CHRISTmas!!!

Ho Ho Ho!

As you all know, today is Christmas! I hope every single one of you had an amazing day full of laughing, family, friends and love. I also hope that you were on the nice list this year 😉 and that you got everything on your wishlist. I that it was a time of pure joy, as it should be.

BUT, now I ask the question: why should it be a time of joy? Well…… It is the anniversary of our dear Lord Jesus’ birthday. Today 2014 years ago, the Redeemer was born for us, to save us and to die for our sins. Isn’t that absolutely AWESOME?! I don’t mean awesome as the overused word us teens use for almost anything, no, I mean it in the literal sense. I mean it as AWE-some.

awe

ɔː/

noun

 

1. 1.

   a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.

   “they gazed in awe at the small mountain of diamonds”

   synonyms:

   wonder, wonderment, amazement, astonishment;

When you look at that definition, it gives a whole new meaning to the word, am I right? With that said, I think that awesome is the perfect word to describe Christmas.

Christmas is all about Jesus. About the wonder that is his name. I think that many Christians don’t fully understand the importance of Jesus coming to us in human form. To understand it, one needs to have some background knowledge and another perspective all together.

In the time of Jesus, people viewed God as an all-powerful, awe-inspiring God, which he is, but they interpreted it wrong. They imagined Him a lot like a superhero. A huge spectacle and a lot of drama was expected of the coming of Jesus. They expected bangs, crashes, fireworks, miracles and fire, none of which came. They never thought that Jesus could or would become human. When He did, they didn’t understand why. Because they didn’t have an explanation, they could not accept it.

The way Jesus came to us is truly marvelous. He showed compassion, pity, understanding and extreme and perfect love. He humbled Himself and became human in order to be understood by us. He was a normal person. He was not immune to sickness, He needed the loo, He sweated, and occasionally, He even farted! Completely human! People were blinded by their expectations and refused to see the truth. They expected a strong, invincible, mighty ruler but instead they got a crying baby. They did not know what to make of it and therefore, couldn’t accept Him.

Only later did we understand the hugeness of what happened.

Now, in hindsight, we have a complete story on what happened, something that most people did not have back then. We can see things in context and understand it better than ever. Now, we can read the breathtaking truth of Jesus’ birth and we can be sure. He was born. He was born for us.

But then why do we celebrate Christmas with Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees and presents?

Well, I don’t know where the reindeer and the tree comes from, but I do have theories for Santa and the presents. I think that Santa is a weird version of Jesus. Maybe not completely, but there are similarities. Santa and Jesus gives gifts, both are good-hearted and both love children. As for the reason for the gifts… We are supposed to follow Jesus as an example, right? Well, He gave the gift of eternal life to everyone. That is very difficult to match, but we try by giving gifts to our loved ones and even people we don’t know (sometimes) just as Christ did.

Today, we celebrate the birth of our glorious Lord Jesus. So I ask you, rejoice in His love, mercy and the safety that He offers. Praise Him with all your being. Know that He loves you no matter what, regardless of anything, no strings attached. But, not just today, every day of the year, for His love never fades. And remember,

Praise God in the highest!!!

Xoxo

Friends and drama, the inevitable…

Hey you!

I had writers block today so I asked one of my friends what I should write about. So he said I should write about him. Of course he meant it as a joke, but it gave me an idea.

All of us have friends right? They come in different levels. You’ve got your best friend, your friend, acquaintances and then people that you are friendly to. But, whatever the level of friendship, there will always be drama. Just like anywhere else in life.

Some of these problems are extremely difficult to overcome and leave deep rifts in the friendship. Others are less intense and can be skimmed over with very few bumps. No one can avoid this, I mean, we are human beings right.

However, these fights between friends are not worth it. At all. Whatsoever. The memory of it always stays there in the back of your mind no matter how hard you try to erase it. It can turn any friendship sour or uncomfortable and filled with hatred or jealousy in a matter of days.

I can tell you now that you should try to avoid this at all costs. It will make life a lot less confusing and complicated. As I said though, it going to happen. So, when you do get in a fight with a friend, try to keep a cool head. Try to put yourself in their shoes. Pray and ask God for advice.

The key to overcome any problems that a fight caused is, ultimately, forgiveness. It might not happen right away, but it is important that it does. If not, you will burden yourself by putting up a barrier between you and that person. I know it is not easy, but try is all you can do.

Also, you should realize that just as they have flaws, you do as well. If you are the one that is wrong, admit it and say you are sorry, it does wonders, believe me.

Drama in friendship is inevitable, but not impossible to overcome. Forgive and forget. Or try at least 😉

Xoxo

Food, Family, Fun

Hi there!

This time of year is a time for gift wrapping, celebrations, pre-celebrations and….
Family.
I mean really? We all have these family gatherings at least once where you meet loads of new people that are, you got it, long-lost, unknown, relatives. Then there are the closer family-type circle of people. There are a lot of stereotypes in this part of the family tree. We all know them.
The tubby, hairy uncle who drinks a bit too much beer and watches way more sports than can be healthy. The Oh-My-Goodness,-Look-At-You,-You’ve-Grown-So-Much-You-Must-Be-Fighting-Off-The-Boys aunt. The spoilt brat they call your cousin and countless others.

Not quiet something to look forward to right? Wrong!

Family bonds are extremely powerful and strong. These are people you can relate to, what with being relatives and all. 😄 Quality time spent with family (no matter how weird or dysfunctional) is time well spent. Time is the best gift that you can give to anybody. Remember, they love you so much that they gave up their time to be with you. Humans have such a short time on earth, we should use it to the fullest.

Be gratefull towards your family. Get out of your room at least once and go have a chat. Take out the earphones and just talk to them. I promise, it’ll be a lot more interesting than you expect. If people love you, the least you can do is show them you love them back. Is one of God’s most important laws not to love others unconditionally?

So this Christmas season, I challenge you, instead of withdrawing and excluding yourself from all human contact when there are relatives, go out and say hi. It’s not that difficult and it will entertaining, if nothing else. I promise 😉 And there is always the good food to look forward to!

Xoxo

Unbelievable artist: Toni Mahfud

Hey! 🙂

Okay, let’s cut to the chase. I am a bit of an Instagram addict. So today, there I was, casually scrolling through my feed when I saw a selfie and a drawing of the same selfie. Or so the caption said. I could not for the life of me find a difference between the two (except for Leonardo DiCaprio in the bottom left corner). I thought to myself that this can’t be right so I went to Toni Mahfud’s page (the guy who drew the picture). And what do I find? Tons of other drawings just as absolutely breathtaking as the first.

The Selfie

I mean seriously. That is ridiculous. Nobody should be able to draw like that! How is it supposed to make people like me feel who can hardly draw two identical eyes??? But then again, maybe it is better this way. Not all of us can do everything. We all have our strong points and our weak points. Toni’s just happens to be art, and I might not be the next Picasso but I might be better than him in something else. It all depends on you, your interests and your talents.

All of these are drawings!!!

This guy is an extremely talented artist that creates stunning artwork, AND he is a Christian. So why not celebrate it? He has a God-given talent. An artist like this doesn’t come along very often. If God can make stuff like this happen, all the more reason to praise Him! He is the ultimate artist. He is the one who gave us our talents and we should praise him for that! Be grateful and don’t forget that everything you have is given to you by your one-and-only heavenly Father.

Xoxo

Mathematical beauty, the golden ratio

Hey!

Last night I watched a few videos on YouTube on mathematical beauty (I have no idea how I got on the subject). It is extremely interesting, but I’m not quite sure if I agree 100%. I’m going to explain it and then add some of my own thoughts. I’ll put the links to some of the videos at the bottom of the post.

              The golden ratio, 1:618

According to the videos I watched, the ancient Greeks noticed a ratio appearing everywhere in ‘beautiful’ faces and bodies be it in art, health or just random things. This ratio is 1:1,618. This means that in a ‘beautiful’ face, for example, the distance from the middle of the nose is 1.618’th of the width of the eye. Another example is the distance from the chin to the pupil is 1,618’th of the distance from the pupil to the hairline. In the body, the distance from the sole of the foot to the waist is 1,618’th of the distance from the waist to the crown. This pattern repeated itself over and over in what was regarded as ‘beautiful’ people.

                    Golden ratio face

                    Golden ratio body

A plastic surgeon looked into and researched this theory and developed a mask (template) for the ‘perfect’ face using this ratio. He now uses it for his patients. He has put the mask onto some of the most beautiful celebrities in the world to prove the masks legitimacy. He took it a step further by taking a random woman’s face and using the mask and photoshop to ‘beautify’ her face. The results were pretty surprising.

           Photoshopping with the mask

Marilyn Monroe wearing the mask

However, I went a bit further and found two people who did a contradictory study on what is considered ‘beautiful’ and attractive in people. These two professors found that as we grow up, we collect a database with all the faces we have seen in our lifetime. Using this information, our brains automatically create a beauty “average”. This average is then the representation of beauty. This causes us to find average-looking people very attractive.

I don’t agree or disagree with either of these theories. I mean, what about the old saying that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? To be honest, I think that the saying is the most truthful, for the simple reason that if everyone was perfect, everyone would be the same, am I right? And that would be boring. No, we were designed (by the Creator) to be different. The little quirks and oddities that each of us have is what makes us different and it is these things that makes you beautiful. Yes, not everyone will agree that one specific person is beautiful, but then again, if they did, that would go back to the ‘everyone being perfect’ dilemma. Look at it this way. Have you ever seen someone and thought, “Wow! That is one gorgeous human being.”, told your friends about them, only to have your friends reject the person by saying the exact opposite? That is my point. not everybody finds the same people equally attractive.

My conclusion is that yes, most (MOST, not all) of the time the people we find attractive will follow this pattern (ratio). But, it is the personality and differences that makes a person truly beautiful. We do not need to be “mathematically beautiful”. We are all beautiful in our own way (excuse the cheesiness). God made each and every person on this earth and he made each one different. Isn’t that mindblowing? More than 7 billion beautiful people, but not two that are identical. Another miracle we can only praise God for. A quote by me on beauty:

“You are perfect in your imperfections”

Xoxo

Life lessons ft. To Kill a Mockingbird: Courage

A timeless classic

Hey guys!

A few days back I helped my dad to pack out our bookshelf – we rebuilt some parts of our house so everything was in boxes – and found many treasures, including To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Now, I was never sure what this book is about, to be honest I am still not sure, but I had heard a lot about it and since it is a classic, how can it be bad? Anyway, I decided to read it.

I am enjoying it a lot! It is something completely different to what I usually read (fantasy and adventure). I have always loved to read, but especially about different times, perspectives and ways of living, and this book has all three. The language is a bit hard to read – it’s old English- but I feel that this just ads to the over all feel of the book. It includes you, makes you part of the story and you can’t help but want to read more. The story flows beautifully and progresses at a pace that one can keep up with. Another reason this book is, in my opinion, a masterpiece, is because of the way that Lee subtly introduces and discusses important aspects of life and living without it overpowering the story line

One of those aspects are mentioned on page 118 and it really hit home for me. It is such a beautiful piece that I could not help but share it…

For those of you who can’t see the highlighted part, it says:

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand”

I think that most people (I don’t want to generalize) have a serious misconception regarding courage. Courage is not how strong you are or the fact that you seem intimidating or that it looks like you get things done. Courage is not standing around acting like you are the boss and you’ve got everything under control. Courage is not covering up your problems and acting like you are brave. No, true courage is not fake or made up. True courage is to do the right thing no matter what other people say. It is to persevere through any and all conditions. It is to keep going no matter how hard it might be. True courage is to hold on to what you believe is right and stick to it.

It is also to be open. To open up yourself and talk to people and admitting your problems and worries is extremely difficult. More difficult than it should be, I know that. And if you do spill the beans, it takes a tremendous amount of courage. True courage is to be true. To be true to yourself and your beliefs, come what may, but also to be truthful. Do not cover up your problems! If it feels like you can’t and won’t make it, that there is no possible way out, that you are drowning, there is always God. 

God gives you courage. All the things you are given in this life, comes from the Allmighty Father, courage included. When it feels like you’re going down, call out to him, He will be there. He is always there. He will give you that last bit of energy, that last bit of courage that you need to make it. Just remember it. You have a choice.

Choose heavenly courage and you will overcome any- and everything.

Xoxo

Thought of the Day

The basic prayer.

I think that life should not be taken as serious as most of us do. Not that we should be joking around like monkeys, completely ignoring and disregarding everything, no. Just that we should loosen up a bit. There are times when it is better to to be alone and to think, but don’t seclude yourself all the time. Go out, do something you have never done. Life is full of moments waiting to be experienced and you’ll never be younger than you are in this moment, so jump right to it! There is always a bit of humor in every situation, however, don’t poke fun at your friends recently deceased aunt, you might just have one friend less. It is all about balance. Now, I know that perfect balance is hard to achieve but it is not impossible.

Another thing that people do that takes the life out of life is letting their work take over. People tend to get way too focused and/or over-stressed by their work that they tend to forget that work isn’t everything. The same goes for students. There is more to life than death by studying just to get an A. Allow yourself some time off and use it in a satisfying,productive and fun way. With that I mean, do something with meaning that makes you feel good. Stay away from your phone and the internet especially if you have a short break!!! This was one of my biggest mistakes this year. I went onto the internet during my study break and only when I finally stopped, I noticed that I was almost halfway through my next study time. And even than it didn’t feel as if I had a break at all and I couldn’t focus properly again. I’m not saying that you should keep your phone locked away at all times, not at all. But, once again, balance is extremely important.

Balance is a part of life that many people either completely forget about or just ignore. Both are very dangerous things to do. Without balance, everything becomes chaotic. I recently read The Host by Stephanie Meyer (brilliant book by the way) and it focused a lot on the balance between good and bad. It made me realize that without the bad there would be no good and without the good there would be no bad. If the world was completely neutral people would not have experiences or feelings like joy and love because it doesn’t have anything to be compared to, nothing to make it good by definition. So yes, you are not perfect, no one is, and you are going to make mistakes, but without them you wouldn’t have any achievements.

Life is beautiful. Just look around you, nature, in all it’s glory, billions of people, not one identical to another, brilliant minds making the world a better place etc. etc. etc. There are wonders and miracles happening every day. Sicknesses get healed, lives are changed, people have a change of heart. The wondrous beauty and sheer splendor of our earth is the purest source of joy you could ever find.

And then we come to God, what with him being the creator of earth and the heavens and what not. What else can we do but praise the One who made this exquisite world of ours with jubilance. He is greater and more mighty than any power on earth and He loves us unconditionally. He loves me, He loves you, He loves every single one of us. Just by knowing this we should be jumping around crying out with happiness. He loves you regardless of your mistakes and flaws. This should have us singing and dancing. He takes care of the outcasts and misfits. We should be shouting His name from the rooftops.

So, I guess that my point is to be happy.

“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there is so much to smile about”    

   -Marilyn Monroe

Let all the stress, problems, pressure and troublesome people melt into the background. Look at the big picture and smile, because that picture is absolutely breathtaking.

Xoxo

Holidays!!!

So, it’s the end of the school year here in SA and I am sooo excited! Summer, sun, sun, friends and good times. Especially for a hostel kid like me, holidays are anticipated like nothing else. And now it is finally here! What a blessing! 🎉🏊🌴

The end of school marks the closing of a lot of doors, but the opening of even more. So, to start the holidays right, I want to share a little prayer…

May God’s blessing go with us today,
At the end of this school year we pray.
That you keep us safe and give us rest
So we start again renewed and refreshed.
Full of health, full of fun
Ready to come and learn again.

May God’s blessing go with us today,
As we begin our school holiday.
Give your peace and your joy,
To every girl and every boy.
Help the teachers to enjoy the break,
and prepare and plan for the new intake.

May God’s blessings await us next year,
To embrace each new challenge without fear.
Fill this school with your love,
and guide our hearts from above.
Full of faith, full of hope,
full of joy, and full of love.

Amen.

Xoxo

Intro to the blog & me

Hey guys!

This is sooo cool! I’ve been thinking of starting a blog for a long time, but just haven’t gotten around to it. But, I finally stopped the procastination, and here I am.

So, my story… I am Carla, a 14 year old girl from South-Africa. I love good food and I have a huge passion for books! I’m currently a Frenchie in training 😉 I can’t wait until I can speak it fluently! I am a crazy Christian and I love my heavenly Dad.

But, sometimes I have issues with my religion, selfesteem, family etc. and I know a lot of you have as well. So, I’m going to blog about life, love, God and any issues I might have or noticed. Basically, it’s just going to be some thoughts and comments on a life with Jesus Christ.

So yeah, that’s about it, I hope you enjoy it, and let me know if you do (if there is anyone out there).

 

Xoxo