What I Learned in October

1. The origin of open sesame- Apparently, open sesame is debated.  I always thought it was "Open, sesame", but during an interesting discussion following class one day, googled it, because one of my students said it was actually "Open, says me." And I was right... but she was, too... because Popeye actually said, "Open, says me" in a cartoon.  The original phrase comes from Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

2. Ariel and Hercules are cousins. Yes, Ariel, The Little Mermaid, and Hercules, the lesser known Disney cartoon. If mythology is taken into consideration, she and Hercules are related: Hercules’s father is Zeus; Poseidon is a brother of Zeus; one of Poseidon’s many sons is Triton; and, of course, Ariel is Triton’s seventh daughter. This means Hercules is Triton’s first cousin, and Ariel is Hercules’s cousin once removed.

3. You can change the size of your text messages on your Iphone.  You might have already known this, but for those who are visually impaired such as me, this is a good feature.  It only changes things like text messages, but it's much easier for me to read.  To do this, go to Settings, then General, then Accesibility

4. Toby Mac's real name is Kevin.  I didn't know that.  I did know that he was a member of DC Talk as was the lead singer for the Newsboys... but I had to look it up to verify for Caleb.

5. OK, I didn't learn this, but I am learning it.  The last two months of October have been rough.  Here it is November 3rd, and I'm just now posting this.  I've been behind on homework.  Behind on work.  Tired and stressed out.  Disappointed in so many things.

And it just isn't worth it.  As I've said in several posts previously, all of this stuff is just temporary. I've got Heaven waiting on me... but I can't live in defeat in the here and now.  No matter how difficult things seem, I just need to look to Jesus.  And you do, too. 

So, no recap of all of my goals for this year, because in most of them I've given up... but I'm slowly realizing that self-improvement is for the birds.  I can't do it myself... but He can.  I just have to open my heart up and embrace grace, be willing to give love. 

Which isn't so easy. 

But His grace is sufficient. And if I've learned anything in October, that would be it.  His grace is sufficient.