"Christ"mas?

This is the time of year when everyone gets just a little bit more excited, often times for no apparent reason other than the fact that Christmas is just around the corner. Unless you're an Ebenezer Scrooge, you can't deny that opening a gift on Christmas morning next to a brightly colored tree, surrounded by the people you love makes you at least a little tingly inside.

If you want to be nit-picky about it Christmas did in fact have pagan origins. If you google "The origin of Christmas," you won't find anything that tells us that it began with a celebration of the birth of Christ. But in my opinion, every day should be a holiday celebrating the Savior who died to forgive our sins. Why not take a day that is supposed to be the happiest day of the year and give it back to Christ? One of the things that Jesus does best is take things that are sinful and turn them into things that proclaim his glory. That's what he did with us. It seems quite appropriate to take a holiday that was originally sinful and turn it around in celebration of his name.

In the days leading up Christmas, read scriptures foretelling the birth of Christ. When you're opening gifts on Christmas morning and giving presents to loved ones, use it as a time to remember the gift we have in Christ. Read the story of his birth for devotions that day or even with your family before you open presents. If you have children (or just a sweet tooth), bake a birthday cake for Jesus! I encourage you to find small ways through out the day to give glory to God for the grace that he has given to us.

Words of Wisdom from the Bard

This is a classic poem that pretty much speaks for itself on the topic of love, so without further adieu, here it is:

Sonnet 116
By William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Dear Husband...

One day we will get old. It's inevitable. But no matter how stiff or wrinkly we get, I will always wake up each day with a smile knowing that I'm next to you. 'Cause guess what? Love never fails (I Cor. 13:8). I pray that when we're older, we will still be as happy and as joyful as these two.

Yours Forever,
Bethany

Easier Said Than Done

In todays world, most people tend to have a very temporary mindset. When they get a soda in a paper cup from McDonalds, they don't plan to go home and wash it to re-use later. They get it with the mindset that they'll throw it away when they're finished with it. Technology is always being updated and the old replaced with newer, shinier, smaller, better, and faster. And sometimes, this even carries over to people. Why do so many marriages end in divorce? Granted, not every divorce is the result of the partners "growing apart," or "falling out of love," but too many of them are. Whatever happened to "til death do us part" and "happily ever after"?

Recently I've been reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and I came across a chapter called "Christian Marriage" that speaks on this topic. There are several excellent quotes in the book, but one in particular that caught my eye was one that said, "The promise made when I am in love and because I am in love, to be true to the beloved as long as I live, commits me to being true even when I cease to be in love" (107). I'm not speaking from experience, but simple from what God desires. No one is perfect. There will be times of annoyance, anger, and frustration. There may even come a time when you feel like you are no longer in love. But, "...ceasing to be "in love" need not mean ceasing to love"(109). Continue to love like Christ no matter what. Easier said than done, I know. But remember: Christ did not leave you at the first sign of hardship. He demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice by dying for you. He didn't go to the cross smiling and happy. I'm sure that he did not "feel" like dying or "feel" like being beaten. How much more should we sacrifice and continue to love, despite our feelings?

To Whom It May Concern - Civil Wars

To my husband:



Love,
Bethany

Here I am. Send me!

Over spring break I had the chance to watch The Diary of Anne Frank for the first time. I am one of those people who is very fascinated with the Holocaust, not in a creepy way, but WWII is my favorite war to study. As I knew I would, I found myself in tears at the end of the movie looking thinking about the needless killing of so many people. I thought about how precious they were to God and how much his heart must break to see them in pain and to hear them cry out to him. I began to think, "God, I don't understand you. Why would you allow so much tragedy? Why would you let something like this happen?" I turned in my Bible to chapter 6 in Isaiah and started to read. I thought about the song by Todd Agnew about Isaiah 6. As I was reading and thinking about all of this I came to verse 8: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” And as I read that, suddenly it hit me. That is what God is calling me to. I know it might seem strange, but somehow I've connected my future calling, the Holocaust, and Isaiah 6 together in a way that makes since to me. The school systems are my Auschwitz. I am called to bring hope to students who are struggling and hurting. I am called to reach out to them and teach them to the best of my ability about the only thing that will every bring them peace. Send me to the child who is blaming himself for his parents divorce. Send me to the student who bases her worth on her what she looks like. Send me to the kid who is left out and made fun of. Send me to the child who feels like they have to act up to be noticed. Send me the one who is hurting so much inside that they cut their body to easy the pain. Send me to bring hope. Send me to bring love. Here I am. Send me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugj62GaB_30

Dear Hubby...

I wish that you were here with me right now and I can't wait to meet you. I can't wait to share my life with you and be a part of yours. I pray that God is lovin' on you right now and wherever you are you feel his comfort and his peace.

Love,
Bethany

Never Grow Up?

Peter Pan never wanted to grow up. So, he created a world in which he didn't have to - a world in which he could escape responsibility and make his own rules. Sometimes, it seems like it would be nice to be able to do this. When you're staring at a pile of dirty laundry, looking at all of the papers you have to write or when you're trying to ignore the sound of your alarm clock in the morning that's waking you up for work, it seems like it would be nice for it all just to disappear. It seems like it would be nice to go back to the days when all you had to worry about was whether you wanted a PB&J or a ham sandwich for lunch or whether to watch Scooby-Doo or Batman.

But think about this: what is one of the greatest things of all you'd be missing out on? Love. Peter Pan never got to feel love because he was afraid of it. When you're a kid, kissing still gives you cooties and boys are icky. But growing up is all about getting to experience the things that mean something. Peter Pan never got to have kids and watch them grow up, he never got married, he never even had a girlfriend. None of the things in life that are important, that mean something, and that you'd die to protect come by playing chutes and ladders or sailboat in the bathtub. They come by learning, by living, and by growing.

They might cause us pain and heartache sometimes. They might mean that we have to get off of work early to drive to our kids school and pick them up because their sick. They might mean that we have to take out a second mortgage on the house to pay for medical bills. They might mean working two jobs to put food on the table. But they're worth it. They're worth it because without the things in life that means something, without people and without love, life isn't worth living at all.

"To live would be an awfully big adventure." - Peter Pan

Defined by Love

"I am redemption I am whole. I am a tragic wreck made perfect by a love I can’t control. I am determined to be defined by my hits not just my misses. Stand up tall and say that this is who I am. " - I am by Philmont from their album The Transition EP

We all make mistakes. But life is not just about making mistakes - it's about what you learn from them. I am not my mistakes - I am a child of God, made in his image and saved by his grace. I make mistakes. He does not. HE is who I am, and I will chose to be defined by his love.

Download Song: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-transition-ep/id399079001

Philmont's Blog: http://philmont.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/the-transition-ep-lyrics/

Watch, Listen, and Love

Humans are busy creatures. We are constantly focused on doing things and getting to the next thing or activity. Sometimes this can be a good thing, but other times it can be detrimental. Most of the time, the things we are so anxious to get to and so worried about are all for ourselves. Admit it - you're a selfish person. We all are, in one way or another.
There is a lot of hurt in this world, but I think that we miss it because we're wrapped up in our own world. Our friends, our acquaintances and even people we don't know need us. They need us to simply notice that they're in pain. Why should you take the time for this? Because they are created in the image of God and he loves them. That's it. If it's someone close to you, perhaps you have an additional reason, but other than that it's all because of that.
Think about this - how many of the people that you passed today were having a really bad day? How many of your friends cried themselves to sleep last night? Who is really angry, who just needs a hug, and who needs someone to listen to? Do you know? The truth is that it's impossible to stop everyone that you see and make sure they're okay. But you can do small things for the people that you come in contact with. Take an extra second to make sure that they're really okay after the whole "how are you" "I'm fine" bit. Hear them out for a second when they need someone to rant to about the huge paper they have due. Watch for behavior changes in your friends (ie: being abnormally quiet, breathing shakily, wanting to retreat away from people more than usual, wringing hands, nervous twitches like clicking pens, tapping or shaking a foot, and dark circles under their eyes). This takes a long time to say but doesn't really take more than a couple of seconds to notice.
The bottom line is to work on loving people better. Care about people even if they can't give you anything. Love them for who they are, despite what they've done. Notice them and be someone they can count on.

Theology from Poe

"And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me..."

These words make up the last 2 lines of the first stanza of Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee. Naturally, Poe was talking about Annabel and a romantic love between him an her but consider this: What if we approached our relationship with God this way? To live with no other thought than God's love for us and wanting to return that love to him? How would our world be changed if that were the only thing that we lived for and everything that we did, everything that our world revolved around was centered on that one thought: to love God and to rest in his love for us.

Falling in Love with the Creator

Both of these pictures are absolutely beautiful, but in different ways. One of them makes us open our mouths wide at its vastness. We see the huge mountains and lake and the vivid colors and we feel small. We know that something greater than us must have created this masterpiece. The other image is beautiful in the details. It is carefully put together, each small petal crafted to perfection. We look at it and wonder if we would have taken the time to do that. We see that whoever made it obviously cared about it.
I look at these images and see God: God in his hugeness and God in his perfection, God in his power and God in his love. God took so much time and put so much thought into each piece of his creation - these are just two small, minute parts of the world! How much more important are we that he chose to make us in his image? Our God is so beautiful.

All You Need Is Love

No... seriously. What is the most important commandment Jesus gives? Love God first, and then others(Mark 12:30). There are so many people that I come in contact with everyday who God has laid on my heart to witness to. But what better way to witness to them than to show them LOVE? What better way to show them that Jesus loves them than to show them that no matter what they've done, where they've come from - I genuinely care for them and love them. No, I obviously can never love them as much as Jesus can. My love is imperfect. But with Jesus, I can show them the kind of love that really makes a difference.
There are so many people who need Jesus. If I'm completly realistic, I can't reach all of them! There is no way I can share Jesus with the entire world. But I can show LOVE to everyone that I come in contact with so that they know without a shadow of a doubt that there is something different about me, something alive within me.
It's not about telling people that they can do whatever they want because no matter what they do God still loves them. It's about showing them that IN SPITE of what they do, and what I do, Jesus loved us enough to die for us(Romans 5:8)!