Kelsey-Land
4.29.2007
 
I wrote this during the last couple months of my job at Ocean Hills. I thought I should post it.
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I’m not very eloquent, but I believe that everyone has a story and this is mine. I doubt that I’ll ever do anything with this story, but right now, I feel like writing it down. Some thing inside of me wants to get out. I get like this mostly when I get sad. Sometimes the harsh reality of living wears you down. There are too many things around you to make you sad, and things just keep pushing and pushing on you and you almost feel like the inside of you collapses. That’s when I feel like writing. That’s how I feel today.

I read somewhere in a book once that everyone on this planet is a walking-around-masterpiece; that people are each a beautiful work of art. The trick is that some people’s art is covered up with dirt, and it’s our job to work really hard to gently remove all the dirt so that we can see the beautiful painting underneath. This business of removing the dirt is hard long work. It takes a truck full of patience and can last a whole life time. I’ve been taught that in my work, that is the work of church, it’s my job to unearth these beautiful masterpieces with patience and love. At first I thought this was a marvelous idea, that we’re all wonderful people if we just peel away enough dirt. Well, my soul is tired of looking through dirt. And all this digging has made me covered in dust, sometimes mud, making my own masterpiece of soul covered in hurt and scars and muck. Sometimes life is just hard, and dirty, and other people’s problems make your soul collapse.

I think that it’s a choice to be happy, or not to be happy. I think sometimes you have to make yourself be happy. You have to force yourself to have a good attitude. I remember a time in ministry where I was very very busy. Sometimes we wear business as a badge of honor, saying to the world, “look at how important I am, being so so busy, I am proud to be so busy.” In fact, some people look down their noses at other people for not being busy enough. It’s done subtly. Like asking what someone is doing for the weekend, and upon hearing them say “nothing” think to one’s self “I am busier, therefore more important and popular and well-liked, therefore better.” It’s a ridiculous line of thinking. Business does not mean that one is better. Actually, I think the opposite is true. The less busy a person is, the more the person is pieced together, more whole, with less holes. Busy people are always rushing and frantic and don’t know how to sit. And breathe. They can’t imagine just sitting on the couch, looking outside, just thinking. They are too busy. I am sometimes the busy person wearing their business like a badge of honor. But then I noticed that my soul had pieces missing. Liking I had run from one thing to the next and part of my soul came flying off and I was too busy to notice and forgot to pick it up. If I was less busy, I would have realized that my soul was there lying on the ground getting trampled by everything around me. Finally when I sat on the couch and breathed, only then did I realize that I lost part of myself, and had to go back and recover it, only to find it bruised, ran over, and kicked around. Business does that to your soul, it leaves you bruised and weary.

But let’s face it, sometimes we’re just plain busy and there really doesn’t seem like there’s much that we can do about it. Or we could have done something about it sooner, by saying NO I WILL NOT DO THAT, NO I WILL NOT COMMIT TO YET ANOTHER ACTIVITY, NO! But instead, for some reason, we said “yes.” My first job out of college was working at a church. I said yes to everything, even things that I wasn’t asked to do. It’s just who I am, I say yes. I didn’t realize at the time, but saying yes to everything meant saying “no” to my soul. At one point after about a year, I was way over my head. I was very busy, in the worst possible kind of way. It was awful. I felt all the time like I was carrying around a very heavy backpack full of 5 thick text books and nothing I did would relieve the pressure on my back. Then I had to climb Half Dome wearing the backpack and realized that text books are no good when you’re thirsty. In other words, I had too many responsibilities, and not enough resources, at least none from myself. I finally realized that I couldn’t make water from textbooks, but I knew someone who could. It’s funny that we often turn to God when we need miracles.

During this period of time I decided that I needed to make choice to have a good attitude. There was no help in just complaining all the time. Someone famous, or well-known (or something like that) said that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% our attitude toward what happens. If that was the case, I decided that I needed to make an effort to have a good attitude. I started giving my text books away, sometimes letting a friend or co-worker take one, other times just abandoning them by the side of the trail. It made the hike much more pleasant. A friend gave me water, the kind of water that never runs dry, and that friend hiked with me. The hike actually became beautiful. Life is beautiful when we are looking at it through the right attitude. My hiking companion with the water helped me see clearly all the good things - helped me to keep looking through the dirt.

The busy period ended.

Then it started again. So goes life.

My mom told me recently that there is always something that we’re striving for, or hiking up to. My mom is very wise. She’s right of course, we’re always going toward a goal. My mom thinks that this is a good thing. She’s right there too. Goals give purpose and give shape and meaning to our lives. I’ve seen people who don’t have purpose. Their souls start dying slowly. Or I’ve seen people who have purpose in an area that kills them, like alcohol. Alcohol is my very worst enemy. I hate alcohol. I’ve seen it destroy too many relationships. I hate the stuff.

Somehow I hope to live between the paradigm of having goals, yet not being so busy that I cannot sit on the couch and breathe and think. A friend calls this spot the sweet spot. I feel like I’m usually a pendulum swinging from one side to the other. Too busy, No Goals, Too busy, No Goals, in rhythm, like the swinging of the second hand on the old clock that sat in the living room when I was growing up. That clock only stopped in the middle when it was broken. I want to be that broken clock, sitting right in the middle, not too busy or no goals, but just right. It’s not possible. Inevitably, my dad would come by and wind the thing up again, and it would start swinging again. I don’t think it’s possible to be in complete balance. There is always some kind of chaos in life that pushes us from one side to the other and back again. But here is beauty too. God made the world chaotic and interesting and breathtakingly beautiful. Such emotion doesn’t stir without movement and swinging. We have to swing or else we’re just broken clocks. Broken clocks end up in the garage awaiting repair, then in garage sales.

A church is a very interesting place to work. So far it’s the only place I’ve worked. I’m only 24 years old. I haven’t lived very long. I’ve lived long enough to know that I don’t want to work at a church anymore. I think that the things I’m good at would be better used as a teacher, so that’s what I’m planning to do. This week I explained to the church board that I’m not leaving ministry, just changing direction. My whole life will be ministry. Every person who follows Jesus is in ministry. I think that I will be better at ministry when I don’t work at a church.

 
4.10.2007
  Optical Illusions
One of the highlights of my day came after a long, talkative period of my last period Language Arts class. I just want complete submission from them, is that too much to ask? Seriously though, they wouldn't shut-up. I have a bulletin board next to the door that I frequently change with fun brain teasers and such. Currently, it's an optical illusion board. Today after the period from down under (and I don't mean Australia), there were 3 boys that stood and looked at the board. It was a beautiful moment. They even stayed for a few minutes soaking in the optical illusion goodness. Oh the simple joys in life.
 
4.04.2007
  Second Story Living
I've always lived on the second floor, but now that I'm living on the ground level, I've had some perspective on life from above, and below. When someone lives above you, you really get to know them. For instance, my upstairs neighbor is very interesting. Currently he's playing his guitar and singing. I wonder if he knows that I can hear him. I feel like I'm invading his privacy by hearing these intimate moments between man and guitar. The walls aren't very thick, and just last night, very late last night mind you, I heard an angry conversation coming from above. I heard some cussing, and maybe something about children (maybe he's divorced), the details were vague mostly because I was trying to sleep. Also, the man never goes to work. Since I'm on Spring Break, I've been home a lot, and it seems he has too. I wonder what he does to pay the rent...

All of these observations make me wonder what people learned about me when I was living above a neighbor. I do remember getting a lot of complaints from one unfortunate lower level tenant. We apparently were noisy steppers and would keep her kid up late at night. What did she expect when 6 college girls were living above her? Looking back, I feel very sorry for her.
 
4.02.2007
  I'm Back!
It's been a LONG time since I wrote. My last entry was November 2005! A lot has changed since then. Basically, my whole life has changed. I'm no longer working in ministry - which is good - because if you read my last entry I wasn't loving my job. There was a week last summer, this August, where it seemed God took my life and flipped it upside down. Within a matter of days, I moved to my hometown of Lancaster, broke up with my boyfriend at the time, quit my job in ministry, and started my career as a teacher. It was a whirlwind of events, but God has taken me through it to a wonderful place in life. The best part of the whole adventure has been that I have found that I was born to teach. The parts of ministry that I liked are in teaching. I feel like my gifts are shaped perfectly for the skills required to teach. So yea! Go teaching! I think I especially like my job right now because I'm in the middle of a fantastic 3 week spring break. How can I complain? Also, I just moved out to my own place, which I absolutely LOVE! It's the first time I've ever had my own place. I really enjoy living on my own. No more roommate drama. Oh, and I'm dating Andrew Seely. (Smile!) So there are all the updates of my life.

 
11.21.2005
  I want out
Right now I really don't like my job. It's partly my own fault - I'll own it. I'm not good at saying "No." Here's what happens: A co-worker asks me if I can come up with some ideas for marketing Christmas. I say sure, I'll come up with a few ideas. I show my ideas, they are liked, I am asked to create a logo. I create the logo. The logo turns into an invite card, a booklet cover, a buliten cover and a poster. All of which I have to adapt and create accordingly. There goes a huge chunk of my time. There goes time that I'm not spending connecting with students, or connecting with my own friends. This is one example. I'm not good at saying no. I need to say no. I must say no. Here's why I say yes: I'm a people pleaser, I'm the youngest person on staff wanting to make a good impression, I don't know my limitations, I don't fully know what I'm saying yes to, I don't realize that saying YES to one thing means saying NO to the youth. I like youth ministry. I really like kids. I love the students I work with. I'm not doing youth ministry. I'm doing administration, marketing, design, follow-up, long-term planning, the children's Christmas musical, and have little time left for my real job: students! Pray for me that I can learn to say NO!
 
11.10.2005
  Be the Person You Want to Become
Last Sunday I made a resolution: Be the person I want to Become. You see, I have this image in my mind of the kind of person that I want to become someday. I'd meet someone cool and think, "I'll be more like them someday." More outgoing, more disciplined, healthier, more generous, more welcoming, a better cook, friendlier, deeper. Well I made a resolution to be that person NOW instead of putting if off for "someday." The first thing I decided was to get serious about discipline: with running and reading the word. Before, these two activities have been rather sporadic. I would fit then in wherever I could. I read the word a lot for work purposes, and sometimes I would cheat and count that as quality time spent in the word. Not that reading the Bible at work counts for nothing - that's very far from true! But there is much to gain from reading the word on my own, in the morning, to start my day seeking God's face. I'm happy to report that I've ran 3 times this week in the morning, only skipping yesterday due to heavy morning rain.
 
11.02.2005
  Rethinking Youth Ministry
I just had a conversation with a Christian Scholar/Professor and a parent of a Club 56 kid. His son prefers a quieter, more structured style of learning. Club 56 is not completely quiet, although we try to be some times, and we're not completely stuctured, although we do make plans. In this conversation, the professor parent had some concerns about how we do Youth Ministry. He is feeling that it just doesn't work - and it isn't teaching students core Biblical foundation. Which is a bummer because I feel like we are trying to do that - but perhaps we need to try harder.

My questions is how? How do we create a ministry where students gain firm Biblical foundations for life? One possible solutions seems obvious: time. More time with students would create more opportunity for students to learn key Biblical Truth. Another solution: More intentional teaching with the time we do have with students. This is hard. My goal is to make the game, the (singing) worship, the talk and the small groups make sense together. I want the game to be intentional and have a point. Maybe another solutions is just being more vocal about sharing Biblical truths and finding ways for God's truth to enter "normal" conversation.
 
10.24.2005
  Burning out
I told staff today that I was burning out. They listened to me and helped me cut back on some things. It was a good day. I work at a good church. They care about my health in ministry. They listen and respond. They prayed for me. I'm thankful for the people I work with. I feel much better about life. I'm going for a run.
 
10.22.2005
  Faking It
Ok, I admit it. I faked it. I faked being happy. I do it all the time! I faked being friendly and I faked being interested in what people were talking about. I don't like this about myself-this whole faking it business. But it happens. Baby showers do it to everyone, and see, that's where I was today. I was at a baby shower that I didn't really want to be there. Today was the most perfect day for wearing pajamas and reading books and sipping tea all day. So I didn't want to go. Not to mention that I only knew two people - one being the host (who was happily running around keeping busy) and the other was the pregnant gal who the shower was for. And let's face it: Baby showers are Hell. OK OK, not that they are really that bad - but you get together a bunch of women, wearing their cute outfits, eating the delectable treats, talking about their shoes, commenting on their husbands, and ooohing and ahhhing over each new little unwrapped outfit --- it's more than I can handle!!! So what did I do? I faked it! You would too. You just can't be a raincloud at things like that. You have to put on your pastel sweaters and your sweet smile and just grin and bear it. If I ever have a shower, I'm going to make people wear their pajamas and we'll eat chocolate brownies and drink beer and just be ourselves. Although, I don't really like beer, it just sounded more authentic.
 
10.20.2005
  The art of being
I strongly desire to learn the art of "being" instead of finding value in doing. This is a re-occuring theme in my life lately. How can I learn how to do this well while having many tasks that I need to accomplish for work?

For all 2 of you who read this, have you mastered the are of being, while living in a world of being defined by what we do? Oh God, help me change the way I think about myself! May my identity be in YOU and not in what I do.
 
Who am I? I'm a follower of Christ, a lover of ultimate frisbee, a sister of three silly brothers, a youth worker for pre-teens, and a big fan of Diet Coke. I live by the beach, work at a church, eat a lot of canned soup and spend a lot of my free time buried in books. I don't like celery, zits or extreme sarcasm. I love my family, my friends, my co-workers and above all, GOD.

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Location: Lancaster, California, United States
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