Thursday, April 23, 2015

Real Life



I was thinking about Facebook and how we can present ourselves almost falsely if we so choose.  How our life can look bigger, more perfect, etc.  I strive not to do this, but the thing is, it might appear that way because we don't normally post all the crap going on.  In an effort not to perpetuate negativity, we often leave out the meat of life.

I know of so many heart-breaking circumstances happening around me, my heart weeps continually.  One friend is suffering through no fault of her own, and suffering mightily.  She and her husband offered Dave & I a place to go, a safe haven from the crushing weight of extended unemployment.  They are in our hearts forever, and now as I said, they are suffering greatly.  Another friend suddenly lost her husband, another friend is enduring a very, very, very long time of recuperating from injury and all that is incurred with it.  Marriages where love is gone or at the least, strained.  Children in prison, my own included, children sick, people dying.

So I do hope that though I choose to try to usually post positive things, it is not because I have no sorrow happening in my life, or that I have turned a blind eye.  These things are carried within my heart, and ever lifted up to the Father for Him to intervene and aid.  But i've lived long enough to know that in His wisdom, He will do what will bring us closer to Him, not necessarily, healing, eased discomfort, etc., though He may do those things as well.  And really, when closest to Him, that is the only place we really want to be.  "You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." ~ Psalm 16:11 

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Daughters of the King



For some time now, when I have heard this particular phrase, I bristle inside.  Knowing it was actually Biblical, I didn't know why it bugged me so much.  I have figured it out. 

The phrase is Daughter of the King.  Every time i've heard it, it is a claim to special treatment, worthy of royalty, that one is special, a little higher gal than the rest of the others.

I understand that when some people use this phrase, they are simply reminding a Christian woman of how the Lord loves her and that she belongs to Him. 

But so many more times, the implication is that because you are a Daughter of the King, you are more important than other women and girls.  That somehow you should be exempt from heartache, from people hurting you, from hardship. 

All women are daughters of the King.  It all started in Eden and we were all created in His image.  The King is all women's Father.  I have to say that I dislike all elitist thinking, including this one.

To remind a young woman that she is a daughter of the King so that she behaves differently isn't necessarily a bad thing, in that sometimes we need to be reminded to Whom we belong, and return to our first love.  But to infer that because you are a daughter of the King, you shouldn't allow people to treat you badly, or that you deserve the best in life, is wrong.  What about the women who haven't come to the Lord yet?  Don't they deserve to be treated right as well?  Don't they need to be loved and valued just as they are?  Every woman has potential for beauty.  And in Christ, we are all lovely.  But even as a daughter of the King, I am to remain humble and find my identity in Him alone.  I will not need to be reminded Who my Father is if I abide in Him.

Just sayin'.  Mini-rant done.  ;)