Thanksgiving

A Few Things I am Thankful For

• Being silly with family
• Having nothing I have to do
• Friends, amazing amazing friends
• Naps

Can you tell I'm a little tired from all the food I've eaten, since I've only come up with four things? Silly.
Well, I'm going to go and... do nothing, which is wonderful that I'm able to do that. I love being able to be lazy. <3

Love life

And the Greatest of These is Love

I've been consistently frustrated lately by what I view as the failure of Christians to act like Christians.

Let me first disclaimer this a bit and admit that I fully recognize I've got a bit of "Ignoring the Plank in my Own Eye" syndrome. Definitely. Completely. The more frustrated I get with others, the more I'm trying to look at myself (degrees of success vary) and determine if I'm really doing as well as I think I am. Generally I'm not. It's ironic, the more frustrated I get with the lack of love I see from Christians, the more critical I get, and thus the less loving.
So yes, this isn't a point-the-finger-why-can't-you-be-more-like-me writing. I know I have many many shortcomings. But still. I'm going to express my frustration.

Jesus tells us very clearly what the most important commandments are.
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
and
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

In case you're wondering if they're really the most important, Jesus follows up his answer with:
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

These two. Love God, Love others. Really simple. Really hard.
Well, we make it hard. I guess. Because honestly, I think we Christians fail consistently at loving. We let pride, scheduling, and our own priorities get in the way. We are self-centered and as a result, we miss out on being what we're supposed to be.

Its no wonder the much of the world has a low opinion of Christians. Yes, I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that many of our moral believes go against the ideas of society, but still, I don't think we present love first. Yes, we need to hold on to our believes, yes, I think abortion is wrong, no, I do not support gay marriage. But first we need to love.
I feel like many Christians base what the "right" action is by what society is telling them Christians believe, rather than going to the Bible to see what God has to say. Maybe its just me, but this seems like a really horrible idea.

I have a lot of thoughts. I'm trying to organize them. I've been ranting a lot lately.

I guess my point is this: we are called to live lives of love. This means sacrificing watching movies to listen to people who are having a hard time, this means acting to help the poor, even if that just means sorting through your clothes and donating them. It means giving twenty minutes of sleep to God before you go to bed each night, spending time study his word. It just means acting, moving, doing. Trying to restore his kingdom.

"Luv is a verb" as dcTalk says. Do it.

Our 44th President.

I'm a little fired up at the moment.
History was made last night. America elected its first black president.

Being a white girl who calls Maine home, I don't think I can claim to grasp the significance of that. In fact, I know I can't grasp the significance of that. But I'm shocked by people who don't even try.

Do you realize the civil rights movement was only fifty years ago? Segregated schools, organizing voter registration for African Americans, the march on Washington...
While legally African Americans may have had the right to vote for nearly 100 years, there were so many obstacles put in there way in order to try and prevent them from taking advantage of that right. Martin Luther King Jr. led a march in 1965 to protest a lack of voting rights, including literacy tests and poll taxes. At that point in time, it was still just unsafe for African Americans to attempt to vote. That's only 43 years ago!

So when I hear people voice that they don't understand, that Obama's just another man, I know that they don't understand. There are people voting today who that once wasn't an option for. And on the other side of that, the people who were oppressing them are still alive. Racism is still alive and to deny that is ignorance.
So please, please, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, please recognize the significance of what we have just witnessed, and celebrate a country moving forward.