So we haven’t technically had internet these past couple weeks, but we occasionally pick up someone’s signal nearby and can maybe check email once a day. I don’t know if that’s considered stealing or not, but I figure if someone doesn’t want others to use their signal, they would lock it up, and perhaps they are okay with sharing it with others. I think eventually we will get our own wireless internet, and I’d be fine allowing others to use it… it just seems silly that there’s probably over 30 people in our building and we all have our own internet when it would make so much more sense to have only a few connections and share it between us all….
But anyway… enough about that…
I’ve been struggling lately to really study for my nursing boards as I would like to be doing. I have just a day under a month now until my exam, and there is most definitely plenty of material for me to cram into my head again, but it is difficult now that I’m done with school to be motivated to study again, especially without any sort of schedule. I just have to be ready for my exam (and know just about everything I’ve learned over the past two years in nursing school, somehow) by July 10th. Must keep plugging away!
In other news, we got a fish last night for our fish tank! It’s a 55 gallon tall tank, so it’s pretty big. For the past week we’ve been letting the water filter and get ready for some cute fishies to inhabit it… and finally yesterday we got our first “hardy” fish, an Oscar fish. We named him Wally, since we got him at Wall-Mart. He’s super cute and enjoying his new home it seems! At first I was all worried about the little guy because he was ‘resting’ at the bottom of the tank and he wasn’t eating any of the little pellets we put on the top for him, but eventually he must have because they’re gone now! This morning we woke up to a very lively and active fishy, and he really likes to swim through all the bubbles that come from the two bubbler strips… whatever they’re called.
And on another subject (I really should make all these different posts, but oh well)… I’ve been blessed to have read some super good spiritual growth books lately when I take breaks from studying (or maybe it’s the other way around… I take breaks from those books to study nursing? Hmm…). One of the books is about humility and it’s been very convicting. I’ve known for years that pride is the ultimate sin and that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. And that he looks to the one who has a broken and contrite heart. I’ve noticed just how pride permeates into so many areas of struggle, whether it be with my words toward John, my lack of confession/repentence toward others and to God, and my laziness in cleaning our apartment and in studying for my exam. It’s all rooted in my own self-righteousness and pride. Some good practical tips I’ve taken ahold of from book (Humilty: True Greatness, by C.J. Mahaney) are to begin each day acknowledging my dependence on the Lord for everything, since all that I have and am given is totally from Him and not myself, and also at the end of each day to thank the Lord for the day and for all he has provided. Pretty basic, I know, but it’s amazing how easily you can stop doing even those two simple things which really help battle the sin of pride. Some other very convicting things… I have been realizing that when I’m critical of others (which I so often am), it’s rooted in my pride and in focusing on what is wrong with others (as if I have it all figured out, ha!)… when I really should be focusing on the evidences of grace and of the Spirit that I observe in others. Of course there are definitely times to discern if one of your brothers/sisters is sinning and is unrepentent of it and then to exhort them, but that shouldn’t always be my focus (or shouldn’t be the majority of what I focus on). How encouraging it can be to others to point out how you’ve seen fruits of the Holy Spirit and of spiritual gifts at work in them and to let them know! I hope and pray to do this so much more, by God’s grace alone.
Oh (yes, more randomness!)… I’ve been running outside more often! I love running around the area that we live in! Slowly but surely I’ll be gaining more endurance and strength and then I’ll start going downtown with John to the local Y, where he runs to a couple times a week to workout (and then runs back… crazy man). Praise God, though, for helping me get back into a more active lifestyle. Feels great, and I hope it continues.
One last random tid-bit…I am LOVING cooking more!!! Another praise to God! I tried, I think, cooking five new recipies over the past week! I plan to continue trying more of them and compiling a great recipe book for our family, and who knows, by the time we have kids I’ll have plenty of ones ready to go!
