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| On FriendshipI posted this on facebook a while ago. God commanded us to love our enemies and that definitely includes our friends and those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Loving them is more than just feeling the 'warm fuzzies' towards them. It means looking out for their good, putting their needs and desires before your own, which includes, on occasion, hurting them to help them grow.
So how far do you go for someone? If they really don't want your attention, I would say let it be. Be kind, but don't push 'friendship' with them if they don't want it. I know that sounds harsh. I do know how hard that can be: it's heartbreaking and at times it can takes years to heal. God created us relational; we need relationships with other people. Sometimes we build our worlds around certain people, and sometimes those people step out of our reach and leave us with a hole in our lives that aches, and it doesn't seem possible to fill that void again.
Which leads me to motive and focus. Like I said before, God created us with a need to interact. We need others' love, approval, companionship, empathy, challenge, encouragement, etc. But people are sinners. We fail, and fail miserably. Our focus in any relationship, friendship or otherwise, needs to be God-centered. If God's not at the center, we will be disappointed. People will fail you and me, just as you and I will fail others. Our motive in loving someone needs to be first because God wills it, and only secondly because we want to be loved back by that person. We need to first be concerned with the needs of others, and secondly with our own. It's a constant battle, but it's a worthwhile one to fight.
I won't pretend I have that part of my life in order, because I don't; I still have a long ways to go. I do know, however, that through the years, as I've tried to change my focus, I have been very blessed with the friends God has sent my way. Once I began loving others with my actions because I love God and because Christ did so much more for me than I can ever do for anyone, rather than because I wanted MY needs met in return, God blessed me, and in greater ways than I even imagined before. That's not to say that everything's always good and nothing hurts anymore (that won't happen til we reach heaven), but it's definitely more satisfying and rewarding than before. | | |
| ThanksgivingSince the greatest thing we have to be thankful for is our salvation, here's a quote from Derek Webb from his album The House Show. You are never really going to be filled with joy unless you truly know yourself for who you really are. And until you are a real sinner with a real savior, you will be a hypothetical and theoretical sinner, and therefor the hypothetically and theoretically saved. If you confess "Oh yeah, I'm sinful. Scripture tells me that we've all fallen short", but you can't honestly put your finger on one sin you've committed all day, because your view of sin has become nothing more than this cultural hiding game, then you're not experiencing true joy. Because if all I can confess is a knowledge of how sin has affected me, but not any of my real sins, if I don't really know that I'm sinful, then I don't really know, and am not truly encouraged by the fact that I've been saved, because saved from what? If I'm not really sinful, then what's the big deal? What's the good news? It's just news. But if you know yourself as exposed by the cross, then I believe that you will begin to experience true joy, because you will not be constantly checking the knots in this great suit of fig leaves that you've sown for yourself. Rather, you will be comfortably exposed in your sin and boasting in your great Savior because He is real. Charles Spurgeon once said, "If your sin is small, your Savior will be small also. But if your sin is great, then your Savior must be great".
Have a blessed Thanksgiving! | | |
| I just found a tree frog in our house by the back door. Seth said that's the second time one has come inside. I wonder what they want... Maybe he was my Prince Charming. Shoot, now he's gone. | | |
| Look at my baby. Isn't he the cutest little furball ever? 
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| Most of my family has already put up pictures of what's been happening with our house. I figured it's my turn. :) This is a very condensed version... First (after we tore down the sunroom), all these shakes had to come off. 
And the frame that was underneath (why oh why oh why did the builders do this to the house??) 
Then, the guys dug the foundation under the dining room 
My room is in the basement. The door to the furnace room is in my room. The furnace room wasn't exactly enclosed, so this is what I could see out that door (which had no lock) for a while. Kinda creepy... What if some thugs found the nice dugout to hide in? Eek! Of course, noone found it and it's all filled in now. 
One corner of the house had termites and had to be fixed. 
This area, up to the cement slab behind Titus, is now a flower bed. Actually, it's a dirt bed. But it will have flowers in it later. 
Yay!! We have most of a real roof now! 
Next, we're moving the front door, putting new windows in, and getting new siding. I am SO excited. It's already looking so much better than it did before we started. And, lest you think all this work will make my brothers dull... Seth and Jesse on the lookout for... something 
Haha, I wonder what the neighbors think 
Aaiaaii, a cap gun! 
Seth is unaffected by the danger. 
That is all for now. Have a wonderful week, whatever your plans are. | | |
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