Just Follow Me...

Okay, so there really isn't a single thought process I'm going through currently that will tie this all together...maybe I will by the end of it, but that's not my goal. I'm just putting thoughts out there.

I guess I kind of want to start with several really good quotes I came across while reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller:

"Humans, as a species, are constantly, and in every way, comparing themselves to one another, which, given the brief nature of their existence, seems an oddity and, for that matter, a waste. Nevertheless, this is the driving influence behind every human's social development, their emotional health and sense of joy, and, sadly, their greatest tragedies. It is as though something that helped them function and live well has gone missing, and they are pining for that missing thing in all sorts of odd methods, none of which are working. The greater tragedy is that very few people understand they have the disease. To be sure, it is killing them, and yet sustaining their social and economic systems. They are an entirely beautiful people with a terrible problem." (here he is writing his thoughts out as though he were an alien :) I love the way this guy writes)

"In this way [he states prior to this 'it feels like you are going to die unless you get some kind of respect and appreciation'], the alien was right; we are comparing ourselves to one another and if somebody says they are better than you, it makes you very frustrated inside and you get sad or angry or bitter about it."

"What if, in the same way the sun feeds plants, God's glory gives us life? What if our value exists because God takes pleasure in us?...What if when we are with God, we feel that we have glory, we feel His love for us and know, in a way infinitely more satisfying than a parent's love or a lover's love, that we matter?"

"What we really need is somebody who loves us so much we don't worry about [anything]...we need this so we can lose all self-awareness and find ourselves for the first time, not by realizing some dream, but by being told who we are by the only Being who has the authority to know, by that I mean the Creator."

So those are just a few of some amazing quotes written in the pages of Miller's book. He has such an uncanny way of pulling you away from religion and bringing you back to the fundamentals of a relationship and the reality of what the beliefs encompassed by Christianity really meant and should still mean today. This really was something I was already working my way into deeper understanding of what I believed but wanted proof for and answers for. It has also brought me into deeper questioning.

One of the thoughts I have had a lot lately is the way we allow ourselves to be driven by acceptance. For each person it revolves around a certain group or "type" of people. Everyone wants to know they are important to someone, to know they are liked, loved even. Who a person seeks that acceptance from varies by culture, personality, social status, and a variety of other factors but they will nevertheless go through different lengths to attain that feeling of being loved. Funny enough, for most of us it really is a fake "acceptance". We buy our way into organizations or act a certain way to fit in; sometimes it requires the right clothing or dating the correct people. It's a shallow form of filling this unexplainable, love-hungry void each person has. What would happen if we would learn that everyone is striving for this and could learn to love...really love?

I guess that really is a hope I have but realize it is unattainable because for that to happen, everyone would have to allow their eyes to be opened and believe in Christ and God, as what we know from creation and the bible.

And honestly, the only way to fill that desire for pure love is to have a relationship with God Himself. He is the only one who can love perfectly. He was the one who created that need in us so that hopefully, we would realize He is the one who can fill that need and we would enter a relationship with Him, for He is a relational God.

Mmmm...off track but another thought I have had is I have been faced with the realization, a lot lately, that you are not promised anything in this life. Not the next minute. Not tomorrow. Not a life without sorrow. Not happiness 24:7. Not wealth or a home or...ANYTHING! Life doesn't sit around waiting on you and let you tell it when you're ready to go. It doesn't promise that when you go places you're going to come back alive...(ironic I've been thinking this because God completely spared my brother and one of his friends their lives the other night....THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!).

How different would my life be if I actually started living by the principle that each minute is my last? How different would my thoughts be? How would I choose to spend my time? How would I choose to speak at each moment I open my mouth?

.......

I guess I'm doing a lot of heavy thinking.