The Beauty of Poetry

It's that time of the school year again... The poetry unit. With this unit comes disappointment for some and excitement for others. For me it is a mixture of both. See, I love to read and write poems, but the hard part is to follow the guidelines when writing different types of poems. Personally, I enjoy writing the free verse because I can just write what is on my mind and it works!
Even though I love to write poetry, I love to read it more. The only thing is that I cannot read poetry in my head. I have to hear it out loud. It is the only way for me to hear the flow of the words. To me, poetry is like a form of music where the backround instruments are cut out and the words are slowed down so that you can really understand what the poem is trying to say.
I pulled out a poetry book for kids by Emily Dickenson that I hadn't read in years. I didn't remember most of the poems, but when I read them the words felt familiar. One of my favorite poems in this book is one that I have had memorized for a long while. The line I love from this poem is this:
"How dreary to be somebody"
This is very true for me. I don't mean to say that my life doesn't matter or that I feel like I have no friends. What I connect with in this line is that I don't want to be a "somebody", or a person that everyone knows and wants to talk to. I am perfectly content with being in the background and having a good number of great friends.
Isn't poetry great?! A single line can give you so much to think about.n

Sweet Dreams

Don't you just love dreaming? I love to wake up and remember all of the details to my insane dreams. For some reason I remember my dreams very vividly most of the time. I even love to have scary dreams.

My little brother was watching Cinderella (He loves to see Gus Gus and the other mice) and I heard the words from that song that is at the beginning of the movie: "A dream is a wish your heart makes while your fast asleep". This song kind of scares me because, if this is true, I have the weirdest wishes.

I don't think that I wish everyone acted crazy, well, at least not the kind of crazy in my dreams.

Learning from Little Kids

Yesterday I tried to put up a new post... Twice. So, I am going to try this again.

It's amazing what you can learn from a toddler. I have a two-year-old brother and he says so many interesting things. For example, last night we were coming home from church. My oldest brother was driving and my mom and dad were going to come home in a separate car. My little brother asked where his mommy was, knowing that she was coming home later. Like any other sibling, we tried to convince him that she wasn't going to come home. He just smiled and said she's coming home. He was so confident that his mommy would come home that night. Of course, we then asked the toddler why she had to come home. He didn't even hesitate he came up with a list like this one:

-she makes me food
-she plays with me
-she puts the movie in for me
-she puts me in bed
-she gets me dressed

He could name all of these things off the top of his head and he is only two! I don't know about you, but I don't think much about all the different things my parents do for me on a regular basis. I have started taking things for granted. I wish that I didn't, but I do. And to think, I started thinking through this because of a toddler.

The Magic of Music

I love music. It's as simple as that. I love to hear it, play it, and even write it. I also love most styles of music. As long as it is clean, doesn't have screaming or yelling, and isn't rap, I will most likely enjoy it. Well, I guess there are a couple rap songs I like, but there are very few. I love rock, pop, country, oldies, even classical. I am guessing that you get my point by now.
I believe that music is a gift that we should use well. Too often the most catchy tunes have lyrics that are dirty or discouraging. There are plenty of good songs too, but the ones that we hear over and over again are usually awful. This frightens me. I know that songs get stuck in my head for days at a time and when these songs go through my mind constantly they start to influence my behaviour. No matter what you say music will affect how you think.
On the flip side of this, music can be a great encouragement. Right now I am listening to Owl City's "Fireflies". This song is a perfect example of an upbeat song that is clean and really good. I want to challenge you to pay attention to the next song you hear and actually figure out the meaning of it. Listen to the lyrics and decide if it is something that you want to mold your life.
Well, there are my thoughts of the day!

To Start With...

Well, I'm Marissa. I'm a Born Again Christian, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a student, a writer, a musician, and many other things. I am finishing up 8th grade and starting in fall I'll be at high school (this is both exciting and frightening at this point). I found that at this time in my life I have started making more and more important decisions. Things like classes I want to take or missions opportunities that I want to be a part of. I know that these sound like the typical choices that many people go through. The thing is that they are and I have found that these are choices that require thought and that writing things out is a wonderful way for me to think things through. Therefore, I decided to write regular posts (I'm not sure how often yet) just to think through events and choices in my life. Some posts will be serious. Some will be fun. I am even considering putting up some of my stories up. I hope to use this blog to encourage others, express myself, and, of course, I want to glorify God through all I say here.