Signatures

" We are, by your design, signature of divine."-Needtobreathe

I was signing a letter to a friend yesterday and the song Signature of Divine by Needtobreathe popped into my head. I began to think about signatures. Signatures carry quite a bit of weight when you think about it. I consider my signature to be a representation of who I am and the kinds of things I stand for. I sign letters, contracts, honesty policies on tests, autographs (well maybe someday haha), all kinds of things. By signing my name to something I am saying I agree or I claim something. My signature is a stamp of my values and reputation. It signifies promises. If I break those promises, my signature loses its value and purpose.

We are God's signature. We were created to immulate Him here on Earth, to be signs of the promises he has made. Just as we take pride in our signatures, God takes pride in us and has confidence in us to stand for what He stands for. We represent more than just ourselves.

everyBODY in the BODY

1 Corinthians 12

People have told me all my life "It doesn't matter what other people think, you can make your own decisions." Yes, this is true. I can choose to make decisions completly on my own. I have the ablity to weigh options, examine pros and cons, and make an informed decision on just about any issue. I have the choice of going against the advice of friends, family, and even God. I am naturally a very INdependent person. Key:IN. I was always looking INside myself to find strength and comfort. Putting so much pressure on myself to make the "right" decisions. Convinced that all the answers were IN me. And believe me, if you look IN long enough you lose connection with what is OUTside. You become so independent that it's hard for people to get to you, to know about you. If you don't let them in, they can't hurt you. You are able to keep everyone at arms length. That was my defense, my mechanism for keeping people out and keeping God out. God can't be kept out though.

So when God broke through my independence last fall, I had this new burning desire to be completly dependent on him. I was ready to let Him lead me in all aspects of my life. But when I would experience dry times, times when I wasn't hearing Him clearly, I would revert back to the overly independent me. And I was afraid, almost embarrassed, to talk to my friends about being in a spiritual desert. I just assumed they would think I was slacking, not seeking the Lord with enough effort. This point brings me to 1 Corinthians 12. The body of Christ. I've read this chapter tons of times and I always just assumed "Yeah, we're the body, we gotta work together to further the kingdom here on earth. Each of us has special gifts and purposes. Cool." But something my pastor's wife said the other day shed some new light on this passage. She prayed over me that I would "listen more closely to the body of Christ."

Lightbulb. Being dependent on Christ includes being dependent on the body of Christ. The Lord has surrounded me with people of great faith. They are here to help me. He speaks through them when I can't hear Him clearly. So, I shouldn't be embarrased to ask for their advice. I should want to ask them what they think when Im considering plans for the future, what to do in a tough situation, or even what they think about someone I'm considering dating. I should listen to their opinions and factor them into my decision making. Doing that doesn't mean I don't have a mind of my own. It's just another form of God speaking to me. And if God's speaking, I want to listen.

Week In Review

I've learned alot in the past week. It can be summed up in a single statement:

The richness of our lives is not measured by our achievements. It is the people that are cheering for us as we achieve that make us rich.

Man Im living the high life.

If you're reading this know that I'm a cheerleader for you :)

Comfort

I love being comfortable. Sweatshirts, gym shorts, my bed, warm blankies, laying on the couch with friends and talking forever. I love being comfotable. When you're comfortable you're yourself. The real you comes out. No facades, no first-impressions, no effort really. It's wonderful. If I could be comfortable all the time I would. Home. Home is comfortable too. Or is it? As I've grown up, home (where my parents live) has been losing its comfort a little at a time. The air there gets a little thicker every time I go back. Why? Why has the place where I felt comfortable for so long, with the people I felt comfortable with for so long, now become like sleeping on concrete: uncomfortable. Well, the only conclusion I have reached is that relationships changed. Roles are different now. Im not a child. So the warm, fuzzy striped blanket I hid under as a child can't cover me now. And instead of sewing a new comfy quilt with my parents, so we can all fit under it, I've been trying to hang on to that old blanket; convincing myself that it's still sufficient. It's not.

Summer. That's what this summer is going to be about. Sewing a new quilt of comfort at home. Sure, I might poke myself with the needle a couple of times in the beginning but you can't have comfort without discomfort right? They need each other to exist. And I have magic thread now that I haven't had before: the love of Christ. I hear it's pretty durable. Picked it out at Hobby Lobby myself :) So let the sewing commence.

P.S.-Sorry for all the metephors, I was in a literary mood.

Better Than

John Butler Trio-"Better Than"

There's no day better than today. There's no life better than your own. If you waste time wishing for things you don't have, worrying about tomorrow, or wishing for things in your life to be different you are going to miss out on the people around you. Life's not about what's better than.

"So why, oh why,

Do I look to the other side,

Cause I klnow the grass is greener but

Just as hard to mow" -JBT

"And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things saying "What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:28-34

Too Bad It's Not an Anatomy Book...

So I'd heard there was a book bound in human skin at the UGA library. It's true. I saw it today. Why though? Why would someone use skin to bind a book? Kinda gross right? Well that leads me to what I learned today.

05/14/2010:

I learned that at the time of the French Revolution the trend of binding books in human skin really took off. There are two theories attempting to explain the reasoning behind this:

1) People did it as memorials to dead loved ones. Upon request, you could have your personal memiors bound in your own skin.

2)Or if you were slain by your enemy they might bind a book in your skin as a display of victory.

There is even a skin-bound book out there that clearly shows the person's tattoo haha. Sorry if this grossed you out. I thought it was kinda cool.

Distance

Distance. It seems like some great barrier that can make or break a friendship. I used to think that distance could diminish love or importance, that essentially it was a mechanism of destruction. I thought that distance had some magical power to make people forget our friendship, forget me. I'm realizing that distance is in fact power-less.

God has blessed me with friendships like I've never known before. Friendships that thrive on so much more than proximity. In these friendships, I've realized that my love for people is not sufficient, and it shouldn't be. That's the great thing. By letting God's love be the dominant force in my friendships I've found that they are so much more meaningful. Before, I was loving people only with what I had to give. My own time, acts of service, or money. Never really interceding for them and trying to seek God's heart for them. I was just acting based on what I thought they needed. In those cases, when distance was put between a friend and me, the friendship failed miserably. I beat myself up for o long trying to figure out what I did wrong. Why I was a "forgettable friend." But it wasn't actually me or the distance that made the friendship fail. It was the way I was loving people that was making the friendships crash and burn.

I suddenly realized the problem: My love simply can't span distances like God's love can. His love is all encompassing. It's everywhere, all the time, in every season. Nothing can defeat it. Now, since I've let God's love take center stage in my friendships, I have confidence that nothing can crack the foundations I've built with people. Nothing. And that's a wonderful feeling.

5/12/10

Today I learned:
1) Distance is not a bad thing.
2) Human behavior is often based on our desire to be accepted socially or on our fear of what others think of us. (Maybe tomorrow I'll learn why...)

Cool story: A friend and I were desperately searching for change in my car today so we could go buy $1 ice creams at Hodgson's. We were about to give up when I decided to check my bat bag in the trunk. I found two dollar bills. Thanks Jesus.

Growing Up

"She grows and grows. Days and nights, asleep or awake, happy or sad, michievous or contrite, she grows and grows. One day she needs to run, she feels like wrestling, conquering; another time she would rather hide away and dream and give herself over to melancholy. One day she may desire something passiontely and the next day feel quite disheartened. We should have more respect for the mysteries and fluctuations of the hard business of growing up."-Janusz Korczak

5/11/10-Today I learned:
1) Fresh mushrooms are really good in spaghetti sauce.
2) Sometimes the best way to get to know someone is to become like them for just a second.

Caving In

So...I decided this summer I wanted to document stuff I learned. All too often I go to bed at the end of the day completely unaware of all the knowledge I've gained in the past 24 hours. Some of it could be totally irrelavent but then some of it should be taken to heart. Some of it could be off the wall, never going to have an impact on anyone's life, random but then some of it could be profound, life-changing, re-shaping. I was just gonna journal about it but a blog-obsessed friend convinced me this would be way cooler. So I caved. And here's my blog.

05/10/2010:
1)I learned how to make a blog.
2)I learned that Asians do peace signs in pictures alot because it's hard to photoshop so they can prove they were actually there.
3)I learned that Coke is more than just a drink. It's an international symbol of community. Para todos.