I’ve had a lot to be thankful for this week. So, today I thank You God for…
Day #11
…men. One of the great joys in life is witnessing a man being a man. I saw at least one man doing just that tonight and it can only bring about more of the same. True men are a great thing indeed.
Day #12
…people who live honestly. There is something inspiring about a person who doesn’t attempt to cover themselves up with facades. We may hastily judge, but later when we see a weakness overcome it is that much more glorious! Truthful people testify to how things really are, in the bad but especially in the good.
Day #13
…God’s plan. Tonight I believe I caught another line of how God is using me. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, and if it comes to be true, then I’ll update about it. All I have to say, however, is follow EVERY ONE of God’s whispers. You truly will never know what He has in store for you.
Day #14
…sunsets. In Alabama. Do I have to say more?
Day #15
…random encounters that save your day. I ran into a friend who happened to mention that he was going to a meeting that I also was supposed to be at. I would have definitely missed it if it weren’t for him. That 10 second window saved my whole day, if not my whole week.
Day #16
…good company. Spending time with someone who is easy to be with beats even sleep. That was a hard thing to write for me, but it’s true. : )
Day #17
…never abandoning Your people. I admit Lord, I still don’t completely trust You. Even after all the signs and the kept promises, there is still something holding me back. There is still a part of me that questions. I thank You for still working on me. For letting me experience even more of Your perfect plan and mercy. You are changing me. I see now, that although the odds seem insurmountable and all hope is gone that You are God, and nothing stands in Your way. If we place our trust in You, no matter how imperfect, You cannot let us down. Thank you Lord for showing me that in the small tragedies of life, in the uncertain times, in the illnesses and deaths of loved ones, and in great disasters that You are there, working flawlessly to show Your love for us. You can only bring good.
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Monday, January 18, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tidbit from Conference
I went to a talk during the conference where the speaker mentioned a canoeing trip he took with his wife. The only thing he remembered from the quick safety and canoe lesson was that if you fall out of the boat, don’t attempt to stand up. If you try to stand up in a river, the force of the water will knock you down. The worse case would be that your foot would get caught between rocks and you could drown. I forgot where the speaker went with his story, but “don’t stand up” can apply to a lot of different things. I wrote this in adoration at the conference.:
It’s amazing how you touch people Lord. In simply wanting you, we get you. Can you ever give us more love now than before, when all your love was already upon us? Does this mean you were holding back, or that you just created more love? I think neither. I believe that this “new and greater” love you give me was already there, but now I see it, I feel it, I know it. You put it there, from all along. My eyes and heart are open and you rush in. Lord, how you fill every space entirely! There is no greater love than your love because it never ceases. It never fails.
I am no match against the roaring river of you and all that you have for me. I will go with the river, and hope to never try and stand up. I want to experience the rapids and taste the chill of the water. I want to see the mountains and the trees that are beyond the river’s bend. It’s someplace that I can’t see, but I know that it will be beyond anything that I can imagine.
And you made it all. You put me on that river and you told the waters to flow. You gave it all to me and I just have to look around and not stand up. God, how marvelous you are! How infinite your love is! How I only seek to float down the river with you! How I see now that I always have been. My Lord and my God, thank you!
It’s amazing how you touch people Lord. In simply wanting you, we get you. Can you ever give us more love now than before, when all your love was already upon us? Does this mean you were holding back, or that you just created more love? I think neither. I believe that this “new and greater” love you give me was already there, but now I see it, I feel it, I know it. You put it there, from all along. My eyes and heart are open and you rush in. Lord, how you fill every space entirely! There is no greater love than your love because it never ceases. It never fails.
I am no match against the roaring river of you and all that you have for me. I will go with the river, and hope to never try and stand up. I want to experience the rapids and taste the chill of the water. I want to see the mountains and the trees that are beyond the river’s bend. It’s someplace that I can’t see, but I know that it will be beyond anything that I can imagine.
And you made it all. You put me on that river and you told the waters to flow. You gave it all to me and I just have to look around and not stand up. God, how marvelous you are! How infinite your love is! How I only seek to float down the river with you! How I see now that I always have been. My Lord and my God, thank you!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Being hurt by those you love and revealing God
Tonight I feel empty and distant from everyone. I’ve lost a lot of friends. I have been hurt a lot by those I consider myself closest to. This semester has been a train-wreck. I'm glad its over and Christmas (a very joyous time) is almost here!
I’ve begun a new way of dealing with my feelings. No matter what I’m feeling (lately, neglected and unloved), I relate it to Jesus. This can be applied to almost every human emotion, especially when dealing with relationships.
This week we anticipate Jesus' coming! This is certainly a joyous thing (for us). But I can’t stop focusing on how much this reveals about God.
God, the All Powerful, made himself vulnerable to us. First in Mary, as she had to agree to accept Jesus. Then he makes himself vulnerable in becoming a baby, the most vulnerable thing there is! A little baby is completely helpless. He depends on someone else for everything. It’s amazing that God trusted his severely imperfect humans with this! This was his Son!
Coming down to earth was HUGE! The only motivator there could have been is love, because it involved so much pain. The Father knew what would happen to Jesus. Not just what would happen on the cross, but in his whole life. Jesus would be ridiculed, mocked, ignored, hated, and ultimately killed. These actions are amplified by the fact that Jesus is love. He loved every single person who did these things to him. He created them and he would die for them. Still, they rejected him. Still, we reject him. Jesus is the poster child for unrequited love!
Out of every person who has ever lived, Jesus had it the worst. I can’t fathom how he did it. What it must have taken for the Father to give his Son to us!
It is a glorious thing that he came to us, but it is so incredibly painful. There is no greater love than what God has given for us. We must be so miserable and helpless that the only way to save us was for him to do that! Otherwise, he would have found another way. God reveals himself through a vulnerable poor child, and all he asks for is our love. He has given us everything. After knowing how much love he poured onto us and the world, how can we not want to do that?
Jesus has saved me once again from being hopeless. If he came to us, knowing of all the pain that would ensue and still was willing to endure it, surely my own pain is nothing to dwell over. I am loved, so deeply loved.
(I think Anne is getting at the same idea.)
I’ve begun a new way of dealing with my feelings. No matter what I’m feeling (lately, neglected and unloved), I relate it to Jesus. This can be applied to almost every human emotion, especially when dealing with relationships.
This week we anticipate Jesus' coming! This is certainly a joyous thing (for us). But I can’t stop focusing on how much this reveals about God.
God, the All Powerful, made himself vulnerable to us. First in Mary, as she had to agree to accept Jesus. Then he makes himself vulnerable in becoming a baby, the most vulnerable thing there is! A little baby is completely helpless. He depends on someone else for everything. It’s amazing that God trusted his severely imperfect humans with this! This was his Son!
Coming down to earth was HUGE! The only motivator there could have been is love, because it involved so much pain. The Father knew what would happen to Jesus. Not just what would happen on the cross, but in his whole life. Jesus would be ridiculed, mocked, ignored, hated, and ultimately killed. These actions are amplified by the fact that Jesus is love. He loved every single person who did these things to him. He created them and he would die for them. Still, they rejected him. Still, we reject him. Jesus is the poster child for unrequited love!
Out of every person who has ever lived, Jesus had it the worst. I can’t fathom how he did it. What it must have taken for the Father to give his Son to us!
It is a glorious thing that he came to us, but it is so incredibly painful. There is no greater love than what God has given for us. We must be so miserable and helpless that the only way to save us was for him to do that! Otherwise, he would have found another way. God reveals himself through a vulnerable poor child, and all he asks for is our love. He has given us everything. After knowing how much love he poured onto us and the world, how can we not want to do that?
Jesus has saved me once again from being hopeless. If he came to us, knowing of all the pain that would ensue and still was willing to endure it, surely my own pain is nothing to dwell over. I am loved, so deeply loved.
(I think Anne is getting at the same idea.)
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Struggle for Truth
The homosexual rights movement borrows a lot of tactics and arguments that have been used in past rights movements (such as the women’s and African-American). It can seem like a compelling argument, especially when one knows of history. There are many well meaning people that think that this whole debate is all about love: saying who can love who and in what ways. On the surface, it does seem wrong to say that a person can’t have the same rights as someone else just because the situation is a little bit different.
The gay rights side say that people are discriminating against them and the correct response is an overwhelming accommodation for them and acceptance (not just toleration) of their actions. They compare their struggle to that of minorities in the 1960’s.
However, the gay rights movement is almost completely different than any other major movement in American history. For one, the civil rights movement didn’t call for acceptance of what African-Americans did, but instead, of who they are. African-Americans were fighting for the right to live as God intended them to be, and not under the constraints of segregation laws and racial judgment. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he hoped his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.
The gays right movement wants rights for actions, instead of being. No one is proposing it to be illegal for someone to be gay. It is instead keeping that it is illegal for such persons to do certain things (which is where the law comes in).
Say, for example, someone is a drug addict. No matter how they became one (genetics, mental illness, choice), they are a drug addict, and for the rest of their life they will be one. How should society react to this? Should we say, well since they are addicted to drugs, lets just let them have drugs, and we’ll make it so that it doesn’t harm society. Should we ignore them, not helping but instead ridiculing them, further insulting their dignity? Or, seeing that this isn’t the best condition for them, help them stop using drugs and support them in improving their lives? In regard to this example, all three have been proposed (and attempted), and I think we all know which is the best option.
I’m not saying that homosexuals are drug addicts, but the example has similarities. Some people argue that we can’t tell others how to live or what will make them happy. You can view this two different ways. The first being religious. As Christians, and as Catholics, we are called to love all people, and that includes proclaiming the Truth to them. If someone you love was a drug addict, you want to tell them how they are hurting themselves and help them to stop. The same holds true for all our relationships. If a friend curses and uses the Lord’s name in vain, it’s our duty to point out why they shouldn’t be doing that. Doing so is a way of loving them.
The second way of looking at this is from a legal standpoint. To say we can’t tell people what not to do just doesn’t make sense. Almost every law tells us something we can’t do. When driving, we can’t speed. We can’t murder people. We can’t not pay taxes. We can’t assault people we are angry with. There are a lot of laws telling us what we can’t do. If someone is really going to say that the government can’t tell them what they can’t do, then they probably should move to a deserted island.
The gay rights movement isn’t about love. It is about claiming rights that don’t exist. The movement is seeking to not only change laws so that gays can “marry” but to also force everyone to agree that it’s okay that they are doing sinful things.
However, like other movements, both sides can be to blame for the present situation. There has been and still is quite a bit of hatred of homosexual persons. This is wrong. While we cannot approve of their actions, we must still love the person. That is what Mayor Osby Davis spoke of when he stated his view of homosexual persons. This isn’t a hard concept. In fact, if you love anyone, you already know how to “love the person and hate the sin”. If your friend curses, you don’t insult and humiliate him, you continue to love him while praying for him to stop offending God.
Being gay, like being black, may be “who a person is”. However this certainly isn’t all there is to a person. I’d like to quote Glee. “I may be a strong black woman but I’m much more than that.” Also, “being” doesn’t necessarily require action. A drug addict will always be so, but that doesn’t mean they have to use drugs for the rest of their lives.
Overall, I think it’s sad what is happening. The only way to share the Truth is with an overwhelming amount of love. Otherwise no one will ever listen.
The gay rights side say that people are discriminating against them and the correct response is an overwhelming accommodation for them and acceptance (not just toleration) of their actions. They compare their struggle to that of minorities in the 1960’s.
However, the gay rights movement is almost completely different than any other major movement in American history. For one, the civil rights movement didn’t call for acceptance of what African-Americans did, but instead, of who they are. African-Americans were fighting for the right to live as God intended them to be, and not under the constraints of segregation laws and racial judgment. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he hoped his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.
The gays right movement wants rights for actions, instead of being. No one is proposing it to be illegal for someone to be gay. It is instead keeping that it is illegal for such persons to do certain things (which is where the law comes in).
Say, for example, someone is a drug addict. No matter how they became one (genetics, mental illness, choice), they are a drug addict, and for the rest of their life they will be one. How should society react to this? Should we say, well since they are addicted to drugs, lets just let them have drugs, and we’ll make it so that it doesn’t harm society. Should we ignore them, not helping but instead ridiculing them, further insulting their dignity? Or, seeing that this isn’t the best condition for them, help them stop using drugs and support them in improving their lives? In regard to this example, all three have been proposed (and attempted), and I think we all know which is the best option.
I’m not saying that homosexuals are drug addicts, but the example has similarities. Some people argue that we can’t tell others how to live or what will make them happy. You can view this two different ways. The first being religious. As Christians, and as Catholics, we are called to love all people, and that includes proclaiming the Truth to them. If someone you love was a drug addict, you want to tell them how they are hurting themselves and help them to stop. The same holds true for all our relationships. If a friend curses and uses the Lord’s name in vain, it’s our duty to point out why they shouldn’t be doing that. Doing so is a way of loving them.
The second way of looking at this is from a legal standpoint. To say we can’t tell people what not to do just doesn’t make sense. Almost every law tells us something we can’t do. When driving, we can’t speed. We can’t murder people. We can’t not pay taxes. We can’t assault people we are angry with. There are a lot of laws telling us what we can’t do. If someone is really going to say that the government can’t tell them what they can’t do, then they probably should move to a deserted island.
The gay rights movement isn’t about love. It is about claiming rights that don’t exist. The movement is seeking to not only change laws so that gays can “marry” but to also force everyone to agree that it’s okay that they are doing sinful things.
However, like other movements, both sides can be to blame for the present situation. There has been and still is quite a bit of hatred of homosexual persons. This is wrong. While we cannot approve of their actions, we must still love the person. That is what Mayor Osby Davis spoke of when he stated his view of homosexual persons. This isn’t a hard concept. In fact, if you love anyone, you already know how to “love the person and hate the sin”. If your friend curses, you don’t insult and humiliate him, you continue to love him while praying for him to stop offending God.
Being gay, like being black, may be “who a person is”. However this certainly isn’t all there is to a person. I’d like to quote Glee. “I may be a strong black woman but I’m much more than that.” Also, “being” doesn’t necessarily require action. A drug addict will always be so, but that doesn’t mean they have to use drugs for the rest of their lives.
Overall, I think it’s sad what is happening. The only way to share the Truth is with an overwhelming amount of love. Otherwise no one will ever listen.
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