Optimism

     Life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes there are more ups than downs, and sometimes there are more downs than ups. When life has more ups than downs, it's easy to always stay on the bright side. When there are hardly any ups, however, it can be quite difficult. Sometimes, looking on the bright side isn't the easiest thing to do. This is a problem with pretty much everyone. Maybe it's easier for some, but that doesn't mean that it's not a constant struggle.

    I know of a lot of people who are going through hard times. We all have. But 90% of the problems we have wouldn't bother us if we didn't dwell on them so much. I mean, there will always be something negative in your life. Maybe you don't have any friends in your area, or there's this really cute guy who doesn't seem to like you back, maybe you're about to move from a well loved place. I don't know what you're going through. But I do know that with every negative there's a positive. I can't point out every positive for every negative. That list would be much too long to finish. I do know, however, how to make every negative into a positive. 

1. Remember that all bad times will end! Look, I know you're probably like, "But I want them to end NOOOOW!" Don't worry. We all do. BUUUT...

2. With every hard time, there's something good to learn from it. Okay, this may not apply to EVERYTHING (say you get really sick, the only lesson there is to not lick turtles. If that's what you did. It's a bad idea. Don't ever do it.) But most problems have something to learn from. If it's someone else causing you this problem, then their actions are a lesson of how you shouldn't be. 

3. Remember that as long as you handle the situation correctly, the worst thing that can happen is death, and if you're a Christian then is that really such a bad thing? Yeah, times  can be tough, but you'll have grown a lot by the time it's over! Isn't that a great thought? I know that if it weren't for the hard times I've gone through in my life, then I wouldn't be even remotely happy, because I wouldn't have learned how to be happy with the situation I'm in in life. And one year ago, maybe if I had the life I do now, then I wouldn't be happy with it at all! But because I know just how bad it could be, and I know that I've faced way harder times, I honestly don't see anything wrong with my life! It's all a matter of learning to appreciate the good times. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, or patting myself on the back. That's not my intention, but I do know that learning to appreciate the good times in life is an important lesson to learn in life. And it always comes after facing hard times. 

The Straight and Narrow

     Matthew 7:13-14 talks about the straight and narrow road. What is the narrow road exactly?

     Well, the narrow road is exactly what the Bible tells us to do. The Bible tells us what we need to do, and our freedoms dwell within those laws. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't have any freedom in our lives. I mean, as long as we follow the laws of the Bible, we can do pretty much anything we want. We just always have to remember the laws given to us. Those laws however, are very strict and don't allow us to stray off of the narrow road.

     Okay, imagine you're in a forrest, and there are three roads. two of the roads are wide, and are on the far left and far right of the three roads, and in-between them is a narrow road. There's only a thin line separating them, but they all go to different places. The wide roads both go one way, while the narrow road in the middle go the way you need to go. There's such a thin line separating the two roads, that you know if you even step ever so slightly towards the left or the right, then you'll end up on the wrong path. This is why the way to heaven called the straight and narrow road, because there is no room to step to the side. The way is clear, and you can easily see if you're on the right path as long as you're looking at your map, which was given to us so that we can see how to get to where we're going.

     A lot of people like to use the excuse that they're a Christian, and even if they do sin then they can just ask for forgiveness later. They can follow a slightly wider path. That is not the case. Why do you think that people are falling away more and more as time goes by? Because people get so used to going to church and calling themselves Christians, that they forget that they haven't reached the end of the road, and the people in our lives see that even Christians don't follow the Bible. We always have to remember that even though we're Christians, we can't take advantage of that. We can still sin, and if we look like the world then we're not following God's word, and we're not letting our lights shine. It can be so easy to get into the "Christian habit" and just come to Church on Sundays, but then forget what a Christian is on the week days. This is why Christians can be accused of being fake or ridiculous, because sometimes we don't even follow our own views. I'm not saying everyone does this, but I do want to encourage you to not fall into that rut, and to never stop studying so that you can make sure you don't. :)

   

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

     Okay, so if you have ever read or heard anything about modesty, you've PROBABLY heard 1 Timothy 2:9 which says, (say it with me) "Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls, or costly attire." Okay, so I'm not going to talk about modesty as much as respect. What does this verse have to do with respect? Well, it says it right there, "respectable apparel", right there!

     Okay, so what IS respectable apparel other than not wearing hardly anything? Well, would you have respect for someone who dressed like they just didn't care about anything? It would be a bit hard! So first I'm going to talk about SELF RESPECT! What is self respect? Well, to put it in simple terms, it's respecting yourself. Okay, so I know you probably knew that but still, we do need to respect ourselves! If we're constantly down on ourselves and pointing out all our own flaws, what message are we sending to others? The way that we view ourselves is usually how others view us. Now there's a difference between self respect and self worship, but if I talked about that as well, then this would be a really long article. Maybe even more like a book. If we respect ourselves, then others will respect us. Why? Because we're showing everyone that, "I am someone to be respected!" That is why we should dress in respectable apparel.

     Okay, second thing is, "How do I dress respectably?" Well, to quote the grandpa from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Well, get that mud off your pants!" Part of dressing respectably is taking care of how your clothes look. Make sure they fit well, and are well taken care of. No giant holes, or mustard stains. You don't have to wear dresses all the time (although that would actually be kinda fun) but at least show the world that you care about your self image. Maybe not how others think of you, but how you think of yourself. Wear the clothes appropriate to what you're doing or what you're going to. Like, don't wear sweats to church or to a wedding or funeral. Wear them if you're going shopping or something. And even so, make sure they don't look like pajamas, but at least look a little nice. Dressing respectably isn't just about wearing clothes that cover you (although that is important) but also dressing at least a little nice. :)

The Things We Surround Ourselves with

     With modern day technology, if you have internet and some sort of device to access it, you have access to pretty much anything. I mean, just to give an example, I just searched pictures of cats eating tacos, and I found a picture of a taco cat, and a chihuahua dressed like a taco. Yeah, it was weird. But pretty much, if you want to know or see something, it's on the internet. Even if it's a chihuahua dressed as a taco. But what are we using that access for? This can be an issue of the music we listen to, or the pictures we view. I mean, it's EVERYWHERE! And the more popular it gets, the more people are seeing it. Have you noticed that the bigger social media gets, the less people are going to church, or even just acting like or claiming that they're Christians? Maybe that's coincidental, but with the internet, it's so easy to pollute our minds that it's not even funny.

     The wonderful thing about the internet, however, is that you can choose what you see. The internet is much like friends. You have to choose who you hang out with carefully. So maybe it's the songs you listen to, the pictures you see, or the websites you go to, the shows or movies we see, or the books/articles we read. Whether it's cuss words, inappropriate content, or anything that makes you stumble, it can be avoided. It just all depends on what we surround ourselves with.  So not only would I like you to choose who you spend your time with carefully, but where. You'd be surprised at how much the things we surround ourselves effect us.

Inner Modesty

     Okay, so I know it's been a while since I posted (I'm trying to get better at posting more often) but this time I'm going to post about MOOODESTY! Yaay!This time, however, I'm not going to be writing about outer modesty, but inner modesty.

     You know how sometimes you'll be talking to someone, and they're so good looking, but you get 5 minutes into a conversation and that goes away because of how ugly they talk to or about other people? Well, what if I went into a room covered head to toe, but did nothing but talk about myself and my own accomplishments? What would the message I would be sending be? Probably that I'm really proud of myself. Well, isn't the message we're sending when we don't wear enough clothes is that we're proud of our bodies and want to display them? Now, there's nothing wrong with being proud of yourself, or being excited about something you've done. I'm not saying that any time you do something cool or good that you have to hide it from existence. What I am saying though, is that we need to be careful that we don't get so caught up in ourselves, that everything that happens is about me. 

     So I want to encourage you today, to not show off your body, but to not show off the things you've done, because modesty isn't just about not showing you skin, but leaving some of the things you do between you and God.