsession) for this field.
No, this is not my way of saying that I'm contemplating switching majors anytime soon. I want the BArch. I just want to know what I'm getting myself into.

------------------------------

an afterthought -

mom says don't think about it until I am thirty and have established some things, there is no use.
live in the present, I'm going to give it everything I've got.

"Everything is permissible for me" - but not everything is beneficial.

"Everything is permissible for me" - but I will not be mastered by anything.


Day One of temporarily cutting out movies and secular music (instrumental/classical okay for now) from my life. This is hard. I really do think God wants us to enjoy the little things in life like film and well-produced music. I just have a tendency to not stop licking the lollipop the size of my face even after my stomach is thoroughly unhappy.

Abstaining from these things in and of itself doesn't mean I'm drawing any nearer to God either, but this is a step.

nostalgic for something I never knew

oh gosh, I love 80's movies.

getting settled

Moving has taught me two things:
1. Simplicity is good. In this case, this means I can live a fruitful life without most of the stuff (clothes I'll honestly never fit into again, notebooks that are a quarter filled and three-quarters blank, super cute super useless decorations, odds and ends hoarded for art projects that will never be...) I've amassed over the years.
2. I am so not as patient as I thought I was. If how you treat your family carrying boxes in 90+ degree Texas humidity shows who you really are, I have yet to go through a lot of transformation by the Spirit.

I guess also
3. I really should learn to listen to my brother like Morrie Schwartz listened to everyone in his life. Eye contact, undivided attention. Most of the time I'm thinking - MAN when did this kid become SO TALKATIVE. When he goes to sleep though I realize sometimes he just wants what everyone wants - to be noticed. And valued.

Anyways we're almost done unpacking and it's starting to feel like home. I'm thankful to have space to breathe and think in my own yellow and white room - finally feel like painting again.

radical identification, radical difference

"So we must ask ourselves, Do I identify enough? Do I welcome people or am I a member of the holy huddle, the local God squad? Do I hang around people of various beliefs and mores? Do I love the unlovely? Or, on the other hand, am I different enough? Am I Christlike? Do I bring this aspect of Christ's holiness, of his moral standards, of the fruit of the Spirit to my relationships? Or, out of my sincere desire to identify and to love, have I become culture-accomodating?"

Becky Pippert