The Holiday Season and God

Yup, this week starts the 2009-2010 holiday season! One not so neat thing about it is they won't be able to make any more New Years Glasses (2010 doesn't fit like the past 9 years have). You can lament all you want, but they will have to work some magic to make some funky glasses to fit on your face for the new decade (I still can't believe a decade has gone by like THAT!)

Onto other things, after hearing some powerful sermons on stewardship, money, and God, as well as talking with some friends on these and other related topics, I felt I wanted to share these with my youth friends!

"When you build a city near no mountains and no ocean, you get materialism and traditional religion. People have too much time and lack inspiration."
-Donald Miller

"1 month of the year, people get 'thankful' - the other 11 months, it is easy to fall into the trap of being a 'functional atheist'. You can recognize Jesus died on the cross and know He rose from the dead for your sins, but your life turns out to be more of an artificial life, you expect less from God, you expect more from yourself, your plans, your schemes, and are submitting yourself to yourself, which also yields to you your fears. This can be a clandestine (secretive) way of acting which says 'I don't trust that God would take care of me'."

Furthermore, we all can fall into the trap of being ungracious. You feel that you achieve what you have by your hand ALONE, and subsequently ask, "why can't others do the same as me? why are others not working as hard as me?" Judgement sets in, and can take the form of simply judging others and not looking to how God is blessing them in their life.

The question: What would our lives look like if we walked with these gifts of the Spirit every day? If we strived to work on this, let it soak into our every day self, with all of our classes, encounters wit different friends/family/church people, how would you look?

A key reminder for this, which happens to be something that I have to remind myself daily, is that change is a process that may take seasons. Furthermore, it is not a station you simply arrive at and POOF, you are unscathed and blameless (unless you are up with our God :) )

Check out 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 - Paul thanks God for Jesus Christ before he gets into any deep theological confabulations (discussions). He knows what keeps him going, what is the most important at the core of his letters and teachings, and what was the most important to God: a relationship with Jesus and the Father.

Our Clothes

A few girls recently involved in the national organization, Younglife, hosted a sleepover, featuring a What Not To Wear-inspired fashion show. Together, they also watched a few episodes of the TLC television show. More important than the clothes, Litz and Savard desired to give the girls a better understanding of what messages their clothes were communicating.

"Respecting their bodies wasn't high on their priority lists," Savard said. "It was: 'What attention can I get, and how can I get it?'"

"We just wanted to extend to them that if you take the time to find things that fit well, you can really transform how you look and feel about yourself,"
Litz said. "If you are dressing for your body, then that's when you're the most beautiful."

The girls embarked the next day on a shopping trip, lasting eight hours, and proved to be quite exhausting. "We learned a lot of nice ways to say no," Litz said. But, the experience was instrumental in helping the girls understand that clothing can both express and invite respect.

"A lot of them [had] put up walls," Savard said. "'People are going to notice me for this.' In reality, they were making up for something else. It's just been cool to help them come through that. It was definitely something that God did, and I was so happy to be a part of it."

---I do not intend for this story to tell you what you should and shouldn't wear, but to be critical when you look at yourself in the mirror. Look for meaning behind the reasons why you wear certain things.
Your clothes, even without any labels or logos on them, send messages to the opposite sex, the same sex, and people you do not know.

Grace like Rain

*Devotion by Cindy

Do you need to forgive yourself of something??? Grab a cup of coffee….this is a tough subject!!

Maybe you caused direct harm to another person…maybe you lied… maybe you betrayed someone who trusted you…maybe you lost your temper and said very hurtful things…maybe you belittled or humiliated yourself or someone else…..maybe you stole something…maybe you cheated…maybe you broke a promise…maybe you emotionally or physically abused someone…

It is only after we have gone through a process of deep self examination that we might begin the journey of allowing transformation, which could then set the stage for self-forgiveness. I guess the bottom line is: only if we can determine that we need to forgive ourselves for something, will it be possible for us to even attempt it.

So, what are some things we need to do to begin that journey? One thing is that we have to learn our limitations and pitfalls. That means we have to confront ourselves and recognize that our inflated sense of self might be what is getting in our own way. Do we acknowledge and realize sometimes how VERY ruinous some of our personality traits and actions might be? When we do the hard work to unveil and reveal our own limitations, it starts a path of opportunity to be HONEST….and HONESTY is the essential action of any true personal change, including self-forgiveness.

To accomplish self-forgiveness, we must put away self-destructive emotional weapons, such as guilt and shame. Another factor in self-forgiveness is taking the appropriate amount of responsibility, and then doing the work that will lead to “letting it go”. We sometimes find it easier to forgive OTHERS, because we can make excuses for them, or pretend they meant no harm. For some reason, when it comes to self-forgiveness, excuses seem much more difficult to mount. While we need to find a way to hold ourselves accountable, and to take full responsibility for our actions, we also need to find a way to not continue to allow our past transgressions to be converted into self-directed weapons. While we need to find a way to be honest and admit our wrongdoings, we also need to gain insight into these poor decisions, confess them, make true and lasting changes, and then proceed with a transformed heart on a new path.

Learning to self-forgive is to transcend the pit of despair and rise to compassion and empathy. I think self-forgiveness is a choice that will bring peace, deep joy, relief, unconditional love, true ownership, and a sense of power over one’s health and well-being.

So, do you need to forgive yourself? Do you WANT to have peace, deep joy, relief, unconditional love, true ownership, and a sense of power you’re your health and well-bring?? Then today is the day to start the wonderful journey!

Make it a great week, praising God from whom all blessings flow, especially the blessing of being free of guilt and shame through self-forgiveness.

*I hope you found this devo interesting and can shed light on your own hearts battles.

Try out this quiz! Palindrome word pairs :)