I don't know and I can't even, so I'll just let You.

I've been tranq darted. This is all I've got today, people.

Hannah Happytree

This is totally unrelated to the rest of this post, but I just got part of a strawberry
stem in my oatmeal and it was kind of a downer. Not a day ruining one, but spitting out oatmeal is disappointing for me and enjoyable for you to hear and picture. :)

Why am I not at work, you might be wondering? It's 8:54! You're right, normally I am already gone but this week my schedule is a little later so I've had to find things to do to fill up my morning a little bit. So far I've done all the dishes, cleaned my room (AND made the bed), done the laundry and pulled the beached whale cat out from under Sasha's bed. Twice (no small feat - the cat ways 23 pounds, people).

Here's me on Sunday, skipping church to do real life with
Jesus and enjoy Him out on the back roads.

That took an hour so then I was jamming to Rend Collectives 'My Lighthouse,' which I listen to so many times a day right now it's almost (but not quite) embarrassing. While I was jamming and doing a little writing I was thinking about all the stuff God's been teaching me through my life and I figured it might be worth it to someone to hear this:

I think I figured out the purpose of life.

I know that's a pretty big statement. But after a lot of reflection, I think this is it. When I was a little kid, my mom would read a devotional every day to us at breakfast. At the time, we children hated it but my mom was breaking ground and laying the foundation for building blocks in our lives - we just didn't know it yet. High-five, Mom!

Ramble, ramble, I just never get right to the point. No apologies! Okay, the purpose of life! I remember one line from a devotional sticking out to me and thinking - "I should remember this, I think it's important." The line was something like this:

"The purpose of life is to serve God and enjoy Him."

So technically, I didn't come up with the purpose statement, I usurped it. But there you go. Think about it. Your life involves two main people - You and God. It makes sense that your life purpose involve two people too - Serving God and Enjoying Him involves the two of you. You can put anything under this statement - serving others (because you love God and that's a way to serve Him), sitting on your front porch with a delicious beverage (enjoying God). You can break down your whole life into pieces that fit into that. Think about it. You'll see it.

SO Hannah Happytree. I prefer the term 'joyful' to 'happy' because I think it means more and is a deeper-seated emotion, but happy does roll off the tongue pretty nicely. Neither here nor there. I am constantly joyful because I embrace that God created me to serve and enjoy. I encourage you to dwell on that last part. I used to think that to truly be living for Christ I should be in a constant state of martyrdom (isn't that what dying to self means? spoiler alert: it doesn't!), and then Jesus showed me some stuff.

Try it. You'll like it. :)

Lovely Noise

The Overwhelming Urge to Communicate

Who doesn't have their technology vice these days? For my age group, it's more common for us to be in a relationship with our facebook/Twitter/Instagram account, our Pinterest, Snapchat, tinder, or Netflix account than with actual people.

It's exhausting! My brain hates me and I'm probably getting early onset arthritis in my thumbs and index fingers between all the snapping, swiping and typing I'm doing. I get so tired of 'responding' to technology - so many text messages, comments, and emails to reply to, so many calendars and boards to update. I think some people are getting frustrated with me because I've just given up and ignore my phone and don't respond!

Anyway, about two weeks ago my bestie Meghan, who is living in Florida instead of here with me bless her heart, and I were talking about how much we love 'stuff.' We even wrote a little dialogue and were going to co-blog about it but that sort of fell through...Because I was busy updating my Pinterest. Seriously, though. It's important to keep your 'Words of Awesome' board updated in case you need that perfect inspirational quote and the only thing around to help you is your best firend, Wi-Fi.

Hannah: We. Love. Stuff. WE LOVE IT. Like, a lot. New things, old things, free things, expensive things - we love ALL THE THINGS. But what we’ve started to notice is the more ‘stuff’ you have, the more your stuff can start to own you. Meaning it takes up more of your time than you have to spend on it! So for the next week we are going to look at all the ‘stuff’ that is basically a filler in our lives. We aren’t going to try and cut out our normal habits or reduce or anything, just take notes, take a step back in a week, and see what it looks like.

Here’s the areas we are going to focus on:

Meghan: Phone -  Ah, the phone, where to even begin. I use it to fill any and all “lull” moments in my life. Oh, you’re waiting for a friend? Phone. At lunch and aren’t feeling social? Phone. Bored? Phone. I use my phone more than any other electronic device. Pinterest, Imgur, Netflix, so many things to entertain me for hours. But to what end? I’ve pinned the best wedding in the world but I get so wrapped up in “pinning” ideas I don’t bother to go out and actually meet people.

Aaaaaaand that's as far as we got. But it has really made me think about the 'stuff' I use to fill my life and technology is right at the top. It's not even material stuff, really! It's stuff that literally only exists online! Think about your life - think about that! Talk about time wasting! I'm now appalled that I'm even using this computer for blogging instead of talking to someone in the real world! Just kidding, but kind of seriously.

Activity doesn't necessarily equal productivity, and I think I get so wrapped up thinking I need to 'communicate' using all these little apps and accounts that I forget that what I'm so busy 'communicating' doesn't really matter. Not in the scheme of things.

I want to de-clutter my life. I want it to be 'de-stuffed.' I'm looking at all the 'stuff' that I use all day and most of it is just me interacting with an object (often a screen). How sad and pointless is that? But I would rather recognize that now so I can work on changing it.

So. What's your 'stuff?' Are you in a more complex relationship with your facebook than you are with your real friends, your spouse, your family?