Puppy Blues

Day 4: 7 Things That Cross Your Mind a Lot

1.)  Poverty.  I feel like I constantly must remind myself about what breaks the heart of God.  It's so easy to become self-centered.  I like to be comfortable and have things, but there are people around the world (and in the town where I live) who don't have food.  Instead of spending four dollars on a drink at Starbucks, why not donate that to help the 2,000 families who lost their homes from wildfires in Texas recently?  Instead of spending twenty dollars on that new shirt, why not use it to help a starving child in Kenya?  Jesus didn't live as a wealthy man.  Why should I have that right?  I need to sacrifice more than I do.

2.) Being a witness.  Witnessing has come to my mind more often in the last month than it has in a while.  Since I attend a big state university, I am a minority.  Most of the students here don't know Christ.  So many people around me are lost and it breaks my heart.  Lately, I've been striving to be a witness in my actions and my words.  I also try to integrate my faith into every conversation I have, which can be tricky at times.  I know the Lord is calling me to be a witness for Him, just like He has called all of us, and it's scary.  However, it's been a huge blessing to begin to reach out to several of my peers.

3.) Homesickness.  I've been living on my own for about a month now and it's tough.  I miss my family so much and I think about them often.  They cross my mind multiple times each day.

4.) Homework.  Sadly, this is also something that crosses my mind a lot.  I've never really had homework or studying to do in the past, so I've had to learn how to work hard in school.  Even though I had a great high school, I feel that because I didn't struggle academically at all, I wasn't fully prepared with the difficulty of the schoolwork here.  So homework has been on my mind... constantly.

5.) Stories.  I constantly have little characters floating through my mind.  In some ways, I think being a writer is like a form of schitzophrenia or multiple personality disorder because there are people speaking in my head all the time.  Okay, not really, but they're there.  And they do have distinct personalities and voices.  And they do seem to write my stories for me... it just takes a little imagination on my part.  Even when I'm not currently writing fiction (like now because of my busy schedule), my characters still whisper to me and ask me when I'll turn back to writing them out onto paper.  Soon, my children, soon... (Okay, I added that part just to sound creepy.)

6.) Friends.  I've been so lonely here that wherever I go, I'm keeping an eye out for a new friend.  Sometimes when I'm walking by myself, I see someone and think, "I wonder how they would react if I ran up to them and gave them a big hug."  In my head, I imagine them either smiling and patting my shoulder awkwardly, jerking away from me, or hugging me back and willingly becoming friends with me.  I should probably stop admitting these things.  I bet I sound like a crazy person by now.  Anyways, what I mean to say is that I'm actively looking for friends because I don't have many right now.

7.) Puppies.  I miss Jack like crazy, my grandma's dog just sired some puppies, and there is a puppy store where I live that I visit frequently.  I have the puppy blues right now.  I think about them often.
(Don't you just love that picture of Jack?  I took this when I got home from school last year.  He really, really, really wanted to play.  That's him standing on the stairs in between me and my bedroom.)
What are some things that cross your mind a lot?  You can share big things like poverty or reaching out to the broken people around you... or little things like homework or job stress.