Faithful

Someone once used the word faithful to describe this blog. 

Honestly, these posts come at a time of realization– usually the end of the track where I have fallen, or at complete random– in a period of stagnancy in my walk. These are inspirations that push me forward, out of times when I have been weaker. 

Just thought I'd address that. 

Now onto a struggle I've been facing recently. 

I've only on extremely rare occasions considered myself a "fun" person. When I was about eleven or twelve I often asserted an air of superiority over my older cousins, where I would insist on them being more serious in their actions, games and conversation. I often got "stop acting so mature", in response. I received a similar comment from my boyfriend a week ago regarding my views of fun relating to maturity. 

My views of fun have been influenced by conservative notions drilled into my head since young, and the current cultural view of having fun in North America. However, I would like to add one more point of view to the mix– God's. 

I believe God has a sense of humour. Out of everyone you can pick, who would understand joy and laughter more than He? God created pleasure. He took great pleasure in spending time with Adam, with enjoying His creation. Our culture encourages enjoying time with friends (this can sometimes include a more self-centred approach: I want to hang out with others so I can be happy). God encourages fellowship (I want to develop these relationships between her/him and myself, in God). His is a pure and eternal lasting kind of pleasure.

God's sense of fun isn't rigid, or boring, or humourlessly distasteful as I was quick to determine it to be. In the name of morals, I had a skewed view that in order to be appropriate and faithful, one had to silence jokes of this world, puts a stop to their ideas of fun. However, this was not necessarily true in every case. 

I needed to ask myself about truth. True joy, true enjoyment, comes from the Lord. Does the way our temporary culture encourage, portray and reflect God's true joy? Sometimes it could. Sometimes it doesn't. I need to discern between the two. And finally, ask myself how we can choose to manifest God's true joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, goodness, and faithfulness in our interactions in the time we spend with our friends and others that we meet here on Earth. 

I don't feel like I have to be a fun person, but I know that I want to be a person who takes joy in interacting with others, takes pleasure in enjoying our fellowship and activities together, and hopefully our conversation and time together will be able to reflect God's love and care. 

Rebuke from Friends

I know its been a while (it always is). What can I share that's been happening in my life lately? Oh its been crazy... I've been learning a load about humility, priorities, and definitely letting go and trusting in God. And I'm circling community, as I have this past year. Unfortunately it'll take a while to share about all of the above. So I'll just share a bit about friendship.

"Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses" ~Proverbs 27:5-6

There are different perspectives from which you can take this verse.

1) Who is a friend to trust?

2) How can I be a true friend?

Who is a friend to trust: It takes humility to be able to really listen to feedback that others give us. I used to be, and still am very defensive when it comes to criticism. However, I have been reminded that others can have a much better view of your weaknesses, and it is only when they actually tell you that you can work on these weaknesses. The rebuke of a friend is very precious and it shows how much they care about you and want you to become a better person. The rebuke of a friend reveals much about their desirable character and qualities, and about how they trust in God. This leads me to the second point...

How can I be a true friend: Rebuking a friend can be tough. People hate to be told where they fall short. Ashamed, angry, exposed. Rebuke risks the relationship. It could make or break it. When you rebuke a friend out of love, you are placing your relationship with the person in God's hands, knowing that He guides you both. And you are also trusting God with where the relationship goes from there.

Remember that a brother or sister that rebukes out of love has your back. They believe in you– that you can change and become a better and more God loving person.

A Reason to Smile

My faith gives me so much, I don't even fully comprehend it. Loving really does give you so much strength, and my belief gives me a lot of understanding. I don't think I've ever grasped how much God's given me before. And I'll still be continuing to learn as time goes on.

I also never understood how our Christian communities helped us. There was so much political drama and hypocritical junk going on. Truth be told, I was sick of it. I haven't really ever supported Christian community. But I was wrong on a few counts. Yes, we're hypocrites and we will continue to be sinners always. We fail, and we disappoint, but that's where I have to pray for my community, for my Church. I often forget that it is a spiritual battle that we fight in our daily lives that we neglect to realize or remember. Our supporting and loving one another (as we would ourselves) makes us so strong in ways we don't even realize till we get a glimpse of how the world deals with their problems.

I am so so blessed. And thankful.

I also realized one other thing today. What keeps me joyful or happy each day. What is my reason for being positive.

I know, and can define, at this point in my life, that what keeps me going day after day is knowing that my life is precious. My life is obtained and someone actually loved me; thought I was worthy enough– made me worthy enough: to rescue me. Bring me back from an eternity of death. What keeps me going is knowing that I’m loved, and knowing that at the end of the day, I’ll be reunited with that Lover, and till then, with all my heart and gratitude and love, I’ll do anything for Him, because I love Him. I don’t have to work towards anything, but I work, not because I have to slave away all my life to achieve the reward at the end, but because I’m a willing slave for love, for my Lover, my God, my Friend and King.

And life is so sweet. Even when its bitter.

Hallelujah!

Betraying Friendships

A lot of us have suffered betrayal. Could have been anything, from a friend backstabbing you, or a friend telling a secret they had promised to keep, or a friend letting you down, to a friend who just stopped caring.

It makes us turn bitter. Causes us to stop trusting. It caused me to stop wanting to trust. I actually liked the idea of shutting everyone all out to protect myself. It would be smart wouldn't it? Yet its funny how God works.

Yes, at three four am in the morning He decided to hit me with a realization just as I"m going to bed.

Judas was probably what would count as Jesus' close friends.Jesus knew Him well. Taught Him. Fellowshipped; spent time with him. For three years. The part that we all claim to understand, but simply find it so hard to live by is this:

Even though Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him, Jesus still loved Judas. He even washed His feet the very night Judas goes out to deliver Him to the Pharisees. Jesus is amazing. He showed one of the best examples of loving a friend who hurts you– even if the other person could and would betray your trust. That's love. True and unconditional.

I think God let me feel the hurt of misplaced trust to teach me how to keep loving and caring for my friends despite all the hurt I might face. Trust however, is placed not in men, but in Him. And He's taught me to forgive.

I also experience the pain He feels when I myself betray Him; When I turn away. He's let me learn about His heart and how He sees things. It makes me appreciate His sacrifice, patience, compassion and unconditional continual loving all the more.

The Splint in His Eye

We all make mistakes. We all fall prey to temptation, even those who seem the strongest. We all fail at times and I know that I often feel contempt towards people I respect when they let me down or do something I disapprove of.

We rarely stop to consider if we've turned into the very persons we loathe.

Everyone has spiritual downs, and when they do they might do things they later regret. We're all young and we're all still growing. And it is for this reason that we have to continue praying for our leaders, and our youth. And leave the rest to God.

Its not anyone's place to judge. Its our place to understand, grow and love. And be compassionate and pray for those who have hurt us, for those who hate us, for your enemies and rivals, for those who ignore you, those who love what you hate, for our cities and our churches, for our pastors and our leaders. For all of those in the body of Christ.

Beware of Boredom

An important thing to remember is praising God through both bad, good and average times. We tend to be extreme. When times are excellent, we either praise God because we're glad we have everything and are happy, or we forget that all we have is God blessed and given. Similarly, when we're going through a stormy period, we either turn back to God to ask for deliverance, or we forget completely that God is in control and flail our arms over the stormy waves, desperately hoping that the storm will calm soon. It is probably during boredom that we have to be the most careful. It is in the average times that it is probably most difficult to remember God. We get comfortable, but not too comfortable to be thankful. We are tired, but not too tired to ask for help. In all things, praise the Lord.

Easier said than done.

I'm going to repeat that.

Easier said than done.

Let everything come back to God. Everything, after all, is about God. (Well its about seeking happiness and pleasure, but that is exactly where God comes in.)

Another way I can illustrate my point is, in a marriage, how does the couple avoid getting tired of each other? Many divorces happen because of boredom. The husband forgets what initially attracted him to his wife. Or the wife forgets what she saw in her husband.

Yes, I know that many divorces happen because of a third party, but that reinforces my point. There would be no third party if there was no boredom.

How to be wary of boredom? Everyone is different, but fundamentally, spending time with each other never hurts. Acknowledge why you care for and love the other, and constantly communicate. Pray together, remember what you are together as one body. Instead of looking at the huge flaws of the other, remember that we all have imperfections. Remember that you, too have imperfections, and God gave you each other to build each other up, not tear each other down. Help each other to erase those flaws, not condemn each other because of them. Understand the perspective of the other, never let their feelings slip.

Similar treatment is of course very important for maintaining any relationship be it with friends or family. Its definitely not easy and most of the time we're just so frustrated or tired. We also can't understand why we have to be the understanding one- why never the other? Why can't they understand me? Why do I have to be the one taken advantage of? Why can't they be mature?

Is the adult expected to know how to clean up a mess he or she has spilt? Is a toddler expected to know? If you know better, God has given you that wisdom, and it is your responsibility to act accordingly. I know its difficult and frustrating, but it will be worth it.

Ability of perfection

Sometimes you may feel that you have zero ability or no good points at all. Sometimes, we compare ourselves to that bright sunshiny girl who’s perfect. She’s pretty, smart, enthusiastic; everything everyone would want to be friends with. The kind of people who make us feel extremely underachieved.

I guess there’s only one thing to do in these kinds of circumstances.

Don’t be jealous of her. You know that when God gives something to one person, He’ll give something else to another. It doesn't even seem like this is the case 99.9% of the time. However, we do tend to overlook things in our own lives.

You have more in you than you realize. God has blessed each of us with much. And when you find out your potential, don't go around boasting about it. Use it to the best of magnifying God's glory.

And if you ever find out, that sunshiny girl, isn't as sunshiny as she really seems. Sounds like the typical drama, but it does happen in real life at times, and of course, we all know no one's perfect. And even then, don't try to pull that out of the closet. Its okay.

God has His amazing ways of surprising us. Especially when we're feeling lowest in our lives.

Making Jokes Concerning Others.

This is very basic, but its something we tend to overlook. Well, we tend to overlook a lot of things that have been hammered into our heads over and over. It happens. Plus the added factor of new perspectives. So a reminder can't hurt.

Be mature enough to know when its enough. Usually, its alright to make it a joke if the person you’re making a jest of is laughing WITH you. I know this may sound ridiculous, and you’d probably think (DUH) that’s so obvious, but some people really don’t get this. If the person displays a hurt reaction, or responds angrily, its a good idea to stop; the person doesn’t like it.

A joke is all in good fun, but when it concerns the feelings of someone else, show some sensibility.