Positivity, Positivity, Positivity!

So, my friend called me out today. I complained about something.... that a lot of people would just be grateful to have.

I told her that she was absolutely right. I can't call myself a Christian and be ungrateful about the wonderful things God has given me. I also believe that living in America is just another strike against me as far as complaining goes.

I'll be honest... I know I do it more then I even realize, but it's not something I'm proud of. It's a habit that I need and want to break.

Psalm 37:4 says- Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

and Philippians 2:14-15 says- Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation...

That verse in Philippians gets me- don't complain, because if you do, you can be called out in your faults. This verse just makes a lot of sense to me.

I don't want to be a negative nancy, I want to be a positive petunia!

Negative Nancy's, they find a fault in everything, they find something to gripe about in everything, they don't know how to be happy. Negative Nancy's are miserable people that push people away, purposely or not.

Positive Petunia's, they find the silver lining to every cloud, they will not let some rude comment destruct them, they will spin it into something positive, because they know anything negative is just a lie. Positive Petunia's are happy people, that people like to be around, because their positivity lifts their spirits.

So, basically me and my friend made a pact, to call each other out whenever the other is complaining. We will not become Negative Nancys. No way.

Positivity! Positivity! Positivity! That is our theme.

Perfect

God- Remind me, that I cannot be perfect. Remind me that it's alright for me not to be.

I can emulate you as best I can in this life... but I cannot become You.

Ephesians 4:22-24

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Whenever I'm not perfect at something, and whenever I royally screw-up and royally need a kick in the butt. I rip myself up about it. Honestly... I can't let it go until it's fixed either.

And... honestly, I need to remind myself... that it's okay. It's okay to mess up, it's okay to disappoint people. Because it's going to happen, wether I want to or not. I can't make everyone happy- I can try- but I have to be happy myself. As much as I try to put others before myself... I know that in the long run, I can't serve God properly until my needs are met too.

Beautiful Mountains

Last summer I spent over a month in Honduras. Which is a beautiful country, along with the countries surrounding it. It's very mountainous and green, I remember during one of the van rides, we were driving right in between all of them, you could even see banana plantations on the hillsides of some. But, I was so taken away with the beauty of it, and I just thought why didn't God make those the focal of His creation. I was honored that God would choose me, us... because we all know how imperfect we all are. I just thought that those mountains would know better, and they were more worthy.

Until tonight, I think I understood a little bit more why God choose us versus the mountains. Of course... there's a ton of reasons, but humor me and let's just focus on this one thing.

I took this from a devotional e-mail I subscribe to:: "God also gains pleasure in watching you enjoy his creation. He gave you eyes to enjoy beauty, ears to enjoy sounds and music, your nose and taste buds to enjoy smells and tastes, and the nerves under your skin to enjoy touch. Every act of enjoyment becomes an act of worship when you thank God for it. In fact, the Bible says, "God generously gives us everything for our enjoyment" (1 Timothy 6:17 TEV)."

God enjoys watching us enjoy His creation! That's why God chose us. How enjoyable would it be for the mountains for people to walk all over them? To slap pavement on their backs? And... even though our faith can move mountains.... those mountains aren't going anywhere, those mountains will never be able to enjoy what the rest of God offers us.

So, maybe it's slightly foolish of me to be focusing so much on this. But, it makes me smile. I love those mountains, they are gorgeous... and even still it takes my breath away to think that God would rather choose us, with all our imperfections.

Unsent

So, I recently wrote a letter... that I’m not going to send. It was for me to write and for me to let go of a lot of things I had been holding on to this semester.

I’m usually not one to write unsent letters... but when I was writing this one, I really thought I was going to, but I’ve been doing just fine keeping it to myself. There are questions in it that I asked, but I don’t need the answers.

All I needed was peace.

That is all I needed, all along... peace; and I was so against it this whole time.

Why, oh why can’t I just learn to trust God.

I love how the end of a semester makes you re-evaluate... life.

I’m not proud of my semester... there was a lot I could have done better. But, I think considering the circumstances, I did well. My relationship with God suffered, but we’re getting back on track and that’s what is important.

Even through all the lows I had... God still used me, which amazes me- Never doubt what God can do with your life.

And even through my distance in my relationship with God, I still learned a lot about my beliefs, and faith and God in my classes, which I really enjoyed.

I think though that the lessons that sums it up is that God knows what He’s doing, even when we don’t. Which is cool, because I know that that’s what God taught my friends at Greenville too; which is awesome, because through our community even with distance... we can still learn from each other and grow together! Those are one good friends and two a good community.

-the picture is not a letter, but a Christmas card I just received this week, to be honest- I enjoy Christmas cards in May... especially from my best friend =] but I felt like it fit with being unsent letters, because we both assumed it was lost in the mail, forever... nope just in my house!