God/Christianity:
Modesty is about more than keeping men from stumbling; it’s about not drawing attention (from anybody) to your outer beauty (for any reason) more than your inner beauty. This is something I already knew, but I read this article in the Chastity Project the other day and really helped me see things more clearly. And I feel like I’m able to put these feelings into words easier. In the article Kaylin admitted that when she watches women in bikinis or the like, she is not thinking about the women’s hearts or personality. All of her attention is drawn to their physical appearance, whether she’s wondering where they got their suits or comparing her own body to theirs. And if she has that problem, as a Christian women, just imagine what other people around the pool are thinking. But even if we leave men out of the picture for a minute, lack of clothing can cause all kinds of hurt. E.g. We women are more likely to compare our bodies to each other. Or make judgement. Or feed jealousy. It’s scary!
My favorite quote from the article was this “You do not veil yourself because you believe you are ugly, you veil yourself because you know you are beautiful.” Isn’t that backwards from what we often believe. There are so many times when I wonder what people will think of me wearing a one piece at the pool. Will they think I’m weird? Will they think I’m hiding something or ashamed of my body? But it’s really just the opposite of that. I love my body, but that doesn’t mean I should show it off to everyone who comes along. That’s only for my husband.
OK I’m sorry I wrote a whole post on the first category… Moving on.
Pearson:
Pearson enjoyed My Fair Lady when we watched the movie this month and I think he enjoyed The Music Man more than he thought he would. Can you believe he actually admits that he likes musicals now? He says that I finally “won him over” (his words). This is certainly a revelation and a shocking one at that. I am so happy! Of course, he’s still not too crazy about them like me, but he actually enjoys them. That’s a big step!
Also, I learned that he loves short and crazy roller-coasters. He just doesn’t like tall ones with a big drop. I never really made this important connection before. I knew he didn’t really like roller-coasters and that the worst part was always the drop. And I knew he enjoyed them once he made himself get on, but I never really made the connection that he loves the short, crazy ones. He loves them! Almost as much as I do!
Myself:
I learned that I really like people. It’s actually surprising. And yes I know this makes me sound like a jerk or something, but the thing is I’m an introvert. It’s not that I never liked people specifically, I just don’t like large crowds. Or having to talk to a lot of people for a long period of time. But, I learned this month, after spending so much time with the cast of The Music Man, that I really, really like people. I’ve always admired how a cast of anything (stage show, movie, TV show) can get so close to each other. I love how you can see actors interacting on Twitter and Instagram and they have such a bond and it just seems like so much fun! Well, I think on a small scale, that’s happened to me this summer. And it’s fantastic!
I also learned that I am actually pretty good at news writing. I wrote a news article for a new platform called Styrk. When I sent the article to my brother (who got a degree in broadcast journalism), he said I wrote it beautifully. He only helped me revise a couple little things. I was pretty proud of myself!
The last thing I learned is that I need physical touch and quality time. It’s not just that it’s nice to have, I need it! I’ve really miss my husband this month.
Other People/Things:
I’ve learned a lot of acting lingo and etiquette from being in The Music Man, but also from reading Someday, Someday, Maybe. For example, when the stage manager comes to the dressing room to give you a standby or some other warning, you answer with “Thank you, standby” to show that you heard him.
I also learned that Instagram hashtags work! I’ve been using a bunch of hashtags from Sarah’s post and I’ve been getting a ton of likes. It’s pretty cool.
Work:
I’ve learned loads and loads about development. I’ve learned about how to use Visual Studio and .NET for a web application. I learned a lot of how IIS works. I learned that you can easily find your place in the code by just looking at the URL of the web app. I learned how to link the local code you’re working on to a web address on the server. I could go on, but I won’t bore you. I’ll just say that I love this new position!
Well, I guess that’s about it. Sorry this post is so long. This month was crazy busy but at least I learned a lot. If you’ve made it this far, Thank You!
What have you learned this month?
