Back to school Madison was today, although we have a day off tomorrow, to be explained below. In the meantime, things went well today as always for her. Days are just gliding by, and she's enjoying her teachers and the classes. She got an A on her math quiz, and she's gotten several A's in a row on her grades recently. In fact, we haven't seen anything less than that yet, so she's doing well in school. She has a big summative Science test upcoming, so we're studying for that on and off. And elsewhere, she's focused for the most part, remembering to study and spending serious time on her laptop as she looks over assignments and lessons. Here below is something she's written about optimism and reality, an oratorical paper:
It's a touching thing she wrote. We have nothing to do with this writing - no guidance or input. She's just writing from the heart, and doing it nicely.
With Chinese New Year season upon us, we generally watch a lot of Chinese-themed movies. In the past, that's included a lot of animated movies, but this year we seem to be gravitating towards Jackie Chan movies. Tonight's movie was "Shanghai Noon," which is one of our favorites - this was the last movie Mommy and Daddy saw together before we got married. The first movie we saw after we were married was "X-Men." That was a few years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, everyone enjoyed the movie, pretty much expecting to watch part two tomorrow.
The reason we expect that is because we're supposed to get rain followed by a big drop in temperature afterwards. We're not sure what will happen tomorrow, but we do know this: there's no school. This means we get to sleep in, which is always good news! But tonight we were up a little later, watching, reading, and doing the things we generally do each night - only later.
Mommy and Daddy were spending a lot of time in the basement, still clearing things out. It's been fun to get all this stuff organized and clean. We were able to donate a box of toys to Mrs. Pam at piano tonight, adding to her stash in the treasure box. Madison was at piano in her regular class, which seems to be going well. We're not 100% certain, but we do hear her playing some things well at practice times in the house. The soundtrack of our daughter playing piano is always nice, even if there are things that are slightly off with rhythm or notes. But really, most of the time she gets her notes right, even if they're a little slower.
Daddy was writing a message about the behemoth today, as we've been writing for our dinosaur series upcoming. I'm thinking of the title, "The Lost World," but we'll see as we get closer. As is, I've got about six messages now written for this series. We're looking forward to this one! This is the scripture that so captivated me today, but it is a version called "The Message." Imagine when reading this that we're talking about a huge sauropod:
God Himself says this is "most magnificent of all my creatures." Other translations say it is "1st among all creatures." From there, I sort of used this and a few other lines in that scripture above (with Mommy's help) to come up with a message. Here's the overview:
It's going to be a great series!
********
Is there a fine line between optimism and reality?
Reality has its obstacles that will seem hopeless, impossible. It may seem impossible to get over, but you stay optimistic, it can help you through reality. It may be hard, and it may take you a while, but you can get through it with optimism.
Being optimistic will help with achievements in your reality. It might take a while, but you will get there. Helen Keller once said, “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
Optimism can help you through your darkest times; even when something bad happens to you. You may feel pessimistic, hopeless. That is what makes it feel like you will fail in life.
Over a decade ago, my mom had cancer before she got me. Having cancer would make a lot of people feel hopeless, pessimistic, but my mom stayed optimistic instead. She stayed strong, hopeful, even through her darkest times in reality. She was thinking of getting me. If she had stayed pessimistic and lost all hope, she might not be around today, and I might not be here in this state.
Low points like having cancer or something minor will come at you in your reality when we grow up, but we have to be hopeful, and we have to have faith that we make it through. I’ve faced struggles myself while I had to go to another school and let go of some of my friends is hard to go through. Everyone can relate to that sooner or later, even us 6th graders. It was hard to get through at first, but I had stayed optimistic that everything was going to be fine. Going to another school and losing some of your friends is hard to go through, but that is part of reality.
My mom and I had to face reality head on no matter what, and we made it through our reality with our optimism. Everyone else had at least once faced reality head on. Optimism will just help you when you face hard times of reality. You will to somewhere in the future.
“You have to look to the future with optimism instead of negative ideas. Take the good and the bad and face it head on,” Goldie Hawn had once stated. Don’t we all at times have to take the good and the bad then face it head on at certain points of our lives? Reality will put the good and the bad up in front of us whether we are ready or not. Bad things will hit at you and any time, so try to stay strong about it, try to be confident and optimistic about what is going to happen in reality. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but word will never hurt you if you stay optimistic.
Don’t let reality make you hopeless, scared, unconfident, pessimistic; walk through life thinking that you can do it, that it isn’t as hard as you first thought, that you were never hurt or never had failed at it. You may feel hurt and you won’t recover, but stay on the bright side, stay optimistic. Don’t even let other people break you down with their mean words. Friends will turn, and life may not be as you expected it to be. The tables may turn quick or slow.
There may be the hard times, the obstacles, our lower points in life, but we have to stay strong, we have to stay optimistic no matter what. We will not expect some things in reality to happen whether we want to or not. We have to go through it with our optimism, our hope, and our faith. Reality is what is real in life. Optimism helps make reality more hopeful, more exciting. Nothing good will happen if you are not that all optimistic and your head is down with a frown.
We just have to keep moving through our own reality with optimism, with our own hope and faith. Optimism will help you go through Life’s reality. Lucy Macdonald once said, “It’s not that optimism solves all of life’s problems; it is just that it can sometimes make the difference between coping and collapsing.”
*******
It's a touching thing she wrote. We have nothing to do with this writing - no guidance or input. She's just writing from the heart, and doing it nicely.
With Chinese New Year season upon us, we generally watch a lot of Chinese-themed movies. In the past, that's included a lot of animated movies, but this year we seem to be gravitating towards Jackie Chan movies. Tonight's movie was "Shanghai Noon," which is one of our favorites - this was the last movie Mommy and Daddy saw together before we got married. The first movie we saw after we were married was "X-Men." That was a few years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, everyone enjoyed the movie, pretty much expecting to watch part two tomorrow.
The reason we expect that is because we're supposed to get rain followed by a big drop in temperature afterwards. We're not sure what will happen tomorrow, but we do know this: there's no school. This means we get to sleep in, which is always good news! But tonight we were up a little later, watching, reading, and doing the things we generally do each night - only later.
Mommy and Daddy were spending a lot of time in the basement, still clearing things out. It's been fun to get all this stuff organized and clean. We were able to donate a box of toys to Mrs. Pam at piano tonight, adding to her stash in the treasure box. Madison was at piano in her regular class, which seems to be going well. We're not 100% certain, but we do hear her playing some things well at practice times in the house. The soundtrack of our daughter playing piano is always nice, even if there are things that are slightly off with rhythm or notes. But really, most of the time she gets her notes right, even if they're a little slower.
Daddy was writing a message about the behemoth today, as we've been writing for our dinosaur series upcoming. I'm thinking of the title, "The Lost World," but we'll see as we get closer. As is, I've got about six messages now written for this series. We're looking forward to this one! This is the scripture that so captivated me today, but it is a version called "The Message." Imagine when reading this that we're talking about a huge sauropod:
“Look at the land beast, Behemoth. I created him as well as you.
Grazing on grass, docile as a cow—
Just look at the strength of his back,
the powerful muscles of his belly.
His tail sways like a cedar in the wind;
his huge legs are like beech trees.
His skeleton is made of steel,
every bone in his body hard as steel.
Most magnificent of all my creatures,
but I still lead him around like a lamb!
The grass-covered hills serve him meals,
while field mice frolic in his shadow.
He takes afternoon naps under shade trees,
cools himself in the reedy swamps,
Lazily cool in the leafy shadows
as the breeze moves through the willows.
And when the river rages he doesn’t budge,
stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild.
But you’d never want him for a pet—
you’d never be able to housebreak him!”
Grazing on grass, docile as a cow—
Just look at the strength of his back,
the powerful muscles of his belly.
His tail sways like a cedar in the wind;
his huge legs are like beech trees.
His skeleton is made of steel,
every bone in his body hard as steel.
Most magnificent of all my creatures,
but I still lead him around like a lamb!
The grass-covered hills serve him meals,
while field mice frolic in his shadow.
He takes afternoon naps under shade trees,
cools himself in the reedy swamps,
Lazily cool in the leafy shadows
as the breeze moves through the willows.
And when the river rages he doesn’t budge,
stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild.
But you’d never want him for a pet—
you’d never be able to housebreak him!”
Job 40:15-23 MSG
God Himself says this is "most magnificent of all my creatures." Other translations say it is "1st among all creatures." From there, I sort of used this and a few other lines in that scripture above (with Mommy's help) to come up with a message. Here's the overview:
In the book of Job, God tells us the behemoth is “most magnificent of all My creatures.” This enormous animal had a long tail swaying like a tree, huge and sturdy legs, plus a skeleton made strong as steel. It was so large, it could stand in a raging river completely unbothered by wild waves crashing against it. This creature was ginormous, strong and powerful – and yet it was a peaceful presence too, as “docile as a cow.” It let field mice frolic in his shadow, taking lazy afternoon naps under shade trees, grazing on grass and cooling himself in reedy swamps.
Now there is nothing alive today that matches the description of this remarkable animal, so it’s difficult to identify exactly what it may have been. But if you think of the massive size, and the large tail swaying like a cedar in the wind, one image that springs to mind is that of a sauropod, the largest dinosaur to ever walk the earth.
God created all life, from every last person today to the dinosaurs that roamed the earth. And like these dinosaurs, especially the behemoths, we’re created with an incredible strength and power. The Lord spoke of this creature being unperturbed by a raging river crashing against it. But we too can stand strong and in peace when the out-of-control things of this world try to come against us. Furthermore, as we walk the earth, each one of us has a mighty presence, leaving huge footprints that others can follow.
Now there is nothing alive today that matches the description of this remarkable animal, so it’s difficult to identify exactly what it may have been. But if you think of the massive size, and the large tail swaying like a cedar in the wind, one image that springs to mind is that of a sauropod, the largest dinosaur to ever walk the earth.
God created all life, from every last person today to the dinosaurs that roamed the earth. And like these dinosaurs, especially the behemoths, we’re created with an incredible strength and power. The Lord spoke of this creature being unperturbed by a raging river crashing against it. But we too can stand strong and in peace when the out-of-control things of this world try to come against us. Furthermore, as we walk the earth, each one of us has a mighty presence, leaving huge footprints that others can follow.
The key is not forgetting who is God. Hint: it’s not you. As great as we are, and as great as we can become, never forget that our Creator God is even greater, the very source of all our strength. We are nothing without Him, and only find our true power when we follow Him.
As we read from Job, chapter 40, the behemoth was a creature with astounding strength and power, but also one with a very peaceful nature. This is how God designed it. But this is how God designed us as well. Not long ago, Jesus walked upon this earth with more power and might than any before or since. Yet consider this: his walk was one filled with love and service to others. He is rightfully known as the Prince of Peace.
The lesson is hopefully clear: Our Creator has made us each very strong, and yes, a most magnificent presence! Each day, let our mighty footsteps walk in peace, and lead others in the right direction: to Him.
As we read from Job, chapter 40, the behemoth was a creature with astounding strength and power, but also one with a very peaceful nature. This is how God designed it. But this is how God designed us as well. Not long ago, Jesus walked upon this earth with more power and might than any before or since. Yet consider this: his walk was one filled with love and service to others. He is rightfully known as the Prince of Peace.
The lesson is hopefully clear: Our Creator has made us each very strong, and yes, a most magnificent presence! Each day, let our mighty footsteps walk in peace, and lead others in the right direction: to Him.
It's going to be a great series!
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