You Are the Salt

     "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt looses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may  see your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father."- Mathew 5:13-16
     In this Bible passage, Jesus is giving us an extremely important analogy. He calls us the salt of the earth. What does He mean by that? Well, if you think of table salt and what its' purpose is, it makes sense. We use salt to season our food and to enhance the flavor of it. Salt isn't really a necessity, but we use it anyways and it makes our food taste better when we do use it. We are like this salt because God doesn't need us to follow Him. He gives us free will and lets us choose what we want to do and who we want to follow. God has millions of people that He created, like millions of tiny grains of salt. So, if He looses a few, yes, it hurts Him deeply, but He can go on and it really effects us more deeply when we don't choose to follow Him. However, when we do choose to follow Him, it pleases Him greatly.
     The next part says "But if salt looses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." By this statement I think Jesus is telling us to stay on top of our faith. If we go out and are praising His name and living the life He wants us to only part time, then what good does that do? We should be living a life of praise glorifying Him at all times! Otherwise, we cannot season the earth and evangelize to others like we have been called to do.
      Next, Jesus calls us the light of the world. We are the light of the world because we are all called by him to shine and spread His word. Just like when you turn a light on in a room and it illuminates the entire space, we are called to let the Holy Spirit shine through us and bring the good news to the entire world. Wherever we may go He wants us to be confident about proclaiming His name.

     "A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify you Heavenly Father." In this last part of the passage, He relates us to a city on a mountain. A city on a mountain is not able to be hidden because it stands above everything around it. If someone lived on a mountain, and terrorists came to attack their village, it would be hard for the village to hide themselves and enforce protection. This is how God wants us to be. He wants us to live with so much love and joy that we cannot hide it and we don't want to hide it. He wants us to not be afraid and hide the light we have shining in us, but instead live by it and pass it on to others. He wants our lights to shine so that others who may have never heard of His name, or heard of His good deeds may learn of them. God gave us free will to choose what we want, but He wants us to all have the chance to accept Him into our hearts. By living a life like Christ, we can show others that God is within us and that acknowledging Christ in your life as your teacher and savior brings the most joy.

     As you go out and continue to live your life, remember these points from Mathew chapter 5. Remember that the Lord calls us each by name to evangelize to His people. We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We shouldn't be afraid to hide the fact that He is within us and we should be willing to go out and do His will all the time, no matter the cost. Let your light shine, because you never know what kind of an impact God could allow you to leave on someones' life.

The Concequences of Killing

     How would you feel if someone just decided that you weren't important enough to live? What if someone decided that they would just kill you off so that they wouldn't have to deal with you? 55 million lives have been lost because people don't value the sanctity of a human life. People don't realize that "A person is a person no matter how small." At the moment of conception, a precious life is formed inside a mother's womb. No matter how small the child maybe at the time, that baby inside a mother's womb is a living breathing life that God has created!
      In our society today, sex has become more recreational and less of a serious matter. The purpose of sex is to procreate! Society doesn't teach us that. Society says that if a women becomes pregnant, it is her choice to keep the child or abort it. Yet, it shouldn't be this way. A human life is precious and whether a person is on the verge of death of developing in the womb, they are just as important as everyone else.
     Abortion has taken over 55 million souls. Abortion is murder. It is the murder of pure innocent babies who have done nothing to deserve their pain. Why should these children have to deal with the consequences of our actions? They shouldn't! We should have no right to abort these babies that God has given to us. God has a reason for everything and He grants us with the gift of these precious lives, but we choose to destroy them. Imagine all of the amazing people we are missing from our life, or could be missing in the future if we keep allowing abortion to be legal. Our future husbands, and wives, our children's husbands and wives, our classmates that should be beside us, doctors that could cure diseases like cancer, all could have been lost to abortion. God has plans for us to follow in our lives and abortions tamper with God's optimum plans for us.
     Many think that abortion is wrong if the sex happened by choice, but in a rape situation, the mother should have the right to abort the child. The baby still cannot help the circumstances that it has been brought into, it has still done nothing wrong! Again, why should the child have to deal with the circumstances of our misfortunes? A life is a life no matter how it has been conceived. But, what if I know my child will be born with a disability? Well, God has a purpose for creating them that way! They are no less of a person because they are born with a disability.
     Some people conceive children and think that their families are too big, or it isn't the right time, or they cannot support a child with the financial circumstances. Abortion is not the answer. There are so many organizations, such as Birthright, that help pregnant women needing financial support for their children. If raising the child is not an option, adoption agencies are very accepting. There are so many people in the world who may not be able to have children, or may just feel called to adoption who would love to accept a child into their home. Babies are so wanted! Yet, we keep thinking they are insignificant, and we can keep murdering them.
     Abortions should be illegal. They don't only murder the babies, but they also leave most women with emotional scars.We need to stand up for the lives that cannot stand up for themselves and inform people who don't know the truth about abortions! Abortion was legalized 40 years ago in the Roe vs. Wade case. Norma McCorvey, a teen, claimed she was rapped and wanted to legalize abortion so she wouldn't have to have her baby. However, 28 years later, she revealed that in fact she had not been raped and she had gotten pregnant with her boyfriend after prom. Since then, she has tried to change the views of people all over the world in proclaiming how wrong she was. Abortion itself was legalized upon a lie. How then, can it possibly be right?

Living In Love




"In this life we can not always do great things, but, we can do small things with great love."~ Mother Theresa

     Doing things with great love, as Mother Theresa said, is one of the most important things that we can do. We should all strive to live lives that are examples of God's unconditional love. However, that doesn't mean it is always easy. If we live a life of complete unconditional love, all our actions, thoughts, hopes and desires must be done of love. Not only for love of yourself either, our actions and thoughts have to be for the love of everyone around us and for the glory of God.

     When I talk about this unconditional love, I'm not talking about all the mushy gushy relationship between man and women type of love you see in movies. Love is simply caring for someone. If you care for someone deeply, you want the best for them. You want them to make the right decisions and you want to help them and be there for them in any way you can be. By loving someone, you care about them physically, mentally, and  spiritually. No matter what you are there for them to help them through the good and the bad for better and for worse to offer endless forgiveness and to be a good example. That is what loving someone is.

     When you are mad because someone has wronged you, you have to forgive them and continue to love that person. If your having a bad day and everything seems to be going wrong, you cannot take your anger out on those around you because that isn't portraying a life of love. If someone tells you something and is seeking help for their past actions, you cannot judge them on it, you must love them unconditionally anyway.

     God does this everyday! We betray Him so many times and sin again and again. yet, He forgives us endlessly. He doesn't take His anger out on anyone, He always thinks positively and tries to help us. If we seek Him for help, He will be overjoyed! He already knows everything about us, and seeking Him for help just shows how much we care about our Lord, and how humbly we act towards Him. He will never stop loving us for our actions. So why can't we offer Him that much love? Why can't we love others

unconditionally?

     St. Augustine said, "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." This is so true! He loves us so much that He had His only son sacrificed for us upon the cross for our sins and for our mistakes. We are granted eternal life in heaven and endless forgiveness no matter what, because He loves us so much. The Lord loves us deeply and wants the best for each and everyone of us. Even when we think we are standing alone, we never are. The Lord is always standing right beside us.

     Despite all the mistakes we make daily, He still loves us. We are all called to live like that. We are called to love like Him and live a life of love. It is hard, and it will not always be easy. Love is a sacrifice, just like Jesus was sacrificed on the cross because of His love for us. But it is what we are all called to, and it is a way of life you cannot miss out on. So do all the little things with great love! So that we maybe living proof of His love for us. 

Giving it up to God

     Last week my friend and I tried something called "The Daniel Diet" or "The Daniel Fast". If you haven't heard of it before, it originates from the book of Daniel in the Bible. Daniel, in this Bible story, is living in Babylon as a slave where there is an abundance of exquisite food straight from he king. Students in the program were directed to eat as much as they wanted.  However' Daniel decided that he wanted to be both physically and spiritually fit. Therefore, he rejected all of the fancy unnecessary food and decided to stick to only eating only vegetables and drinking only water. So for 10 days he ate only that and gave the rest up to God. The people he did work for realized what he was doing, and told him that by the end of his diet, he had to be strong and able, or he would be sentenced to death or put to work as a slave. At the end of his 10 days, with God's help, he ended up being the strongest of all of the men, and was not executed.
     Following the story in the book of Daniel, my friend and I decided to take on this fast, in order to stay healthy, and grow closer to God. For the entire week, which is a very short period for this diet, we ate only natural fruits, vegetables and nuts. When I went into this fasting period, I honestly didn't think it would be too difficult. I started by going shopping for all kinds of fresh foods. Strawberries, bananas, peaches, grapes, squash, tomato, peppers, and peanut butter were just some of the items I bought. Then after I bought tons of ingredients, I spent time planning out various meals such as vegetable stir fry and fruit smoothies.
     During the diet, I found it got a lot harder. There are so many temptations! Although I had crazy cravings for unnatural, unhealthy foods, eating all then natural food really had a big impact on me. It helped me to detox my body and feel much healthier, leaner, and slimmer. I now also realize how much better I feel when I force myself to eat better. Therefore, I now feel like I will be more likely to grab an apple for an after school snack as opposed to something that is deep fried or contains loads of artificial sugar. Also through this diet I was definitely able to grow closer to God. I spent a lot more time in prayer, and a lot more time thinking of Him during my day. I'm so blessed to have so much in my life, but most of it i don't really need! I was really able to experience Daniel's view on life by seeing how much food we have that we don't really need in order to stay full and happy. True happiness cannot be found in any worldly goods. True joy can only be found in the Lord.

A Life In Balence

 

     Between school, work, church, family, friends, sports and all the other crazy errands I have to run during the day, it's hard not to be overwhelmed! Life can be stressful, especially when nothing seems to go right and balance in activities is crucial. Believe me when I say I know this from experience because, I'm the type of person who is very easily stressed out. If your reading this, and know you are stressed and don't know where to turn, worry no more! Fortunately, I have the cure for stress and keeping your life in perfect harmony.

     I've found especially over the past year, that making God the center of all you do is a step that must be taken immediately. In fact, I wish I could have done it sooner! If all you do is centered around the one who created you and loves you more than anything else, then everything will fall into place. God will never give you more than you can handle on your own.

     There is a song that plays on the radio a lot now called "He Said" by Group One Crew. In this song, one of the lines is "I won't give you more, more than you can take. And I might let you bend, but I won't let you break." This is so true! Sometimes we may not see why a particular thing is put into our lives, especially when we are stressed and looking for a balance. We just have to trust in God's will and know that He will never abandon us, and He is there to help us whenever we need Him.

     I have found that when you take just a little bit of time out of your day to focus on God, even when it seems like your schedule is down to the wire, He will always make a way for everything to fit into place. You just have to let go, and let God! :)

YOLO God's Way

     You Only Live Once, or YOLO  is the new saying that teens and adults alike have begun to use in everyday conversation. This saying came from Drake and Lil Wayne's song "The Motto"  which came off of Drake's newest album titled Take Care. Who knew that after this song hit the charts in November of 2011, the phrase YOLO would become a part of everyday conversation? I don't  even think that Drake was expecting this phrase to catch on and be used by people who aren't even fans of his music.
     The phrase can be interpreted in many different ways. Yet, the majority of the world has taken it and blown it sky high. People use this term to justify for their stupid, careless actions. For example, getting drunk and partying all night, having sex before marriage, putting your life into harms way, committing a crime or anything else that would be out of your ordinary comfort zone. Sadly, this rule that says you can do whatever you want to and get away with it because "you only live once" is what people are deciding to live by.
     I think it's extremely careless and irresponsible to live a life that way. Life is so precious! God designed each and everyone of us with a specific purpose and plan in mind. We are put on earth for a reason, to do great wonderful things and to worship our God. We have to strive to search for our lives vocation and live in accordance to God's will for us.
     Also, the statement you only live once, isn't necessarily true. Now don't think I'm not saying I believe in some crazy after life or anything, because I don't. But our life here is temporary, there is so much more in store for us. Our goal here on earth is to please and serve God, so that we can get to heaven and therefore live with Him for eternal life. So, when we pass away and move on from our life on earth, we get the privilege to live eternal life with our creator God! How amazing is that! He loves us all so much that He allows each and everyone of us to spend the rest of time together with Him in heaven. Not to mention living with the most amazing being in a  perfect place that is unbelievably beautiful  and beyond our wildest dreams!
      However, since our life here is temporary, and we all have to die at some point, we should still make the most of our lives here. Yet, we should try to think of this saying in a different perspective. Instead of using it as an excuse to potentially harm ourselves and others, we should look at it as a great opportunity. An opportunity to serve our Lord most completely. We should strive each and everyday to make the most of the time we have here on earth, because we will never know if we will get to have a tomorrow. Every person we come into contact with should be treated with respect, and we should work toward all of our actions being centered around God. If we do this, then we will truly be living our lives the way we are supposed to, all for the Lord.
     In other words, YOLO can be a good thing. I'm not saying I'm completely against the saying, but you need to make sure you think through your actions. YOLO shouldn't be a stupid excuse for you to go take away the precious life God has given you. It should be used as a way to live your life responsibly, the way God wants you to live it.  That way you can look forward to the eternal life waiting for you in heaven because hey, You Only Live Once on earth.