Emotions. We all have them. Some of us show them more than others. Some of us keep them bottled up, but they are still there. There are certain things in life that grab our emotions and capture them tightly. Situations can take hold of our emotions. The tragedy in Haiti has left my heart saddened by all of those who have lost their lives, and yet I am hopeful as well due to the outpouring of help that is coming from across the globe. Stories can leave us emotional as well. I am not afraid to admit I still get a little misty eyed when I see Samuel L. Jackson run out of the courtroom and hug his daughter at the end of the film A Time to Kill. But most of the time after my emotions take hold, I go back to my normal way of life, my normal way of feeling. I turn off the TV news, or I walk out of the movie theater.
Some people say that love is an emotion. I happen to believe that love is something more than just an emotion. True love, like the kind God has for His children and what His children are supposed to have for Him, is not something that is meant to be strong and fervent one minute and back to lukewarm and “normal” the next. If that was the case, then love is something fickle. And since the Creator defines what love is (because He is love), then it can’t be fickle. It has to be something constant. Something that doesn’t fade in and fade out; a commitment of sorts.
I confess that there have been many times in my life where my devotion to God is this fickle thing that I call love. I want to serve Him and please Him one minute, and then the next day my passion has died down a little. You ever felt like that? You ever heard some sermon that just made your heart burn with a desire for God and then slowly that burning fire died down? I think I have had many of those moments. I think those kind of moments are what going to church camp as a teen is all about.
I believe that God wants more than that from us. I am reminded of what Jesus taught about the benefits of building your house on a rock versus building your house on sand. A rock is something permanent. It’s strong and stable. Sand is shifty. It can be hard to keep your footing when you are in the sand. My love and devotion needs to be more like a rock and less like the sand. My faith needs to be more of a commitment and less of an emotion. My faith needs to be something that just is and not something that is on fire one minute and then quickly washed away. An unstable love is not really a love at all. My desire is to be completely captivated by my God. Not just on certain days of the week or certain times when I am going through difficulties. It’s so easy for me to run to God when times are tough. But I want to be close to God at all times; in the good and the bad. That’s what being in a relationship with God is all about. My desire is to have a love for Him that is not based in emotion but in commitment, because He committed to me before I even knew Him. And I pray the same for you as well because He has committed Himself to all of His children.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Lately.
Hi. How’s it going? Hope the New Year is treating you well so far. As you may or may not know, I have been working on getting my Masters in Professional Counseling. Well, I am taking this semester off. Scheduling issues. Looks like it’s gonna take me a little longer to complete. I know you might be thinking, “Haven’t you been doing that a few years now?” Yeah, I think I can graduate before the end of this decade we just started. Give me a break, I work full time and it’s a 60-something hour program. So, now I am finding I have free time on my hands, which is kinda crazy for me. Usually, I spend my weekends buried in psych books but not this semester. Now, I have time to write again, which is why you are currently reading this. (Thanks for reading buy the way. I know there are other ways you could spend 10 minutes.)
Usually, I try to tell some story and relate it to some lesson I have learned from God in hopes that you can take some nugget of wisdom away but not today. Today, I just wanted to write an update about things going on in my life and some things God has taught me lately. (if you happen to learn anything positive from what God has taught me, then great. so this actually may end up being like something I usually write.).
First of all, my 1st published article comes out in about a month or so. It totally came out of no where. I have been writing and rambling for a few years now and have never been professionally published. I even wrote a book, which I could not get picked up. And then, out of no where a friend/magazine editor asked for some pieces. I sent some but didn’t hear anything for about 4 months. I just assumed my stuff sucked and they had read better literary pieces on the stalls in public restrooms. But then I got the call, or e-mail I should say. So I guess the lesson I learned is to never count God out. I prayed and prayed and prayed for something to happen with my writing and it never did. It is great when someone tells you that they learned something from something you wrote, but getting something published was something I needed to do. After a while, I felt like maybe God didn’t want it to happen. And after a lot of complaining on my part, I came to accept that. But I wasn’t going to completely stop writing because it is an ability God has given me. And I kept on. And out of no where He surprised me and showed me He is faithful. I’m not saying He’ll answer your prayer to win the lottery or anything like that (He hasn’t answered that one for me yet), but He can be trusted. And to trust God means to follow Him even when He doesn’t answer all your prayers.
And then there’s the whole taking off this semester thing. Yes, it is putting me behind on when I plan to graduate. Yes, I wished it wasn’t happening. You ever have something like that happen? Where things are running smoothly and then all of a sudden, Wham-o. Delayed. Life On-hold. I guess I could sit here and whine and complain about how I gonna be behind now. About how my brain might get rusty or something because I am not taking classes. I’m trying my best to be positive about it. It’s going to be nice to read for pleasure for a few months. It will be relaxing not to have papers and tests to worry about for awhile. And I am saving the money I would have spent on tuition. Sometimes God likes to bring us to a place where we are kind of on hold. Maybe He knows that we need the rest, or maybe there’s another reason. But I believe He brings us to these places because He knows what’s best for us at every moment in our life.
That’s really all that’s been going on in my life lately. That and me still being single. But that’s a whole other post entirely. Sorry for the long post; it’s been a while. Til next time. Happy twenty-ten.
Usually, I try to tell some story and relate it to some lesson I have learned from God in hopes that you can take some nugget of wisdom away but not today. Today, I just wanted to write an update about things going on in my life and some things God has taught me lately. (if you happen to learn anything positive from what God has taught me, then great. so this actually may end up being like something I usually write.).
First of all, my 1st published article comes out in about a month or so. It totally came out of no where. I have been writing and rambling for a few years now and have never been professionally published. I even wrote a book, which I could not get picked up. And then, out of no where a friend/magazine editor asked for some pieces. I sent some but didn’t hear anything for about 4 months. I just assumed my stuff sucked and they had read better literary pieces on the stalls in public restrooms. But then I got the call, or e-mail I should say. So I guess the lesson I learned is to never count God out. I prayed and prayed and prayed for something to happen with my writing and it never did. It is great when someone tells you that they learned something from something you wrote, but getting something published was something I needed to do. After a while, I felt like maybe God didn’t want it to happen. And after a lot of complaining on my part, I came to accept that. But I wasn’t going to completely stop writing because it is an ability God has given me. And I kept on. And out of no where He surprised me and showed me He is faithful. I’m not saying He’ll answer your prayer to win the lottery or anything like that (He hasn’t answered that one for me yet), but He can be trusted. And to trust God means to follow Him even when He doesn’t answer all your prayers.
And then there’s the whole taking off this semester thing. Yes, it is putting me behind on when I plan to graduate. Yes, I wished it wasn’t happening. You ever have something like that happen? Where things are running smoothly and then all of a sudden, Wham-o. Delayed. Life On-hold. I guess I could sit here and whine and complain about how I gonna be behind now. About how my brain might get rusty or something because I am not taking classes. I’m trying my best to be positive about it. It’s going to be nice to read for pleasure for a few months. It will be relaxing not to have papers and tests to worry about for awhile. And I am saving the money I would have spent on tuition. Sometimes God likes to bring us to a place where we are kind of on hold. Maybe He knows that we need the rest, or maybe there’s another reason. But I believe He brings us to these places because He knows what’s best for us at every moment in our life.
That’s really all that’s been going on in my life lately. That and me still being single. But that’s a whole other post entirely. Sorry for the long post; it’s been a while. Til next time. Happy twenty-ten.
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