Monday, November 25, 2013

The Church Bears Each Other's Burdens


You will need other people.
I saw this quote today, and even though the first bit is a bit silly, I was reminded how hard it is to remember something like this. "You will need other people." It's so simple, but how many of us act like it's okay to do, to need other people? 

Sometimes we get so broken and so lost that we are totally disoriented. We hardly remember who we are and forget how to survive in this world. If this happens when we're young, as it did for me, we never first learn who or how. We stumble, covered in emotional mud, unable to see a way out. Then, when we do escape the mire, we aren't sure how to live, how to be 'normal.' We need help but we don't feel like it's right to ask anyone for it.

In the Church, it is our job to take the hands of others as they step from the darkness into the light. It is our responsibility and our honor to love and guide those who need it, because they do: they need it. And when we're the ones who need it, it is our responsibility and honor to be helped. 

The Church bears each other's burdens because we are all struggling at one point or another, and we say care. So let's do it. Let's be that shoulder to cry on. Let's be that late night phone call or that quiet support. Let's be that unknown prayer or that sobbing mess. We'll only be better for it.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Create Like He Created.

One of my favorite things in the world is art. I love just about every kind of art I've come across so far. I love beautiful things, things that echo the beauty of God's creations. I want to write and sing and draw and paint and dance for my King. I want to bring Him glory with every word that trickles from my lips and my pen. I want to honor Him with each line and brushstroke. I long to make things that are beautiful.

Sometimes I wish I could stop everything I am doing and just create. I wish I could cultivate the beauty within me, placed there by the Creator of the universe, so that I can make something He would love. It's when I feel the closest to Him, and when I feel most myself: when I create. Why? Because He created, and when I create I am being like Him. I'm not creating things "ex nihilo," or, "out of nothing," but rather out of the creativity that He placed in me. It's a daughter aspiring to be like her Father. It's me being me. Something deep within me just longs to create like He created.

Monday, November 4, 2013

"Always the Sinner, Never the Saint": an original poem

Life
seems to consist of a string of tragedies
all of which were clearly not my fault
or at least
were unintentional
Every day I wish to be better
to be more than I am
to be new
Every day (if I remember)
I pray for help
yet nothing changes
My heart aches for newness
for the beauty of rebirth
Instead I come begging for forgiveness
yet again
begging for change
begging for something to happen
I'm being torn apart
day by day;
limb by limb
and it's terrifying
but somehow,
beneficial