Tiredness

I had a really hard time getting up this morning--I was really tired!  And You suddenly said: "Overcome it. Your body is temporary; your soul is eternal.  Your tiredness doesn't matter."

Forgetting

Today, I got very caught up in the routine and bustle of life, and forgot almost entirely about You, God.  Please forgive me, Lord, and help me to do better tomorrow.

Litter

Taking a walk today, I suddenly came across a stream.  In the stream was one single piece of litter.  For whatever reason, that piece of litter made me think of my own life, of all people--we were created to be perfect, to be beautiful.  But something went wrong.  Our lives are full of litter: litter that we put there, litter that we're too lazy to pick up, litter that we put there even though we know we shouldn't, litter that we don't even realize we're putting there, litter leftover from other people's influence on us.  Only God can help us clean up our personal landscape, the one that we cannot help but destroy because of our fallen nature.

Lord, please help me to clean up the litter in my own soul this week.

Gender Roles

I ran across a blog today about being a godly woman.  This blog said that women shouldn't go chasing after men, or even necessarily yearn after a certain man, because it isn't up to women anyway--men do the choosing.

I really wasn't sure what I thought of that.  I'm not inclined to think well of it, however.  I honestly found that a bit offensive.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely don't think that women should just chase guys left and right or put their love life above God, but I still found that offensive.  I thought it was implying, a bit, that men can chase women because they're the ones who get to choose.  And what if a woman doesn't like the man who's chosen her?

OK, sorry.  That may have come across as rather hostile, and that's not what I meant.  I was interested to read this blog, because it is an issue I've been thinking about a decent amount lately.  For one thing, it seems that my friends are one by one getting boyfriends.  I'm not sure how I feel about that, and I'm not sure how I feel about the thought of having my own boyfriend.  The thought scares me, honestly, having never had one before--besides just the romantic/physical/emotional aspect of it, there's also the spiritual aspect, and I'm not sure my faith is deep enough right now that I could make the right choices when it came to who came first.  On the other hand, I would really like to meet that one special person and have a wonderful relationship with him.  But I'm not sure how many of my expectations/ideas about this come from the media, where everything is idealized.

Anyway, that wasn't entirely what I was getting at.  I've also been thinking about gender roles, more specifically the gender roles You want us to have.  I do think that the two genders are different and have different abilities and gifts, overall.  On the other hand, I am vehemently against forcing someone to work or stay at home or have kids or anything just because of their sex.  I am against the idea that women should just stay at home, and even against the idea that women should be subservient or below men.  I think that's stupid.

But I don't know what You think.  Unfortunately for me and my feminism, I also know what the Bible says, and it's rather sexist.  Then again, so were the times and the people writing it.  Jesus taught women and men, accepted their faith, and there was a group of women supporting Him and His disciples.  So I don't know what I think, or what You want me to think.  Please shape my thoughts on this issue as You want them to be shaped, and please help me to find that one person You want me to be with.  Amen.

1 John 4:7-16

I read this passage today with a group of Christians.  As we talked about it, the idea came up that God shows people his love mainly through the actions of Christians (especially verse 12: "No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us").  Just--wow.  What a crazy idea!  God trusts us enough to show others His love!  Now, I would agree that other people are not the only ways that God shows us His love--I have felt it plenty of times just straight from Him, especially when I really needed to feel it, and it's affirmed again and again in Scripture.  But still, the fact that other people are one of the main ways to get God's love out there and have it be felt by others just amazes me.  I suppose I would compare it to how God gives us the choice to follow Him or not--He trusts us to make the right choice.  I suppose putting it down on (virtual) paper it doesn't seem like such a logical connection but to me, both show how much God trusts us--no, maybe that's not the right word.  How much He allows us to make our own decisions, even when He knows we're wrong and we're headed on a path for destruction.  But He never forces us to do anything.

I don't really know what to write about today.  Nothing exciting or ground-shattering happened; I just did a lot of work.  Then again, that's what life is about an awful lot of the time.

Small things

It's so easy to get caught up in the routine and bustle of everyday life.  Please help me to see You in the small things.

Thanks you God for this day!

Walking in the rain

Today I watched the movie The Encounter, which was amazing and I'd highly recommend it.  It's about five people who are stuck at a diner during a storm, and while they're there Jesus comes and talks to them all about their lives.  It was very moving and thought-provoking.

I also went for a walk with God today.  We just walked and talked.  It was very peaceful, and definitely something I need to do more often.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

"Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stables, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."  Habakkuk 3:17-18

Just... wow.  What a beautiful statement, what a beautiful faith that must have been.