Glee, Nerdfighters, Saints, and Dorothy Day. Oh, the Workings of My Mind...

I'm always looking for ways to intertwine

pop culture

fashion

art

and anything super nerdy 

into blog posts about God.

I can't stop listening to this song.  I get that way sometimes. ( Really obsessed...) 

I've never been a huge fan of Glee, but I'm always a fan of good music.  One line in the final song from the last episode really hit me.  Slapped me in the face?  Threw me up against a wall?  Knocked my head against a locker?  Something like that.  Florence and the Machine, kudos to your strangeness.  I'm a fan.
 

"I never wanted anything from you...except everything you had, 

oh, 

and what was left after that too..."

It struck me that this can be a good thing, and a bad thing.  In AP Lit, we are reading Beloved by Toni Morrison.  It's a tragic story about an escaped slave who slits the throat of her toddler to save it from being taken by a slavecatcher.  In the book, the spirit of this toddler (Beloved is her name) comes back as an adolescent.  She feeds off the mother, demanding all of her attention, affection, love, time, and resources.  Her other child is neglected, her lover is neglected, her hygiene and health are neglected, and her job is neglected.  She wastes away while Beloved takes her revenge.  The mother will stop at nothing to prove she did it out of love.  Crazy, twisted, horrible, and tragic.

On the other hand, people do this everyday.  A boyfriend says to his girlfriend "If you really loved me, you would skip that family function to hang out with me."  A friend feeling left behind begs another to stay home and not leave for 3 weeks on an exchange trip to Germany.  When they both say no, expectations rise, hearts break, and emotions boil.  The draining begins...

I realize I give too much of myself to things that don't matter, in ways that don't have any real meaning.  The only person who should expect everything out of me?  God.  He deserves every ounce of me.  Every move I make I make in You; You make me move Jesus.  Every breath I take, I breath in You!

I have recently been introduced to the word of Nerdfighters.  Otherwise known as Nerdfighteria.  (I'm being totally serious.)  Have you ever read Looking for Alaska?  An Abundance of Katherines?  Paper Towns?  All quality YA novels written by John Green. 

Have you ever felt like a total dork?  Do you like really nerdy things, like Harry Potter?  

Do you hardly ever forget to be  totally AWESOME? 

If you answered YES to any of those questions, please consider watching this video.  Any every other video created by the vlogbrothers.  (So, I realize this is totally weird, nerdy, strange, odd, off topic, you name it.  Obviously, I'm over it.  I just get really excited about silly things like this, and I wanted to invite you all.  Don't judge.)   

and now.....for a delicately crafted segue into my next topic.  This one is seriously about Jesus.  I promise.


I wrote an earlier post about St. Josemaria Escriva, and even then I was pretty impressed with how cool he was.  Ever since, little pieces of his wisdom keep popping up all over my world.  It's super inspiring.  I've also done a bit of research about Opus Dei.  (Thanks Bill for an excellent explanation)  I can't seem to get enough of  this guy!  If you don't want to buy a book (but you should.  It's so totally worth it)  just take a little trip to this site where you can find some of his writings. 

The other day, Taylor told me she has been settling into a little routine for herself.  (A routine is most certainly something I am striving to fall into)  I think tradition can help immensely deepen your faith life:  no matter what, you'll always have that moment of every day to be at peace with the world, to talk to God, and to completely wash away all vanity and just serve Him.

She described to me how she humbles herself before God every morning.  It kind of plucked at my heartstrings when you told me that, Tay.  I mean, how beautiful!  To be so in love with God that you are willing to complete lay yourself down for Him.  How many other teenagers have that kind of love for anything besides their own reflection? 

"There is no room among us for the lukewarm. Humble yourself and Christ will set you aflame again with the fire of Love." ~St. Josemaria Escriva.

I can't make up any excuses to just be sort of Catholic anymore.  I can't just get excited about one thing, like praying the Rosary.  Yeah its powerful, but everything else should bring me that same joy. 

"I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least." ~Dorothy Day

Dorothy, you are not making my life easier.  Now I feel bad!  I'm certainly one to see the flaws in the seemingly Neanderthal-like teenagers I go to school with.  But, I'm not here to judge. 

I'm here to love and to be loved

and to serve.

Alanna!