“Stop stealin other peoples’ blessings!” –Beth Moore
Monday, October 29, 2012
Seeking my vocation
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Falling in Love with Myself
How would the next year of your life change if you were madly, truly, deeply, passionately in love with yourself?
What if I truly fell in love with myself? Got the butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the thought of being around me? Looked forward to taking care of myself and impressing myself? Saw these things as opportunities, joys, blessings instead of obligations, habits, routines?
How often do we wait for someone else to put us up on a pedestal instead of just knowing that we are doing right and that we have perfect hearts and that that is greatness?
A quote from Thessolonians: "If you constantly look to other people for answers and validation, pray about that and ask the Lord to help you stop doing that and instead look to Him." -1 Thessolonians 2:4
I do that often. So I prayed on it a bit, on how to better love myself without needing someone else's love, but I came to this conclusion -- there is no commandment that says "love yourself." Many passages speak of being humble, loving your Lord, and loving your neighbors, but I couldn't find even one that says to love yourself.
Then I realized this. WE are truly blessed because WE are created in HIS image. We are photocopies of God. So just like you love the Jonas Brothers and would get excited about a Jonas Brothers poster, you would love God and get excited about a carbon copy of God!
When we are feeling down on ourselves, we need to remember that hating yourself is hating God. Hating the painting is a criticism to the artist.
No matter what our specific calling, our calling as human beings is to glorify our artist, our maker, our Heavenly King. The glory goes up to Him and the blessings fall down on us!!
What if I truly fell in love with myself? Got the butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the thought of being around me? Looked forward to taking care of myself and impressing myself? Saw these things as opportunities, joys, blessings instead of obligations, habits, routines?
How often do we wait for someone else to put us up on a pedestal instead of just knowing that we are doing right and that we have perfect hearts and that that is greatness?
A quote from Thessolonians: "If you constantly look to other people for answers and validation, pray about that and ask the Lord to help you stop doing that and instead look to Him." -1 Thessolonians 2:4
I do that often. So I prayed on it a bit, on how to better love myself without needing someone else's love, but I came to this conclusion -- there is no commandment that says "love yourself." Many passages speak of being humble, loving your Lord, and loving your neighbors, but I couldn't find even one that says to love yourself.
Then I realized this. WE are truly blessed because WE are created in HIS image. We are photocopies of God. So just like you love the Jonas Brothers and would get excited about a Jonas Brothers poster, you would love God and get excited about a carbon copy of God!
When we are feeling down on ourselves, we need to remember that hating yourself is hating God. Hating the painting is a criticism to the artist.
No matter what our specific calling, our calling as human beings is to glorify our artist, our maker, our Heavenly King. The glory goes up to Him and the blessings fall down on us!!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Take up the Cross & Follow Me
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." -Mark 8:34
How often do we want our resurrection without our crucifixion? How often do we pray to God to change certain things, without being willing to make any sacrafice on our part to effect the change?
I am really stumped about what my cross is. What does my Heavenly King want me to be sacraficing?
I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, that the sacrafice is marriage. I think God wants me not to find someone and not to be with someone so I can better carry out His work. I am not sure how exactly this would help me to better carry out His work. So why do I have that feeling?
How often do we want our resurrection without our crucifixion? How often do we pray to God to change certain things, without being willing to make any sacrafice on our part to effect the change?
I am really stumped about what my cross is. What does my Heavenly King want me to be sacraficing?
I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, that the sacrafice is marriage. I think God wants me not to find someone and not to be with someone so I can better carry out His work. I am not sure how exactly this would help me to better carry out His work. So why do I have that feeling?
Monday, September 24, 2012
Unappreciated Acts of Kindness - Worth It?
"Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed." - Peter 3:13-14
I was looking up the scriptures for this week in the lectionary. I was having trouble connecting with any of them. I meant to flip to James 3:13, but it is a short book, and I mistakenly ended up at Peter 3:13. God works in mysterious ways!
I was struggling with something interesting this week. There was a guy I once dated. His brother had passed away. And, at the time I had been dating him, I had pre-arranged to send flowers for his brother's birthday just to say that I was thinking of him and was sorry for his grief.
Well, I had debated whether to cancel the flower order. Is it strange to get flowers from a former lover? We didn't go out for that long, will he think I'm a stalker if I send flowers? Why send them for the anniversary of his birthday instead of his death? Am I really the person he would want to hear from on such an occassion? Would he question how/why I even know/remember his brother's birthday?
That being said, I was ready to call up the flower shop and beg to cancel the order.
Then I found the passage from Peter. And I thought... what was my goal in sending the flowers? To let this person know I was thinking of him and was sorry for his grief! So is that still the goal, regardless of the relationship status and without want for anything in return? Yes! So I should still send them... because it is from a place of righteousness and goodness.
Peter is a great book, a great guiding compass to those who are lost.
I was looking up the scriptures for this week in the lectionary. I was having trouble connecting with any of them. I meant to flip to James 3:13, but it is a short book, and I mistakenly ended up at Peter 3:13. God works in mysterious ways!
I was struggling with something interesting this week. There was a guy I once dated. His brother had passed away. And, at the time I had been dating him, I had pre-arranged to send flowers for his brother's birthday just to say that I was thinking of him and was sorry for his grief.
Well, I had debated whether to cancel the flower order. Is it strange to get flowers from a former lover? We didn't go out for that long, will he think I'm a stalker if I send flowers? Why send them for the anniversary of his birthday instead of his death? Am I really the person he would want to hear from on such an occassion? Would he question how/why I even know/remember his brother's birthday?
That being said, I was ready to call up the flower shop and beg to cancel the order.
Then I found the passage from Peter. And I thought... what was my goal in sending the flowers? To let this person know I was thinking of him and was sorry for his grief! So is that still the goal, regardless of the relationship status and without want for anything in return? Yes! So I should still send them... because it is from a place of righteousness and goodness.
Peter is a great book, a great guiding compass to those who are lost.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Aunt Mart's Death
"For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun." -Ecclesiastes 9:5-6
"All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going." -Ecclesiastes 9:10
Today I visited my Aunt Mart. The doctors gave her hours to live.
She looked different than other times - she had lost weight, but more significantly, she looked afraid and resistant.
It made me think... how painful it must be to be aware of the fact that you are dying. The awareness of dying would be just as painful - maybe more painful - than any physical pain associated with dying.
Awareness that this is the end of the only thing you have ever known. The fear of whether death will be painful or painless. The fear of what happens next. Will you meet your maker? Will you go to a heaven? A hell? Will nothing at all happen, and you just decay into carbon and that's it?
It reminded me of a concept that came up in yoga. The concept of no more. When everyday you get cookies from the cookie jar. And if there are no more in the cookie jar, you go in your pantry and get them from the oreo package. And if there are no more in the pantry, you go to the grocery store and buy some. But if there are no more at the grocery store, then what? The concept actually completely blew my mind... because of how rare it is in the first world that we would truly have "no more" of a particular thing.
It got me thinking three things...
(1) On the concept of no more... There are so many things we don't have that are perfectly renewable things, gifts we just choose not to give ourselves. Like happiness or gratitude. There is no finite amount of these things. When we don't have them, it is because we are choosing not to have them. They cost nothing. They come from within. They produce nothing bad. Nothing bad ever came from being happy or grateful.
(2) On the concept of death... why do we die? And here's what I came up with...
God wants contrast. Death contrasts life. Evil contrasts good. Finite contrasts infinite. Storms contrast sunshine. God gave us the blessing of these interesting and dynamic lives where very good things and very bad things are guaranteed to happen to us.
(3) It's all part of a bigger plan. A cookieless plan that involves death. Part of our humanness is that we can't see past "no more cookies" and "no more life." We can't even conceive of it. But that's when we need our faith the most. That's when we need to submit to the Lord and his plan. If you live your life, letting Him run the show, asking always what He wants first and what you want second, you will be best prepared for death... so be here to glorify Him - not yourself!
"All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going." -Ecclesiastes 9:10
Today I visited my Aunt Mart. The doctors gave her hours to live.
She looked different than other times - she had lost weight, but more significantly, she looked afraid and resistant.
It made me think... how painful it must be to be aware of the fact that you are dying. The awareness of dying would be just as painful - maybe more painful - than any physical pain associated with dying.
Awareness that this is the end of the only thing you have ever known. The fear of whether death will be painful or painless. The fear of what happens next. Will you meet your maker? Will you go to a heaven? A hell? Will nothing at all happen, and you just decay into carbon and that's it?
It reminded me of a concept that came up in yoga. The concept of no more. When everyday you get cookies from the cookie jar. And if there are no more in the cookie jar, you go in your pantry and get them from the oreo package. And if there are no more in the pantry, you go to the grocery store and buy some. But if there are no more at the grocery store, then what? The concept actually completely blew my mind... because of how rare it is in the first world that we would truly have "no more" of a particular thing.
It got me thinking three things...
(1) On the concept of no more... There are so many things we don't have that are perfectly renewable things, gifts we just choose not to give ourselves. Like happiness or gratitude. There is no finite amount of these things. When we don't have them, it is because we are choosing not to have them. They cost nothing. They come from within. They produce nothing bad. Nothing bad ever came from being happy or grateful.
(2) On the concept of death... why do we die? And here's what I came up with...
God wants contrast. Death contrasts life. Evil contrasts good. Finite contrasts infinite. Storms contrast sunshine. God gave us the blessing of these interesting and dynamic lives where very good things and very bad things are guaranteed to happen to us.
(3) It's all part of a bigger plan. A cookieless plan that involves death. Part of our humanness is that we can't see past "no more cookies" and "no more life." We can't even conceive of it. But that's when we need our faith the most. That's when we need to submit to the Lord and his plan. If you live your life, letting Him run the show, asking always what He wants first and what you want second, you will be best prepared for death... so be here to glorify Him - not yourself!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Laws of Attraction Group
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -Philippians 4:6
In 2011, I was blessed with an amazing group of people entering my life! These people were filled with an indescribable vibrancy, and they had the dreams and curiosity of young children. I saw them once a month, but every conversation with them was filled with new updates, challenges met with excitement, things moving forward with rapid velocity, fervor, and energy! The conversations lit a fire under me!
The people were from my Laws of Attraction group that meets once a month. We focus on attracting into our lives the things we desire (hence the name)!
After a couple months of attending the meetings, I asked myself what was so great about this experience - hearing these strangers speak about their lives. I paid for it and drove a great distance to it and left work early to go to it, so what made it worth the sacrifice?
The answer was simple - these people were a joy to be around! They were easy to talk to! They didn't complain or give me a million reasons why something wouldn't work. And even when things weren't going "as planned" they were grateful. They were even grateful for the obstacles. And they were present to whatever blessings and possibilities were there for them.
I think about that experience as it relates to my prayer life and my conversations with God. When I pray, am I being joyful and exuberant? Am I exalting God or am I asking God "why me?" Am I thankful or am I expectant? Sometimes prayers are really whines, tests, and wishlists, with no consideration for anyone besides ourselves.
This passage from Philippians serves to remind me:
(1) Say Thank You! Everything is a blessing or a blessing in disguise!
(2) Ask our Heavenly King for anything!
(3) Act in ways that glorify HIM - not ourselves!
In 2011, I was blessed with an amazing group of people entering my life! These people were filled with an indescribable vibrancy, and they had the dreams and curiosity of young children. I saw them once a month, but every conversation with them was filled with new updates, challenges met with excitement, things moving forward with rapid velocity, fervor, and energy! The conversations lit a fire under me!
The people were from my Laws of Attraction group that meets once a month. We focus on attracting into our lives the things we desire (hence the name)!
After a couple months of attending the meetings, I asked myself what was so great about this experience - hearing these strangers speak about their lives. I paid for it and drove a great distance to it and left work early to go to it, so what made it worth the sacrifice?
The answer was simple - these people were a joy to be around! They were easy to talk to! They didn't complain or give me a million reasons why something wouldn't work. And even when things weren't going "as planned" they were grateful. They were even grateful for the obstacles. And they were present to whatever blessings and possibilities were there for them.
I think about that experience as it relates to my prayer life and my conversations with God. When I pray, am I being joyful and exuberant? Am I exalting God or am I asking God "why me?" Am I thankful or am I expectant? Sometimes prayers are really whines, tests, and wishlists, with no consideration for anyone besides ourselves.
This passage from Philippians serves to remind me:
(1) Say Thank You! Everything is a blessing or a blessing in disguise!
(2) Ask our Heavenly King for anything!
(3) Act in ways that glorify HIM - not ourselves!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The Duggars
"The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away" - Job 1:21
Today I watched the episode of "19 Kids and Counting" where Michelle Duggar miscarries and loses her baby. The quote from Job came up while watching. After the miscarriage, Michelle and Jim Bob were praying.
The prayers were not prayers of sorrow and sadness, or begrudging God, or helping them to see why He would create such a horrible tragedy.
The prayers were prayers of jubilation and gratitude:
Dear Lord, Thank you for 17 wonderful weeks with this baby. Thank you for bringing our family together. Thank you for putting this child out of whatever suffering she must have been in. Thank you for the joy of being pregnant again.
Even in their darkest hour, they were present to all the goodness.
God is so kind to me, and how often am I ungrateful? How often do I only notice what is lacking in my life (like a phone call from a particular person) instead of noticing all that is great (a dinner with a good friend, financial security, a job that I love, opportunities to serve, a beautiful home and dog, beautiful friends and family, an education, everything)?
This quote is a good reminder to me of four items:
(1) Always be filled with gratitude.
(2) Be willing to be vulnerable. Even if your vulnerability results in your hurt and sadness (like when he doesn't call), it has also brought so much goodness with it - a chance to fall in love, the experiences of anticipation and delight, an opportunity to learn and discover, to serve and care for someone other than myself.
(3) God has a plan for us. If God didn't give you what you want, He gave you something BETTER!
(4) God will never take away His LOVE!
Today I watched the episode of "19 Kids and Counting" where Michelle Duggar miscarries and loses her baby. The quote from Job came up while watching. After the miscarriage, Michelle and Jim Bob were praying.
The prayers were not prayers of sorrow and sadness, or begrudging God, or helping them to see why He would create such a horrible tragedy.
The prayers were prayers of jubilation and gratitude:
Dear Lord, Thank you for 17 wonderful weeks with this baby. Thank you for bringing our family together. Thank you for putting this child out of whatever suffering she must have been in. Thank you for the joy of being pregnant again.
Even in their darkest hour, they were present to all the goodness.
God is so kind to me, and how often am I ungrateful? How often do I only notice what is lacking in my life (like a phone call from a particular person) instead of noticing all that is great (a dinner with a good friend, financial security, a job that I love, opportunities to serve, a beautiful home and dog, beautiful friends and family, an education, everything)?
This quote is a good reminder to me of four items:
(1) Always be filled with gratitude.
(2) Be willing to be vulnerable. Even if your vulnerability results in your hurt and sadness (like when he doesn't call), it has also brought so much goodness with it - a chance to fall in love, the experiences of anticipation and delight, an opportunity to learn and discover, to serve and care for someone other than myself.
(3) God has a plan for us. If God didn't give you what you want, He gave you something BETTER!
(4) God will never take away His LOVE!
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