What you wish your twitter feed looked like

Oh man how do I explain it.

There’s this prevalent idea I see a lot in Christian circles that if you pray right, if you follow God correctly, if you’re a truly virtuous person, your problems will be solved, right?

If you suffer, if you fall ill, if bad things happen, it’s because you aren’t good enough. You don’t need medicine because if you’re worthy, if you’re faithful enough, God will reward you by healing you. Right?

But like. Discussing this with my mother, and travelling out east with our pastor… Jesus didn’t spend all his time with perfect, virtuous people. Jesus didn’t seek out and heal well-to-do, faithful, perfect Christians. In fact, there’s a specific story in which he straight up doesn’t travel out to heal a believer’s dying daughter, because she’s already “saved”. Her earthy death is okay because she’s going to heaven already.

And like… coming from our Pastor, who is one of the best guys I’ve ever met- there seems to be an ongoing, underlying message of, “Jesus doesn’t care about you if you’re a good Christian”. If you’re a good Christian, if you’re living a virtuous life on earth, then any suffering you experience is only temporary- your ETERNITY is secure. Jesus goes out of his way to meet with sinners and the unfaithful because those are the people whose souls are in danger.

So like. In that perspective, being good doesn’t make your life better, it’s just good for others and good for your soul. Praying and doing good probably won’t cure your cancer, but it may mean you don’t have to worry too much about your death.

And like. I dunno. I wouldn’t call myself a Christian, but I find myself thinking about that concept a lot

Does suffering mean you deserve a reward?

Is suffering proof that you’re unworthy?

Or is suffering just an unfortunate facet of life that doesn’t reflect on your worth, that you still have to deal with as best you can?

Maybe suffering is just suffering.

Maybe the bad things you experienced weren’t about you

Ursa—beautiful, brave, sorrowful Ursa—turned to them, studied her children for one final time, and smiled.

Zuko didn't call her 'Mom' often. But now he didn't know if he'd ever have another chance to.

In this case I'm talking about the Lake Guardians, specifically one research task and what it says about the three characters with which they align.

See, each of the guardians has a research task that nets double the normal research level, requiring the player see them use a specific move a certain number of times. This task is identical save for the move required for each.

Mesprit, the being of emotion, aligns with Cynthia. This one is the most obvious, design-wise, but her (English) name can be taken as a degraded form of sentia, meaning "to feel" in Latin. Cynthia is prone to getting carried away with the things she enjoys, and often needs to take time off to put herself back together after a particularly passionate engagement. The move needed to understand Mesprit is Recover.

Uxie, the being of knowledge, aligns with Cogita, whose name means "to think" in Latin. Cogita takes her time to put her thoughts together in order to provide guidance where she's duty-bound to do so, maintaining an even keel no matter what's happening. The move needed to understand Uxie is Calm Mind.

Azelf, the being of willpower, aligns with Volo, whose name means "to want" in Latin. Volo is driven to the point of obsession, determined to reach his goal no matter what it takes or how long he has to try, even when he fails over and over and drives away everyone and everything that cares about him in his fervor.

The move needed to understand Azelf?

>be me (freshman living in college dorm)

>go for a walk in the beautiful spring weather

>there is a bat on the sidewalk in the middle of the day

>sidebar to note that at this point in life my bat knowledge solely consists of "usually flying" and "only comes out at night"

>how terrible this bat must be disoriented by the bright sunlight (middle of the day) and fell from where it was ........................... roosting (on the sidewalk)

>if i put this bat in a box with some water and then bring it back out at night maybe it will have recovered enough from the. sun

>text my roommate asking him to put a towel in a box

>i pick up the bat (on the sidewalk) (middle of the day) (no gloves)

>one bat in a box later i log onto tumblr dot com and post something along the lines of: does anyone know what to do in case of accidental bat acquisition

>mutual from area with many bats: you need to get rabies shots IMMEDIATELY

>i have no car (freshman in college dorms)

>surely it isn't that serious

>thanks to google i now have 200% more bat knowledge and Boy I Fucked Up

>me to my mutual: it only bit me a few times and its teeth are so tiny it didn't even break the skin i'm sure i'll be fine :)

>i am of a curious nature so i google rabies symptoms

>oh! i need to get rabies shots!

so my ER experience was actually something pretty similar

me: hi, i need a rabies shot

triage nurse: oh? why's that?

me: i got bitten by a bat

triage nurse: what were you doing that you got bitten by a bat in the middle of the day?

me: picking up a bat off the sidewalk

triage nurse:

also share a last name, and it makes airport travel inconvenient

use different nicknames, for practicality

use the same nickname, bc fuck why not

have identical spellings but different pronunciations

have identical spellings, but the spelling in question is one of the "weird" ones so they both constantly have their (shared) name spelled wrong

Partner A's first name is Partner B's surname. the highlight is that if they get married and one of them takes the other's surname...Partner A has the funniest goddamn opportunity to pull a "moon moon"

@zukkaweek day 4: clothing swap

I got lazy on correcting all the mistakes on this, there’s several so just ignore them

pillows: this is the most common mistake i see--flimsy pillows. and this sucks. this sucks so bad. it's bad for your neck. they wear out so quickly. you have to constantly readjust the filling. they're so damn uncomfortable. get yourself some decently firm pillows--and enough of them to STACK dammit

btw it is. legal. to buy pillows of more than one firmness. you can own a Firm Pillow and a Less Firm Pillow on purpose. the government isn't cracking down on that yet

sheets: one of my genie wishes would be for every single human being to be gifted a pair of durable non-synethic white sheets that perfectly fit their mattress. these details are important:

durability is important. good sheets that cost a bit more but last longer? will save you money over time. they can last YEARS AND YEARS (durability also means less piling. piling is such bullshit, especially if u don't sleep in long pajamas)

NATURAL FIBERS that's important. it keeps you cooler and cleaner by wicking away sweat. better sensory experience. 100% cotton is bomb but someday I'd love to get my hands on bamboo, linen, silk sets.

white is not the most fun color but it IS the easiest color to clean stains from (important when you're investing in quality sheets meant to last). just make sure you pre-wash the stains before adding bleach, otherwise you get yellow spots. (bleach mixes badly with proteins found in sweat and other bodily...stuff)

seriously I'm all for bold colors and crazy patterns on bedspreads (great way to decorate your room) but white sheets underneath are so practical

find sheets that fit your bed. find sheets that FIT your bed. i don't mean 'this is technically the correct size for my mattress' i mean sheets that don't fucking COME OFF AT THE EDGES WHAT THE HELL. it is evil. it's evil they've evolved the ability to do that.

(admittedly those sexy little suspender clips are an option, haven't tried them yet)

related: sheets that don't get loose overnight what the heck. still not certain which types of sheets are more prone to this issue (I assume it's a fabric thing, but is it material, weave, thread count what). tumblr given me your teaspoon-worth of collective knowledge

Bedcover/quilt/duvet: make sure it's weather appropriate and that the weight suits your personal preferences. some people sleep better with heavier/lighter/thicker/thinner top covers. some sleep better when tucked in nice and tight (took me a literal decade of adulthood to realize we can just. tuck ourselves in.) find what works for you

(shout out to duvet covers btw, SO much easier to clean. and shout out to duvets bc FEATHERS/SOFTNESS i love u duvets)

BOLSTER PILLOWS EXIST. and yeah body pillows too. noodle-shapped pillows that your can wrap your corporeal form around like an octopus...they are so so valuable.

foam mattress pads are an easy way to improve a mattress determined to do the bare minimum

conclusion: