Meekness

So at my high school awards ceremony I received the Outstanding Character Award and part of the definition for it is "showing meekness before God" I read that and I was like what in the world does meekness mean? So I figured since my school feels like i'm "meek" I should find out what that means. 


Soo I went to my favorite dictionary  m-w.com and this is the definition that I received: 
 enduring injury with patience and without resentment : mild  deficient in spirit and courage : submissive not violent or strong : moderate 

I'll admit when I first read the word meekness and looked at the definition I wasn't sure what to think, but I didn't feel like being called meek was a compliment, I felt like it was saying that I was weak. 

Then I realized, meekness is a fruit of the spirit so it must be a good thing that God wants us to cultivate. God also says "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. (matthew 5:5)" so obviously it's a good thing and something that I should strive to be.  SO what does it really mean to be meek? What does it look like to live that out in your life? These are the questions that I've been pondering and digging into God's word to try and figure out. I don't have it all together, but here are the thoughts that I have read and come up with:

-Prautes, according to Aristotle, is the middle standing between two extremes, getting angry without reason, and not getting angry at all. Therefore, prautes is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason. . . . [I]t is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. It is a balance born in strength of character. 

-A meek person has a tender conscious with a godly sorrow for their rebellion against God 

- resistance to evil in defense of God yet they react with patience, kindness and gentleness when others attack him.

-A willingness to bend their will to God's 

-Opposed to pride and arrogance 

- A willingness to put himself in second place and submit himself to achieve what is good for others.

Examples of Meekness in the Bible: 

A. Abraham. 
1. He was God’s chosen to be the father of the Jewish nation. Through him the Messiah would come. But he was also meek.
2. Instead of demanding his own rights, Abraham sought to keep the peace between his herdsmen and Lot’s. 

B. David.
1. He was God’s chosen to replace King Saul, whom God had rejected because of disobedience. He was a mighty warrior and a great leader. But David was also meek.
2. Look at how he mourned the death of Saul, who had sought repeatedly to kill him

 Meekness may appear to men as weak, but in spiritual reality it has great strength. 

Okay this blog post has kind of been all over the place, but that's because I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what it means to be truly meek I still have so much to learn.  But I'll end with this really good quote by A.W. Tozer that was really helpful to me!

"The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."


Senior 2012



I'm Offically finished with high school! Ahh! Soo crazzy!

It's definitely a bittersweet thing, but I know that God has some
awesome things in store for my future and I am so excited
to see what they are! I'm definitely gonna miss my school and
all of my amazing classmates though, you guys have given me so
many amazing memories thanks for helping me to get through 
high school and for all of the laughter, encouragement and fun!
You all are the best and I'm gonna miss you New Life class of 2012! 

High school is now behind me, and a new chapter of my life is 
opening up. It's time to begin writing the pages of this new story. 
Except I'm gonna hand the pen over to God this time, because I want him
to be the author of my life and the one who leads me on this unknown
adventure. Cause he knows whats best for me, and he's the one who
 is going to give me the strength and grace to accomplish the good
 works that he has planned for me!

Everyday Moments

Sunday afternoon we came home from church and the whole family was home (a rare occurance with our crazy schedules). We simply hung out, snacked on our favorite afternoon snack  chips & salsa, talked, joked around had fun making up plans for our futures, watched basketball and simply enjoyed eachothers company and being together. I made delicious strawberry banana smoothies for everyone and we fellowshiped and lingered around the kitchen counter. These are the little everyday moments that I don't want to take for granted and I don't want to forget. I have such an amazing family and such an awesome life! I am one blessed girl and I don't ever want to take these simple moments for granted! I love spending time with my family and as I think about the fact that I will be leaving soon to go off to college it makes these afternoons even more dear to my heart! Real, Simple, Spontaneous moments of life yes those are my favorite! Thanking God for precious moments and memories and for my amazing family!

Insanity Turned into Peace

Soo these past two weeks have been complete chaos!
Literally I've been treading water trying to stay on top of everything and trying to keep a good attitude throught it all, and I'm not gonna lie it was hard! It was hard to smile and be joyful when all I felt was pressure, stress and burdens.
To not complain when it seemed like everyday the teachers just kept pilling even more homework onto my already unreasonable load.
To put God first above everything even when I felt like I had no time to spare for God, there was too much to do and i was gonna have to stay up half the night just to get it all done.
To stop to enjoy my friendships & the beautiful moments of life even when my head was swirling. (it was hard not to ignore my friends when my to-do list was ten feet long)
To trust God that he would give me the strength to complete everything
To see that the end was near and there was light at the tunnel.

Yes all of these things were VERY hard to do! When you in the middle of a trial or overwhelming situation it's hard to look up, out! It's so easy to get caught up in yourself, and to start to throw yourself a little pity party. To sit there and sulk, to complain about all the homework, to complain to your friends about how much you have to do and how unreasonable people are being, to get frustrated with people who are not doing what you want! and quiet frankly its easiest to simply give up and despair.

But that was my problem, I was getting so self-absorbed. I was completely self-focused and ONLY thinking about me! I started to ignore my friends, to push God to the side, and only care about myself!

As much as I hate to admit messing up like that, that's how I learned and how God taught me.

He showed me that it's not all about me (shocking I know)! That my friends were in the same boat as me and instead of tearing them down and tempting them to join in my complaining/selfish/pityparty I needed to look to see how I could encourage and help them instead! To uplift them and help to brighten their day and show them God's love when they needed it!

I also realized that even the most mundane task like taking a quiz is something that God has given me to do, and everything he has given me to do is important. I need to work hard and pursue excellence and do everything for God's glory, to do my best to bring him honor and praise!

I also learned that God pours out so much grace and strength on us! Seeing all that God has allowed me to accomplish and get done even when I was freaking out about it all, is so amazing and I know it is only because of his strength, because on my own I couldn't have done it! This verse has really come alive to me!

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then I am content with insult, hardship, persecutions, calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Sometimes this mess in life is the gift that God uses to bring me closer to him. He is enough for me and during these crazy days it is God alone who carries me, and because he carries me alone, only he can receive he glory and all my praise and thankfulness! Today I know deep down that the hard seasons don't minimize God, but they magnify His goodness. Here is where I learn to know Him more.

Crazy Life

The posting on here will be slow for a while, this next week in a half is complete insanity for me! So much stuff to do for graduation, AP exams to study for and a 10 page research paper to research and write! Not to mention soccer, youthgroup, work and prom! needless to say I won't have a life so things will be kind of slow on the blog for a while.....

Gotta finish my senior year strong! Colossians 3:23

and now i'm back to researching
pic.twitter.com/Mrkt9SuB

Guatemala

Guatemala....I've been thinking about this post for a while and I just haven't been able to sit down and write it, because there is just so much in my head! So I decided to try and give you a peak into my missions trip with a summary of what we did.

We went to the mission Hope of Life in Llano Verde Guatemala. Immediately I fell in love with their ministry that they have there and all the amazing ways in which they are serving the people in need! All of the staff was amazing they welcomed us with open arms and made us feel at home, the food there was DELICIOUS! We looked forward to the meals everyday because it was just so yummy and the fresh juice was amazing! :) My favorite part was all of the hammocks that they had everywhere made for a great way to relax and perfect place to spend time with God! While being down there it was so awesome to be able to speak in Spanish and interact with the people there. So glad that God helped me to recall my Spanish (I guess those 4 years of classes really did pay off).





The mission has an orphanage where they care for many children, a nutrition center, elderly home, and a school. While we were there we were able to help with building the hospital there, which was hard work, but it was so neat to be apart of such an awesome project that is going to help save so many lives!




There were so many awesome experiences we had, one day we got to go to the dump (which was literally a dump as you'll see below) and we got to do a feeding their and just share God's love with people living in complete destitute. It was definitely a rude awakening to realize how blessed I am and how much I take for granted. I was complaining about a few burns on my hand (that I got from the soup we were distributing) and then it hit me, why am I complaining about such a tiny thing, when these people have nothing and yet they are still full of joy. Made me want to stop focusing on myself and start looking outward. Somehow these people have hope in the midst of awful circumstances and it's an amazing thing.




We also got the privilege of going to a new village called Oasis, Hope of Life had never been there before so we got to be the first to go there and bring bags of food for all the families and it was amazing to see how grateful they were for the little that we were doing and to see how such a small thing like a bag of food could bring them so much hope! I was able to have a conversation with the leader of the village, it was a little choppy since it was in Spanish, but it was so neat to hear his gratitude as he explained to me details about the village and to share with him the joy that God has given me!
                          

Okkay well those were the main things that we did :)  Stay tuned for my next Guatemala post where I will talk about my two favorite parts of the trip  the Spanish Church and Nutrition Center! Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Powered by Blogger.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

.

Pages