A lot of life is about perspective and attitude.
Bad: This one likes to sneak up on you. It is more present on bad days obviously, and suddenly you hate your life. Yeah, it happens. For example... I graduated with Early Childhood Education and now have loans to pay back. I now work at Starbucks. Not where I wanted to work. I am paid very little, there are grumpy customers or people in a hurry, I mess up a lot because I'm new and there's a lot to learn, I always smell like coffee even when I'm not working there because it stays in my hair, I get splattered with milk and syrrups that make me sitcky all over my hands and arms, and I'm on my feet for 7 and a half hours. I clean bathrooms, mop and sweep, and take out the heavy trash. I deal with crazy people. The headset messes up my hair and makes it hard to hear drive through and people standing in front of me.
Good: I finally have a job! I had no job for 4 long months, and while I enjoyed my free time, I also got very bored and wrestless. And needed money. A lot of my friends that worked at Starbucks said they loved the job, so maybe I will too eventualy, when I'm better at what I'm doing. There are some great people that I work with that I enjoy talking to and laughing with, and that are patient with me. I get free coffee, which is where too much of my money went in the first place! I get the chance to smile and be nice, and make someone's day better. There are a lot of nice and patient customers - some bring us food or say really nice things to us. When I work there 3 months I'll get insurance and a 401k! I smell like coffee and not like a sandwhich shop (like when I worked at Firehouse Subs). I get to see some people I know and friends that come in to starbucks and that's kind of fun. I'm able to begin paying off my student loans that will take me forever to repay. I remember in high school people saying, "When I get older I want to work at Starbucks, that's so cool," and now I am, even though I wasn't one of those people who said that. If I'm going to be working somewhere, I might as well take pride in it. Starbucks is expensive, but tastes good, is brewed every 15 min or so, and we re-make any coffee that we do wrong or you don't like for free. I still get to go to church and Thursday night bible study. I don't have to work 40+ hours a week. I haven't had to work early mornings yet, and it's nice to stay up late and get up late. I no longer have homework, and it's nice to go home and just do what I want instead of doing things like grading papers or writing lesson plans.
Godly perspective: Ah, the one that is the hardest to see sometimes. It takes more thought or more reminding. I am not making much money, but the money I do make is going to help me go to Kenya on a mission trip. It's going to church to help it run and flourish. It's going to a 5 year old girl in Kenya each month to help feed and clothe her and her mom and brother. While I take out trash and mop the floor, I'm often reminded with a smile on my face that I am doing that work for the Lord because I'm serving those in Kenya through sending them money. It's worth it when it feeds people. I'm working with others and interacting with customers that are not Christian, and I am able to share my faith with them, whether it be through my actions, facebook, my words, what I don't do or say, or just through praying for them even when they don't know it. It is a mission field in itself, and I am willing to be the "odd one out" if it means seeds are planted and some day they come to know the Lord. I hope to see them in heaven one day. It doesn't matter where I work, all that matters is that others come to know Him.
My Christmas was good. I worked 2-6:30 on Christmas eve and it was busy. I helped in the nursrey and we had 2 crying babies and another one was mostly content. I had dinner and birthday cake for my grandma's 80th birthday. I went to the 11 PM xmas eve service at my home church. Sunday morning for Christmas (yesterday) I went to church, came home and took a nap, and then we opened a few presents after. Nothing hugely eventful, but good nonetheless.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Suhhhweeetttt.
I can't put lids on a cup!! What?! I've had a lot of messes from that and held up a lot of people because I can't put any of the lids on. I mean come on. That's ridiculous.
Let me tell you. There are crazy people in the world. They're everywhere! No job is free from them! If you are crazy late, don't stop in for coffee and then get mad when we're not fast enough. If we mess up your drink, we will make you a new one for free - we are human and make mistakes so don't act like we are terrible people for messing up. If you hand me money and then say, "Oh! I have 15 cents" after I already cashed it out, DON'T! I can't do mental math and always get it wrong, and getting a calculator takes too long! Don't hand me a handful of change and ask me to count it when we're crazy busy and you're hoping for 84 cents. Don't come through drive through and ask what types of cups we have inside and have us go back and forth to get it when we're really busy. If you get a cupon in your e-mail the day after you bought something and don't bring the item or orginial credit card back to the store, just the recipt, we can't do that! How would we know you're not lying or that your card was fake or whatever?
We do have a lot of great customers though. Today a guy brought us a pork he'd roasted since last night and it was awesome!! Other people give good tips, say nice things, bring us food, etc. There are more nice people than rude people.
I'm slowly getting better at repeating drinks back to people and finding the buttons faster on the cash registar. But not good at making drinks yet. There's a lot of numbers of how much syrrup and pumps and stuff goes in hot and cold drinks and frappachinos and whatnot. I know some day it will be easier, but it isn't right now.
I want to be good at what I do, no matter what I do. I want to be over-the-top good. Like amazing. I put 100% into my work, because who would want someone to work for them that "just gets by"?
I don't think I ever want to be a shift leader because they're the one who gets yelled at even when it's not their fault or it's not fair. :-( Makes me sad for them. And all the hard questions go to them.
I heard these girls at Starbucks studying for high school something, and they were being distracted by Siri on the girl's iphone. Haha. I don't have Siri but I want it. But then I might be more distracted than normal?
It's 3 days til Christmas! What? It's like each year I'm surprised and I don't know why.
Sometimes my heart and my head don't connect. My brain says something different than my heart. I read a book once that equated it as a man riding an elephant, with the rider being your brain/logic and your heart being the elephant. While the rider tries it's best to guide the elephant, when the elephant has a stronger desire, it's bigger and goes where it wants. Sometimes my brain says, "Run away!" and my heat says, "Stay!" Sometimes my brain says, "Protect your heart!"and my heart says, "But maybe you're overprotecting your heart." Sometimes my brain says, "Don't be stupid" but my heart says, "Just do it." There are times my brain says, "If God says no, it's ok. He has a reason" and my heart says, "But it's not fair! I don't like it this way!!"
Let me tell you. There are crazy people in the world. They're everywhere! No job is free from them! If you are crazy late, don't stop in for coffee and then get mad when we're not fast enough. If we mess up your drink, we will make you a new one for free - we are human and make mistakes so don't act like we are terrible people for messing up. If you hand me money and then say, "Oh! I have 15 cents" after I already cashed it out, DON'T! I can't do mental math and always get it wrong, and getting a calculator takes too long! Don't hand me a handful of change and ask me to count it when we're crazy busy and you're hoping for 84 cents. Don't come through drive through and ask what types of cups we have inside and have us go back and forth to get it when we're really busy. If you get a cupon in your e-mail the day after you bought something and don't bring the item or orginial credit card back to the store, just the recipt, we can't do that! How would we know you're not lying or that your card was fake or whatever?
We do have a lot of great customers though. Today a guy brought us a pork he'd roasted since last night and it was awesome!! Other people give good tips, say nice things, bring us food, etc. There are more nice people than rude people.
I'm slowly getting better at repeating drinks back to people and finding the buttons faster on the cash registar. But not good at making drinks yet. There's a lot of numbers of how much syrrup and pumps and stuff goes in hot and cold drinks and frappachinos and whatnot. I know some day it will be easier, but it isn't right now.
I want to be good at what I do, no matter what I do. I want to be over-the-top good. Like amazing. I put 100% into my work, because who would want someone to work for them that "just gets by"?
I don't think I ever want to be a shift leader because they're the one who gets yelled at even when it's not their fault or it's not fair. :-( Makes me sad for them. And all the hard questions go to them.
I heard these girls at Starbucks studying for high school something, and they were being distracted by Siri on the girl's iphone. Haha. I don't have Siri but I want it. But then I might be more distracted than normal?
It's 3 days til Christmas! What? It's like each year I'm surprised and I don't know why.
Sometimes my heart and my head don't connect. My brain says something different than my heart. I read a book once that equated it as a man riding an elephant, with the rider being your brain/logic and your heart being the elephant. While the rider tries it's best to guide the elephant, when the elephant has a stronger desire, it's bigger and goes where it wants. Sometimes my brain says, "Run away!" and my heat says, "Stay!" Sometimes my brain says, "Protect your heart!"and my heart says, "But maybe you're overprotecting your heart." Sometimes my brain says, "Don't be stupid" but my heart says, "Just do it." There are times my brain says, "If God says no, it's ok. He has a reason" and my heart says, "But it's not fair! I don't like it this way!!"
Monday, December 19, 2011
Facebook Starbucks Christmas friends 2011
You know those boxes on your starbucks cups that say, "Shots, milk, syrrup" etc? They were there because the baristas used to write on them so the person knew what drink to make. And they'd write your name too. I remember that because people used to use funny names like Spongebob or Batman or whatever. But now it's all done by stickers that print out on the little machines that you stick on the cup, and then you just call out the drink order instead of the name. Well I'm glad for the stickers because I'm sure I'd mess it up if I had to write it. On the computer screen we use to ring people up, on the right side is tabs for each of those boxes though. So if you say, "Soy" or "non fat" for the milk, you go over to that tab and then find the milk. Sometimes though, there are things I can't find. Like what type of drink it is. Or things like banana. I have to say into my headset to the other people I work with, "Where's the banana button?" or with the pastries, "Uhh, is the marble cake considered a cake or a pound cake or a loaf?" because there are different categories to find the food under.
The headsets make it hard to hear in general. When a person I'm speaking to in person is quiet, even though i'm standing right in front of them I'm really only hearing out of one ear because the other one is covered by the headset. If someone is ordering drive through at the same time, it's really 2 people talking in my ears, so I have to move it out of the way. Even the people I work with sometimes talk really quietly into the headsets to us across the room and I'm like, "What did you say? I can't hear you!" It's cool though so that you don't have to yell, or if someone is in the back doing dishes and you need them up front you just push the button to talk to them instead of having to walk back there.
While I'm getting better at the cash registar, I still have a hard time finding the buttons fast enough when I'm doing drive through. Especially when people rattle off more than one drink right in a row. Others can hear the drink when they're not at the registar and just remember it, make it and then ring it up. I cannot! If I'm not standing right there pushing the buttons, I can't remember at all. Maybe I will be better at that some day.
I can't make many drinks yet, and I'm painfully slow at it as it is. A lot of times the person makes the drink and has it done before I finish ringing someone because they are so fast and I'm so slow. I KNOW I am still brand spanking new - I mean, I've only worked 3 weeks - but I'm so ready to know what I'm doing, to be good at it and fast at it. But with all new things to learn, it takes time. And there is nothing you can do to speed up that process.
Christmas eve is Saturday. I work 2-6:30, then help in the nursrey at 7 at my church, then go to the christmas eve service at 11 PM with my home church. Christmas is Sunday and my Starbucks is closed that day - many others are still open. I don't really know what we're doing for Christmas day. My grandparents will be in from NC, but as far as presents, my dad bought himself a new guitar, my brother wanted money for a fraternity fee, I wanted money for a new camera (haven't decided which one to get yet), and not sure what my mom is getting. But no real presents to open. I guess we'll just eat food and sit around. Ha.
The new facebook timeline is finally becoming public! Finally! I had it in September or so, and no one else could see it so I switched back to the old version, but now it's up and running. It's funny to see the people I was friends with in 2006 that I'm not friends with anymore...some I forgot about becasue I just had one class with them in college, or that were friends of friends. I generally don't like when facebook changes things, but I really like this one! While I'm excited about the new layout and the ability to search through my past and others, I'm sure it strikes fear into others who didnt' have a good past or now they can see all their ex-boyfriends / girlfriends comments again, or if they are a christian now and weren't before, or if they were partying it up in college but are now in a more serious work place. Blast from the past! Heads up, everything you put on the internet will never ever go away! Wheeeeee! Hahaha.
The facebook cover, the big top picture, now lends for a lot of creativity for those who want to or know how to do it. I made a collage of things that happened in 2011. I've seen on google other people's cover pictures that were really creative.
As 2011 comes to a close, we always write our summary of the year for our Christmas newsletter sent to my parents friends. This year I student taught, graduated college, had a summer internship, and started working at Starbucks. I'm getting ready for Kenya next summer. I also keep a running list ALL year of my "firsts" each year. Like this year was the first time I went to Helen Georgia, Little Five Points in Atlanta, switched from a flip phone to a smart phone (iphone), had my own office and desk, taught full time during student teaching, learned how to use many coffee machines (not only at Starbucks but also Kureig machines and a basic cofffee maker), got a kindle, tried nutella, got my wisdom teeth removed, and more. It is fun to look back at the end of the year at my list and post it on facebook.
Sometimes there are people in life that when you talk to them, it makes everything seem ok in life. Like even if you have a bad day or a bad week, or there are ridiculous people making your life a pain, if you talk to certain people, it all seems like not such a big deal. Does that make sense? You feel like you can bear or handle anything as long as you are able to talk to that person about it, because you know they'll care, they'll listen, they'll pray for you, they'll make you laugh about it, they'll give you a different perspective on it, they'll give you advice, they'll cheer you on in life. I love those people that cheer me on in life, and I try to do the same for others.
The headsets make it hard to hear in general. When a person I'm speaking to in person is quiet, even though i'm standing right in front of them I'm really only hearing out of one ear because the other one is covered by the headset. If someone is ordering drive through at the same time, it's really 2 people talking in my ears, so I have to move it out of the way. Even the people I work with sometimes talk really quietly into the headsets to us across the room and I'm like, "What did you say? I can't hear you!" It's cool though so that you don't have to yell, or if someone is in the back doing dishes and you need them up front you just push the button to talk to them instead of having to walk back there.
While I'm getting better at the cash registar, I still have a hard time finding the buttons fast enough when I'm doing drive through. Especially when people rattle off more than one drink right in a row. Others can hear the drink when they're not at the registar and just remember it, make it and then ring it up. I cannot! If I'm not standing right there pushing the buttons, I can't remember at all. Maybe I will be better at that some day.
I can't make many drinks yet, and I'm painfully slow at it as it is. A lot of times the person makes the drink and has it done before I finish ringing someone because they are so fast and I'm so slow. I KNOW I am still brand spanking new - I mean, I've only worked 3 weeks - but I'm so ready to know what I'm doing, to be good at it and fast at it. But with all new things to learn, it takes time. And there is nothing you can do to speed up that process.
Christmas eve is Saturday. I work 2-6:30, then help in the nursrey at 7 at my church, then go to the christmas eve service at 11 PM with my home church. Christmas is Sunday and my Starbucks is closed that day - many others are still open. I don't really know what we're doing for Christmas day. My grandparents will be in from NC, but as far as presents, my dad bought himself a new guitar, my brother wanted money for a fraternity fee, I wanted money for a new camera (haven't decided which one to get yet), and not sure what my mom is getting. But no real presents to open. I guess we'll just eat food and sit around. Ha.
The new facebook timeline is finally becoming public! Finally! I had it in September or so, and no one else could see it so I switched back to the old version, but now it's up and running. It's funny to see the people I was friends with in 2006 that I'm not friends with anymore...some I forgot about becasue I just had one class with them in college, or that were friends of friends. I generally don't like when facebook changes things, but I really like this one! While I'm excited about the new layout and the ability to search through my past and others, I'm sure it strikes fear into others who didnt' have a good past or now they can see all their ex-boyfriends / girlfriends comments again, or if they are a christian now and weren't before, or if they were partying it up in college but are now in a more serious work place. Blast from the past! Heads up, everything you put on the internet will never ever go away! Wheeeeee! Hahaha.
The facebook cover, the big top picture, now lends for a lot of creativity for those who want to or know how to do it. I made a collage of things that happened in 2011. I've seen on google other people's cover pictures that were really creative.
As 2011 comes to a close, we always write our summary of the year for our Christmas newsletter sent to my parents friends. This year I student taught, graduated college, had a summer internship, and started working at Starbucks. I'm getting ready for Kenya next summer. I also keep a running list ALL year of my "firsts" each year. Like this year was the first time I went to Helen Georgia, Little Five Points in Atlanta, switched from a flip phone to a smart phone (iphone), had my own office and desk, taught full time during student teaching, learned how to use many coffee machines (not only at Starbucks but also Kureig machines and a basic cofffee maker), got a kindle, tried nutella, got my wisdom teeth removed, and more. It is fun to look back at the end of the year at my list and post it on facebook.
Sometimes there are people in life that when you talk to them, it makes everything seem ok in life. Like even if you have a bad day or a bad week, or there are ridiculous people making your life a pain, if you talk to certain people, it all seems like not such a big deal. Does that make sense? You feel like you can bear or handle anything as long as you are able to talk to that person about it, because you know they'll care, they'll listen, they'll pray for you, they'll make you laugh about it, they'll give you a different perspective on it, they'll give you advice, they'll cheer you on in life. I love those people that cheer me on in life, and I try to do the same for others.
Friday, December 16, 2011
I have no plans
What's next? How long will you stay at Starbucks? Will you look for a teaching job in August? Will you look for any other jobs? If you had to pick another job besides teaching what would you do?
These are questions that most people ask me. And ones that I can't answer. I don't know. I have no plan, I have no "end" to this job set in mind, I have no backup plans or alternate plans. As a culture focused on advancing and moving forward, I know this pressue of having a plan. We want to advance in our jobs to get higher positions and more money. We want to advance in our education and get higher degrees and more specialized degrees, again to make more money but also for job security and the ability to find jobs easier. We want to advance in our hobbies - if we've done mission trips withing the US, why don't we go abroad? If we've learned how to play an instrument, why don't we take lessons and play for money and join a famous band or make a CD? If we enjoy reading, why don't we start a book club or expand our type of books we read or perhaps write our own book?
Because sometimes you can't advance. Sometimes it's ok to enjoy something at the level you're at. Sometimes you don't have the money or time to go further in every aspect in life. Sometimes you don't want to be reckless and get a masters degree just because you have time to fill and loans to pay back, but no job. Sometimes you come across jobs or opportunities that are through networking or by chance, not through you pursuing them. And sometimes I think we are so focused on our plans and what's next that we miss out on GOD's plans and the present.
"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." - James 4: 13-16
I love this verse because it speaks so boldly and clearly. We often think our plans are so grand, so solid, so bulletproof. Or we at least think that we should MAKE plans, because it seems silly not to have them. Even in our plans we still need to say, "If it's the Lord's will." Now I totally think that we are called to move forward in life as far as looking for opportunities to serve others and the Lord, and not to just become lazy or stagnant for the purpose of being in our comfort zones at all time or because we claim that we're waiting for the Lord to do something year after year. As we pray and listen, we may still have to make the effort to LOOK and search for another job or a spouse or a different path in life because God doesn't simply place everything in our lap.
One very dissapointing thing is having your grand and solid plans fall apart. I wanted to teach from the time I was 9. And then as I went through student teaching and then graduated, I questioned ever teaching at all. As I looked for a job teaching, I did not find one. My desire to teach was mostly gone anyways. But maybe my degree will be used for kids still, and maybe even teaching, but in a different setting. Maybe a Christian school, maybe a children's organization, maybe a church. However, maybe I will teach in a public school some day and love it. I really don't know.
Honestly, I know that my entire life will be making plans, watching plans fail, re-routing my plans, and repeating the whole thing. Even if it's a vague plan, there's something in our heads that at least hopes for a particular outcome to happen. I hope to be married soon. I hope to have kids. I hope to go on mission trips all over the world throughout my whole life. I hope to retire and live in an awesome retirement community. I hope my husband and I stay married until we die, and that we die around the same time so that neither of us are left sad. But time and time again I hear people's life stories about how different their life turned out. How they only planned on having one or two kids but then had 4. How they planned on working, but then became a stay at home mother. How they planned on retiring early, but then after they retired they had to go back to work for financial reasons. How they planned on marrying someone, but then breaking up with them just before getting engaged or married.
My GPS often says, "re-routing" when I turn on the wrong road or feel like there's a faster way than my GPS is telling me. But in the end I get to my destination. I know that in the end I will go to heaven and along the way I want to bring everybody with me. So no matter what happens in my life, no matter what roads life puts me on, I know that God can use me even if they're roads I didn't intend on traveling on. Sometimes I will be put on dark roads with frustrating people, not by my choice, so that I can be the only light in that darkness. So that I can plant a seed or sew or harvest in hearts that need to hear about Jesus. It's easy to stay on the safe roads with my Christian friends and basically hang out with Jesus and be happy about it. But that's not really the point. I'll have eternity to do that.
So. This road I'm on now looks like one of those highways where you can see to the horizon with just one road. Where you want to speed to get through this long stretch of road to get to a more interesting scenery or cool pitstop, but it's just an endless stretch of road. For now, I'm ok with that. So while every part of me wants to plan plan plan, I know that I'm not really able to that right now. I will just immerse myself in what God has placed me in and ask to be used where I am.
These are questions that most people ask me. And ones that I can't answer. I don't know. I have no plan, I have no "end" to this job set in mind, I have no backup plans or alternate plans. As a culture focused on advancing and moving forward, I know this pressue of having a plan. We want to advance in our jobs to get higher positions and more money. We want to advance in our education and get higher degrees and more specialized degrees, again to make more money but also for job security and the ability to find jobs easier. We want to advance in our hobbies - if we've done mission trips withing the US, why don't we go abroad? If we've learned how to play an instrument, why don't we take lessons and play for money and join a famous band or make a CD? If we enjoy reading, why don't we start a book club or expand our type of books we read or perhaps write our own book?
Because sometimes you can't advance. Sometimes it's ok to enjoy something at the level you're at. Sometimes you don't have the money or time to go further in every aspect in life. Sometimes you don't want to be reckless and get a masters degree just because you have time to fill and loans to pay back, but no job. Sometimes you come across jobs or opportunities that are through networking or by chance, not through you pursuing them. And sometimes I think we are so focused on our plans and what's next that we miss out on GOD's plans and the present.
"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." - James 4: 13-16
I love this verse because it speaks so boldly and clearly. We often think our plans are so grand, so solid, so bulletproof. Or we at least think that we should MAKE plans, because it seems silly not to have them. Even in our plans we still need to say, "If it's the Lord's will." Now I totally think that we are called to move forward in life as far as looking for opportunities to serve others and the Lord, and not to just become lazy or stagnant for the purpose of being in our comfort zones at all time or because we claim that we're waiting for the Lord to do something year after year. As we pray and listen, we may still have to make the effort to LOOK and search for another job or a spouse or a different path in life because God doesn't simply place everything in our lap.
One very dissapointing thing is having your grand and solid plans fall apart. I wanted to teach from the time I was 9. And then as I went through student teaching and then graduated, I questioned ever teaching at all. As I looked for a job teaching, I did not find one. My desire to teach was mostly gone anyways. But maybe my degree will be used for kids still, and maybe even teaching, but in a different setting. Maybe a Christian school, maybe a children's organization, maybe a church. However, maybe I will teach in a public school some day and love it. I really don't know.
Honestly, I know that my entire life will be making plans, watching plans fail, re-routing my plans, and repeating the whole thing. Even if it's a vague plan, there's something in our heads that at least hopes for a particular outcome to happen. I hope to be married soon. I hope to have kids. I hope to go on mission trips all over the world throughout my whole life. I hope to retire and live in an awesome retirement community. I hope my husband and I stay married until we die, and that we die around the same time so that neither of us are left sad. But time and time again I hear people's life stories about how different their life turned out. How they only planned on having one or two kids but then had 4. How they planned on working, but then became a stay at home mother. How they planned on retiring early, but then after they retired they had to go back to work for financial reasons. How they planned on marrying someone, but then breaking up with them just before getting engaged or married.
My GPS often says, "re-routing" when I turn on the wrong road or feel like there's a faster way than my GPS is telling me. But in the end I get to my destination. I know that in the end I will go to heaven and along the way I want to bring everybody with me. So no matter what happens in my life, no matter what roads life puts me on, I know that God can use me even if they're roads I didn't intend on traveling on. Sometimes I will be put on dark roads with frustrating people, not by my choice, so that I can be the only light in that darkness. So that I can plant a seed or sew or harvest in hearts that need to hear about Jesus. It's easy to stay on the safe roads with my Christian friends and basically hang out with Jesus and be happy about it. But that's not really the point. I'll have eternity to do that.
So. This road I'm on now looks like one of those highways where you can see to the horizon with just one road. Where you want to speed to get through this long stretch of road to get to a more interesting scenery or cool pitstop, but it's just an endless stretch of road. For now, I'm ok with that. So while every part of me wants to plan plan plan, I know that I'm not really able to that right now. I will just immerse myself in what God has placed me in and ask to be used where I am.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Work and such
A job I would particularly hate would be inspecting stores. Searching for anything unclean, anything out of place, anything broken, and having people panic when they see me. Having the power to shut down a store. A health inspector is not a job I would ever want. Today we had one come into Starbucks. I personally think we are a very clean store. But this lady looked places I didn't even know could be looked at. It was slightly crazy. We scored well, but the stress level shot up in the place. Thank goodness not that many customers came through during that time. I know the purpose is to make sure everyone is safe and that what we serve to people is safe. But I think there comes a point when it's a bit crazy. Just saying. My opion.
Today I woke up at noon, left my house at 12:30, worked from 1-9, then went to my friend's appartment to hang out with some girl friends until 10:40 PM. While I know it's dumb to get up at 12:30 and go straight to work, I don't go to bed until at least 2 AM. It's just the way I roll. ;-) I seriously have a hard time going to bed any earlier. Soon I will be working all night shifts which will include much later times than 9, which is fine, but I will miss friend time. :-( Doesn't really matter, I need money. It's money time! haha. I will always have Thursday nights off for bible study, and that will be what I look forward to each week as it has been the past year and a half. What a blessing it has been, the learning, the people there.
Although this is a silly thing, it's true: the headset at work is sorta like a headband that doesn't stay put, and when it moves around so much, it seriously messes up my hair making it look like I never brushed it. It's quite annoying.
My hair and my clothes will forever smell like coffee. Better than smelling like Firehouse Subs which I smelled like for 8 months in high school, gross. Great food, not a great smell to be wearing. "Wow, you smell like meat!" Not really what you want to hear.
Today was my first 8 hour shift at Starbucks. While it was a little hectic because of that insepctor lady coming, it wasn't a terrible day. But at the end I was tired of being there. The last hour felt like forever. I'm sure over time I'll get used to it though. I'm just thankful to have a job and not be sitting at home like I have been the past 4 months.
I'm reading a new book called, "Not A Fan" by Kyle Idleman. Two questions he asks is, "What really frustrates you and upsets you? What do you get really excited about? The answers to that might be what is competing with God." As I answered those in my head, I cringed and thought yeah, maybe it IS what kind of competes with God. He made an illustration that used the vereses where Jesus said to hate your family and friends, and in some translations it says, "in comparison to me." Idleman's illustraition was that if you were married or in a serious relationship and your boyfriend had your picture in his wallet FIRST and in the front, but pictures of all his ex-girlfriends behind it, you'd be mad. You wouldn't just want to be first, you'd want to be the only one. True. For me, a lot of things excite me. But I think what stuck out more was what frustrated me or made me upset. With one thing in particular, I thought, "Ugh. I KNOW this competes with God in my life. I KNOW I don't trust Him enough with this area in my life and when I try I just fail over and over again. And I don't know how to change that." I feel that as long as I don't trust God in this area, it will never be a problem that is resolved or goes away on it's own.
Today I woke up at noon, left my house at 12:30, worked from 1-9, then went to my friend's appartment to hang out with some girl friends until 10:40 PM. While I know it's dumb to get up at 12:30 and go straight to work, I don't go to bed until at least 2 AM. It's just the way I roll. ;-) I seriously have a hard time going to bed any earlier. Soon I will be working all night shifts which will include much later times than 9, which is fine, but I will miss friend time. :-( Doesn't really matter, I need money. It's money time! haha. I will always have Thursday nights off for bible study, and that will be what I look forward to each week as it has been the past year and a half. What a blessing it has been, the learning, the people there.
Although this is a silly thing, it's true: the headset at work is sorta like a headband that doesn't stay put, and when it moves around so much, it seriously messes up my hair making it look like I never brushed it. It's quite annoying.
My hair and my clothes will forever smell like coffee. Better than smelling like Firehouse Subs which I smelled like for 8 months in high school, gross. Great food, not a great smell to be wearing. "Wow, you smell like meat!" Not really what you want to hear.
Today was my first 8 hour shift at Starbucks. While it was a little hectic because of that insepctor lady coming, it wasn't a terrible day. But at the end I was tired of being there. The last hour felt like forever. I'm sure over time I'll get used to it though. I'm just thankful to have a job and not be sitting at home like I have been the past 4 months.
I'm reading a new book called, "Not A Fan" by Kyle Idleman. Two questions he asks is, "What really frustrates you and upsets you? What do you get really excited about? The answers to that might be what is competing with God." As I answered those in my head, I cringed and thought yeah, maybe it IS what kind of competes with God. He made an illustration that used the vereses where Jesus said to hate your family and friends, and in some translations it says, "in comparison to me." Idleman's illustraition was that if you were married or in a serious relationship and your boyfriend had your picture in his wallet FIRST and in the front, but pictures of all his ex-girlfriends behind it, you'd be mad. You wouldn't just want to be first, you'd want to be the only one. True. For me, a lot of things excite me. But I think what stuck out more was what frustrated me or made me upset. With one thing in particular, I thought, "Ugh. I KNOW this competes with God in my life. I KNOW I don't trust Him enough with this area in my life and when I try I just fail over and over again. And I don't know how to change that." I feel that as long as I don't trust God in this area, it will never be a problem that is resolved or goes away on it's own.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Persistance
Today I played piano for the first time in a long time. I printed off some music from Adele - it has beautiful piano arrangement. However, since I don't play as much as a I used to, it takes longer for me to learn it. There was one measure in, "Make You Feel My Love" that I just could NOT get!! The rhythm was hard and the notes were too. I had to play the measure first with the right hand, then the left, then together, slow at first and then faster. Over and over again. Then I'd play two lines up until I hit that measure again to make sure I could make it flow, and when that didn't work I had to play that one measure over and over. Finally I got it. I remember having to do that a lot when I was younger, literally playing the same few notes repeatedly. Today I wondered if doing that has aided in my ability to be persistant and do the same thing over and over in other things in life (good and bad), or if it was the opposite, that God gave me a persistant nature that allowed me to learn piano better because I could repeat that same measure over and over.
Persistance. It is a word that many people have complimented me on in the way of having persistance in getting jobs, things I do at work, reading the bible with discipline on a constant basis at certain times in my life when I set my mind to it, and learning new things. It helps in friendships when we're trying to get together for lunch or cofffee because somebody has to be the one to call or text until it works out. It is NOT helpful in other situations, where I don't want to give things up. Like a game that I am trying to win - I am persistant in wanting to win! But in a lot of games online there is no "winning," it's just advancing to the next level. Or in reading a book that I'm set on finishing - it will keep me up til 3 AM or I will put off more important things to finish it. It's not helpful when someone doesn't want to be my friend anymore. It's not good when I need to get ahold of someone and they don't ever answer their phone or call back, but being persistant I continue to call. Another similar thing, not really persistance, but just doing the same thing over and over again: When I find a song I like, I will literally just set that one song or two or three on repeat and listen to it over and over.
And oh, this quality is bad when God wants to take over and I still feel the need to do it myself.
This past week I felt like I was metaphorically knocking on a door and it has been a long persistant knocking. A long time of prayer and waiting and hoping God would open this door, this opportunity, this thing in life. But I'm pretty sure I'm knocking on the wrong door. And I'm pretty sure I've known it for months. There's where the persistance is a bad thing. Perhaps in my knocking on this one door I've missed God saying, "Psst. The door you're supposed to be knocking on is down the street, come on let's go." Or I go with God and then turn around and go back to the same stinking door! As if God changed His mind. Well...He didn't! I am still shaking my head at my annoying persistance at this! I'm not even "doing" that much to make the door open because it is certainly not in my control in this instance, but I have stuck around at the wrong place. It is a hard thing to do though, to walk away.
Persistance. It is a word that many people have complimented me on in the way of having persistance in getting jobs, things I do at work, reading the bible with discipline on a constant basis at certain times in my life when I set my mind to it, and learning new things. It helps in friendships when we're trying to get together for lunch or cofffee because somebody has to be the one to call or text until it works out. It is NOT helpful in other situations, where I don't want to give things up. Like a game that I am trying to win - I am persistant in wanting to win! But in a lot of games online there is no "winning," it's just advancing to the next level. Or in reading a book that I'm set on finishing - it will keep me up til 3 AM or I will put off more important things to finish it. It's not helpful when someone doesn't want to be my friend anymore. It's not good when I need to get ahold of someone and they don't ever answer their phone or call back, but being persistant I continue to call. Another similar thing, not really persistance, but just doing the same thing over and over again: When I find a song I like, I will literally just set that one song or two or three on repeat and listen to it over and over.
And oh, this quality is bad when God wants to take over and I still feel the need to do it myself.
This past week I felt like I was metaphorically knocking on a door and it has been a long persistant knocking. A long time of prayer and waiting and hoping God would open this door, this opportunity, this thing in life. But I'm pretty sure I'm knocking on the wrong door. And I'm pretty sure I've known it for months. There's where the persistance is a bad thing. Perhaps in my knocking on this one door I've missed God saying, "Psst. The door you're supposed to be knocking on is down the street, come on let's go." Or I go with God and then turn around and go back to the same stinking door! As if God changed His mind. Well...He didn't! I am still shaking my head at my annoying persistance at this! I'm not even "doing" that much to make the door open because it is certainly not in my control in this instance, but I have stuck around at the wrong place. It is a hard thing to do though, to walk away.
How To Tick People Off
How To Tick People Off
(Found on the internet through
StumbleUpon)
|
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)