Amazing Grace

Well, here we go again...It's midnight, I'm wide awake, so I thought I would write you. I've noticed over the past week or so that I just haven't been able to fall asleep...I know..It is the child like anticipation of Christmas!!!!!!  No, not quite.. ha ha!  It's ironic....I was just talking to you about being a part of the "solution" and not the "problem" when you look around in life and you wonder why you're not happy.In the bible, it says things like "he who is without sin, cast the first stone", and "judge not, less thou be judged".  What that says to me is it is not our place to cast judgement on others...Yes, we might not agree with their decisions, or their behaviors, but I really don't think that getting in someone's face and telling them what they're doing wrong is the correct way to do something. Have you ever been in a situation in where your emotions got the best of you? You just blurted all of this stuff out that maybe you meant part of what you said, but you were so overwhelmed that you just kind of blew up and let the person have it with both barrels having no regard for the location you were in, and the people that were around you. That's the thing....Confronting them..You see, if there is a thing as righteous judgement, How does that work?? There is a song that we used to sing in Sunday School that goes "and they'll know we are christians by our love by our love, yes they'll know we are christians by our love".. Think about that....That's what god wants from us..To show other people his love. Just because you don't agree with someone, that doesn't give you the right to basically point your finger at them, say terrible things, and basically act the exact OPPOSITE way christians are supposed to act. To me, christianity is all about having a personal relationship with god. with that being said, if I find myself in moments like this, I ask myself "Okay...what do I think Jesus would do, or how do I think he would act in this situation". I think that when we act out in anger, all we're trying to do is make OUR point..Well, what about GOD'S point?? Many times if we judge someone else, that is us being selfish..It's us not taking into consideration anything else but our own agenda, and our own feelings. I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if in the past people have acted out and verbally judged someone, telling them this that and the other thing...That person didn't go before the lord right before they did this and asked god "what is the best way to communicate with this person"? You know, it's so easy to pass judgement when we think we're in the right. I've found that sometimes it's not about right or wrong. Yes, the person could be doing wrong, but do you actually think making them feel worse about their situation is going to do any better? In my opinion, it is just going to make things worse, and/or drive a wedge between you and that person. If you ever find yourself in situations like this, maybe try saying to god "okay...I don't agree with what's going on here..However, how can I be used by you in this situation? What am I really trying to say? why am I truly upset about this? Do I have all of my facts straight? How can I act that will be beneficial, and make a difference?
I'm not at all saying we should just roll over and be like "I'm not going to take a stand....It doesn't matter"  well, obviously it does matter because you care about the situation. However, Christians have had this reputation for standing on soapboxes, pointing the finger at people and telling them they are sinners and they're going to hell...  That's the problem...Some christians will sit through a sermon that talks about forgiveness, and acting god like, and praying for others.. Then, they'll march out of the auditorium and pass judgement, as if what they just listened to for the past half hour went in one ear and out the other. I think that judgement sometimes comes from anger. The person doing the judging is angry inside, so they lash out at someone else. Does that make sense?  You see, in light of all of this, there is one word that can change all of this.....GRACE.. "By the grace of god go I", it says... I think that gets lost somewhere when we deal with feelings of abandonment, anger, fear, heartache...you know, all of those joyous holiday feelings.. :)   Sure, people do things that hurt us. We see things happening in our own lives that can break us down...That is why God gave us this incredible gift of GRACE... So, this christmas week, if you see an opportunity to show god's grace, I want to encourage you to go for it. If you're in a friend/family/workplace quarrel, try to think about grace, and how grace could help you be the solution to this particular problem.This is one of the many reasons why we all are a work in progress..Isn't it nice to know that God isn't finished with us yet??
Now on to happier things... :) haha! You know, being in my mid-thirties I've come to realize that the little things in life are just so cool. Well..yeah, the big things are cool too, but here's what I getting at.....  In the awesome world of Radio, WMBI especially, things really slow down over the next 2 weeks, so this is the time when many of us take vacation. From the middle of January all the way through May, it is really really busy, so I decided to use up this year's vacation time by taking time off now through the first monday of January. This afternoon, I got a call from Lauren (my 9 year old niece) and she wanted to come over and walk Daisy. So, she gets dropped off, we take daisy outside, and it was almost like we were transported into like a Lifetime movie or something like that...We live on a golfcourse, so we were walking right next to the golfcourse, kind of under the trees, the snow was falling, and as we were walking side by side, we were just talking about the past year, about christmas this week, and about how excited Lauren is about having 2 weeks off...We were telling each other jokes, kicking snow at each other, playing tag..That kind of stuff. Little things like this mean so much to me now.  Tonight, after the Bears won (YEAY!!!) I was just sitting on the couch with the dog (cari has to open tomorrow morning so she went to bed) and I was listening to the plow trucks come and go...Maybe it's just me, but there is a certain sound of the silence this time of year...Does that make any sense? For example, it's almost 1 A.M. and as I sit here and not type, there is this silence that is different... I probably lost you there..I confuse myself all the time..  :)
So, I would love your feedback on this...I am thinking to use this blog thing to write somewhat of an autobiography of the past 5 years of my life. What do you think? Do it? Don't Do it?  I'm a moron?  :)    either way, thanks for reading this.