Don't Break People Down. Thursday, July 17. 2014.

A girl made fun of me today.

She didn’t just make fun of me in passing

but rather,

she made sure to make eye contact with me

and then proceeded to mock me

as I was doing one of my favorite things ever.

It brought up a lot of emotions,

thoughts,

and feelings.

There were a lot of things I wanted to say.

And even more things that I wanted to do.

But Fr. Dan’s homily inspired me this morning,

so I said none of what came to mind

nor did I do any of the things I wanted to do.

This morning,

Fr. Dan said,

“I love God.

I pray that my

thoughts,

words,

actions,

desires,

deeds

and life

reflect that.”

Despite what I was thinking and feeling at the moment,

and despite all of the things that I wanted to say and do,

I was more interested (at that moment) in my actions reflecting my love for God.

At that moment,

the most loving thing I could do was simply to ignore her and continue on.

I wasn’t in a position to sit and talk with her and share the Gospel.

But maybe my actions, or lack of, were enough.

Maybe ignoring her made her think twice

or maybe she continued and made fun of the next person she saw.

I don’t know nor will I.

But I do know how much she must be hurting.

It’s pretty bad to find enjoyment in making fun of people.

A happy person does not do that.

A person who knows their identity is in Christ does not do that.

There was hurt there.

There was pain.

It’s the only reason for her finding enjoyment in others’ pain.

Despite what people may say or do,

regardless of how much it might hurt,

it is a moment to show the world how much you love God

and it is a moment to show them that they are worth more.

There’s no formula for showing others that you love God.

It might look different for each person in each situation.

But it’s no doubt the most important thing in each situation.

It is more important to walk away knowing you reflected your love for God

rather than reflecting your emotions and thoughts at the time.

And to the girl who made fun of me,

I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you feel the need to hurt people. I hope that the hurt in your life can be healed. I hope that you can find healing in the Healer. And I hope that you can love God ever more each day. I hope you learn how to build people up and not break them down. And I hope that you find people in your life who build you up.

Truly Seeking Christ. Thursday, July 10. 2014.

When I was little,

there was this ‘cool’ family that I wanted to be friends with.

They had things that I did not have

and they lived a life that I was interested in at the time.

I kind of weaseled my way into their family

by making friends with one of the kids around my age.

It didn’t last for very long though.

I had ulterior motives when befriending that girl.

It wasn’t my true intention to be her friend,

but rather,

to be able to spend time with her family

and hang out at her house.

Truth be told,

we were very different people

and we had a forced friendship,

one that did not last long at all.

I had obtained what I wanted

but the thrill of it all was over.

It was nothing as I expected.

I was disappointed

and embarrassed by the way I acted.

But I still do the same thing today.

‘Ask and you shall receive.’

Okay then,

I want this,

Jesus I will be Your best friend now.

I go to Him in times of need or want,

far more than I go to Him to have a relationship with Him.

And then maybe I get the thing I’m praying for,

I might say a quick thank you

and move on.

But then disappointment sets in.

This search for Christ is limited to what I can get.

Once I have clarity,

or peace,

or someone,

or something,

my ‘search’ for Christ is over.

If my ‘search’ for Christ has a goal of gaining something

and then it ends,

that’s a pretty lousy life.

If all my life amounts to is getting what I want

and that’s it,

I’m in trouble.

That is not a life worth living or pursuing.

There is so much more than my wants and desires.

Life goes beyond that.

Our search for Christ should be driven by who He is,

not by what He has to offer.

As with my previously mentioned friend,

we did not have a real relationship,

we did not truly know each other.

The same is true in our relationship with Christ.

We cannot truly know Him

or have a real relationship with Him

if we are concerned with what He has to offer.

Be focused on who He is.

And who you are in Him.

Let what He has to offer just be an added bonus.

What work I have to do in truly seeking Christ and 

learning who He is!

Speak Less. Thursday, July 3. 2014.

Being in the Verizon store for hours gives way to lots of people watching.

There was an older couple there learning how to use their brand new iPhone.

The wife was the caretaker.

The husband was a Navy Veteran.

In a wheelchair.

Who had undergone a tracheotomy.

Anything that this man wished to say took work.

He couldn’t simply just speak like the rest of us.

He would need to close the opening in his neck

in order to create something that barely qualified as words.

Multiple times while I was there,

I noticed that he would lift his hand as if to begin the process of saying something,

but then he would just drop his hand,

almost as if he were thinking,

‘Forget it, it’s not important anyways’.

With that being said,

he did not appear to be sad or depressed.

He and his wife seemed very happy.

Their love for each other was abounding,

despite the fact that they did not communicate much verbally.

Their example proved something.

Sometimes we don’t always have to have the last word.

Sometimes more words is not the route to go.

Sometimes less is actually more.

Maybe there is something to the saying,

actions speak louder than words.

Maybe there is a reason we hear more about Jesus doing rather than

Jesus saying.

The world tells us to never shut up.

We must be constantly logged into social media.

Letting someone else have the last word means you’re a wimp.

And we are seen as rude or shy or depressed if we aren’t the life of the party.

Though it may seem insignificant,

it is just another area where the world clashes with the Savior of the world.

What if we just shut up and listen?

What is God saying to us?

What if we just shut up and did?

Does the social media world really need to know you volunteered at the homeless shelter or that you cracked open your Bible this morning?

Guilty.

Guilty of it all.

Not accusatory.

Guilty.

St. Francis of Assisi made this point,

‘Preach the Gospel and if necessary, use words’.

If I had sum up the Gospel in one word, it would be

Love.

How can we speak love through our actions?

How can we humble ourselves to love another?

How can we preach the Gospel without words?

‘If I speak in human and angelic tongues but I do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.’

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

‘But if all that we do is absent of Jesus then this so called love is completely in vain.’

Mercy Me

Can we choose what is important to say?

And leave out the not so important?

And focus on loving through action?

Preaching through action?

What if we shut up and did today?

The Author of My Life. Thursday, June 26. 2014.

I like to mentally plan out my life.

Down to every last detail.

Like I’m writing my own story.

Sometimes my hoping,

and dreaming,

and wishing,

and fantasizing,

and planning goes a bit too far.

Sometimes I bank more on my own planning

than the plans that the Lord has in store for me.

When I write my own story

I place trust and hope in myself.

I see it as my duty to do this or that

to accomplish what I want to

so that my life works out the way I have planned.

But in reality,

I should be a servant.

A servant of the most High

obediently carrying out His will for my life.

The thing is,

He is Creator.

He made everything out of nothing.

He is the Master Planner.

He has the blueprints down.

There is no need for me to live my life in accord with my plans.

It is my duty to follow His plan for my life

to the fullest extent possible.

If I should fear anything,

it should be me getting in the way of His plans for my life.

My story is written.

He knows how it plays out.

Why should I think that I have the authority to rewrite it?

Who am I to think that God makes typos?

His goal is to provide us with what is best for each of us.

Why do I think I know better than His best?

He is the God of Wisdom.

Since when do I think I’m smarter than God?

That’s just silly.

This concept comes with a bit of surrender.

A lot actually.

It doesn’t mean I have to give up on planning my life out

but it does mean that I should be more in tune to Christ’s plans for my life.

Maybe I should be humble enough to take into consideration

the perfect plans of an ever-loving and all-knowing God.

Though it is a daily struggle and sacrifice to give up my own plans,

the pain that results from me following my ‘wisdom’

is not even comparable to the joy the comes from following the wisdom of the Father.

Who’s ready for the joy that’s coming?

Society's Mottos v. The Gospel's Motto. Thursday, June 19. 2014.

Sometimes my sister and I can be heard making use of the phrase,

‘You do you boo’.

I’m going to put some cheese on my salad.

You do you boo.

Do what you want.

It is a phrase that is utilized and 

has become a lifestyle in our society.

Do what you want.

Do whatever feels right.

Do what you feel like doing.

Maybe I don’t agree,

but it’s your choice.

This strategy might be okay for how you take your coffee.

But when it comes to bigger matters,

moral matters,

it doesn’t work as well.

It gets us into trouble.

When it is no longer a matter of opinion

but a matter of right and wrong,

we can’t all be right.

We just can’t.

Life isn’t a game played by 5 year olds where everyone wins.

There are things that are right

and there are things that are wrong.

Society doesn’t think that way.

Society simply tells us to

do whatever feels right.

It’s almost as if it were the current society’s motto:

Do Whatever Feels Right!

So contradictory from what the Gospel proclaims.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have not wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers,

“Do whatever he tells you.’

John 2:1-5

The motto of the Gospel:

Do Whatever He Tells You!

I do not think that these two mottos could be any more different.

Do whatever He tells you.

It means surrendering to His will.

It means setting aside our own desires and feelings.

It means taking the road less travelled.

It means doing some things that we might not want to do.

It isn’t about doing what we feel is right,

but rather,

it is about doing whatever He tells you.

This was such a bold reminder to me that

I do not want to follow the motto of society.

Not only do I not want to follow it,

I want to flee from it.

And go the complete opposite direction.

No wonder Christians are not supposed to be of this world.

The world doesn’t hold itself to the same standards that a Christian should.

The world doesn’t model itself after the Gospel.

I want to hold myself to a higher standard,

to not be of this world

and not to do whatever feels right

but rather,

I pray that in this life,

I do whatever He tells me. 

Seeking Completion. Thursday, June 12. 2014.

I often wonder why divorce rates have skyrocketed

and why we don’t know how to have quality relationships.

Myself included in this.  

I think we have the wrong idea of what

relationships (romantic and not) should be.

Unfortunately, in my humanness,

I often see relationships as

‘What can I get out of this?

How can this person help me?

What do they have to offer me?

How can they complete me?’

This is so far from the mindset that I should have.

I also think that this mindset is what has led us

down a path of destructive relationships.   

When we look for completion from others,

we will be disappointed.

We are all broken

and wounded

and incomplete.

Typically if you have two incompletes

it results in a complete.

But that isn’t the case with relationships.

Two incompletes in a relationship just fester.

No matter how one does the math,

there is not a way to make incompleteness complete

via another human being.

We were not created to be fulfilled and completed by other people.

Our identity is in Christ.

His is our fulfillment.

He is our complete.

Human relationships are not made to complete

but rather, to complement.

If we continue to look for our complete in places other than Christ,

we will be disappointed.

If we see relationships as a means to complete our lives,

we will be disappointed.

If we seek our completion and identity in Christ,

we will be fulfilled and completed.

And our relationships will flourish.

If you have two people who have found their completion in Christ,

they will be able to lead each other closer to Christ,

knowing that He is fulfillment.

I truly believe that if we all believed this

and put it into practice

relationships would be radically different.

Relationships would be able to accomplish their original goal,

bringing others closer to Christ.

Challenge yourself to look at your relationships.

Are you seeking completeness?

Or are you leading others closer to their identity in Him?

Challenge yourself to see where your identity is found.

Is it in Christ?

Or are you looking for it elsewhere?

Compelled by the Spirit. Wednesday, June 4. 2014.

But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me.  Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.

Acts 20:22-24

This is part the first reading from Tuesday.

It really stood out to me.

I love that where Paul is compelled,

is where he goes.

He does not go where he wants.

He does not disobey.

He does not take the easy route.

But rather,

he goes where the Spirit leads him.

So often I don’t know the route I am supposed to take.

I don’t think it is lack of the Spirit prompting.

I think it is my lack of listening.

My lack of prayer.

My lack of being open to the Spirit compelling me.

Paul goes where he is compelled

despite the warnings from the Spirit.

The Spirit warns him of imprisonment and hardships.

He is warned,

yet he goes.

If I feel an ounce of discomfort,

I immediately flee the other direction.

If I am warned of discomforts?

I won’t even begin.

Yet,

Paul does.

Full force.

Why does Paul go full force into this ministry,

knowing of all the hardships?

Because what is his life worth if he doesn’t

complete the mission set before him by God?

What are our lives worth

but for completion of Christ’s mission set before us?