Monday, May 16, 2011

Summer Goals.

1. Join a small group through Hope Community Church
2. Find somewhere to regularly volunteer.
3. Make a budget and stick to it. 
4. Cook more. Try new recipes. Invite people over to test out my experiments.
5. Read a book about the history of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
6. Get a bike and use it. 
7. Subscribe to the Star Tribune and read it daily. 
8. Write letters to my friends who will be all over the country and the world this summer.
9. Spend time with God daily, memorize verses, and spend more time in prayer.
10. Explore. 


I'm a little nervous about what this summer will bring. I don't want to look back and realize that I've regressed. I want this summer to be one of extreme growth; both spiritually, and into the adult that I want to be. I want this summer to be a summer where I actively develop those traits that I want to have, but have felt like I haven't had time for...such as being more politically aware, staying in contact with the people who have made me who I am, and actively pursuing my relationship with Jesus. It could be so easy to slip into a state of apathy and complacency, but I want more than that. I want a challenge. I want change. I want growth. So, send me your address or a recipe, recommend a life-changing book, sermon, or blog, volunteer to test out my experiments and/or accompany me in exploring, or give me more ideas. Most of all, join me in prayer that this summer not be wasted. Thanks friends! 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Selfishness.

So why is it that relationships with other people seem to bring out the worst in us? Before I had boyfriends, or roommates, I thought I was basically perfect. Gosh, was I wrong! For the past four years, I have been knocked off my high horse, realizing different ways that I am certainly NOT perfect. In relationships, I've seen how selfish I can be. That's really the problem, isn't it? We're selfish people. We are the center of our worlds. We are the people we are thinking about constantly, not others. We're thinking about our own well-being, our own satisfaction, our own interests. How is that working out for us? For me, it sucks. Why? Probably because I am (we are) called to something different:


"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."-Philippians 2:3-4 


Gosh, so much of my life is doing what I want to do, when I want to do it, based on my feelings.


"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."-John 15:12-13


Sure, I'd lay down my life for my friends and the people I love, but would I give up some of my little "rights" or things I think I deserve? Like giving up the remote after a long day when I just want to veg out with my favorite show? Like having to prove that I'm right, even when it really shouldn't matter? Like not acting on my impulses when others' feelings may be involved? Like having a good attitude when I feel I have the right to be crabby? Blargh.


Honestly, I don't have the right to those things. As a follower of Christ, I am to lay down those rights for other people. This doesn't mean being a pushover, but it does mean focusing on things that are eternal, instead of temporal. Only three things are eternal; God, His word, and peoples' souls. Lord, help me.