Agape

This morning, a beautiful, chilly autumn morning, I walked into Starbucks (surprising, right?). Like in all Starbucks Coffee shops, there were a variety of people sitting at the tables and standing around waiting for their names to be called; some were on their laptops, some were engaging in dialogue, and some were with their kids. Typically, when I enter into a public place, I can’t help but inconspicuously observe the behaviors of others. I’m sure the majority of us do this. I simply observe, notice, and become aware of my surroundings. After I ordered a latte (shockingly not pumpkin spice), I chose a table to where I would sit, and I began to put down my belongings. Facing the window, in two chairs, sat a father and his son. The father was middle aged and the son, about 5 or 6. The son was casually playing a game on a device (his father’s phone, I hope and assume) and the father was simply sitting there, grinning, seeming as if he was relishing in the moment, content in the fac...

In Luke chapter 6 verse 31, the Lord says "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Many like to refer to this scripture, or it's similar paraphrasing, as "The Golden Rule." Although we've heard it so many times, we often overlook it's overall meaning. Jesus didn't say "Do good only to those who are good to you" or "Do good to only the people that you like" When he said "Do unto OTHERS as you would have them do to you," He meant everyone. That being said, we ought to treat everyone with love and sincerity. For example, do you know the feeling when someone compliments you, or tells you that you did a good job at something, whether it be playing a sport, singing, or speaking in front of others? Or when someone tells you that you're beautiful/handsome and that they love you and are proud of you? Give others compliments as well and tell them these things. You may not even understand how easy it is to make someone...

“Strength and  honour  are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She  openeth  her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”   (Proverbs 31:25-26) If I asked you, “Do you want to become a woman of God?” What would you say? Would you “take up your cross and follow Jesus?” Or would you be hesitant because of fear of making sacrificial decisoins  and conforming to the will of God? Unfortunately, many will answer with the latter option. Living for God is not the most popular thing, and it isn’t easy doing so.  It’s difficult having a desire to do things for God when many of your friends do not. It’s difficult being set apart when the world demands similarity and enforces accept ance. Being seventeen, I’m in the middle of the stage where I’m about to make some pretty significant and important decisions. Graduation is in a few months, college is soon after that, and before I know it, I’ll be eighteen. Being in this stage...

We hear all the time "prayer still works" and "all good things come to those who wait." And the above statements are very true, but the difficulty comes when we're in the midst of praying and waiting. Sometimes it feels like God isn't there, and you don't feel Him. Just because you can't feel Him doesn't mean that He's not right there beside You, because He undoubtedly is, but it's still hard. It's hard to be in the middle of praying and waiting and everything feels...stagnant. It's easy to give up, and it almost seems worthless to keep on fighting. Impatience becomes your closest companion and confusion becomes your neighbor, and nothing seems to be going the way you'd like. In the midst of our heartache, confusion, impatience and immobilization, God is right there. He's with us every step of the way, and He hears every word that we pray. There isn't one action, thought, or thing we do that the Lord doesn't know a...

Society distorts just about everything. Value, worth, character, beliefs, and most prominently, beauty. Something that often bothers young adults, and even simply adults, in this day and age, especially women, is society's view on beauty. Beauty, through the eyes of society, is a small waist, flat stomach, curvy figure, long hair, colored eyes, height, structure, persona, and the list could go on. This is society's view of a "perfect" woman. We see it every day, the typical 5'9, size 2 lady walking towards the cinematographer with the latest trends, or the woman flipping her luscious brown silky, shiny hair advertising for a shampoo commercial. Perfect. Right? We, especially those of us who are women have a desire to feel beautiful, and there's nothing wrong with that. God made us that way. We're supposed to be beautiful, but society's view of "beautiful" is flawless, faux, and unauthentic. It's 1,000 pounds of makeup, the perfect lightin...

new - n. recent, fresh We all love new things. New shoes, new clothes, new hairstyles, new electronics, new movies, you name it. The list could go on. The funny thing about new things is that they're only new temporarily. Things will break, deteriorate, tear, rip, crack, shatter. Material objects will not stay perfect. They fade, they pass away, the lose their purpose once used to their specified intent. They have a limit. They can only be used so much, then, they will need to be repaired or even replaced. Even then, they still won't last forever. We all greatly dislike when our new things begin to possess imperfections because of their usage and other factors. Seam rips, ink stains, cracked phone screens, chips. There's nothing enjoyable about things becoming imperfect and unusable. When you were born, you were pure. Couldn't speak, walk, do things on your own, you depended on your mother to cherish you. As you grew older, you'd begin to gain independence. You l...