http://www.marshillchurch.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
It is impossible to tell a broken women that she is worth something and beautiful when the men prove the point that she's only a mere toy
This is brutally honest. But so desperately needs to be said in this tone. For both men and women to freakin' wake up and see what they are doing to themselves and everyone else. This was so for me, as well.
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men
http://www.marshillchurch.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
I know these huge passions are put in our hearts for very sovereign reasons which, if we don't settle or give up, creates unshakable joy.
My next blog will be on passion. God-given, driven, battle winning, concrete building, unfaltering passion.
I have quite a lot to say about this and how so many of us fools are fighting to continue being pulled through sinking sand.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Constantly Inconsistant
There's something really horrible about being in your early 20's. The pressure of the world weighs down. At least for myself and most of the crowd I run with. Moneyless, singleness, careerless, clueless... but I've come to find out that it's the white, middle-class, American dream that's completely and absolutely killing us. Literally. Why do we overly drink alcohol? Why do we over-eat? Why do we spend so much time following sports and watching TV? Why do we play 9 hours of video games? Why do we look at porn? Why do we spend so much money on just stuff that ends up in a garage sell 7 years later? Why do we smoke drugs? Why do we commit suicide? Why do we have so much stress that stops our hearts just to impress (fill in the blank)? Why? Someone has set up these criterias of success/pleasure and if you don't get there you are worthless. No wonder so many of us attempt to seek out through ANYTHING some kind of distraction from what’s really going on inside.
Let's start from the beginning of life as an average American citizen. You are born healthy; mom enrolls you in soccer, gymnastics, baseball, ballet. You make good grades, you participate in band, choir, swimming, football, theatre, cheerleading. You go to college. You graduate. You get a job in an office or by travel. You meet the love of your life. You get married. You buy your first house with a cute yard. You have your first baby. You have your second. They are both healthy. You enroll them in soccer, gymnastics, and swimming. They start school and make good grades. They go to college. You retire. You travel. You mow your yard a lot and read the newspaper. Your wife dies. Your husband dies. You die.
Now, what’s completely left out of this lovely list of “the white picket fence” is the cancer, death of a child, your husband cheating on you for 10 years, house burns down, losing the job, molested, mother and father die, car wreck that kills your wife, miscarriage, best friend turns their back on you, you get a disease that leaves you in bed for almost 2 years. Here’s the reality of life. We are killing ourselves for a sprinkler system perfect green kind of life that you, nor I, were ever guaranteed. We are all unconsciously trying to catch the wind.
So maybe it has nothing to do with the early 20s. Maybe it’s in middle school when you are constantly made fun of that you feel like a failure. Maybe it’s in high school when you don’t make the football team that you feel like a failure. Maybe it’s when you can’t graduate college because you don’t even have enough money to eat that you feel like a failure. Maybe it’s when you get married to the love of your life and realize that you should have married someone else. Maybe if you just had a different job, a different husband. Maybe if you ran away to Germany and got to start all over. We are constantly inconsistent. We want new. And we want it now. And we're in the constant mindset of "What's next...what's next" And we’re all killing ourselves. The problem with attempting to seek pleasure from the world (acceptance, money, power, sex that is now based solely on technique, things, doing "good" for the sake of your glory and recognition) is that you are in a never-ending war against the very reason you were even created. It's never been about you.
Maybe, just maybe, God really knows what He’s saying when He commands certain things of us. Not to be that kind of parent that constantly says, “Because I told you so” but because He is completely warring for our happiness. Because He’s begging us to not run in the street to chase the wind. Maybe God gets our pain. Maybe God never promised a life where death, suffering and hurt will never occur but did promise that in the midst of it we didn’t have to go through it alone. Maybe He’s telling you He loves you when you have a dark sad night of the soul. And maybe we were created by a God that isn’t bound by a list of superficial, world-searching, humanized path of “if you do x,y,z, then you will be happy.” The Creator of this universe has programmed this planet for, first and foremost, His named to be praised and glorified and for our pleasure and freedom - not to put us in bondage. He’s not here to take your life away but give you life.
What if we were finally not defined by the list. What if some of us aren’t suppose to go to college? What if some of us aren’t suppose to get married? What if some of us are? What if some of us don’t work in an office and don’t mow our yard? What if some of us end up homeless? What if some of us get cancer? What if some of us lose our family? What if some of us can’t retire? What if some of us never see the world? What if some of us never have the fenced yard? What if some of us didn’t have to go use alcohol just to be able to sleep that night? What if some of only ate what our bodies needed? What if we started to live each day like we didn’t deserve it? What if we recognized that God gets the glory in every day rather than our ladder of success and artificial happiness? What if we finally submitted to and become dependent on a God that longs to save us from ourselves? What if we saw our lives as a gift and that each breathe is God’s grace on us? What if we really understood God’s grace? What if we finally stopped chasing the polluted air of this world and for once said, “God, you were right. I can’t do it on my own anymore. I’m yours.”
God help us. Save us from ourselves.
Let's start from the beginning of life as an average American citizen. You are born healthy; mom enrolls you in soccer, gymnastics, baseball, ballet. You make good grades, you participate in band, choir, swimming, football, theatre, cheerleading. You go to college. You graduate. You get a job in an office or by travel. You meet the love of your life. You get married. You buy your first house with a cute yard. You have your first baby. You have your second. They are both healthy. You enroll them in soccer, gymnastics, and swimming. They start school and make good grades. They go to college. You retire. You travel. You mow your yard a lot and read the newspaper. Your wife dies. Your husband dies. You die.
Now, what’s completely left out of this lovely list of “the white picket fence” is the cancer, death of a child, your husband cheating on you for 10 years, house burns down, losing the job, molested, mother and father die, car wreck that kills your wife, miscarriage, best friend turns their back on you, you get a disease that leaves you in bed for almost 2 years. Here’s the reality of life. We are killing ourselves for a sprinkler system perfect green kind of life that you, nor I, were ever guaranteed. We are all unconsciously trying to catch the wind.
So maybe it has nothing to do with the early 20s. Maybe it’s in middle school when you are constantly made fun of that you feel like a failure. Maybe it’s in high school when you don’t make the football team that you feel like a failure. Maybe it’s when you can’t graduate college because you don’t even have enough money to eat that you feel like a failure. Maybe it’s when you get married to the love of your life and realize that you should have married someone else. Maybe if you just had a different job, a different husband. Maybe if you ran away to Germany and got to start all over. We are constantly inconsistent. We want new. And we want it now. And we're in the constant mindset of "What's next...what's next" And we’re all killing ourselves. The problem with attempting to seek pleasure from the world (acceptance, money, power, sex that is now based solely on technique, things, doing "good" for the sake of your glory and recognition) is that you are in a never-ending war against the very reason you were even created. It's never been about you.
Maybe, just maybe, God really knows what He’s saying when He commands certain things of us. Not to be that kind of parent that constantly says, “Because I told you so” but because He is completely warring for our happiness. Because He’s begging us to not run in the street to chase the wind. Maybe God gets our pain. Maybe God never promised a life where death, suffering and hurt will never occur but did promise that in the midst of it we didn’t have to go through it alone. Maybe He’s telling you He loves you when you have a dark sad night of the soul. And maybe we were created by a God that isn’t bound by a list of superficial, world-searching, humanized path of “if you do x,y,z, then you will be happy.” The Creator of this universe has programmed this planet for, first and foremost, His named to be praised and glorified and for our pleasure and freedom - not to put us in bondage. He’s not here to take your life away but give you life.
What if we were finally not defined by the list. What if some of us aren’t suppose to go to college? What if some of us aren’t suppose to get married? What if some of us are? What if some of us don’t work in an office and don’t mow our yard? What if some of us end up homeless? What if some of us get cancer? What if some of us lose our family? What if some of us can’t retire? What if some of us never see the world? What if some of us never have the fenced yard? What if some of us didn’t have to go use alcohol just to be able to sleep that night? What if some of only ate what our bodies needed? What if we started to live each day like we didn’t deserve it? What if we recognized that God gets the glory in every day rather than our ladder of success and artificial happiness? What if we finally submitted to and become dependent on a God that longs to save us from ourselves? What if we saw our lives as a gift and that each breathe is God’s grace on us? What if we really understood God’s grace? What if we finally stopped chasing the polluted air of this world and for once said, “God, you were right. I can’t do it on my own anymore. I’m yours.”
God help us. Save us from ourselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
