This is what it is all about...(not the hokey pokey)

Matthew 22:37-40 has been on my mind a lot lately. Like for months actually. It has been consuming my thoughts, so I guess it is time I write about it.

37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

What does it really mean to love God that much? I’m fairly certain it is a level of perfect love that we as humans will never actually reach, but we should strive for every second of every day. I think as Christians, we get that. We need to love God. We need to put Him first. We need to trust Him. We need to let Him lead our lives. Putting those things into action is what is really more difficult. Let’s face it. We have a lot of distractions in our lives that keep us from loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.  But like I said, I think we know we should strive for that love.

The second part of that command which Jesus says is EQUALLY important – to love our neighbor as yourself? Wait……what? I’m supposed to love everyone as much as I love myself?

1 John 3:11

11This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Romans 12: 9-10

9Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Romans 13:8

8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.

These verses are just the tip of the iceberg. Seriously, love is kind of the theme.  Especially loving others.

Here is my question. Why is this so hard for Christians? Sadly, Christians are known to be some of the most hateful and ugly people around the world. What kind of disservice are we doing to the name of Christ? I mean, really? Friends, what are we doing?

Dude, Jesus loved. He loved everyone. He hung out with the unlovable.  He taught them. He fed them. He healed them. He loved people.  Jesus was love. Jesus is LOVE.

Aren’t we supposed to be like Jesus? That is a rhetorical question, in case you didn’t know.

I seriously get all warm and bubbly thinking about Jesus. He was hands down the coolest guy who ever walked the face of the earth. I want to be like Him. I really do. I eff it up daily, but He is patient with me.

So my challenge for whomever reads this little blog of mine is this….

Walk the walk, people. Stop giving Christianity a bad name. Stop doing things in the name of Jesus that aren’t Christ-like. LOVE. Love unconditionally. Forgive. Help. Use your spiritual gifts. Make a difference. Show grace. Love others. Don’t pretend to love. Really love them. Look at people as Jesus sees them and remember that God made that person too.

The church isn’t about pretty candles. It isn’t about whether or not you think the music is at an acceptable level. It isn’t about the Sunday School rooms being big enough. It isn’t about the thermostat setting in the worship area. It isn’t about sermons that make you feel happy and don’t challenge you. It isn’t about whether or not you agree with every little thing. Being the church is about coming together as a unified body of believers who have one greater purpose.  

John 17:20-23 (part of Jesus’ prayer)

20I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

Why can't you see yourself as beautiful as I see you?

One of my favorite bands is The Avett Brothers. If you don't know who they are, you should learn. You won't regret it. Their music makes me happy. Anyway, one of the songs from the album, "Emotionalism" called "Will You Return?" was playing on my way home from my breakfast/brunch date with my precious friend, Sarah.  I sing these lyrics all of the time, but today they struck a chord with me.

"I wish you'd see yourself as beautiful as I see you. Why can't you see yourself as beautiful as I see you?"

Well, this song is specifically about a girl and a guy. But I was thinking on a deeper and more spiritual level. Do you ever wonder if God thinks the same about us? Is He saying that He wishes we would see ourselves as the beautiful creation that He has made in His image.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

Psalms 139: 13-18
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

He tells us that we are His beautiful creations, yet many of us doubt it so often.  I'm about to be 36 (in 24 day, but who is counting?). I still don't see myself as the beautiful creation God made, but I'm getting there. It has taken me a long time to ignore recognize the self defeating thoughts that the enemy wants me to believe. Now, I'm not saying to walk around all cocky. Well, because that would be annoying and people might want to slap you. But seriously...you have worth. You mean something everything to God. He gave you those talents. You may not feel good enough, but you are. You know how I know? Because He tells us so. We have a God who thinks about us so much that it can't even be numbered! So if He created us exactly how He wanted us - who are we to question or decide that it isn't good enough? Now I'm going to be honest. My spiritual gifts aren't very exciting. My top spiritual gift is listening.  Exciting huh? Why can't my gift be singing? I certainly pretend it is singing when I'm in the shower or the car.  For the longest time, I felt my gifts were lame. You know something? The world needs listeners too. The world needs people that have awesome smiles, give great hugs, and that can figure out difficult math problems. We all have our gifts. Sometimes I think my gifts are cool, but they aren't good enough. For example...writing and this blog. I doubt that my writing abilities will ever go beyond this therapeutic blog...or will they? I think God has something else in store for me with this and I have to be willing to take the leap of faith and explore it. 

So yeah, why don't we see ourselves as beautiful as God see us? 

My prayer is that we will recognize the unique gifts we each have and explore them to the fullest so that we may bring glory to Him.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Bedtime with my Aspie

Tonight we visited with friends and had our kids out later than usual. Then we drove around a tad bit longer to make sure that the 2 sleepers were good and asleep. It makes bedtime 100x easier when you only have 1 to get in bed as opposed to 3. Harrison had been asking for water during the entire car ride. He reminded me that he wanted water when I came to tuck him in for the night. We have these squeezy water bottles with interchangeable heads.

Let me back track a moment. I’m exhausted and it has been a long week. We store our water bottles in a hanging thing in our playroom closet. There were a few bags laying in front of the closet and the lights were off. I just needed bedtime to happen quickly so I could crash on the couch and drink my wine. Hey, I’m being honest.

So I grab the first water bottle I see due to reasons listed above. It happens to be a girly water bottle. Oh well, I think. He’s tired and it really doesn’t matter. I fill it up with water and take it to him.

Here is how the conversation went.

Harrison: “Um, mom. You realize this is a girl water bottle, right? “

Me: “Yes, but it’s fine.”

Harrison: “No it isn’t. I want another one.”

Me: “Harrison, you are thirsty. Just drink the water. I don’t have a boy water bottle clean.” (Ok, so I may have, but I wasn’t digging for one in the dark.)

Harrison: “Go ahead and wash one. “

Me: “I will wash them later. Right now, if you are thirsty you will drink out of this one.”

Harrison: shakes his head no (I think we bantered a bit back and forth about me washing a cup because he was too stubborn to drink out of a girl cup)

Me: “Oh well. Sorry. “

Harrison: shakes his head no

Me: “I don’t understand the problem. This is a Belle water bottle. You like Beauty and the Beast. The Beast is cool. And Belle has a really cool tea party and cool friends….like Chip, Mrs. Potts, and that cute little puppy thing. She wants you to “Be her guest.” You could pretend to be the Beast. He’s a neat guy.”

Harrison: rolls his eyes and shakes his head no

Me: “What? The Beast is a nice guy. Misunderstood, but nice.”

Harrison: glares at me

Me: “And he turns into a handsome prince”. (my voice might have been a little dreamy and sing-songish)

Harrison:  “Mom…”

Chris inserts some comment about me watching too many Disney movies and how I’m wasting bed time flavor.

Me: singing dramatically “Tale as old as time. True as it can be. Barely even friends. Then somebody bends. Unexpectedly.” I might have been dancing a bit. I don’t remember.

Harrison, then smiled and shook his fist at me. Then covered his head like I was torturing him.

Me: “Well, if you get thirsty,  Belle wants you to be her guest.”

I exit the room. Fast forward about 5 minutes later. I’m unloading the dishwasher (which I couldn’t remember if it was clean or dirty so I didn’t offer it as a solution during bedtime). I find a Spider Man head for the water bottle. Chris tells me I should offer a switch since he is so thirsty. I go into his room.

Me: “Hand me Belle, please.”

Harrison: “No.”

Me: “Look here. I have a Spider Man head to switch out for Belle.”

Harrison: “It’s okay. I was invited. I took a sip from Belle already and joined her tea party. “

Me: (smirking) “So you don’t want me to switch it?”

Harrison: “It’s okay.” Rolls over and closes his eyes.

I love this kid. There is a never a dull moment with him. Of course, he does have a ridiculous mother too. God love him. Haha.