So long 2013, you've been a good year!
Not saying this in terms of the number of events which left
me triumphant or downright happy. You've been a good year for learning, growing
up and seeing things more realistically.
Since the very beginning I've known you'd be special. I had
this intuition that I won't be the same person or have the same experiences
after you've passed. I mean, graduating high school is no small matter. But
let's face it, you had much more in store for me than that!
You broke me…several times and through small intervals of time. Did it hurt? Heck yeah. Do I regret
anything that lead to this breakage? Not even a bit.
And even though I
don't like feeling "schooled", I love learning new life lessons. And
you, 2013, offered more than I could ever ask for. You taught me that, in various ways, I'm still
a kid and should seek the guidance and advice of the more experienced. You
taught me that I ought not to believe every word of praise I receive, and
listen carefully for criticism coming from trusted sources. You showed me that
even if I drift apart from people there's always a chance for reconciliation,
and that the closest of friends could turn to perfect strangers and vice versa
in no time.
You taught me that I
shouldn't expect much from people; they were not created to please me and make
my every wish come true. You taught me to be patient and not to rush change or
improvement, like a fine wine needs aging, everything takes time to get better.
You also taught me not to wait for what I want to magically find its way to me,
but to go out there and actively pursue it hoping for the best. You showed me
in so many ways that there's always something new to learn, and that I should
never rely on my knowledge as "enough".
Last but not least, you
proved to me that God is always gracious, loving, just, able and good to me.
That I should trust Him with my life, my heart, my mind, and more importantly
my soul. He still wants me to be close to Him even if I try to pull myself
away. And for this, I'm more thankful than for anything else.
Do you accept comments now? I tried leaving a few in 2013, but they all dissappeared.
ReplyDeleteI edited the settings, now I don't need to moderate comments. I'm not sure what comments you're talking about as I haven't seen any, though.
DeleteHello again! I tried to leave a few comments about choosing what degree to strive for. I was hoping that you would choose English. :(
ReplyDeleteI said some things about how valuable an English degree can be and how easy it is to find work anywhere in the world as a teacher with an English degree.
Then I said how great a feeling it is to pursue an education that really inspires.
Looks like I am too late though ha ha. I found you blog and twitter page after googling "christian" and Egypt because I was worried about how things are going for Christians there, so I am amazed when I read your comments because you seem so happy. :)
First of all, I'd like to genuinely thank you for following my blog (and my life) and being interested in offering advice to a perfect stranger as myself.
DeleteAs for the degree I settled on, well, I'm still starting out. Although it's not very satisfactory right now, I think it gets better with time. Dentistry is a good profession, and an English degree can wait till I'm done with my Bachelor's. I'll continue to read and write so I wouldn't lose my interest in literature, and in time I might get to work as a full-time writer.
As for the situation in Egypt, we can only ask for prayers. Indecision and unrest have turned life here into a set of restrictions. However, God is good and merciful to his children, and continues to show how powerful He is. It's truly amazing even for me how we're still laughing and keeping our hopes up. I guess there's still room for joy even in the midst of all the suffering.
God bless you, David. And I'm looking forward to more of your replies :)
Hello Monica, I hope that all is well there and will keep you all in my prayers! It is fun to read what you write. You have a unique perspective on life. It facinates me to see how two people can write about the same subjects from so different perspectives. :)
DeleteEnglish is a wonderful subject. I don't have a degree yet, but have about 2-3 years of full-time English course work, including one year of PhD level courses. Now that I am reading on my own, I think it is fun to read the books written by the "founders" of different schools of literary thought,
But best of luck with dentistry! They say that everything is a "text". All too often, dentistry is a "tragedy" haha... long periods of neglect and decay followed by the tragic death of a tooth. :)
I wish I could say to all of the Christians in Egypt "come to Europe", but after the EU elections yesterday, I wonder if the situation here really is any better.
God bless you and all of yours, Monica! See you online again soon!
Hey, David!
DeleteAs I mentioned in my reply to your comments on "Innocence" I suck at following up to comments on here! I just saw this (again) :/
Thanks for your sweet invitation to all Christians in here, but the tie to our land beats the promises of a good life for most of us. I don't understand how it works, but that's what I always hear.
I look forward to actually meeting you someday (if I ever find out which EU country you're from, of course :) ) and maybe then we'll have an actual face to face conversation about all there is in life.
Thanks again for your interest and your comment. God bless you! :)
Hey Monica!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you again! :)
It's no problem that you don't answer so quickly. I'm just happy that you do answer and that it is OK to leave comments here. I am in Sweden. I think I wrote that once, but the comment never was published. That would be great if you decided to visit some day! Just let me know. :)
I hope the school year went well for you. You seem very intelligent so I would think that you are learning alot. Of course there can be some frustrating courses for everyone, math, biology, physics... bleh! :)
Hope it doesn't get too frustrating for you. Good luck and God bless you and all who are near and dear to you! :)
Your 2013 comments never arrived to me, and I just found out why. My privacy on here didn't allow anonymous comments before I changed them to the current setting.
DeleteAnyway, I'd like to get the chance to talk to you someday. If you have a Facebook profile, I'd be glad to correspond with you (you can post it on my ask.fm account if you wish for it to not be published)...
Thank you for taking the time to comment and follow up. God bless you and yours :)
Hello Monica! That was the fastest reply ever! :)
DeleteI don't have Facebook. :( Maybe I just like online privacy to much, I don't know.
I have a foto blog but I only put a few posts up before I had to return the digital camera I had borrowed so I never really got started with the blog. I plan to be more active on my blogg when I start developing film that I have.
That would be great to correspond with you! It's nice to see that you are willing to share so much online. I look forward to reading more of your blog posts when you have the time and energy to write.
Yes, it was strange to see my comments just dissapear haha.
The first few times, I didn't have a copy saved, so all my heart felt advice is gone and is too late. :/
Have a nice weekend and I hope to chat again with you again soon. God's blessings to you and yours!
Facebook's cool. You don't really have to share too much about yourself, but it's a good way to connect with people.
DeleteI won't convince you to get one, though :)
I'm a bit stuck now with my finals, but I have some ideas developing for the vacation to post and update the blog. Thanks for anticipating :)
Hey Monica! I looked at Facebook's sign up pages today, but I will have to wait until I get some sleep before I can read all of their rules and everything.. too many pages to read while sleepy after being out in the sun all day! :)
ReplyDeleteAre you ever going to put pictures on the blog? Maybe pictures of local food specialities. Have a nice weekend!
Hmmm, maybe I'll do that this summer. But I'm guessing more of personal interests and places that are special to me...
DeleteWe'll see :)
P.s. I set up my Facebook back when I was 12. Needless to say, I didn't read the terms and conditions :D
I look forward to that! :)
DeleteI had an older iPhone that needed som repairs, but when I saw that the terms of agreement for Apples app store/iTunes was more than 40 pages long, I just decided to throw the phone away hahaha. :D
Talk about living la vida loca!
Delete:D
ReplyDelete