..three

• The struggle between individualism and communal life is ever present. I have definitely felt the tension this living situation and social situations this year but have started noticing in many other areas as well. Identifying a person by their race or any other social grouping can be harmful, placing  too much weight on the community one inhabits instead of their individual distinctions and characteristic. The other side of the coin is our desire to belong. We always want to be in the  know, invited, and regarded worthy of inclusion. Finding the delicate balance of these two worlds is difficult enough in my own life but being sensitive to  it in others can often be a daunting task.
• I have been increasingly disturbed by the notion that people want to be like God. I realize that there are hundreds of biblical passages that affirm this longing but I think that it can easily be skewed. My biggest fear is the dichotomy it places in my life. If I am to become more God like I need to decrease in resemblance of myself. I don't know if this is exactly what the bible means when it mandates things such as, "Be holy as your Father in Heaven is holy."  I think all of  this can  happen within a context of self acceptance and love. If my ultimate end is to become a miniature God figurine then I should despise and reject almost all of me. I don't really want to become God or Godlike.  I want to be in  love with God and I want be shaped and purposed by them, but I  do not have aspirations of divinity. I think that they can handle it themselves.
• Having sick friends sucks. > Mostly just because I can't really stand the game of information competition that sometimes happens. It seems as though, when a person has a medical ailment that word gets passed around and people know things  and people where there and people where called. Maybe this isn't something that other people deal with, it may just be a personal quirk,  but I find that I often feel socially displaced and uncomfortable when a friend is sick.  I also feel like sometimes it is a situation where this is an invisible, ideal response that people should have, filled with wisdom, decisiveness, and compassion. I always feel like there some great standard that I should achieve,  but never quite reach. People should just not be sick.