Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

a humble heart

humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less ~ c.s. lewis

there are many things i want to focus on in the upcoming year, one of them being humility. but i felt like i needed to find out more about it, learn the definition of it and really meditate on it before i could honestly focus on it.

i started with the definition of humility it is defined as a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness. the opposite of humility would be arrogance and pride. once i had all that laid in front of me, i felt i could truly delve into how to apply it to my life.

before i could understand the beauty of humility i needed to fully understand the ugliness of pride and arrogance. pride is rooted in ignorance. it is an inflated, haughty view of of ourselves that puts God and others second. pride screams for attention. there is nothing at all cute about pride. and, let’s be honest, we are all proud.

humility can be found in many forms such as modesty, humbleness and submission. every single one of these things go against our natural desire to excel and stick out in this world. the world tells us to “just do you”, to stand out from the crowd and to not be weak. we want to be right, come first, be in charge…time and time again, the world convinces us not only that we need that but that we deserve it. and we are convinced that anything less is a sign of weakness.

to have humility and submission our desire to come first must be put aside for the good of another. the humble will be sensitive towards others without complaining. the humble person will feel such thankfulness and gratitude at the jobs God assigns them.

so, how am i going to try to grow in humility this year?

~ prayer…i am going to spend lots of time in prayer, asking God to open my eyes to where i struggle with pride and to give me a humble heart.

~ practice {and practice and practice}…i am quite positive that humility isn’t going to just happen. i will be doing an extra lot of evaluating my thoughts and actions. remember my verse of the year, James 1:19? isn’t it just funny how things go hand in hand

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 
Romans 12:3

out for now
~kisses

convos with my littles {jade style}

jade: from now on i’m going to say hawkward instead of awkward
me: what are you even saying
jade: *caw* *caw* it’s getting kinda hawkward in here…*caw* *caw* coming in for a landing…

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jade: i didn’t know how to spell lindsey when i was writing out christmas cards since she spells her name weird…so i drew a sad sea monster instead

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jade: mama, can you hear me?
me: yes jade
jade: i think our cat looks like usher

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me: jade what is in your mouth?
jade: gumballs
me: how many?
jade: two
(3 hours later)
jade: remember when you asked me how many gumballs i had in? i lied, it wasn’t 2, it was actually 7…

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jade: can i have a Quinceañera
me: jade, we aren’t a single bit mexican

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jade: this makes no cats
me: what?
jade: sorry, this makes no sense. i was thinking about cats.

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out for now
~kisses

dear bullies…

miss jade has unfortunately been dealing with some bullies lately.  i so wish i could take this from her and protect her from it forever.  sadly, that isn’t possible.  this is an email i wrote to send to the bullies.  my kids said this would just cause horrible drama and make the situation worse so i didn’t send it.  but if i could tell them something, this would be it…

dear bullies…

i’m not sure that you understand how much you make others existence painful and nearly unendurable. so many innocent bystanders are made the victim by your cruel words and actions. right now, while you are teenagers, you are completely unaware of how your words and actions affect others around you.

no matter how many years go by, each kid you bully will forever remember how you made fun of them and the way it made them feel when you mockingly jeered about their shortcomings. you tear others apart with such precision that it leaves them breathless and alone. most likely, you will never fully understand how alone you make them feel.

to you, it’s no big deal.

i see when others make fun of and bully people just how miserable they truly are inside. you can deny it, say you are perfectly fine when honestly if you were fine you wouldn’t be able to do and say the things you do. there is no real joy in their actions, only pain. they are lonely and hurting and want someone else to comprehend the pain. and honestly, i feel sorry for you. no one should ever experience those feelings.

what makes me so sad for you girls is that you are truly beautiful girls who, given different circumstances, could be beautiful on the inside and the outside. sadly, you choose the road that makes you appear ugly regardless of your outward appearance. i think deep down inside, you are genuinely nice girls. i just wish you gave it more of an opportunity to shine. i wish you girls could learn to love and respect yourselves. i wish you felt like you could be heard, walk tall and feel valued. i know that there in goodness in each and every person.

but luckily for you, i have two children who are Christians and have been taught to love others as Christ loves us, unconditionally. they will forgive you and we will all pray for you. it makes me so sad to think of the kids that don’t know Christ and how alone they must feel from being bullied. funny thing, you’ve made such fun of jade but if you walked up to her tomorrow, genuinely apologized and said you wanted to be friends she would accept your apology and be the best friend you’ve ever had. thankfully, my children have the capacity for empathy.

i’m not for one second saying my kids are perfect, they aren’t. neither am i, or you, or anyone. unfortunately, we’ve all made mistakes and will continue to. some big, some small. we all do it. however, as God’s word says in 1 John 1:9, if you confess your sins, he will forgive you. so don’t beat yourself up over your mistakes and sins. but there is normally always a consequence. you’ll have to deal with the consequences of your actions – good and bad.

we can’t live how we want and still go to Heaven. you are a creature made to glorify the God who redeemed you. you can choose to glorify and serve God in this time on the earth, or you can choose to glorify and serve yourself here. but I have to warn you, if you choose yourself, you will not spend eternity with God. you can’t. you must have faith here and believe in Him on earth to receive the gift of salvation. one moment after death is too late. there are no do-overs.

if you want to take this email, make fun of it, tear it apart and such that’s fine.  just know i will still be praying for you and so will my family.  and regardless of what you do, Jesus still loves you.

out for now
~kisses