Me and Politics

I'll just be honest, I barely passed government and economics in high school. Maybe I should've listened more. This election will be the 3rd presidential election that I get the opportunity to vote. I think back to my previous voting and how exactly I came to the conclusion I did. I used to vote according to how my closest friends voted. Eight years later, I still don't get politics. Every time I've tried to understand, I find myself tuning out and thinking of other things, like, what song I last heard, what movie I really wanna see, what's for dinner...etc.

Over the past couple of days, I've tried to figure out why I've been avoiding politics. I've asked a lot of questions, read a lot of information, watched a lot of the debates and watched Tina Fey, hoping that I could somehow absorb enough information to make a very educated decision. Unfortunetly, I still can't stand politics. And it's not just the whole presidental thing, but all the props too. I'm frustrated with how things are played out. Maybe that doesn't make any sense.. but this is my blog and I feel like I've gotta vent just a little.

So here is where I stand and why. I vote for life. All it's forms and what God has created in order for that to be. Life is so precious. It's an undeserved gift that our heavenly Father gave us. Who are we to take into our own hands what God has intended to be His? To take our own lives, someone else's life, and stop life from being created is selfish. Selfish is the opposite of love, which is selfless. God is LOVE. We know this because of the most selfless act in sacrificing His Son in order to show us His endless and glorious love and mercy. I'm not gonna go into a whole lotta detail...but know this, I love the Lord. I may have made some mistakes in the past, but one things for sure... in knowing just how precious life is and that everyone was created for a purpose, I know my life is not my own. Neither is anyone elses. We were made by God, for God. My vote is purely based on God's call for us to love.

Birthday

Today was more than I imagined it to be. Being away from home has been fun. But I must admit, I started feeling just a tad homesick when I realized that I wouldn't have any of my family or friends around for my birthday (excluding Tricia). When I hit my alarm clock for the 5th time this morning, this weird sense of loneliness held me to my bed. For a second I thought staying home and being in bed would be better than getting up and facing the fact that I'm surrounded by strangers. The only reason I actually got out of bed was knowing that today was our first day to start Liturgy of the Hours. Some people may think that's strange, but I've been looking forward to community prayer time. Praise God for Liturgy of the Hours! I believe it started my day of in a beautiful way. Thanking God for my life and His plans for it.



I learned throughout the day that I am not surrounded by strangers, but by people who were strategically placed in my life. And all of us (missionaries, Life Teen staff, St. Tim's and other wonderful people) have these special purposes in life. At this time, right now, right here, we were supposed to be right were we are. Many of my friends and family really don't understand why I'm out here. To be honest, I don't even know fully. God has reassured me over and over that I don't need to fully know just yet.