I Would Just Like to Say...

It's so funny when I dress up, put on make-up, the whole shebang.  People are so floored.  I find it hilarious.  No one expects it of me to look "glamorous."  

Mom always puts my make-up on, mainly because she's awesome at it but also because I don't have a clue how to put it on.  And she always starts in with, "Oh, Daron!  Just look at your eyes!!  See, if you would just put a little make-up on..."  Boo!  I don't want to mess with it.  Another thing to take up time in the morning while getting ready.  Not worth it.  I hate wearing it.  Too much to worry about.  

As I've gotten older, I don't mind as much getting a little dressed up.  Doing Variety Show is almost like Halloween for me.  I get to be someone completely different than normal, just by fixing my hair, painting my face, and putting on a dress.  And I love singing on stage.  It's just fun.  

Today I was thinking about when (if ever) I would begin wearing make-up on a regular basis.  I don't know if it will happen.  I, of course, don't ever see it happening.  I do know that things change, and there's that possibility that someday I will wake up with the desire to wear make-up.  There is also a possibility that it will never happen.  I don't really care.  If it happens, it happens.  Right now, I am washing this junk off my face.  And gladly.

And that's the conclusion to my blog about make-up.  Cue Mom telling me I should wear it...

Lessons from a Movie

I just finished watching Saved!, which is one of my favorite movies ever.  For those of you who don't know, it's a satire on Christianity.  You should see it, if you haven't.  A lot of people here at Union probably wouldn't really enjoy it; pretty much everyone who I've shared it with here haven't liked it.  I love it, anyway, and that's what matters.  ;)  

One of the main things the movie always makes me think of is judging people.  Thinking you are better than someone because you are a Christian, or haven't made the same mistakes, or have different views about what it means to be a Christian.  Tonight while I was watching it, I picked up on something else.  

There are several events in which a character claims, "Jesus told me to!"  Of course, Jesus "told" them to do things that are sins and do not end well.  It hit me that people may use that excuse to do something drastic, something that toes or even crosses the line between moral and immoral.  Just look at the Crusades, the Inquisition.  In the movie, Mary (main character) has sex with her boyfriend, believing that Jesus told her to do it in order to "cure" her boyfriend's homosexuality.  I'm not saying that any of you would do such a thing; I'm giving an example here.  

The whole movie is basically Mary's journey to discovering what it really means to be a Christian, how knowing right and wrong does not guarantee perfection.  This comes from having made a big mistake.  

We all make mistakes (duh).  We've all made big mistakes, had times at which we thought the world had ended as we knew it.  Nothing could be done to rectify the mess we made.  How untrue!  

God uses every one of our mistakes for His purposes.  He doesn't clean it up for us; He teaches us lessons, gives others examples, reaches out to pick us up from them.  He wants us to turn to Him when everything goes south - and even when it hasn't.  

I don't think I've been very eloquent in expressing my desired message (disregarding this sentence), but I only had a small point to make.  Maybe it's one you've never thought about, or just one you've forgotten (as it was with me).  Mistakes suck:  They can hurt you and everyone around you, they can cause major complications, they can make you feel like you are the biggest idiot on the planet.  However...

If God didn't use our screw-ups, what else would He have to work with?

BYOJ - Bring Your Own Joy

As Christians, we are called to joyful.  To be thankful for each day we've been given and treat it as though it is our last, because it very well could be.  

I never really got that.  I think I believed that happiness was something that happened as a result of your situation, what's going on around you and to you.  I thought I was supposed to wait around until happiness found me; it wasn't something I had to look for.  Now I see it differently.

God calls us to be joyful.  Okay, that shouldn't be that hard.  But then God tells us we will suffer.  We will not have it easy.  With every step, Satan is pulling us back, tripping us up - doing his best to bring us down.  So... how on earth are we supposed to be joyful about that?  Isn't that the exact opposite of happiness: being constantly attacked and torn apart?  

It is.  The thing is, we still have every reason to be happy.  You know why?  I truly hope you do.  It is because we have salvation.  We have been redeemed by an incredible love that we cannot hope to comprehend.  We are not bound to this world!  We don't belong here!  What a relief that is, knowing that we are destined for so much more, that we will soon escape a world we are not meant to be in.  We are God's children, and we are only here for a short while before we are called home.  

So I have no excuses for feeling down or wallowing in self-pity.  My life as of now is not glamorous or perfect, but my future looks a lot like Heaven.  

But I have to fight for this joy.  It is vital that I remember who I am living for and what He has done for me; I have to remind myself that my joy comes from Him alone.  It doesn't come from winning a game in soccer, doing well in school, my friends, or my family.  All those things are just really amazing perks.  I have a Savior that was willing to die for me, a God who knows every niche of my soul, a Creator who made me the way I am for a purpose that only He fully understands.  Those facts should override everything else, for they are what truly matters.  They are what should drive my sense of joy every single day, every single moment.  

This journey of becoming honestly joyful is going to be unimaginably difficult, I know.  It is so easy for me to get caught up in the world around me and forget Who is most important.  I tend to get brought down in a spiral of negative emotions; I effortlessly point out the aspects of my life that are imperfect.  Nevertheless, I am called to this:  To remember Christ who died for me and be joyful in that fact alone.  I need nothing else to make me happy.  He sustains me always.