#bandwith

[momentsbeforemass]

It adds up

“Take care, then, how you hear. To the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.”

In a Gospel that says a lot of odd-sounding things, this is one of the oddest-sounding. At least to our ears.

But this is not some cryptic piece of vague nonsense designed to sound deep.

It’s actually very practical. And it has to do with how you and I work as human beings.

As St. Ephrem tells us, the key to understanding what Jesus is saying is that this is all one thought, and that “This is like ‘let the one who has ears listen.’”

That is, what we hear, what we take in matters. Why?

What we hear, what we take in is cumulative. It adds up within us. Whatever it is, whether good or bad, it will add to the pile of that same thing that is already within us.

If we’re hearing things that make us afraid? That will add to the pile of things within us that we’re afraid of.

If we’re taking in things that make us angry? That will add to the pile of things within us that we’re angry about.

That is what “To the one who has, more will be given” is all about. The things we take in add up. But that’s not the whole story.

Like St. Ephrem said, this is all one thought. “To the one who has, more will be given,” cannot be separated from “and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.” Which means what?

It means that when you and I are adding to one pile of things within us, the other stuff within us doesn’t just sit there. It starts to fade away.

Because the stuff within us (whether it’s our emotions, our spiritual well-being, our knowledge, whatever) is not static. It’s either growing or it’s fading.

And you and I have only so much bandwith, we only have so many spoons. We can only grow one thing at a time. Whatever we’re not growing? It’s going to be fading.

If you’ve ever wondered why getting a puppy and all the time that that a new puppy takes (both the fun stuff and the needful things like training and housebreaking) helps you deal with your grief over the death of your old dog? This is why.

So, if we’re hearing the word of God? That will add to the pile of things within us that bring us peace and strength. And the things within us that don’t bring us peace and strength will start to fade.

If we’re taking in the good things of God? That will add to the pile of things within us that we’re joyful about. And the things within us that we’re not joyful about will fade.

But it all turns on what we’re hearing, on what we’re taking in. Because that is what will be adding up within us.

Which is why Jesus is telling us – “Take care, then, how you hear.”

Today’s Readings

[deconstructthesoup]

If anybody has made a comprehensive map of all of the routes in Slay the Princess and how you gain the voices through that, that would be great

[sabertoothwalrus]

reminder that if we are mutuals you can

dm me to chat

add me on discord

ask me about my ocs (including the ones I don’t post about online yet)

ask to meet up irl if you are in the area!!

[zrllosyn-art]

Character introspection doodles that turned. uh. angsty

[fairycosmos]

lost my job 🙂 again

[demi-pixellated]

Shez' found himself in a tangle 😓💦 --

Here's a preview of my piece for @/shezdiary(twitter).

Delighted to have been apart of the talented crew for this zine! Pre-orders were extended to Aug 8th, so if you haven't already, consider picking up a copy!!

📔✨: Buy Here

[dan-whoell]

When BIG dropped I was sitting in the passenger seat of my mother’s car. We were waiting for a red light to change. The youtube notification pinged and my I got goosebumps.

In all honesty I thought it was... not a joke exactly, but I thought for sure it was clickbait, that there was some kind of spin. I didn't believe it was actually happening. I went to twitter and saw some of the responses and I thought... I don't know what I thought. Everyone was (obviously) taking him very seriously and yet I still didn't believe it was actually happening. For some reason I just assumed it was being blown out of proportion. Still I was cautiously optimistic, thinking ok, maybe it’s real, but I never imagined Dan would explicitly come out the way that he did. 

An hour or two later I got home and watched it in my bedroom, alone, and cried. It was real. He was putting himself out there in a way that he could not walk back. I was so fucking proud of him. But more than that, I felt seen. Understood. The fear and the shame he talked about was so real to me. Specifically I remember that was a lot of stress about nothing and I didn’t think they’d reject me these days, but coming out is still a surprise and to anyone that isn’t out, it’s okay.

I was 23 and closeted to my immediate family and only just beginning to really accept my own gender crisis. I had so much fear about actually voicing my queerness to anyone in my family. I was out as a lesbian at work and had one friend that I even remotely said anything to about gender (which was mostly me shrugging and saying it was something I thought about, but not a whole lot.) But none of it was authentically me. I wasn’t living my truth, you know? I didn’t even know my truth because I didn’t do a lot of the work to figure myself out. I’ve always thought that I would never fully live my life until my family was gone, so I didn’t see the point in doing much exploring.

And then I saw this incredible person that I’d watched and looked up to for years had a courage that I didn't think I’d ever have. He gave words to the anxiety inside of me. I cried and I didn’t have anyone to hug but myself. 

I’m 28 now and I’m still not out to my family. It’s still scary to me. But I’ve looked inside myself a lot, and I’ve accepted the truth about who I am. I am queer. I am trans. That doesn’t change no matter who I do or do not tell. And I only have courage to accept myself because of Dan, and Phil, and entire community of people who are unapologetically themselves. 

Five years ago BIG gave me the courage to be honest with myself, and I will forever be grateful for that.

[taylorhebertstherapist]

sorry about the lack of posts lately its not due to a lack of interest in worm my dog is just very, very sick

[pb-dot]

One accessibility feature I'd love to become more common in games is a "turn off effects/flashing effects"-toggle of some sort. Most days they're not a problem, but there's always the risk of them triggering a migraine for me, so I'd love to be able to just turn 'em off. Yes, your game will look like less of a visual spectacle. I'm fine with that if it means I don't get throbbing fuck you-spikes of head pain.

[zhongrin]

i see yalls asks but unfortunately i just got assigned a biiiiiig project at work at the start of this week. plus mid-year performance check is next month so obviously i really want to do well, and that means i'm probably going to do extra effort & focus on that... even tho i don't really want to lmao

anyway i'm probably going to be somewhat(?) inactive for the time being, sorry 🥲🙇🏻‍♀️

[mirgompillow]

If anybody wondering why I leave and do not sometimes post FOR ALMOST A MONTH.. it's because of this. 😀How do I fix this.. there's nothing I can do yet x') I wanna see lovely blogs man

[deconstructthesoup]

Stories that Midnight Burger could absolutely cross over with, and how that would go:

Dead Boy Detectives: Either Midnight Burger's been bouncing back and forth between various places in the DBD/Sandman universe and the agency is charged with investigating it, or they just randomly appear to help them with a case that they're stuck on. Ava wants to know literally everything about how ghosts work, Leif makes the mistake of introducing Charles to all of his insane alien gadgets, Niko befriends all of the wolves in the deep freeze, Crystal gets advice from Caspar about becoming a better person, and Effie and Zebulon take one look at Edwin and decide that they have to give him some advice and kind words.

The Magnus Archives: Midnight Burger appears right outside the Institute---during which season? Who knows! All that matters is that they're there, and they are very eager to help these depressed academics navigate the horrors. Gloria takes advantage of Jon's Eye powers to ask him about all the great unsolved mysteries of the world, Caspar goes to sit in the deep freeze the second he learns about The Lonely, and Melanie and Ava immediately bond over some very heavy drinks. If Sasha's here, she and Gloria become fast friends, and literally nobody knows what to make of Effie and Zebulon. Tim and Leif unsurprisingly get along pretty quick.

Dimension 20: A Starstruck Odyssey: Midnight Burger appears inside The Wurst, and pretty much everyone goes "yep, this might as well happen." Leif is very eager to meet every single one of the corrupt organizations out there, and he and Skip are almost immediately fighting for custody over Gunnie. Sundry Sydney and Gloria become BFFs on sight, and Margaret spends the entire time subtly flirting with Ava. Also, Effie and Zebulon are a hit with Gnosis.

Leverage: Midnight Burger pops in and winds up accidentally interfering with a job, and they've gotta scramble to help out the Leverage crew before it completely falls apart. Hardison---and Breanna, if we're going by the Redemption crew---geek the fuck out over all of Leif's weird shit, Parker and Ava quickly realize that they match each other's freak, and Eliot and Leif end up trading weird stories while Caspar slams his head on one of the tables in the background. Gloria uses her "I started a revolution" skills to the extreme.

Hatchetfield: Midnight Burger shows up, fixes the timeline, and leaves. The Lords in Black are befuddled and incredibly pissed. Also, Miss Holloway and Duke wind up sticking around.

[the-lord-of-the-things]

howdily doodly folks I am sick with stress from some recent irl bullshit and need an excuse to draw fun cute things, if anyone wants to toss a request for a little bean blobin doodle of a chara of your choice here's your chance, I'll draw em up after I'm done with chores

[slayter-kinney]

eye. really don’t have anything to add that hasn’t been said already. i’m speechless. emily.exe has stopped responding. why is dapc the most important thing to happen in my life ever. i’ll be at my own wedding like “dang i wish those gay youtubers covered in blood were doing a goat demon ritual here.” once my ritual shirt arrives i will be wearing it so much it will become a health hazard. why am i like this.

[royalarchivist]

Phil QSMP VOD Timestamps

Stream date: 4/19/23

Important timestamps from Phil's April 19th stream

If you've got a streamer you watch frequently, consider keeping a record of important timestamps (even if it's just one or two) from their stream to help out other fans! For now, here's timestamps from today's Phil stream

2h 6m - logs onto QSMP

2h 15m - Phil breaks into Tilin’s grave not realising what it is

2h 18m - Phil visits the school

2h 20m - After finding out Quackity’s the teacher, Phil says he’s pulling Chayanne out of the school

2h 27m - Phil and Chayanne brainstorm a trap they can leave in Quackity’s gift box at the school

2h 30m - Phil makes Quackity a grilled cheese and names it “Cold & square Quesadilla”

2h 32m - Chayanne shows Phil the drawing he made for Quackity, and Phil helps "improve" the drawing

2h 40m - After checking in with Wilbur to see if he’s coming online later, Phil tries to wake up Talullah with the Otherside disc

2h 42m - Talullah wakes up! They warn her to be careful of Quackity, even though she says Quackity doesn’t seem so bad.

2h 51m - Tallulah draws a picture for Quackity

2h 54m - It seems like Phantoms have been removed (or at least temporarily turned off)!

2h 56m - Tallulah draws Quackity with all her egg classmates and says “I made a lot of new friends yesterday!”

2h 58m - Tallulah says she wants to gift Quackity the pretty block she found the other day! (Terracotta) She names it “estrellita naranja” (little orange star)

3h 1m - They leave to deliver the presents to the school

3h 5m - They deliver the presents!

3h 9m - Phil and the Eggs work on their treehouse

3h 22m 20s - Talullah says poppies are her favorite flowers

3h 26m 30s - Foolish runs into everyone and briefly says hello!

3h 30m - Phil comments on the difference between Tallulah and Chayanne’s art and characters! “Yin and Yang”

3h 32m 30s - Phil tells Chayanne not to worry about it if Quackity fails him. Tallulah said she’d call out Quackity if he does fail him

3h 33m 30s - “If anything happens to these two eggs I’ll burn the whole world down”

3h 37m - Phil informs Tallulah that Wil’s house flooded, but he still wants to come online sometime today if he can.

3h 39m - The kids try to convince Phil to take them to a dungeon and Phil refuses, saying it's too dangerous

3m 40m 30s - They agree to investigate Quackity instead

3h 41m - Chayanne asks if they need to tell the cops about “Uncle Fit’s” illegal Wither farm and Phil tells him not to be a narc. Talullah says “Don’t be a snitch Chayanne pls”

3h 43m - Phil reminds Tallulah that she needs to be careful around Osito Bimbo / Cucurucho. Chayanne says “That bear seems ready to kiIl. I like him”

3h 50m 30s - Phil and the eggs visit Quackity’s house

3h 52m - Chayanne notices that Quackity kept his art. Phil says people deserve second chances. Tallulah says “People deserve second chances, give it a try Mr. Quackity” and Chayanne speaks and says “No” out loud (LMAO)

3h 55m 30s - Phil breaks into Quackity’s house to steal Chayanne’s painting so they can get a copy.

4h 3m - Phil tells Tallulah about the crows and she tells him to say hello and that she loves us :’)

4h 4m - Chayanne and Tallulah go to bed. Phil plans to go get the axolotl Chayanne saw in the Lush Caves yesterday

4h 5m - Phil talks about how genuinely stressful it was to see Chayanne almost perish yesterday

4h 22m - AXOLOTL ACQUIRED

4h 25m - Phil leaves the Lush Cave, too many mobs are spawning and making the cave super dangerous

Phil leaves the server