What's On My Mind...

Lately things have actually managed to be fairly slow around here, which is a blessing as I am able to actually finish some of my school(so that I can really feel like I've graduated) and get some work done in the garden. Also I can write something on here. ;)
It seems that my last couple posts were not quite what people were looking for, or they just didn't have anything to say about them. I'm guessing it's a mixture of both, and as I think about it I can understand why. Unfortunately (or maybe not) I am not very good at doing just random or silly posts, I have tried and can't seem to think of anything to write. When I write I prefer to have a solid subject that I'm writing about, sometimes I start rambling while doing it( I sorta feel like I'm rambling right now) but I try to have something specific and worthwhile.
Actually I'm not even sure what the point of this is and why I'm writing it. I think I started out with something in mind, but am not sure what it was. I'll try and get something better figured out for next time.

Beauty and the Beast

I was just reading "Joyfully Home" (Jasmine Baucham's blog) and her post about this and was reminded of how much I loved it when I was little, Cinderella was okay, and the rest I didn't care a fig about, but Beauty and the Beast I loved, although we did not own it, it was my number one request when going to Grandma's house and I would very often bring it home with me.
Like Jasmine was talking about, pretty much all girls have their dream of "Prince Charming" (mine happened to be a beast, :) no, not really). While it is something my parents have taught to guard against and we try very hard to maintain that, it is extremely difficult, especially with movies like Pride and Prejudice, and many other of Jane Austen's works. Which I very much enjoy but find I have to be very careful that that does not become my ideal, such movies have a way of making us dissatisfied with real life and give us a perverted view of what love truly is. And while I know all of this I still have a tendency to daydream(what girl doesn't) and constantly have to pull myself back from a world of my own making and remind myself of how things really are.
Often in sharp contrast to the romance movies and books we see today we have the example of Christ's love in scripture to the Church, His bride. Can you imagine Christ being in love with the church the way love is portrayed today, "falling" in love with her because of outward reasons, there really is not much very lovely about the church today, then you have the thing where people "fall out" of love, what if Christ did that, fell in love then lived each day unsure if He would still be in love with His church the next. Christ's love is an all-consuming love, and it is a choice...

"Love is not a feeling. It is a overmastering passion to help and bless and deliver and comfort and strengthen and give joy to others just as the Lord Jesus always did.

In heaven everything and everyone is lovable, but as the Lord Jesus said ,"if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? "Matthew 5:46. In heaven everyone loves everyone else, and in hell no one loves anyone.But on earth we are in a perfect environment for learning to love as God loves: to abandon ourselves to loving the apparently unlovely people who remind us that in many ways we are still very unlovely ourselves!
Here on earth we have the opportunity to do what the God of love does all the time, and to learn to abandon ourselves to loving, to giving, to seeking and to saving others. Not a lovely feeling of affection, or physical pleasure and satisfaction, but the extreme ecstasy of creating happiness and good and blessed things for others to enjoy. To cast ourselves down in happy giving, asking for nothing in return except the joy of so doing. When we really begin to and practice that lesson we shall begin to feel "at home" in the eternal world of selfless love.
It is not some feeling one waits for, nor some person to evoke the love. It is an attitude of will. I will cast myself in giving. The lower I go the more love I am able to transmit from God to others, just like the Lord of love Himself, who was not content until He found and took the lowest place in the universe..." -Hannah Hurnard

Royalty

As the Lord's chosen people we are called His children, and since He is the King of kings we are princes and princesses. Being of a royal lineage we should be different from the world, not viewing ourselves above them, for is there any reason why God should choose you to be His child over any one else? But at the same time knowing that we are not the same, for if we are the same as the world what will they see to make them realize the difference and desire it. Many seem to think that as Christians we should be like the rest of the world so that they can be "comfortable" with us and not feel condemned by any thing we do. But may I submit that as Christians God has called us to be distinctly different from the rest of the world, and show them the light of our Lord which dwells in us, and if they do feel condemned by our actions it really is a good thing, as it would show that they can realize their own lost condition, for someone who does not realize that they are lost and dying can not be saved.
Our "royalty" also calls us to treat others as such, not only are we princes and princesses but so are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Often there is such a lack of even the slightest respect for others even in the church. But if we have the right view point of each other it should change our attitude, and it will not matter what the other person is like, whether we enjoy their company or not. We can't change the way they are, and we are not responsible for their actions but we are responsible for our own. If we consider that each christian is a child of the Kings of kings, that should lead us to show more respect, love, and grace wanting to serve them in whatever way possible, for the glory of our Father as well as theirs.