Generation Love.

Jennette McCurdy, best known for playing Sam in the hit Nickelodeon TV series, iCarly started her solo music career and released a debut single called ‘Generation Love.’

I’m not the biggest country music fan, which is her style, but this song is absolutely one of the BEST songs I have ever heard. Lyrics wise, it displays such a respect for older generations and such a positive, profound outlook on how the current generation of kids and teenagers should be seen.

I've heard stories about my grandpa
Child of the Great Depression
How growing up broke creates
A deep and dark impression

He sits in a rocker down at the veterans' home
Even when I go to visit
He’s still rocking all alone

What will they say about us?

“When I was a kid…” I roll my eyes the second these words escape my Mom’s mouth. I block out her voice as she tells us what would have happened if she said to her father what I say to mine.  I get annoyed when she explains how much different life was without computers, cell-phones and the internet. I walk away when my Dad starts to describe the day they got their first television.  Teenagers today, [unless it’s just me] just don’t care about how the days were before we existed. We don’t want to hear how much different life was. We don’t want to even imagine what it was like without facebook. We can’t stand the thought of only getting socks and underwear for Christmas. We ignore the stories they tell us and we see our Grandparents and even parents as “old-fashioned.”

We work really hard to not care about the past and how life was for those older than us. But in reality, I think if we took the time to listen and care, we would have a newfound respect for our grandparents, great Grandparents, and even our parents. History was NEVER my favorite class in school. It always bored me to hear about the past and the olden times. But when I listen to my Grandpa tell all his stories about when he was my age, I become fascinated. It’s amazing how much life has changed over the past 50-60 years. When I listen to the things my Mom had compared to what I have, I am in awe. I gain more respect for my elders when I learn how they lived at my age and how content they were with what they had.

We are children of divorce
Victims of dysfunction
We spell check, of course
And GPS the proper junction

We've gotten pretty good at shifting all the blame

I cannot go a day without hearing my Dad complain about my generation. He reminds me every day that I live in a generation that isn’t thankful. A disrespectful generation that thinks they’re always right.  We live in dysfunctional families and broken homes. We can’t hand write anything because we rely on spell check to correct our grammar and miss-spelled words. We don’t know how to read maps or ask for directions because our GPS does that for us. We are never to blame for anything because it’s always someone else’s fault.

It hurts me so much to hear people talk about our generation in the way that this song so accurately describes. But if I put aside my ego and think about it: It’s true. I’ll be the first to admit that spell check is my best friend. I am using some form of electronics 24/7 and I always find someone else to blame for my problems.

They call us generation lost
Or generation greed
Or they connect the generation
To a plasma screen

Or a generation why
Enough is not enough
Or maybe they'll call us
Generation love

The current generation is looked upon as being selfish, greedy, and material-focused. I get so upset when I hear people talk about MY generation like this, but I ignore the truth that lies behind it. We interact through texting and facebook chat. We’ve lost the meaning of face-to-face communication. We spend our lives buying the newest thing that comes out. We’re never satisfied with what we have. Only months after the iPad was created, the iPad 2 was already on the shelves. We spend so much time focused on the things we want and how to get them that we lose the real meaning of life.

And when they open up our time capsule
A hundred years from now
Maybe they'll look inside
And see we figured out

How to live with less
And give ourselves away

Just maybe they'll call us
Generation love

I want to be part of a generation that changes the world. I want to show unconditional love to every single person on this earth and change this terrible image that we have created for ourselves.  I want to take the time to listen to my parents’ stories about when they were my age. I want to listen to my Grandpa explain how things were in his days. 

I want to be a part of a generation that shows undeniable respect for the generations before us, the generations that built our foundation.  I want to learn to live with less and be able to say that I lived for love and love alone.

I can honestly say that in 100 years, I want someone to look back on my generation and be proud. I don’t want them to see greed or dissatisfaction with what we had. I want them to see love.  Not only to change the mindset of so many people, but also to make our parents, and Grandparents, and great-great grandparents proud.

I want to be a part of the generation that realized that love was more important than all of the other things we focused on… and learned how to change it.

The richest man on earth and the man on the street that has nothing but the bag on his shoulder, both have one thing in common, and that is love. No matter what we have or who we are, we are always able to show love. We are always able to give some of ourselves away to help someone else.

We have the ability and the time to make this generation known as Generation Love. Personally, I will not settle for anything less. And I can start with just me.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9

Who Says? (Videos)

I was experimenting the other day, and made this video. The song has such a great message and I really love it. The video was a lot of fun to make and I thought I would share it.

Song: "Who Says" by Selena Gomez & The Scene

You can see my second video here: http://yfrog.com/2olluz (Since I can't seem to get it to upload on here.)

Just A Thought

 I just posted this quick little note on facebook and thought I might as well share it on my blog too.

I was just sitting here thinking about life... which I do quite often... and I had one of those "lightbulb" moments.

I spend so much of my life worrying about what other people think of me. Literally everything I do, I keep in mind what others will think or say. I'm terrified of opening my mouth in fear of saying the wrong thing. I get dressed and do my hair and makeup hoping to impress people. I try to be the best in everything I do to get approval from people. Even with my facebook statuses, I keep in mind what people might think or say about them.

But sitting here thinking, I realize that none of that is important. I could kill myself trying to impress the people around me. I could do everything in my power to gain approval from everyone I encounter... but in reality, that's not what defines my life.

Even if every single human being on this earth gives up on me or turns against me, I will still have the most powerful and amazing love in the world on my side. 

I mess up so many times. I say the wrong thing about 10000 times a day. I don't always look my best. I'm pretty far from perfect, but none of that matters. In my worst state, at my lowst point, when I've made every possible mistake in the book, God still loves me. That's the beauty of His love and grace! Even when I mess up so much to where I think my life is over, He's there with His magnificant love to lift me back up.

I can worry all day about impressing people or gaining approval, but no matter what anyone else thinks of me, God created me to be His beautiful and loved daughter. And that approval 

is all I really need to keep going.

<3 Amy

Spring Break!

I had Spring Break this week and went to Orlando for 2 days with my Mom. We met up with one of my long time friends and her Mom. They live down South so we never get to see each other but this was a perfect opportunity.

I can honestly say I had the absolute best time ever. We went to Downtown Disney and walked around which was a blast, we ate a lot of good food, and we went into the city to an Improv Comedy Club that night which was lots of fun. We went to Walmart at midnight and the next day enjoyed some shopping before we both had to return home.

I had such a fun girl's day and night and I loved it. I miss Alex and her Mom so much already but can't wait to do it again. I thought I should share some pictures from our time together. 

Prodigals = Heroes

I tried to write a blog the other day and nothing came to mind. So I was just trying to look up some quotes for my facebook, read this and quickly had to type up this blog post. 

I was inspired.

"I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry." 
— Philip Yancey

I feel like a lot of people, including myself, spend a lot of our time and most of our lives trying to amount to something. We want to accomplish big things and end up on the top and "be somebody." Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. It's just the first thing i thought of when I read this quote. I feel like I spend so much of my life trying to be something big so that my parents will be proud of me, or grandparents, or people will like me, or even fame and popularity or whatever you can think of. Even with God. I tell the people around me every chance I get that God will always love them for who they are no matter what, imperfections and all... but then I don't apply that to myself. I feel like if I have the highest degree of schooling and the most money and the best family and I'm the most lovable person then God will be proud of me. I guess even through everything, I still have that thought sometimes where I feel the need to gain God's approval.

I find myself sitting around a lot, thinking of what I can do to ensure that God looks down on me and smiles. But, the harder I try, the harder it gets to achieve that. When in reality, I already have it. Deep down, I know that God is absolutely in love with me, simply because I am His child and He made me the way I am... but I still catch myself trying so hard to gain that approval. 

This quote really opened my eyes. The first part of the quote is something I've always said. Throughout the bible, we see all these examples of what God did with people. I usually refer back the the story where Jesus hung out with the tax collector. But the last sentence of this quote is what really got to me as I read it. 

"I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry."

All those people that we look down upon became something big with Jesus. All of those things inside ourselves that we hate or we regret don't compare to what God can do with us. All of those who failed and whined and sinned and even denied Jesus became heroes. Those same people that screwed up and probably felt like failures were used by Jesus to do great, extraordinary things through Him. Those same people are the heroes in all the stories we read. They weren't perfect. They didn't live the most amazing lives and they weren't always at the top... but Jesus used them to do incredible things.

Reading this really reassured me of a lot of things. Peter and David and Jeremiah and all of the others didn't live their whole lives perfectly. They messed up. They fell. They failed. They were human. But the amazing thing is that even with all of their shortcomings, with God's love and His son, they ended up on the top. Not because they were famous or made the most money or did the most things, but because Jesus worked through them and showed love through them.

Jesus' love shone so bright through the same people that screwed up so many times. Through their failures, God's love was projected to the whole world.

Maybe I spend so much time trying to make something tremendous out of my life that I'm not letting God take care of it. I don't have to be perfect. Even with my failures, God and His love will shine through me, and that is far more important than the most fame or money in the world.

Just like the people in the bible.... They didn't make something big out of themselves on their own. God did.

<3 Amy