Eye Candy or Heirloom Worthy?

So I was thinking the other day about what life looks like.  We often look at everyone else’s life and we base what we think it is like, with so little information or real insight.  Most of the very things that haunt us as blemishes in our own life are hid very well by others.  When someone reveals their secrets, vulnerabilities, or flaws we gasp, are shocked, judge, or admire.  But we never expect it.  Often don’t see it coming.  Or have already found the people “less than” because of something.  Somewhere we get lost in the illusion that anyone has it going perfectly. Or everyone is messed up.  But that it is obvious.

I have met people, know people, who feel their lives are pretty perfect.  But what I have found is that their lives are typically just as messy as mine.  It is just their frame of mind, their perspective, that is perfect.  Even then they will tell you that really they have great moments of weakness.  There are tears and worries, just like us.  But for the most part their thankfulness and recognition of the blessings outweighs the worry and recognition of the trials. The other group has the people that think their life is trash, over, and have given up.  They have lost hope and everyone knows it.  Some of us fall in between those groups.  But our view, and others, are always skewed by what we see.

I don’t want a life that looks perfect to anyone.  But I want to see my life as a life not wasted.  Where growth is present, love abounds, and forgiveness is always present.
I want my children to learn this by my example.

I may not understand the lessons, the hardships, the trials, but I hope that I can grow and shine with the realization that understanding isn’t necessary, but faith and hope is.

An example of this was my recent mental inventory of the things we have actually gotten new.  Not used, not from a thrift store, but store bought new.  Very little have we purchased new, in years.  And the things we had seemed to develop a problem or defect within a year of buying it. Usually right after the warranty was up.    The fridge has dysfunctional water dispensing.  The microwave button began to stick before we had cooked a whole meal.  The big flat tv has a hairline black area on the screen and a mind of it’s own when streaming things. The computer is, well, just a computer with all the quirks of technology and the bugs that come along with it.

Yet, the used stuff, I don’t even think of that.  I think of the great deal, the remarkable repair or restoration made of it, or the usefulness.  Appreciated without the expected warranty period or expectation of working perfectly.  Of course we expect less because we pay less.  Right?  Perceived expectations based on a false sense of worth.  Not on what it’s function is intended to be as much as what the new state of the item is to begin with and how long it can stay that way. And we all know that things are not made like the use to be.  Cheaper made, more costly the price.

But I realize that we do that with stuff and people.  And I also realize that  I am so thankful that God doesn't do that with us.  That he didn't look at us and feel we deserved less because we could not pay, did not live up to, or did not come new with a warranty.  He saw that we were imperfect, sinners that didn't have a way of our own, and gave his Perfect Son as a sacrifice for us to have a relationship with Him and have salvation.  Humanity first chose that false perspective, over God, a long time ago.  But thankfully he sees things a little more clearly and deeply than we do.

It may not sound very flattering to some.  Who still highly value the new.  But I think of myself as a flea market treasure that God saw potential in and decided that he wanted me for what I was, with all my flaws, and paid a new price for me anyway.  I want to have a God’s eye perspective on the potential and I would be surprised if I was the only one.

Just something to ponder.

Romans 5:1-6
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

Moments of Clarity

God's Not Dead. 

Boy that can sound intimidating, depending on the side of the fence you're sitting on. 

I am sure if you are a Christian you have seen the movie (right?!) because of the press and the many churches that have shown it and promoted it.  And, if you are not a Christian, well, I am sure you are so sick of hearing about it.  Hearing about the Robertsons (Duck Dynasty) and their beliefs.  About the movie that the Christians are all toting.  About the text messages that everyone is getting, 'God's Not Dead'.  Am I right?  Probably. Or maybe you haven't heard a thing. 

I admit I have wanted to see it.  But, until tonight, I just hadn't.  One thing or another came up.  And that is pretty typical of life.  Everyone I talk to has stuff coming up.  Some of it really ugly in their lives.  Some of it just busy.  Some of it overwhelming in obligations or demands made on them.  Right? You too?

My life has felt like that for so long.  So long.  I just jump from one set of gotta do's to another.  If you looked at my life in retrospect you would see a Multiple Personality Disordered life.  No disrespect of mental disorders intended.  All the times I have done 180s and, I bet you would have stories to come back at me with. It is just life.

There are moments though, when life gains a whole lot of clarity in a very short amount of time.  And sometimes we get so dang excited about it that we want to tell everyone.  

And some nice people shake their heads and smile and say, "Wow, that's great!"  

And some nice people wrinkle up their eyebrows and say, "Err...that is really interesting." 

And, some nice people cut you off before you get three words out of your mouth and say, "I am not interested."

I do that to salesmen at the door.  I do that to other faiths that I don't believe in or agree with.  So I am not that different than those who do that to me.  I probably don't deserve the time of day to recount my exciting revelation or moments of clarity.  But thankfully, it really isn't about me.

My walk the other day that started my blogging again, well, that wasn't about me.

And the revelations that I got from that walk (Come Awake, well, they aren't really about me either.

And what I write about, well, that is about me.  But it is not really for me.  And ultimately it isn't so much about me either.

I know in 1997 when I first became a Christian because of a crazy, and I use that word in a worldly sense, dream that I had.  Well, I know that people just thought Stephanie was having a crazy moment, a passing fad, another 180, another stage in her life.  And if I was on the outside looking in I think at first I would have thought the same thing too.  Some people I know stopped being my friends.  Got angry.  Refuted my new beliefs.  Called me bible thumper.  I didn't know people really did that.  Actually, at the time I didn't even understand what that was.  I was amazed, actually, at the fact that an admission of Christianity could bring out so many negative  feelings in others.

I was a baby, brand new Christian.  And that being said, I only knew that Jesus saved me.  

I didn't know how.  

I didn't know why.  

I didn't know who he was.  

He was a baby in a bed of hay under the Christmas tree.  

That was it.  But that dream, that vision...What ever you want to call it, it changed my life and made me want to know who he was.  I was desperate to know.  

Because at a point in my life when I was willing to give up everything because I selfishly didn't think I was worth anything this Jesus thought enough of me to invade my dream and save me in such a way that spoke to me.

I still think it sounds crazy.  

It has been almost 20 years since that night. Almost to the month. 

And no matter the 180s I have made since then, there is one 360 that I never stopped doing.  That is, turning to God and, believing in Jesus.  I am just as much a sinner as either group I started this with. By sinner, I mean someone who has not lived a perfect life free of guilt and doing what is wrong. And I will not claim to be perfect because I am a Christian.  I am simply saved.  I recognize my need for a Savior and I chose to believe in the one who died to save me.  There is a lot of other stuff that came after that.  Some good.  Some bad.  But the one truth remained the same.  I cannot imagine how I would have made it through the tough stuff of life without having God there.  And there is nothing I could possibly say in my own words that could even convey it to you.  The magnitude is unbelievable.  But I can tell you one thing.  God's Not Dead.  

If you haven't see the movie, see it.  It won't hurt you.  It might seem a little crazy at times.  But it might be just what you're looking for... to answer a few questions that keep bugging you. And if not. Then it was just a movie to you.  Thank God for free will, right? ;)

Either way, I hope you see it.  It was pretty darn good.

I included the trailer just in case you haven't seen it or the movie.