Now, Say, "You're Sorry"!

 "Love lets the past die. It moves people to a new beginning WITHOUT settling the past. Love does not have to clear up all misunderstandings...Love prefers to tuck all the loose ends of past rights and wrongs in the bosom of forgiveness- and pushes us into a new start. Love is forgiveness." Phil Ryken

 I find it quite difficult to forgive the person who who sees no need for forgiveness- the person who has deeply hurt us and admits of no wrong doing. I attempt to justify my unforgiving attitude by telling myself I'm not obligated to forgive one who won't ask to be forgiven, one who is proud and unwilling to work things out, but then I gently hear, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." We want justice and sometimes we think that forgiveness and justice are opposites. Forgiveness does not disregard justice, but rather purifies it. When we begin to love as Jesus loves, we begin to forgive as Jesus forgives. When we forgive we release ourselves from our prideful anger, and replace it with compassion and love for others. Forgiveness becomes justice uncontaminated by our sinful motives and revengeful spirit. Only through love and forgiveness can we move on without settling the past, or getting an apology or proving to the other person that we're right.  I've learned that forgiveness is not just a one time thing for each offense. It's often a constant, daily battle. There are some who have wronged me and I will likely never have closure, but it is a daily battle of forgiveness to avoid letting that seed of bitterness find a place in my heart. I pray I'm not that person in someone's life.


After writing this, someone contacted me to apologize and ask for forgiveness. So much time had passed and it would have been easy for her to forget and let it go. Though all the while I struggled not to be bitter toward her. She didn't know. There was no communication between us. When  I read the words she wrote, I had instant respect for her humility and desire to do the right thing and the struggle against bitterness toward her went away.

 To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in me.” -–C. S. Lewis

Stick to the The Approved List

 "When you judge another, you don't define them, you define yourself."

Jason and I have been taking ballroom dance lessons since July and we have not kept that a secret. When I first started writing about it on FB someone commented, "Does anyone else have any secrets they want to post?" I purposely did not want to hide it. I find it more difficult to get to know people in the church than people from work or the kid's school. It seems there's an unspoken approved list of things to talk about such as work, kids, church, sports, school. We can't reveal too much about our personal lives. We can't talk about drinking or dancing and we have to be really careful discussing books, movies, or music. We try to build relationships with people in church by walking on eggshells and not revealing too much about ourselves. This makes for some very shallow relationships. I really don't feel like people are judging me and it wouldn't bother me if they were because I struggle with that myself at times- we all do.

What's the Stink About Ink

 "Mom, what does that guy have all over his arms?"  "Those are tattoos. He's probably not saved and needs to hear about Jesus. We should pray for him."  I've heard similar conversations from others and I know I've had those conversations myself at one time, but what does the Bible say?

First of all, does the Bible clearly teach that tattoos are sin?  Some would say, “Yes” based on Leviticus 19:28, "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord." It seems pretty clear if you isolate that phrase. The preceding verse talks about not eating anything with blood and not shaving around the sides of your head. In that culture those things were pagan rituals and meant something very different than they do today. So, if a Christian believes tattoos to be sin based on this verse, they must also abstain from the other things mentioned in the preceding verses to be consistent with their beliefs. It's more about motives.

Second, we must be very careful not to look at someone’s outward appearance and judge their heart. People get tattoos for different reasons- Maybe as a memorial to a child who has died, or to remember a momentous event in their life or maybe to have a constant reminder of a verse that has been a source of strength. I have Christian friends who have tattoos and some got them after they were saved. The Bible says that we will know them by their fruit, not by whether or not they have tattoos, or the length of their hair or the way they dress or any other external thing. If we can tell the state of someone’s heart by their outward appearance, where do we draw the line? We can only know if someone is a Christian if there is evidence of the fruits of the Spirit in their life. We can only see evidence of that if we get involved. Next time you see someone with a tattoo, feel sorry for them and say, "They're obviously unsaved and just need Jesus", think again, maybe they just saw you loose your patience with your child and they were thinking the same of you.

John 13:35   "By this shall all know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Galatians 5:22-24    "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against this there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

The Tree and the Little Boy

I recently read the book, "The Giving Tree". It's a children's book, and a simple story, but one that lingered in my mind. The story tells of a tree that loves a boy. She is happiest when she gives to the boy. She gives and gives until there is hardly anything left of her- just a stump, but even then she is happy to give the boy a place to rest. It's a beautiful story of giving, but a sad story as well. Though the boy enjoys the gifts the tree has to offer and always comes back to her, he never says thank you to the tree even though he says loves her. The boy appreciated the tree and what she had to give him, but he never thought of giving himself. The tree was never sad that the boy didn't love her as much as she loved him, she was just happy merely to have something to give the boy. She thought only of him and what would make him happy.

This year on good Friday I watched "The Passion of the Christ" for the first time. I was so moved by Jesus love for the people who were so cruel to Him. When Jesus knew His time was come, He did so much to prepare His closest friends. He was so concerned for them and prepared them for what He knew would be so difficult, for THEM. He had more love and compassion toward the disciples than He did fear for what He knew He was about to endure. Like the tree in the story, He gave and gave until He gave His life for those He loved so much. Are we like the boy? Do we enjoy all that Christ has to offer, giving little if any thanks though we claim to love Him? Do we accept and appreciate all the gifts He gives to us without willingness to give ourselves? We truly become alive when we allow our souls to become enchanted by the simple treasures He gives us daily. How can we not thank Him and give Him our lives, our thoughts, our gratefulness.


"This people honors me with their lips, but their hears are far from me." -Matthew 15:8

Dear John

Dear John,
Whenever God seems so far away and I grow discouraged over the things of this world l often reach for your book. The way you write makes Him become so real to me. It's powerful, sometimes too powerful, creating a love so intense that sometimes I have to put your book down and reach for  another. You make my heart ache to be with Him. I like how you refer to yourself as the one who Jesus loved. I wonder if you were thinking about how He created you to be one of His closest earthly friends and what a special privilege that was. You write so humbly and honestly. My favorite parts are when He said, "before Abraham was, I AM." How amazing that must have been to hear Him say that, and know! I also love what you wrote about Jesus and Mary in the garden that first Easter morning. I wish I could have secretly watched that moment in history. I wish I could have seen His face when He talked to her and then looked at her and said her name. And then you end your book with, "there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Someday I will be able to thank you in person for your book and ask Him about all those other things.

Until then,
 Annaliese

Just Follow Your Heart

We constantly hear the phrase, "just follow your heart", but the Bible says the heart is deceitful. I think we hear it so much that sometimes we make decisions based on our feelings. Just because we have a peace about something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. We tend to determine God's will for our lives based  on our feelings or our hearts. When I have to apologize to someone, or confront someone, I don't have a peace, but I know it's right. Sometimes God wants us to go out of our comfort zone and that is anything but peaceful! I was recently talking to someone about music and she said she determined if a style of music was sinful by whether or not she felt guilty by listening to it. We give far too much authority to our feelings or our hearts than we do the Bible or godly council.

Motherhood

"Dear friends without kids, enjoy being able to lay around and sleep in peaceful quietness when you're not well."- I'm sick with a cold today and was going to put this as my status, but didn't because I didn't want people to think I was complaining about being a mother. But, just because I'm sick doesn't mean the kids are going to stop arguing, drawing on the furniture, or throwing food on the floor and then demanding more of something else. I just want to lay around and enjoy being sick! There's a picture on Pinterest that says something about how good moms have messy houses and happy kids. Good moms aren't suppose to care about what the house looks like or what they look like, it's all about enjoying every moment with the kids because they grow up so fast. Well, there are a lot of moments I really don't enjoy, and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of things I'm not going to miss. But, somehow the good moments have more power than the bad moments, and the longer I'm a mother, the more the good moments accumulate until they overpower the bad so much that I can't remember them, or at least can't remember them exactly as they were.