Good enough.

It's amazing to me how critical we as people are of each other. And this isn't something I'm separating myself from to notice, I'm as guilty as anyone. We critique & criticize each other for how our hair looks, our clothes, how smart we are, how much money we have, what kind of car we have...the list goes on forever. This is one aspect of our world that we could definitely do without, & further than that, we could CHANGE THE WORLD if it were different.
I was thinking about a certain situation earlier with a former close guy friend who decided to tell me things I should change about myself that would make guys like me more. What's sad is that I actually considered taking some of those things & trying to change them, even though I told him at the time that someone shouldn't love me only for physical attributes (which is where most of his focus was), but for who I am. Regardless of my feelings even then, sometimes I still think about ways that in his eyes, I didn't measure up. In hindsight I realize how absurd this is. If the God of the Universe sent His one and only Son to die for me, when I was a wretched sinner, if I was good enough for Him, how can another sinner tell me that I won't be good enough unless I meet certain criteria & standards? The media is bombarding young women with ways to be thinner, prettier, ways to go after guys, ways to make them go after you...the problem is, they're teaching girls to improve things that won't attract the type of guy that they should want to be with! The problem is though, & this opens up a whole other topic, these girls are searching for love in the wrong ways, & in the wrong places. Just as Jesus thought I was good enough from the beginning, He LOVED me from the beginning. He can't love me more than He does right now. That's so hard to comprehend, yet so amazing. It's unfathomable. I love having a God who's so big & amazing that even I as a believer can't understand it. Once you can grasp this, that God is the only source of real, true, unfailing love, you start to see other things differently. I gave up on dating a while ago. I didn't want to live under the pressure of having someone to feel like I'm worth something. And the wonderful thing is that I'm finally at an age where I love myself. Not that I always love everything ABOUT myself, but I love MYSELF as a whole. God made me the way He made me for reasons that only He knows, & He wants me to use the way I am to impact the world for His glory! When you think about your identity like that, & stop trying to figure out why you don't measure up to the world's standards (since God's standards are much better anyway), it changes your whole outlook. As far as girls go, rock what you've got! I will be the first to admit it takes a while to truly find who that person is, & even then you're constantly changing, but don't let anyone tell you you're not good enough. If you're good enough for Jesus, that's the only good enough you need to measure up to. And let's face it, He wouldn't have died for us if He didn't think so. Although the world might not always think we're what we should be, we ALWAYS have a place to go where we are totally loved & accepted. All this isn't to say that we should just say, "Well, Jesus made me this way! Can't change it!" There is nothing wrong with improving yourself for the right reasons, say, to live a healthier lifestyle, because things like that can totally help you to be more effective for Christ. But let's let go of the standards that no one should be asked to reach. There is such a thing as individuals to celebrate God's creativity, & if we were all the same, that would be much harder to find in the human race.
At school every day I see tons of people yelling at each other, being rude, being inconsiderate, talking back to teachers, sarcasm running rampant in conversations, hurtful remarks made behind other's backs (& once again I'm not excluding myself from being guilty). Then today when I had a pretty awful day, I had not one, but two people open doors for me. And not just holding it open behind them but stepping in front of me to open the door, & within the same trip to class. This impressed me so much. But it also made me sad to realize that a simple act of being considerate is so rare that I'm that impressed. Our culture, especially young people, are so entitled, so caught up in their own worlds, so accomodated by adults for their every wish & desire, that they don't even think about other people! There is so much wrong with this. We need to stop looking in the mirror in front of our faces & instead look through the window to see what we should do to help others right there in front of us. There are ways every day that we can take advantage of to help other people, which is not only helpful to them, but rewarding to us! Jesus wants us to be a caring people, to love one another. Let's start showing it. You know the Love Dare? From Fireproof? In that movie it's to improve marriages, but I think we should adopt something like that in our relationships with other people. Go out of your way every day to make someone else feel better, to compliment them, to help them if they're having a bad day. A little goes a long way.
This has been a little hodgepodge of thoughts, if you made it through to the end! I hope you got something out of it, know that you're not alone, & I hope that you'll help me try to make a difference in the easiest ways possible, by encouraging our fellow human beings!



Shine!

Blessings galore.

It's amazing how God humbles you sometimes.
I've been sitting here reading a blog that I found through a friend who knows a man who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He, & more recently his wife, posts about their daily struggles & small triumphs as they fight his battle for life. (www.teamemmett.com if you want to check it out, or donate money)
In the past weeks, my biggest struggles have been trying to find a prom dress & getting money for a spring break trip. Even trying to get money to cover college seems so insignificant right now as I read his blog. In my life I like to think that I try & think of others, but really, I just realize time and time again how selfish I am. All I ever think about is how things affect me, & I lose track so many times of things that really really matter. Like life. How many days go by without us even THINKING that we are so lucky to breathe? It's like we only notice things to be thankful for when something goes wrong with them. If I can't breathe one day then when I regain that ability will be the only day I'm thankful to be able to breathe, & then it's back to not thinking about it. If I don't have money to buy food & then somehow aquire money to buy some, I'm only thankful for it when it's hard to come by. Why don't we take more time to actually sit & think about the blessings that we consider to be small, insignificant entitlements, & thank God for them as the real blessings that they are? We always learn more through struggles, when we HAVE to draw near to God to make it through. Why don't we draw near to Him more when things are good, when food and blessings are plentiful? Because we don't "need" Him. Oh, how wrong that is.
In a generation that seems to feel entitled to everything they could possibly want, we need more people to look at things a different way. To notice the sunsets, the birds singing, the simple extravagance of clean water that so many people worldwide are going without, the fellowship and encouragement of our family and friends who are there to share it all with us, & be truly thankful. It shouldn't take the absense of good things to make us realize how great they were. "You don't know what you've got until it's gone", they say. Let's know how good we've got it while we've got it. Let's not wait for something bad to happen to make us thankful for the good. Let's focus on building thankful hearts that praise our beautiful God from whom ALL blessings flow. God doesn't have to give us breath, but He does. He didn't have to send Jesus to die for us, but He did. He loves us that much. It amazes me that when Jesus died, He was thinking of ME. Along with everyone else in the world, but still, if it had just been me alone, He still would have died for me because He loves me that much. How can we not be thankful for that? If someone took a bullet for you, or pulled you out of oncoming traffic, or rescued you from the floods around you, wouldn't you be thankful? Any person would say yes. So, why aren't we more thankful to Jesus? Because we don't "need" Him right now? Why should we wait until things get bad, until death is knocking on the door, until the money runs out, until some unimaginable tragedy happens, to need Him? He doesn't need us, He's God. But He WANTS us. Is that incredible to anyone else besides me? He gives us problems to show that He can solve them. But He can also work in the little parts of our lives to show the world that He loves us through it all, not just when we turn to Him in desperation. We serve an awesome God who is there through EVERYTHING. He knows us better than we know ourselves, & amazingly, loves us still.
This was probably more rambling than I was aiming for, but all in all, God is amazing. He shows me things daily that open my eyes wider to see more than the small "world" around me, & see His whole creation, & find His glory & frequently, His incredible blessings and love for us that are all around if we take the time to notice.
Notice some small blessings today. Take five minutes, lay down in silence, & listen to yourself breathe. Let's stop taking it for granted. Let's realize what we have, & use it for His glory. He gave it all to us, anyway.

Plans, plans, plans.

Today I was thinking about something as I listened to the song No Such Thing by John Mayer when it came on the radio. There's a line in the song that says "'Welcome to the real world' she said to me, condescendingly, 'take a seat, take your life, plot it out in black and white...'"
This made me think about how at this point in my life, getting ready to enter college next year, there are so many people asking you about your plans. Everyone you talk to wants to know where you're going to school, what you're going to major in, everything about your plans. While it's obviously good to have an idea of what you want to accomplish and goals for yourself, there's so much pressure to pick what you want your life to be and just jump into chasing it. The thing is, my plans are nowhere near as wonderful as God's plans. I can't even fathom some of the things He wants to do in my life. "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord..."
I love knowing that I don't have to have everything figured out. The One that made the universe and gave me life knows where my life will lead, & will help me get to certain places in my life to help me reach where He wants me to be to accomplish not my own goals for my life which are rooted in pride, vanity, and selfishness, but HIS plans for my life which are all configured to help me do the things He wants me to do in my life and the purpose of all of them which is to bring glory to Him. I think that especially at this point in life, we need to really remember that His plans are greater than our own, & we need to keep focused on what really matters in order to do His work. As my life prepares to face so many changes, I'm preparing to face them & follow HIS plans for my life, which will always beat my own. What a comfort to know, especially as a person who plans everything out all the time (serial list maker here people!) that God knows what I need better than I do, & will orchestrate my life even when I don't know what's coming.
Seeking His will,
JJ