Samwise the brave

The Lord of the Rings movies are some of my very favorites.  The prospect of a different world (or one in a fictitious history!) similar to our own, with the exception of technology, has always interested me greatly.  Sometimes I wish that I could live in such a world myself—I definitely wouldn't mind being an elf, or a hobbit.  One thing that's always caught my attention has been Samwise's devotion to Frodo.  I love the way that he follows Frodo, not because he was affected by the ring, but because he could see how the ring was affecting Frodo.  It makes me wonder what type of devotion can spur such love and affection for another person, whether you were his servant or not.  In this day and age, devotion seems to be an unknown word.  Genuine devotion for your friends and family has been forgotten, left on the wayside among the graves of other like virtues—caring for others, giving encouragement, finding joy. Even devotion to your spouse seems like an unknown subject.  Divorce has raged rampant over our country, even though your husband or wife should be one of the people you show the most devotion to.  Teenage rebellion was at one time unheard of—as was the very term "teenagers"—and now it has become a raging firestorm of hurt on the parents' side as well as the teenagers' side, scarring both with wounds not easily healed.  Devotion no longer has a part in the relationship of a teen and his or her parents. 
It makes me wonder what our world would be like if we all showed the type of devotion to our friends and family that Sam did for Frodo.  If we could try it for a day, really care for one another instead of "be there for them" (unless they really need you!), what would happen?  What would the outcome be, and how many lives will you change?


You never know until you try.

My half-full cup

Someone once said that a cup could be looked at as half-full, or half-empty.  How true that is!  As many of you already know, my family recently sold our house and we have relocated to Colorado.  Right now, life isn't looking too up for me—I came home from a Colorado camp, just in time to pack and say good-bye to the friends I thought that I would be spending the rest of my high school years (or more!) with.  We moved from Colorado four years ago, and though I am glad to have moved back, it is an ongoing challenge to meet new friends and begin to reconnect with the old ones.  I have been through and learned so much since we moved to Iowa, and now I need to use what I've learned to keep my "cup half-full" instead of half-empty!  I want to share with you some tips I've learned for improving the "view of your cup," and replace it with a God-centered attitude:

1.       Read your Bible!  What does God say about your situation?  Are you tired? Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Are you afraid?  Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

2.       Help others.  This isn't just a tip to keep you busy, I promise!  Helping others always makes me realize that the world is bigger than "me" and "mine."  I mean, since when has wiping a two-year-old's snotty nose and slobbery chin been a big confidence booster?!? Getting my focus off of me makes me able to see Him and what He would want me to think about—not about my problems, but about how I can use my situation to help out others in need.

3.        Pray Continuously.  Don't just pray one or two times a day; pray every time that you think of it.  What—you only think of it one or two times a day?  You can fix that easily!  Start memorizing scripture about prayer, and every time that you see or recite that verse, guess what?  You'll remember to pray!  Some verses to get you started: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (sounds long, but that's just to scare you.  It's a great one if you're not used to memorizing, short and sweet.), Mark 14:38, Ephesians 6:18, and James 5:13.  I have been so much happier when I'm praying more often!  And speaking of memorizing...

4.       Memorizing Scripture!  Start with the passages above, or consider these ones: Romans 8:35-39, Galatians 5:22-26, and James 1:2-4.  If it seems like some of the passages you want to memorize are too long, then memorize only a couple verses, and see where it takes you.  Scripture will bring you closer to God, and at the same time, make you realize that your situation isn't as bad as it seems from the start!

Those are four of my suggestions for making your cup seem a little fuller than what it probably has seemed.  Though going through hard times can be challenging, I whole-heartedly believe that God allows us to go through them for a reason—often for our good.  Sometime in the future, I am sure that you will be able look back on the difficulties you're facing now and be able to say that they were for God's glory.  Just remember—sometimes we can learn a whole lot more about ourselves and our Heavenly Father by keeping a positive attitude during our times of testing and trials! 

Martial Arts, Trees...and our Destiny

Today is dreary.  And rainy.  And cloudy.  And cold.  All in all, it's a perfectly lifeless sort of day—one of those days when you just want to curl up with a good book and a couple of warm, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies.  But instead, I went to martial arts for four and a half hours this morning, cleaned my room, walked the dog in the cold and cloudy and rainy and dreary world outside our nice warm house, and now I'm thawing frozen chicken in a bowl of warm water in the sink and trying to write a satisfying blog post.  It would help if I could define the troublesome word "satisfying."  I think it's sitting on the couch, with a good book and a couple of warm, freshly-baked... oh, never mind.

I did get a pretty neat look at our lives (as in, the meaning and purpose behind them) today, though.  Mr. Hite, our martial arts instructor, talked about something really neat in class today.  He's a Christian, and he often rolls a Bible study into lesson time while we're all standing there sweating.  I think that there's something about the hard work and Bible lectures going hand in hand that helps us remember them both better, and I know that I'll remember this one for a long time.  Mr. Hite was telling us about how we need to go at our forms with passion, since we know how to do them, and that we need to think of the end of our forms when we're doing the beginning, because we need to set the mindset that we will end up at that ending, even if it's hard to accomplish.  Then he went on to compare it to... can you guess?

A tree!  (Of course...what else would you compare a martial arts form to??)  He explained that a certain tree was in God's plan at the very beginning of its life—when it was in the seed, and even before it was in the seed.  He said that God saw the tree at its full potential, all grown up, and then took that image and squished it up smaller and smaller until it was just a seed.  Even though the seed didn't look much like the tree God envisioned it to be, He knew what He wanted the tree to look like in the end, and held the image in His mind, shaping the tree to become a masterpiece.

Then Mr. Hite compared us to the tree.  He said that God did the very same thing with us.  God thought us into the person He wanted us to be, and then squished and squeezed us until we were really little and put us inside our mothers.  Then he said that God has an image for us, too, just like the tree.  He wants to see the destiny He made for us be fulfilled.  The only catch is that it doesn't happen unless we let Him shape us into the image He wants us to be.  The problem lies in the fact that we don't want to be shaped into that image—that it takes time, and learning the hard way, and being passionate about our lives, and according to Mr. Hite, that's why we're born screaming!

Who knows, maybe it's true!

And that's my satisfying blog post for the day.  Now I'm going to go make chocolate chip cookies.