Authenticity

au·then·tic·i·ty

 

[aw-then-tis-i-tee,aw-thuhn-]

–noun

the quality of beingauthentic;genuineness.

What do you find to be "authentic?" Do you think about the authenticity of a song you have on your iPod? The labels on the clothes you wear? The authorization on works of art, literature, or otherwise? What about religion? Do you ever associate those words together? I can't believe I'm about to say this, but the following was found on Facebook:

You can't just stand in a garage and say "I'm a car."

You can't just stand in a church and say "I'm a Christian."

Being Christian is so much more than a label. Christianity was illegal before it was as hugely popular as it is now. Back when it Christianity was strictly Catholicism, it would be worth the death penalty if you were found to be Catholic. People would secretly go and preach to each other and follow their religion because it was worth it.

They didn't care that if they were caught they could be put to death. That's dedication. On that note, I'm going to contradict myself. I love the sincerity when someone says they would die for a cause or someone, but I think it's somuch more effective to say that you would live for a cause. Dying for something is powerful-and it says something, but a life is so fragile and important that it's worth so much more to dedicate your life to something.

Now think of it like this, Jesus did both. Jesus gave up His whole life devoted to preach God's word to those of all classes. He made miracles happen with nothing but prayer and mud. If that wasn't amazing enough already, He gave up His life for a bunch of rebels who didn't even know Him. Could you die for a stranger? Could you live for a stranger? Could you die for a foe? Could youlive for them? Family, friends, and loved ones it's easy to say yes, I would lay down my life for them. Now what if it weren't someone you were close to, knew, or even liked. That makes things harder. Jesus would have no problem with it. That is love.

God is love, and God is inside of all of us. So it's a mind-boggling thought to think that even if someone is horrible to you, God is inside their heart. God loves them, even if you don't. The song I'm listening to right now is actually helping me to prove my point-

"Jesus paid much to high a price

for us to pick and choose who to come,

and we are the Body of Christ"

-If we Are the Body

-Casting Crowns

To love God is to love both your friends and enemies. God is in all of us, and we don't get to just go around and say... oh they don't count. They do. They're beautiful to God; they're amazing, and perfect. So are you. Love them, even if you don't get the same reaction. At the very least, pray for them.

I've been absent for quite some time, and it's been tearing me apart. But one thing that hasn't changed is my ability to completely change subjects without realizing it. Back on track, though, to love everyone- neighbors and enemies alike- is not only one of the Ten Commandments, but it is a decent definition for Christian Authenticity. As Christians, we are followers of Christ. We know that. Christ preached about how amazing and truly awesome His Father, God, is. God is love. We are God's children, let's act like it.

I'm in the middle of feeling horrible. I haven't blogged since New Years... and none of my blog posts have been "me". That's not who I am, that's just me trying to be a stereotypical blogger. I'm getting back into the groove, though. I promise. I'm listening to my Christian peers and it's helping me to grow even deeper in faith, closer to Him. It's great to be back. (:

My New Years Resolution

3... 2.. 1. HAPPY NEW YEARS!

You were either living this, watching this, or dreaming about this last night at midnight. New Years is significant for basically it's name- it's the start of a new year. It gives us a chance to mark a day to start fresh.

For You Entertainment: Some Common New Years Resolutions

• I'm going to lose weight!
• I'm going to make more money!
• I'm going to fall in love!
• I'm going to fall in love by making money and losing weight!
• I'm going to get 100s on every single grade!
• I'm going to be prom queen/king!
• I'm going to go to church every week again!
• I'm going to be a better person!
• I'm going to make friends!
• I wont bite people (metaphorically, or literally)!

New Years Resolutions of MINE

• Focus better in school [grades, tests]
• Enjoy the new season of Pure Fashion (yay!)
• Jealousy- work on it
• Blogging better/more often- work on it
• Have Jesus Christ as my number one goal in life
• To be Christlike in all that I do
• Sleep- work on that [which is why I must conclude]

Those are MY Resolutions. What are yours?

BY THE WAY: Here's a tidbit of information you might find interesting(:

For lent, I'm planning to give up Facebook.

Goodnight Everyone, God Bless :)

Matthew 16:24
“hen said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

"30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

Luke 1:30-34

How shocked would you be. Girls, especially. If an angel came to you and said, hey listen. I know you have your own plans, and that your a virgin and your just kind of hoping to live a simple life but SORRY, that's not going to fly. You're going to give birth to the son of God, Jesus. My guess, pretty shocked. We don't plan for that to happen to us. We don't go to bed at night thinking okay... I'll get up at 6, take a shower, and get ready, eat some breakfast, then the angel Gabriel's going to come and change my life, history, religion, and the world forever. And then after that maybe I'll go grab some food. No, we don't plan for that sort of thing. Mary didn't either. She had a very simple life. So did Joseph. When he married Mary he didn't expect to find out one day that his virgin wife was pregnant. He wanted just a normal life of a carpenter, but that didn't work for him either.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

What faith. What faith that Joseph & Mary had that they could give up everything they had prepared, and expected to follow what came in a dream, or what an angel told them (respectively). Most things I dream, I forget instantaneously. We need to pray every single day that we have the great faith of Mary & Joseph to be as willing and excepting of our God's word and will.

His word is better than anything we could ever hope for, dream for, or even imagine. Why wish for a word when we can have the whole book, metaphorically, in the name of Jesus Christ?

In this Christmas season, I hope that you are willing to take on God's requests.

Merry Christmas (in 3 days) Y'all :)

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

If you read this last night, you're ready- here it comes- a deep blog.

It's more personal than anything, but not in a creepy way. I've been waiting to tell this blog. I was going to write it when I first started blogging back this summer, but I figured I'd save it for christmas. I almost forgot about it, then I found a little sticky note reminding myself to do it.

I told myself I would, and this is going to be difficult for me to type, but I'm sticking to my word.

About three years ago, we had our annual Christmas party. It's mainly my dad's work and some close family, and it's always a pretty big deal. At the same time, my grandpa on my dad's side was pretty sick. He had just had some heart problems recently, so they were just keeping watch on him. Party was going like normal. My cousin Koryn and I would hang out in my room, occasionally my little cousin Jacob would come hang out with us, and our two youngest cousins Luke & trey would play with the legos and try to crash into my room and mess with my stuff. Usual. We were being really silly. It was just normal, fun, a usual party. Then we got a call. My grandpa had suffered from a heart attack and was in the hospital. It's like everything froze. My aunts and parents were all in my dad's office waiting around the phone for the next call. Luke & Trey didn't know. We decided not to tell them, they were really young, and it was almost Christmas and we didn't want them worrying. Koryn, Jacob and I started to kinda just cool down in my room. Just sit down. Occasionally one of us would "spy" almost downstairs to see what was happening.

Then we got another phone call. My grandpa had died. [I'm sorry, let me say this right now, for being so personal with you. I just really felt that I should get this out. And I am tearing up a little right now because of the next part of this, but please don't feel bad or anything, it happens.] Koryn, Jacob and I went in my room after finding out. We all sat around. Koryn on my bed, Jacob in a chair, I was on the floor under my dresser. Jacob was crying like crazy, Koryn was crying, and I was just sitting there. We were talking about memories we had with my Grandpa, and it just made them cry even more. No matter what, though, I could not cry. It wasn't just "building up" and I don't know to this day if I was just in shock... but I couldn't cry. And that drove me crazy.

We flew up to MInnesota for his funeral. It was depressing for me because I felt so guilty, so selfish that I couldn't even cry upon my own dad's father's death. I was just being horrible. Me and my cousin, Chelsea, who I never even get to see, fought even over it. We both wanted to right him a song to put in his coffin. We tore ourselves a part over it, and stopped talking to each other for the whole time we were there. For the first time in my life, I saw my dad cry at the funeral. And I went up to see him, and nothing happened. Nothing would make me cry. And at this point i was so sad from not being able to cry, that i wanted to cry. Something was wrong with me. This is the part I hate. I hate myself for this... I couldn't go to his funeral. I couldn't bring myself to it. I thought that I didn't deserve to see him that one last time because I couldnt even cry for him, what kind of a granddaughter was I? So I went inside a room in the church, curled up on a recliner and tried to force myself to cry. I just sat there. Thinking about everything. Kinda thinking how it would be to go out to the funeral, and ultimately deciding against it. I was there for the burial, but I regretted to this day on not taking the last chance I had to see my grandpa.

It always struck tears to my eyes (a little late) when thinking about it after. I've already cried a few times just typing this up. I went and pulled out an old teddy bear that he & my Grandma gave me for Christmas the year before. It's pretty emotional for me now, but the biggest healing point was just randomly in church a year or so back. It came to the Our Father (Any non-Catholics, it's a part of our mass), and nobody was next to me on one side, so my hand was open. I closed my eyes when I said it, just because, and I felt somebody squeezing my hand. Of course there was no one next to me. But it felt big and warm just like my grandpas did. And I could imagine him there with me, just watching over me. And now constantly, I'm overjoyed when I have a free hand, because I close my eyes and just hope he'll come and be with me. I know he's always watching over me. I know he's not mad at me for not seeing him one last time, or that I couldnt cry. I know he understands, and is so proud of everything I've become, and I almost feel like he's helping me type this right now. I know he can see me crying, and that he's with God right now looking down on me. Smiling.

That's why through all of these tears, I'm partially smiling, because at the end of it I know he's there with me. He always will be.

In Loving Memory

Loving and Loved Husband, Father, and Grandfather

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ......... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below -- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 8:35 - 39

"Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

2 Corinthians 4:10

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

Oh no. Well I had this big, deep blog planned for tonight. But here we are... 11:41, I should be asleep. I'm lying in bed yawning. But I promised myself I'd blog. Just rest assured: tomorrow = deep.

Tonight though, I'll keep it short and sweet. :)

You are beautiful.

How often are you told that? I promise you it's not enough. Right it on your hand, your mirror, your binder, something. Look in the mirror every morning and night and say that. Engrave it in your mind. Don't let yourself forget it.

"And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them."

-Genesis 1:27

If we are formed in God's image, and God is by far in every way beautiful and amazing, we are beautiful. Not to an extent where we are better than anyone else, or where we need to be cocky. But we are beautiful. Remember it.

We are the light of God.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!"

That's one of my favorite songs. Ever. I mainly love the purpose of it. It's to teach children that we are to spread the word of God. Children. We're supposed to be children, you know.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation– if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
(1 Peter 2:2-3 ESV)

We should be the light of the Lord, and be like children when they didn't care what religion their friends were. When we didn't know that war existed, when we didn't get caught up in silly matters. And to be the light. Little children are the light. Seeing a happy child puts a smile on any ones face. I would know, I spent an hour chasing one around yesterday, along with several others. We need to be children. We need to be the light of the world.

let it shine,

let it shine,

let it shine.

Just Another Drop In The Bucket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ3p7zaXZvM&feature=related


1:28 to 1:37 is just inspiring to me. When I first saw it, I grabbed my mouth in shock and couldn't even focus on reality. Just a small, small portion of what we spend trying to find the "perfect gift" for Mom, Dad, and Suzie could fix the clean-water issue.
Which just happens to be the leading cause of death.

Now what do you think would make Jesus happier, a new toy that will be out of style in one month, or to save countless lives? This Christmas, coming up, keep that in mind. Go ahead, get your gifts. I'm not going to lie, I love buying people gifts, because I love to see their faces when they open them, but I wish there was something more i could do. STRIKE THAT. There is something I can do. There's something we ALL can do. There are organizations locally, nationally, and globally that work together to solve thirst. We can become a part of one. This isn't impossible.

We may be just one drop of water in the bucket, but if all those drops join together it becomes clean water. Clean healing water.

Sorry for the horrible, horrible comparison. I just had to.

Speaking of drops in the bucket, today I had my audition for a musical, if you know me, go ahead and ask what it's about, but it really isn't relative to this particular blog. What I sang, however, is. You MOST LIKELY know this song:

525,600 Minutes

525,000 Moments so dear

525,600 Minutes

How do you measure- measure a year?

My apologies if you have not heard that song. It's called Seasons of Love from RENT. But my point is we have five hundred twenty five thousand, and six hundred minutes in one year. Which doesn't sound like much if you think about it. 60 seconds in one minute. 60 minutes in one hour. 24 hours in one day. 7 days in one week. 4 weeks in one month. 12 months in one year, and who knows how many years in a life, even? We can't define it by numbers constantly. You don't see anyone walking down the streets saying "Hey, theres 2,600 minutes left in 2010!" or "Excuse me, have we hit 500 minutes yet?" Otherwise, we would be constantly jumping to the next second. Minute. Hour. Day, so on, so forth. We already do that a little now, why do it anymore? We need to live in the moment, and in that moment we have to FOCUS ON CHRIST.

I go back and look through my old blogs once in a blue moon to see if I've gotten any feedback. It helps me to know if I'm making a difference for anybody. If I'm helping anybody. Or at best, how I CAN help somebody. That's why I'm here, really. I noticed that right before school started I posted a blog entitled FOG, if I'm correct. Focus On God.

Be honest with yourself now, have you been doing that?

Christmas is around the corner. Counting the days, especially if you have one of those ornaments from Hallmark that does it for you (guilty!), but only a few times in this season do we really sit back and think "Wow. This is just beautiful. My family's coming together. There's a beautifully decorated tree, with some presents under it. There's music playing, and we're about to celebrate Jesus' birth." We should be constantly thinking that.

New Years is coming up shortly after. Make your New Years Resolution this:

In 2011 I'm going to focus on God

Whatever drama may come I hand over to God

Whatever may cause me stress I hand over to God

And I know that by putting all my trust and faith in God

He will follow through for me

Because he's absolutely always with me

happy holidays

Misguided Ghosts

Misguided Ghosts

Paramore. They are my favorite band- end of story. This is a song that I’ve been listening to, and I’m going to kind of weave through the lyrics, because although it is not technically a Christian band, they are all Christian and I’m easily relating this song to our faith. Hope you enjoy.

I’m going away for a while

But I’ll be back, don’t try and follow me

‘Cause I’ll return as soon as possible

You see, I’m trying to find my place

But it might not be here, where I feel safe

At some point we all have just had enough. We all have wanted to just leave, not having anyone worry about us, or have to follow us. Just to be one with God and just recollect ourselves.

We all learn to make mistakes

And run from them, from them

With no direction

That is so, so true. We all have made mistakes. Big and small. We’ve made mistakes today alone, and we want to take them all back. I’m especially guilty of this. We don’t do anything about them, though. We run from them. What are we running to? We don’t have any specific place or reason for it. We just want to get out of the possible pain, we’re the same way when it comes to doing the right thing in God’s name. And run from them, from them, with no direction.

We’ll run from them, from them

With no conviction

conviction |kənˈvik sh ən|noun1 a formal declaration that someone is guilty of a criminal offense, made by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law : she had a previous conviction for a similar offense.2 a firmly held belief or opinion : his conviction that the death was no accident| she takes pride in stating her political convictions. See note at opinion .• the quality of showing that one is firmly convinced of what one believes or says : his voice lacked conviction.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin convictio(n-), from the verbconvincere (see convince ).

We don’t want to be guilty, even when we are sure we are. Peter denied Jesus 3 times, even after promising he wouldn’t, just because he didn’t want to face the pain that would come if he had stuck by Him. The stronger guilt was the one after, though.

‘Cause I’m just one of those ghosts, traveling endlessly

Don’t need no roads, in fact they follow me

And we just go in circles

This part, because of why Hayley Williams wrote this song, stands out to me. She doesn’t like the fact that people want to be just like her, that people want to be her because she’s famous. She’s just a person, or as she put’s it, a ghost. Traveling endlessly: always moving, always looking for whats coming next. The next line, Don’t need no roads, in fact they follow me, is intriguing to me. I want to say what it means to me is she’s not following any persons footsteps. And we just go in circles: life is just confusing, if you haven’t figured it out by now. Sometimes it feels like we’re just going around in circles. That we have no point in life but to just walk around and mark our own roads, but we do. It’s etched out by God. The only roads we need to follow are the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

But now I’m told that this is life

And pain is just a simple compromise

So we can get what we want out of it

Have you ever felt that way? Not necessarily depressed, even though you might have known someone in the past that was depressed, but to the point where all you felt was pain? Or that the only way to get through life was by suffering to be happy? Don’t get me wrong, when you follow Him there are costs, but they are all worth it. It’s not meaning how it does above when it’s saying pain is a compromise to get a little bit of joy out of life, that’s not how it works. We’re not looking for joy, we’re looking for salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.

Would someone care to classify

I’ve broken hearts, and twisted mine

So I can find someone to rely on

And run to them, to them

Full speed ahead

Everyone reading this has at some point had a broken heart. Don’t deny it, and chances are you may have broken someone elses, even if you don’t know it. By going through and getting your heart broken, or by falling for someone and it doesn’t work out, you’re twisting your own heart, you’re breaking yourself down. We all have someone to rely on though. I definitely do, whenever I need to vent, laugh, cry or just talk, I always know who to count on. Who to run to, full speed ahead. Have you ever thought to run to God though? To pray. He’s always there. His phone wont ever be dead, or out of minutes for texting or calling, He wont ever be logged off of Facebook, He’s there for you when you reach out to Him in silence and prayer. Full speed ahead.

Oh, you are not useless

We are just misguided ghosts

Traveling endlessly

This is referring to two different things I’ve mentioned. Feeling like you have no purpose, and then referring back to what I said about Hayley saying she was a ghost.

We do have a purpose, we all do. Oh, you are not useless. We are “misguided ghosts”- we don’t know our purpose yet. That’s why we “travel endlessly” looking for what in the world we are supposed to be doing. Just travel in the way that He has laid out for you and you will most definitely find your place.

The ones we trusted the most

Pushed us far away

Have you ever lost a friend? I have. And I wish I didn’t have to say that, because it’s horrible losing someone. Especially when you trusted them with all of your heart and then you got so distant that you barely spoke.

God wont ever push us away, it’s only us that pushes Him away.

And there’s no one road

We should not be the same

How many times have I mentioned this in previous blogs? It’s important: we are NOT supposed to be the same. Otherwise God would’ve made us like that. If we are all supposed to look like we all had plastic surgery 200 times, He would’ve made us to look like that, act like we were all the same, think like it, and overall just be the same. But we’re not! We all have talents, gifts, purposes that is our own unique thing. No other has the same exact gifts as you, and you are important. You are your own self. Don’t forget it or deny it. Embrace it. Love it, after all God shaped you in his image, didn’t he?

But I’m just a ghost

And still they echo me

They echo me in circles

Last time, Hayley repeats that she’s just a person, and that people still strive to be like her. They want to live the life that she lives and fulfill the purpose that she has, while she’s still going in circles trying to figure it out. They’re just echoing her, and her circles. And it doesn’t help anyone.

I’m in the middle of a road-trip back home, no I’m not referring to the song. If you are very observant you’ve noticed that I typed up two blogs in one day. This is probably being posted on a Monday or Tuesday, however it’s Sunday at around 3 right now. I just couldn’t wait to get this out. I hope it meant to you as much as it did to me.

Oh, you are not useless

We are just misguided ghosts.