Grace

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” -C.S. Lewis

God extends his arm of grace to all of humanity. He gives strength, forgiveness, and supports us in all the changes we need to make. None of us deserve the complete forgiveness which we receive from him. It is impossible for us to justify ourselves, because we choose every day to do things wrong.

Yet God forgives us. He loves us. He strengthens us. He is patient with us.

 We need to extend that same grace to everybody we meet. Others will disappoint us and hurt us, but we need to forgive them anyway. We have to be kind and patient. We have to do our best to help strengthen others. It's the best we can do to try to show our gratitude and love for our Father. 

Clothing

My big brother has a Disturbed hoodie, and I love it. It's pretty much my favorite, so even though it is his I end up wearing it usually. It is warm, black, says Disturbed across the back and on the front has this face on it:

So pretty much it's the coolest.
Anyway. The other day I wore it to the grocery store. When I go to the grocery store I try to smile and be friendly and happy, and usually people respond in the same way to me. This day people would typically just look really confused at first, though, and it seemed really strange to me because I was being normal.
Later that evening I went to the store again, this time wearing a shirt that I received at a church camp. This is a lovely purple color and has a scripture written across the back. This time people were much more friendly in return, and I made the connection.
Clothing really does make an impact on how people view you. If people see you wearing super cool yet slightly creepy rock band merchandise they will probably judge you as being an angry teenager. If you're wearing a church t-shirt they will probably judge you as being a cheery, sweet individual. The way you present yourself speaks about who you are.
Now, I am not going to stop wearing my brother's sweater. I really do not care if people think I am weird because of it, and I like it. But I am going to be aware of how that makes a difference, and so should you. Wear what makes you happy, but embrace the consequences.

Make A Difference

I have been thinking quite a lot lately about why I'm here and what I can do to make the world a better place. I really would like to do almost every good thing sometime, because I am so incredibly excited about how many things there are to do in this life. However, I have finally managed to narrow it down to a few things I want to do most.

I want to be a journalist. I want to write about and photograph the world. I want to help people be aware of the bad things in life so they can get better. I want to show everybody the good things to prove that the world is worth fighting for. I want to elevate humanity and help us all live on a higher plane through awareness of the truth.

I want to be a good daughter. My parents have given me so much, and I need to help them in return. I love them. I really do.

I want to build a beautiful marriage. I want to marry a man who is not perfect, but whom I can respect and truly love. We will work together and support each other in everything. Sometimes my husband and I will disagree and get mad. But we will work things out. Because we are worth it.

I want to create music. Music changes people. It speaks to people on a fundamental level, past borders of language and nationality. I want my music to show people that they are not alone. I want it to comfort the lonely and challenge the complacent.

I want to be a mother. I want to prepare my children to be tender and strong in the world and to cheerfully go through everything that life has to offer. I want to love them so dearly.

I want to teach. There is so, so much to learn and I want to help everybody to learn as much as they can so they can build the world positively. I want to help light the fire that inspires people to continue grappling with even the most difficult concepts. I want to watch as my students make connections and discover new things and improve their own lives. I want to watch my students become leaders who take the initiative to solve problems.

 I want to be a friend. Everybody I have ever met is so sad in some ways, and I so earnestly want to fix them. I fail at this more often than I would like, but I want to improve. The world is in need of true friends. I need to be a better, kinder, more understanding person so I can make a difference in somebody's life.

I want to be a good sister. I want to be a good aunt. I want to be a good niece. I want to be a good person.

There is so much I can do. There's so much you can do. Really. I have absolute faith in the ability of each individual to be a force for good in some way. This doesn't mean you have to be a prominent world leader who eventually finds the secret to world peace and makes everybody have a happy life. No, this just means that it is your responsibility to find where you are needed and then do your best to be there. You are important. You are needed.