Ordinarily Beautiful

Have you ever looking in the mirror and thought "wow I'm so ordinary!". I know I have. To be honest, I have really struggled with this lately. I know it's do to the lack of morning shower and the fact that I wear sweat pants and a t-shirt all day. But even when I do get "dressed up" I still look at myself and see nothing special, just ordinary. I also make the mistake of looking at other people or the pictures that they post and I get jealous because I see cute clothes and nice hair and features that make them special.
Then God kicked my butt. I started to read Proverbs 31 and I compared myself to what was written about that wife. I wrote it in my journal parallel. The verse on the left and how I matched up on the right. Now, I went into this knowing that I was not going to come close to her, but I wanted to see how I could improve. But what I ended up taking away from the passage was that she is extraordinary in an ordinary way. She doesn't cure illnesses, or decorate her house in all Pottery Barn, or through the best parties. She provides for her family, she honors her husband, she is respected because she does good for her family, household and land. One this I learned was sometimes you just have to take a different look or look at it from a different perspective to see the beauty or to see what makes it extraordinary.
I mulled this over in my head and i go to thinking about how many things do I look at everyday that seem ordinary but if I look at them from a different perspective or different angel I would find something beautiful or extraordinary. So I decided to photograph ordinary things but do it in a way to see beauty. BUT I also know that what I might consider beautiful, someone else wouldn't. I love that fact that God created us differently. How boring would life be if he created us to all love the color blue. Our world would be so blah. So saying that, the pictures I took are beautiful through my eyes.
So this is my challenge to you... the next time you feel ordinary look at yourself from a different perspective. Most importantly, look at yourself through God's perspective. He created you and he does not create mistakes. He loves you and is jealous for you. You are beautiful and extraordinary. Bask in the glory of God and know that you are loved.

Sportsmanship

There is something that has been bugging me for over a year now, but it wasn't until a few days ago i was able to put it into words. I warn you now, what I have to say might offend you. So you may want to stop reading now.
So here goes... Some of you know that I come from a family who is very dedicated to a sports team. I also married into a family that has very strong dedication to a sports team. Growing up I was taught to cheer for my favorite team no matter what, win or lose. I can remember by dad jumping up off the couch and pacing around the living room because he was nervous or upset about what was going on in the game. Something I don't remember is my dad bad mouthing the other team. Yes there was the occasional dislike of a player but that's about it.
So what I am confused about is, when did cheering for your team mean to bad mouth the other team? I just feel like, if you feel the need to put down another team it can come across as a lack of confidence in the team you are cheering for. Yes there can be some playful banter between friends who know their bounds and it's all in good fun. But when you go to a game and get cursed at the entire game because you are wearing the other teams jersey? whats that about? But then there are the smaller things like calling them Cowgirls. That might seem small, but whats the point. Isn't it already understood that if you are cheering for one team you will not be cheering for the other?
I am jealous of people who can just sit back and enjoy the game and who don't care who wins and loses. I am not one of those people and I am not married to one either. There are some times when I would love to write something as my status that would annoy people cheering for another team, but I don't want to be like that. I want to be proud of my team win or lose. If they win hooray for them. if they lose then that's to bad. That is one thing that I respect my husband for. This past baseball season his team had a rough time battling injuries and what not, but he still stood by them and cheered win or lose. Living out in no mans land, we don't get a lot of his teams games so he would watch them online with our very VERY slow internet.
I know that there are so many of you who are very dedicated to their teams and I applaud that. My challenge for you is the next time you are going to say something about another team are you being a bad sportsman?