Do not stir up, or awaken love....

There's alot of pressures for Christians to conform to the "normal standards" in the secular world. Particularly in the area of purity. I find this very sad, and very hard to get away from, considering where I go to school. Nearly everyday I get to hear about how some girl compromised her morals, or how she threw them out the window completely. I see boyfriends come to visit for lunch and gaze ravenously at their girlfriend and every other girl at the table.

I know that in this day and age, this generation, the standards I hold for myself are high. I'm not just shooting for the moon...I'm going to Pluto (to infinity and beyond...if you will ;). But sexual purity, along with self value - because those two in my opinion are closely related - are probably the highest ranked of said 'personal standards'. Recently, a friend of mine wrote a FB note on this topic and I believe he's expressed his thoughts more eloquently than I could on the subject. So....I'm sharing his note, from which I was encouraged. I hope this note makes you think a bit.

The Unusual Me I am.
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 at 13:38

I’m a little different from your typical guy.
I’m going to save myself for my wife. All of me. I don’t believe in doing everything but, and then calling it success. I don’t want to show up with a V-card that has been battered and bruised from too much beating around the bush, and then say “I did it! I kept it intact, but just barely.”
No, I want that thing to sparkle. And I hope hers shines too. I don’t want to be with a girl who messes around, has loose lips, and doesn’t really care who knows it. That’s just not attractive, and neither are extra-tight shorts or low, low shirts.
Okay, so maybe I have a high standard. Maybe I want to be the odd duck. But hey, I would choose a deeply satisfying marriage over those quick and flighty thrills, any day.
Call me old fashioned, if you want. And maybe I am. Maybe they actually knew what they were doing back then. See, I believe in asking her father first, and I believe in dating her family, too. I believe in holding the door open, and the second door too.
I believe in talking, not touching, and I’d rather take her hand than her clothes. Kissing is for later, so let’s joke and laugh right now.
I’m her friend before I’m her lover, but when I’m her lover, oh how I will love her.
So yeah, I’m a little unusual. I don’t do it how it’s normally done. I don’t go in for a cheap and quick romance, because I believe in the grandest kind of love story. If it’s not real and full, you can count me out. I won’t settle for an imitation, or for less than what my Creator has in mind for me.

True, it’s a high standard, but we can’t hit high unless we aim high. Right?

*Note taken from the FB page of Daniel Laurence Sellers

One of my many goals is that when I get married, and I give my husband my heart, I can hand it to him with a smile. Knowing that it does NOT look like this.

As a joke, yet in all honesty, my best friend, Bella, found and bought me this button :D

:|: By Any Other Name :|:

I have a thing about names. Names give people their identities, often in more ways than just a title. My siblings and I were all given our names because of their meanings(not because my parents had a thing for the vowels E and O), though my siblings at least had their names planned out before they were born, me...not so much.

My parents decided to wait until my birth to find out whether I was a girl or a boy, they wanted to be surprised, but my mother was sure that I would be a boy and that I would be named Oliver. Well, the time came - a little earlier than expected, but it came nevertheless - and there I was. A tiny 6 or 7lbs. baby with a very full head of thick soft black hair....a girl...

oops.

Well, names were tossed around quickly, and with the help of my grandma Frost I was to be Emily Michael Hewett.

Emily:

Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EM-ə-lee [key]

English feminine form of Aemilius (see EMIL). In the English-speaking world it was not common until after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century; the princess Amelia Sophia (1711-1786) was commonly known as Emily in English, even though Amelia is an unrelated name.

Industrious one, or Diligent worker.

[Then there's the Urban dictionary meaning http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emily ...those can be sketchy but fun]

"The mos beautiful person in the world. Often referred to as a Goddess. Has eyes that one can easily get lost in. A great friend that cares about people and makes the world a better place. Easy to love too."

Michael:
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Czech, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: MIE-kəl (English), MI-khah-el (German) [key]
From the Hebrew name מִיכָאֵל (Mikha'el) meaning "who is like God?". This is a rhetorical question, implying no person is like God.

Who is like God, and Esteemed one.

[UD: "the coolest motherflippin name on the planet. Many stupid people say that it is a boring and lame name, but that is not so. Many of the coolest people in the world have that name." http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=michael]

I've since been told that my personality has grown to become my namesake, that is, my personality matches what my names mean. I've also become interested in names in general. Names are cool. So drop me some comments. Tell me your names...

...and the stories behind them :)