The Kingdom of God

I love this picture mostly because that was a fun night! It was a great night of fantastic people and what you didn’t have the pleasure of seeing is our Sasha Fierce “put a ring on it” dance. We were the most fabulous single women there. That being said, I obviously love the diversity in this picture. We can say we’re color blind all we want but when I look at this picture, I see different colors. I see milk chocolate, dark chocolate, olive, pink, light cream etc. I love it! Also, what I do see here are women who love the Lord and who have a lot of love.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great of a burden to bear.” I agree. I could sit here and rant about how racism is still prevalent and how we’re never going to live in truly culture blind society but I will not do that. I will say that I have learned that the world is broken. That is the essence of the world. Why do you think Jesus came and died on the cross my friend? Why would we need a spotless lamb if we were perfect? The band Life in Your Way says it best in the following introduction to the song The Kingdom of God.

"Some of you need to hear this for the first time, and so this is from our hearts...
The Kingdom of God is for the burnouts, the broken, and the broke, the drug addicts, the divorced, the HIV positive, the herpes-ridden, the hopeless, for the outcasts that have been created by the church, and for the outcasts of our society that have been created by us. The Kingdom of God is for the brain damaged..., the incurably ill, for the barren, for the pregnant too many times, and the pregnant at the wrong time. This is for the over-employed, the underemployed, the unemployable, and the unemployed. This is for the swindled, the shoved aside, the left aside, the replaced, the incompetent, and the stupid. This is for the emotionally starved and the emotionally dead. The Kingdom of God is for the bigoted, the murderers, the child molesters, the brutals, the drug lords, the terrorists, the perverted, the raging alcoholics, over consumers, the incredibly ugly, the dumb, the ignorant, the starving, the filled, and the filthy rich. The Kingdom of God is for everyone and the Kingdom of God is for me."

The Kingdom of God is for everyone. We may never exist in a world that shows justice to every person but like Dr. King echoes, love can change anything. And while we do honor Dr. King today for his passion for justice, his cry for equality, and his dream of a better future, let us also remember that Dr. King sat under a higher authority, Jesus Christ. Christ spoke the loudest cry of justice, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love yourself. Love your neighbor. You cannot love your neighbor unless you love yourself. And Paul said, “If I could speak in any language in heaven or earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clinging cymbal” 1 Cor. 13: 1. If you call yourself a Christian, and you judge others because they’re a different culture, a different socioeconomic status, a different age, or a different sex, you need to check yourself. And when you find that prejudice inside yourself, lay it at the cross, because like the song says “the Kingdom of God is for me.”

Daddy, please don't go!

I have a coworker whose son just started attending Pre-K. He loves his mother and cries every time she leaves him at school. The other day, the coworker walked in and told us she was late because her son wouldn’t let go of her. Every morning, she has to beg him to stop crying when she drops him off.

“But I just want my mamma. Please don’t go!” says the pink faced little boy with tears running down his puffy cheeks.

“Mama has to go to work but I promise I’ll be back to get you,” the mom says, trying to console her son.

He does not budge and wraps himself around her leg begging her not to leave. Eventually, after countless promises from his mom, he calms down and plays with the other kids.

I was standing there listening to her story and I thought about how in a few years, that boy, maybe 17 years old, may not even want to be around his mom. He’ll think he has his teenage life figured out and instead of clinging to his mama’s leg; he’ll be brewing in anger in his room because he was grounded over a dumb action.

Isn’t that the way we treat God sometimes?

When we’re going through a crisis or we can’t figure out what’s going on life, we cling on to Jesus’ leg screaming, “Daddy, please don’t go. Please. I need you!” We wrap ourselves up in a fetal position and soak his lap with our tears.

The loving savior he is, he never leaves us. He takes us by the hand and says, “I promise I’ll get you through. I promise I will never abandon you.”

And he keeps his promise. So, we polish ourselves, and before we know it, we’ve forgotten about him. We turn into that rebellious teenager and walk away saying, “I don’t need you right now. I’ve got it figured out.” Next thing you know, we come back because somebody hurt us, we made the wrong decision, or we need God to fulfill our selfish ambitions.

God’s grace may be sufficient but let us never treat our God like he is disposable. Let us pray to become the toddlers, the teenagers, the bachelors, the bachelorettes, the old men, and the mature women screaming, “Daddy, please don’t go. Please. I need you in order to breath, to move, to have hope, to have dreams, to be effective, to be patient, to be kind, to be tender, to show grace, to forgive, to be forgiven, to be confident, to have life, but most all, don’t go because I love you. I’m not interested in what you can give me. I love you. Please don’t go.”

Nightstand

I meant to write this post last year but life got a little busy and I forgot. I decided a few months ago to spread out my creative crafty wings. This was my first real project.

I needed a night stand in my bedroom. I didn't want to buy a new one because I honestly didn't feel like investing a lot of money into apartment life. So, I visited different thrift stores and I found this little winner for $3.75. Awesome, right! Obviously, it looked rough, but I had a vision.
The first thing I decided to do was sand the night stand. Being an amateur, I thought sand paper would suffice but I was very wrong. I cleaned up the night stand and after a wasted 30 minutes and a very sore arm, I decided I needed an electric sander. Luckily, I knew my parents had one. I loaded up the night stand and drove to my parents' house.
When I arrived at the house, my step-dad suggested I use a paint stripper for the finish. I did and it was wonderful. It saved me a lot of time. However, word to the wise, don't let it touch your skin, because it burns.......and I do mean burn. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the picture of the finished stripped product. Point taken for next time.

After I stripped the night stand, I pulled the drawer out, unscrewed the knobs, and spray painted the night stand a fuchsia color. I spray painted the drawer yellow, and screwed the knobs back.

For my first nightstand, I was proud of myself. This project wasn't hard, it just required time. Try it! I'm sure you'll love the results!

Resolutions

Here we are again. A New Year with new goals and new resolutions. Though I do believe every day presents a chance to change, I love that feeling you get when the clock strikes midnight, Auld Lang Syne is playing, Dick Clark kisses his wife, and you realize that you truly have a chance to do it over again. So what are my New Year resolutions you ask? I only have one, and that is to find myself again. What does that mean? It means I want to find my joy again. I promise I’m not being melodramatic. I just remember that at one point during my short 22 years, I used to have this deep joy. The last time I remember it is during my last year of college. This was back in 2010 and I don’t feel like that anymore. Now, I am not saying I walk around with a sad face and a cloud over my head. Actually, most times you see me, I’m smiling, I’m happy. I love being around my family and my friends. But I’m craving that supernatural joy that carries along side of it confidence, a firm foundation, and an expectation for the future. Many events have happened in my life since 2010, some that have broken my heart, but many that have brought along new experiences, new friends, and a new appreciation for this fragile life. I laughed a lot in 2011 but I wept more than usual in the same year. I cannot ignore that small hole and that aching I feel when I’m truly honest with myself. My goal in 2012 is to address that ache and if it forces me to leap, then by the grace of God, I pray that I leap. I’m not encouraging impulsive behavior, but at times, I think we let fear paralyze us into doing nothing. I plan to be more transparent, with myself and with others, to discover that we really do overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, to understand that the past is the past and the best thing you can do is forgive yourself for the pain you have caused yourself and others, to be generous with my gifts, and to disgustingly love others. I will stop trying to understand God’s grace and just rest in it, realize that I only have this one life and I could either have joy or be miserable.

I don’t want to reduce this year to a goal of losing one, five, or ten pounds. Frankly, I’m tired of talking about body weight. I just want to discover that abundant life that Jesus talks about, because I know it exists. I know it exists because my soul is aching for it. I’m not interested in what type of jeans will make my legs look the best, or how many dimples are on my thighs. I’m more concerned with climbing the hard and rugged mountain of life and finding out what awaits me at the top. And I guarantee you at the top of that mountain, nobody cares what size you are, what color you are, whether you’re a book nerd or a gamer. You made it to the top, that’s what counts. So, when the tears come this year, because they will come, I hope most will come because I have been laughing too hard, or I watched something that forced me to take action, or I have loved and been loved so much that I can’t contain it. At the end of this year, I hope I can say that I leapt, I had faith, and drank from that deep well of joy that I so thirst for. And I hope you do too.