Wednesday, December 22, 2010

it's Christmas time.

Christmas is literally right around the corner. Driving down the streets all i can see are twinkling lights, gorgeous decorated trees, and red & green everywhere. You cant help but smile and be excited about the season of Christmas and winter.

Christmas is also a time when people can reflect on their lack. Lack of money, lack of family, lack of sanity...whatever. With the pressure of spending time with family (that you may not get along with the other 364 days of the year), pressure of spending money on tons of presents (checking the list twice to make sure everyone is covered) and pressure of spending energy on keeping up with the traffic on the streets and at the local stores is enough to make any sane person start to curse the holidays. With frustration at an all time high (because you forgot to buy your brother's wife's nephew a present or because you just got cut off AGAIN in traffic) we can start to forget the reason behind all this craziness.

Roy L. Smith said "He who does not have Christmas in his heart, will never find it under the tree." We always say or hear people say what the real reason of Christmas is all about.....but do we actually ever truly think about it. Christmas isn't about presents, Santa, decorated trees, or lights...its about the birth of our Savior - the One who was sent to save the world. My favorite Christmas song is 'Oh Holy Night' and one of the reasons for that is because it depicts the reason for the day we all widely celebrate. Some of those lyrics are: "Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." That just illustrates such a beautiful picture of what happened on that day! We needed a Savior...we NEEDED Jesus Christ to come. The other part of the songs says "Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother, And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, let all within us praise His Holy name." I pray that none of us will forget the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Take away the expensive gifts. Take away the lights and the colors. Take away the trees and the stockings. Take away Frosty, Rudolph and Old Saint Nick. And there is STILL a reason to sing - because Christ is our Lord.

Merry Christmas and when you see the trees, the colors, and the lights I urge you to praise His Holy Name. (:

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

absence makes the heart grow fonder or out of sight out of mind

So this is where i am right now: my boyfriend and i are doing long distance.

yup, long distance....seeing eachother is never and the chances of communicating are few. But this is what i have been learning in this past 3 months of doing long distance. There are truly 2 possible choices in a long distance relationship - you grow together or grow apart. Either you embrace the season you are in or you run from it. My bf and i are choosing to embrace it and run with it.
He and i are really working on ourselves as individuals and learning SOO much about Godly marriages and relationships. We are choosing to pray about our relationship and contending for it. We are giving eachother to the loving arms of God and hoping that He will return us to eachother at the end of this season. In this experience i have found that, for me, "out of sight, out of mind" isnt an option. With long distance relationships (as well as ANY relationship in my opinion) it is a choice. We chose to get into a relationship when we did. We chose to continue it when he left. We chose to pray for eachother in this waiting period. We chose God's best for us. I make this choice every single day. The choice to wait and pray.
The absence of my bf does not make me care about him less....but to care about him MORE because of what i KNOW i am waiting for. The waiting period makes the end result more exciting. Like on Christmas - if gifts are not under the tree in weeks before the big day...the presents are NOT out of mind. The wonder and waiting sit with the child. The excitement grows and grows until Christmas morning when the gifts are FINALLY in their presence. The waiting was worth it in the end..because they knew WHAT they were waiting for!
I know what i am choosing to wait for... and that makes my heart grow fonder. (:

Monday, February 8, 2010

L.O.V.E.

So last night at church we watched the world premiere of Furious Love, a film by Darren Wilson, capturing God's love being displayed in many ways across the world. The movie was not only motivational but incredibly moving. Obviously love is something that is VERY important to me. But after watching that movie it really got me thinking : How do i show love? And how can i show more?

I have always prided myself on being "friendly"..but is that enough? I think that friendliness is a part of love..but its not that whole thing. The dictionary defines love as 'a profoundly, tender, passionate affection for someone'. I wouldnt say that friendliness is too passionate. And profoundly?? That means deep......love is deeply passionate. Deeply passionate. When described as that... it calls me to put a little more OOMPH into my "friendliness" towards people, doesnt it?

When i love i want people to feel my deep and tender passion behind it because true love is the love of Christ...and that is what i want people to feel when they are with me. When you think about it..it doesnt really matter what you are doing. You could be on the way to stop the sex trade (like we saw in the movie), feeding the homeless, giving shelter to under priveleged youth, or simply smiling at a stranger. In the end it doesnt matter what the act is...it matters what your heart is behind it.