Sunday Reflections: Looking through Other People's Windows

Every single person on the planet has a story. Don't judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you. ~~ Unknown

I had a conversation this past week that has left me reflecting.  The conversation was centered around my staying home and the woman I was conversing with was looking for work. The ending sentence was, "Well, you are very blessed to be able to stay home and do those things, but a lot of women don't get that privilege." The spirit of that sentence left me with the impression that I was being judged.

You see, I am blessed. I know I am blessed and I know I live a blessed life.  Looking from the outside in I seem to have it all, a great life where I get to stay home and enjoy my freedom, a wonderful, loving! husband, great kids, beautiful home. Sounds great on paper doesn't it. But the truth is when we look from the outside in we miss the struggles, the inter-turmoils, the self-doubts, and the hardness we place on ourselves, especially mom's who are raising children. We see perfection and things are never perfect.

The truth for me is that being blessed by the world's standards is lacking when compared to the blessings that come from God. To me being blessed has very little to do with my geography and even my environment, it is an inward truth.  

You see, I try to walk in God's promises daily. I try to be obedient. I try to stay focused on His Words so that when decisions need to be made or actions need to be taken, I can try to remember the Godly way to act. But, the truth is I am a sinner. I can be irreverent. I judge. I stumble and fall daily. I know the way to act and I act improperly anyway.

Yet God still offers me grace and forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. I am blessed.

Sunday Reflections

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because I see everything by it. — C.S. Lewis

How do you explain to someone who may not get it that you are Christian? Especially when the world has put such a negative image to the word, Christian. I am slowly becoming addicted to Pinterest, I actually only allow myself to be on there once a week because boy can it be a time suck. The one area I seem to always gravitate towards is the inspirational posts. I recently ran across one that said something like:

When I say...I am a Christian, I'm not shouting I am saved, I'm whispering I get lost. I'm not trying to be strong, I'm professing that I'm weak. I'm not bragging of success, I'm admitting I have failed. I'm not claiming to be perfect, my flaws are too visible, but God believes I'm worth it. I do not wish to judge, I have no authority. I only know I am loved.

To me admitting I am Christian is admitting that I totally do not have it all together, that I struggle daily. That I am a sinner, but a sinner who is desiring to live a life that honors that Jesus died for those sins. I want to live my life in such a way that it works through those daily struggles with Grace. I want to step out of the world and imitate the good I see, not the evil that seems to surround it.

Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. He who does good is of God; he who does evil has not seen (discerned or experienced) God [has enjoyed no vision of Him and does not know Him at all]. -- 3 John 1:11

Life is hard. Knowing that I am loved, knowing that there is always someone in my corner, knowing I don't have to do life alone. It is why I am Christian.