If you wanna be a cherry, you might as well hear it:
You can't be a fruit of the spirit....
Cuz the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control!
My little voice sang this over and over again in Sunday School and Wednesday night KidzQuest. Each time, I changed the fruit, and changed my voice to fit whatever fruit I was singing about. Teeny-tiny soft voice for cherry, deep voice for watermelon….you get the picture. Until recently, I’d forgotten about that song and about the fruit of the spirit. But the past few weeks at work, I've gotten a couple of unexpected complements...
So I spend an awful lot of time on social media. That means Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest, and really not that much time reading God's Word. Which is a problem.
I mean, I try to read it every night, and every morning when I wake up, but if I were to add up all of the time I spend on social media or horrid games like Temple Run (sorry, misleading title. I don't actually play Flappy Bird) it would FAR outweigh the time I spend with God, whether that be reading scripture or praying.
I found this picture on Pinterest a while back, and it just blew my mind. It really made me think, what if we DID treat our Bibles like our cell phones. Wow.
Recently one of my friends did a presentation in drug education on social media and internet addictions. I had never thought about internet being a drug before, but it makes sense. My friends and I are on it all the time. But why? We scroll through everything Facebook has to offer, and then go hit refresh just to do it all over again? At least that's me. Maybe you've got a Pinterest addiction, like my roommate (sorry, E). Constantly pinning and scrolling through her "pinfeed" trying to find new pictures and ignore homework that needs to be done.
Why the internet? Why not the Bible?
This is why, for the month of May, I'm making a pledge to read my Bible every time I am tempted to go on Facebook, Twitter, BuzzFeed, or Pinterest to waste time. What kind of difference do you think it will make?
Hi guys. I woke up today and my roommate told me that I probably have sleep apnea and that I also sleep with my eyes open. The things you learn. Here's what our conversation sounded like this morning.
So. Sophomore year of college and I've started my Early Field Experience. Look at this! I get a name badge! Yeah! It's kind of faded because I accidentally put it through the washing machine, but on the bright side I guess that means that I do my laundry, right? ;)
Starting on April Fool's Day I've had the opportunity to head down the road to a nearby Mankato elementary school and help out from 8-10am. I'm going every Tuesday and Thursday until May 1st. While I eventually hope to teach third or fourth grade, kindergarten is showing itself to actually be more fun than I expected.
Ok, yes. Five year olds are adorable. But in the past, the thought of having to keep 25+ snotty nosed youngsters in check has given me a headache (well, not really a headache. A virtual headache?) When I learned that I would be helping out in not fourth grade...not second grade...but kindergarten, my excitement level went down a notch. My misconceptions started popping up: They can't read. They're not well-behaved. They run screaming all over the place. They're so young! How can I teach them??
But...I like it. Yes. They are indeed snotty-nosed. They tattle on one another. They fake their reading so I can't actually tell if they can read or not. Yet...there's something endearing about that age.
One thing I've worried about is how I am going to manage to teach kids that don't understand simple math. However, I've noticed that in a young age like kindergarten, kids can learn things without knowing they're learning them! Here's some creative ways!
--Attendance Addition: Count the number of boys, count the number of girls. How many "friends" are in class today?
--Alphabet Association: Going around the circle and saying one thing that starts with a particular letter. It really gets them to think.
--Musical Memorization: Some people have a high musical intelligence and music can speak to them. It's also been proven that music aids memorization. They're learning fun songs about our country by singing one a day after the Pledge of Allegiance.
Just some thoughts as I prepare for my future career. Oh and by the way! I passed my basic skills MTLEs! (teacher tests) 3 tests down, 6 more to go!! (I think? Maybe 5.) ;)
"Marriages don't end because someone forgot to put the toilet seat down. Do people say they end because someone forgot to put the toilet seat down? Yeah, but that's not the real reason. They end because the communication was lost, there's stress, nothings going right and then- the kicker. He forgot to put the toilet seat down. And the marriage is just done."
I like this quote from my Interpersonal Communication professor the other day. Not because my marriage is ending, because, uh...that would be weird since I'm not married or dating, but because it actually kind of illustrates my life the past week. Bear with me through the rant.
For starters, I didn't get enough sleep. That's honestly probably what caused it all. We started talking about failing relationships in IPC and all I could think of was how I seem to be growing apart from my friends (I'm not really) which made my eyes begin to water/half cry in the middle of class. Then came honors auditions, which didn't go so well as I had hoped. Later, I opened my mailbox and found that I was not accepted as an RA, oh and by the way. I had YET ANOTHER late night, the blood moon WASN'T EVEN COOL and I DIDN'T DO ANY HOMEWORK.
And then, just for the kicker, I didn't make it into Honors.
Needless to say, I was a nervous and emotional wreck. My life basically was the marriage-situation from earlier, where I blamed the whole thing on honors. Was that it? No, it was the entire day's accumulation of events, but I just broke down and cried.
But then something beautiful happened. No, I didn't get word that they had made a horrid mistake and I was actually an RA. I didn't have my essays postponed, but I did get this in the mail, and honestly, that made all the difference.
No one could have known that all of this was piling up on top of me. They couldn't have known that it was the absolute perfect time for that note. But it was. So, I urge you friends, commit a random act of kindness sometime. You never know just how meaningful it can be to a person.
It's said that you never realize how important something is to you until it's taken away.
Today, my other-non Lutheran friend and I decided to be Lutheran for a day because Bethel Baptist treats Palm Sunday like every other Sunday. There's no palms, and the lesson isn't sculpted around Jesus' triumphal entry. Well, I slept through my alarm, only to wake up an hour later to my roommate's alarm. Other than totally standing-up my friend, it wasn't that bad, because there are about 50,000 other Lutheran churches to choose from in Mankato (slight exaggeration).
UNTIL I remembered that--oops. I have to work at 11:30. So I couldn't go to any other 10:30 or 10:45 church service. And then...maybe it was just me being tired, but I almost started crying with the prospect of not being able to go to church. I mean...I've never had church taken away from me.
So I'm doing a live-tweet of the service. Except, not on Twitter. Enjoy?
Opens with praise music. Typical.
Some mash-up of In Christ Alone and "woah oh oh" to make it just a little more cool.
Wait only three songs??
Oops he's praying brb
Oh hey that was a good prayer.
What even is this.
Ok dude. I am done with this. I'm finding a new church.
I headed over to Fourth Baptist's radio station (AM 1030 WCTS) and their service was just about to start. Handbells were playing the prelude. Ahhh....it's like home. Ok guys, I'm actually gonna listen to this one. TTFN ;)
(But seriously, listening to online church is rrrrrrreeeeaalllllly distracting.)
But not really, because I'm choosing to write a whole blog post on this.
Because, honestly? How hard is it to write a worship song these days? I mean, here's a tutorial on how to write one in less than 5 minutes:
Being Sunday, I thought it fitting to post about worship. Here in Mankato I attend a Baptist church that has multiple services. Two with contemporary songs, and one with traditional, which is the one I go to. Unfortunately, they stuck the Bible fellowship/Sunday school hour right over the traditional. Hmph.
The traditional service includes a lot of hymn singing, but the other two all use modern worship songs: the kind that can be heard on the radio.
Half the time I hear a modern worship song on the radio, I've got no idea if it's talking about God or a girlfriend. I mean for goodness sake, have you heard the Christian Mingle theme-song? "I want to fall in love with you" etc.? Well, guess what! It's actually about God. Not your future spouse. Call me crazy for thinking this, but a song about God should be completely different from one about significant other. It's a different kind of love, ya know?
Let's compare some lyrics...
"Hold Me" by Jamie Grace
I've had a long day, I just wanna relax
Don't have time for my friends, no time to chit-chat Problems at my job, wonderin' what to do I know I should be working but I'm thinking of you and Just when I feel this crazy world is gonna bring me down That's when your smile comes around
Ok. I get it. So God is our friend...but this song mentions ONE God thing the entire song. There is ONE mention of "Lord". Take that out, replace it with a guy's name, and voila! Totally new song. I mean, heck. Look at these lyrics:
How Deep Is Your Love
I believe in you You know the door to my very soul You're the light in my deepest darkest hour You're my saviour when I fall And you may not think I care for you When you know down inside That I really do And it's me you need to show How Deep Is Your Love
How deep is your love, How deep is your love I really need to learn 'Cause we're living in a world of fools Breaking us down
About God? Nope. This song by the Bee Gees was #1 for three weeks in 1971.
Why do we do this? Are we afraid that people are going to hear our worship music and judge us so we just keep it as un-God as possible? Do people write these songs because they're rebelling against anything that sounds remotely similarto the hymn generation of their parents? Who knows.
And then there's the songs that I can't even tell what the words are. Listen to "How Great Is Our God" THERE ARE NO T'S. EVAR. (hence the title of this post) (although, great song, lyrics-wise).
Here's the thing though. Some songs are actually really scriptural and really convicting. I'm not at all against all of today's worship songs. I do occasionally enjoy singing a "modern worship" song (ya know, one of those hand-raising ones!) There's something really nice about singing "Hallelujah" or "I'm lost without you" over and over again. Hymns have a lot of great doctrine, but often times they're missing the worship portion--and shouldn't part of a church service be worshiping the one who created us?
"God of Wonders"
Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble through the darkness
I will call Your name by night
God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Hallelujah to the Lord of Heaven and Earth!
Yeah, it's not the same as a hymn....but the times change. It's possible to have just as much doctrine in a contemporary song as there is in a hymn. I've also had people condemn my newer (hymn) music because it's newer, so it obviously can't be as right as the hymns of old. I'm sorry. But I'm just going to leave this here.
My Jesus fair, was pierced by thorns,
By thorns grown from the fall.
thus He who gave the curse was torn
To end that curse for all.
Chorus: O love divine, O matchless grace -
That God should die for men!
With joyful grief I lift my praise,
Abhorring all my sin,
Adoring only Him.
My Jesus meek, was scorned by men,
By men in blasphemy,
"Father, forgive their senseless sin!"
He prayed, for them, for me.
(Chorus)
My Jesus kind, was torn by nails,
By nails of cruel men.
And to His cross, as grace prevailed,
God pinned my wretched sin.
(Chorus)
My Jesus pure, was crushed by God,
By God, in judgment just.
The Father grieved, yet turned His rod
On Christ, made sin for us.
(Chorus)
My Jesus strong, shall come to reign,
To reign in majesty -
The Lamb arose, and death is slain,
Lord, come in victory!
(Chorus)
So please. Don't condemn my music just because it's in the "praise and worship" category. Certainly don't condemn all praise and worship music. There's some undoctrinal stuff, but there's also some really great songs! Look at the lyrics first... And I'm gonna go out on a limb here (and probably get shot by everyone at this school) and say that sometimes, it's okay to throw a contemporary song into a church service. GASP.
Hi, My name is Madelaine, and it has been exactly twenty-six days since I last went on Facebook. Well, except for Facebook messenger, because I use it for texting. Oh yeah and that one Sunday, because Sunday's aren't really lent. But that aside, I am such a good Christian that I didn't even go on yesterday. And that was a Sunday too! Oh and did I mention that I even gave up Pinterest?? I love you Jesus!
Er, right. While the above story is true, I don't think that it represents the correct attitude to have about lent. Not at all. See, Lent is season of preparation gearing toward's Jesus' death. It's not about me. It's about Him.
Growing up, my dad always told me not to give anything up, which left me scratching my head. Everyone else at my church was giving things up. Why couldn't I? I believe he was on to something. He noticed that little 8 year old me didn't quite understand the purpose and point.
My best friend and I used to joke that we were going to give up doing homework for lent. One day, I squeaked out, "what would happen if I gave up....going to the BATHROOM. would I explode?" The two of us collapsed in a fit of giggles.
So, yeah. I think my dad understood that I wasn't quite old enough to grasp what Lent was really about. My question is though, do adults, really understand its purpose? I have a sneaking suspicion that quite a few do not. Let's talk about this picture.
I don't agree with this at all. First of all, lent is a season of preparation for the death of our Lord. Lent is not some happy occasion where we attempt to better ourselves. For too many, lent has turned into a sort of New Year's resolution, or maybe even resolution renewal. People give things up like "gossiping" or "getting drunk". In addition to the focus of these things being on ourselves and not on God, many times these are things that a Christian should not be doing anyway.
"I'm giving up being mean to people"
--but shouldn't you always be nice?
"I'm giving up eating unhealthily"
--but isn't your body a temple and shouldn't you be treating it correctly all the time?
Lent is not about what you can do for yourself. Lent is a season of fasting. It's about giving up something so that you can greater appreciate what Christ has given up for us. For me, it's a struggle. Whenever I think about logging into Facebook or Pinterest I am reminded of what Christ has done for me. Yes, as an added bonus I get more homework done, but that's not why I gave it up. I gave it up because I knew it would be hard for me. This season is about Jesus' work on the cross. So shouldn't He be the focus?
What is lent to you?
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
"And guess what else, Dad!" I exclaimed one day, a few weeks before the start of freshman year of college. "She's not a morning person either!" I had just discovered my roomate assignment, and was overjoyed because I just knew the two of us were going to get along.
"Sounds perfect," Dad replied, with a sly grin on his face. "There will be little grief in your room".
