There is nothing new under the sun....

All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing - What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time... (Ecclesiastes 1:8-10)

It's one of those days... when you feel like "What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?" (Ecc 1:3) - after settling into the monotony of study... humans get bored so easily! And you sit there thinking - why? And why bother learning stuff? "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief." (Ecc 1:18)

But what happened to "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil 4:4) ? Should we not stop complaining and rather emulate Paul as he says "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Phil 4:12b-13)?

I know I'm sure struggling with not grumbling or whinging about study, and it's definitely a struggle to rejoice when there's nothing but stress and fear of failing around me - lots of prayer would definitely help :D And chapter 4 of Philippians is definitely so helpful:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7)

And why can we rejoice? "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Rom 5:8-11)

As Mum always says: "Happiness depends on happenings, but joy depends on Jesus" (hehe thanks mum :D) - noone expects this time of year to be happy - but do you have that joy?

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Randomness: I discovered a band called "hellogoodbye" today (which i later found out is in the top 10 of myspace music :P - hehe it's so me - i hear a song then it's like 'oooh they're good - hey i like this band... oh you mean other people like this band too? oh it's cool? oh it's so not cool any more :( ) - anyway www.purevolume.com/hellogoodbye has the song "bonnie taylor shakedown .. 2K1" on it - arguably one of the cutest and catchiest songs i've ever heard (it's based on a .. shakedown! of the traditional "my bonnie lies over the ocean")

When I did the "deleted all the illegal music off my computer" thing earlier this year, I was like "I'm going to be so bored. and have no music... but *sigh* here goes" - now I have a respectable collection of legal music on my computer (not to mention a more than decent collection of CDs) and www.purevolume.com and www.myspace.com are most definitely more than enough to keep me from getting bored - see how God provides! :D

Oh and Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" is definitely "ROFLOL" hehehehe (www.myspace.com/weirdal if you want to listen to it)

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My bonnie lies over the ocean
My bonnie lies over the sea...