Blessed...

Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heave,

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:1-10

I read this passage but it didn't really grab my attention until the last statement.  

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

This passage is very familiar to me but I think that I've always thought it stopped after "persecuted."  Therefore, whenever I thought of those being blessed because they were persecuted, I thought of the Christians in China who are threatened, beaten, or murdered for their faith - not a Christian like me, sitting at a friends' dinner table, standing up for someone who is being mocked, or asking people to stop cussing and me being teased for it.  Now, I haven't done an extensive study on exactly what the word "righteousness" means, so I ought to do that... but if my guess is right, if we're standing up for what is right and being scoffed at, blessed are we.  

My Bible doesn't have a definition for the word, but it lead me to a passage in 1 Peter verses 12-14.

"For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears 

attend to their prayer...who is there to harm you if you prove

zealous for what is good?  But even if you should suffer for the

sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled..."

There is so much I have to learn and to grow in, but one of those is definitely to be zealous for what is good, and not to fear the thoughts and feelings of people.  This will tie in somewhat with my next post, something that's been going on in my group of friends lately.

My favorite things

Mountains, hiking, camping, friends, campfires, sunshine... just a few of my favorite things all together made for a GREAT weekend. Saturday morning a group of us left for hiking in Roanoke. It was intended as a part of mine and Kara's "23 hikes in 2009" series we're working on but she had to back out. Me, Heidi, Jenn, Dennis, Cliff, Jon, and Jimmy. We arrived at the Appalachian Trail parking lot off highway 311 around 1pm. McAfee's Knob was the first hike. I didn't know much about it before I began, only heard a few things and seen a picture online. It was a medium difficulty hike I'd say, maybe even on the easy side of medium. I think it was about 2.7 miles to the Knob and man... when we got there, it was breathtaking for sure. The sky was bright blue with some white puffy clouds and we come out into a clearing and see this "knob" protruding right out over this huge, beautiful valley. It was amazing. We stayed up there for a while and hiked back down. The hike down wasn't too eventful but it was nice. Not quite the drenching sweat that we experienced as we climbed up! From the parking lot, Heidi and Cliff made their way back to the 'Burg to fulfill prior obligations for the following day. The rest of us took off to find a place to set up camp for the evening. We went to the parking lot of our next hike, "Dragon's Tooth." It wasn't too far away, also right off the AT. We found a good spot and only had to drag all our junk about a quarter a mile. We set up our tents and ate dinner... or was it the other way around? Probably... Everyone was SO tired. The evening chilled off a bit and we started a fire and just talked as long as we could stand to be up (mostly just waiting for the sun to go down!) Morning came after a long, windy night of attempting to not roll down the hill I was on and into the tent wall, as well as trying to ignore thoughts of the wind causing a very large branch to fall and stab me through the tent's thin walls! We ate a quick breakfast, packed up and Jenn and Jon left to head back. Dennis, Jimmy and I began our hike up Dragon's Tooth. It was a shorter hike but definitely more difficult. The first half was a pretty normal incline, once we got about half way it was stairs galore. The ground turned into large rocks and boulders that we had to step over and up onto. At some point along the way, I got what I deserved for wearing my Chaco's on the hike rather than suffering from blisters in my Merells. I hit a rock just right, catching my middle toe nail and tearing it right off. I didn't want to say anything to the boys so I just kept walking because I didn't want to complain! It didn't take long for every step to begin oozing blood and making my toe stick. There was so much climbing which was actually pretty fun because it was different. Finally we reached the top and climbed to the way top of these rocks. It was so beautiful! There was valley and hills all around. We sat up there and snacked a little. I got a little sick feeling between looking at my toe and being on the edge of this thing, but we were able to relax and just enjoy this creation. The trip overall was SO enjoyable. I couldn't be more thankful for the beauty we were able to see, the feeling you receive, and friends to share that with. Life certainly IS good and more than that, our God is good. Signing off for now but hoping for many more weekends like this!

my life would suck without you

Memorial Day weekend 2009. It was my third visit to the Florida Keys in the past 3 years. It's amazing to have such a good friend in such a great location that makes for such a wonderful vacation! The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Jen, Becky and I... tres amigas in the sunshine. We did a little snorkleing, boating, swiming, eating, sunset watching, driving and walking. Played with her family and hung out with friends.

Friends are so important. There are always going to be aquantainces in your life who come and go but then there are those friends who know your quircks, know your secrets. They know how you were in Jr. High and High School. You've danced together, cried together, parted ways and come back together, made movies together, watched movies together...the list goes on and on and what you realize makes those friends so special and unique is that they love you no matter what. You can go so long without seeing eachother or catching up but the second you're together, the stories and memories keep coming. They flow from an endless stream of great times and great people. You all live seperate lives with seperate jobs, families, dreams and friends but you come together and they all mesh into one. We had so much fun remembering all the great times we've had together. You can't replace friends like that. You can just say a joke and they know the circumstance and all the "inside" of it. You tell a small part of a story and they finish it. It makes stories good, you can just look through pictures and videos and laugh rather than flipping through and trying to explain the background and circumstances for each event and photograph. We each have dreams and everytime we're together we hear a bit more about them and encourage eachother in them. It was such a fun time that is hard to explain to people but it's a time that hopefully I'll remember forever. Friends come and go, (and move!) but there's always the real ones who you thank the Lord for every time you think of them.

Extremes

It's been a particularily bad night... mood wise. Our "mood" is such a funny thing, how in a sence it can be so fickle, and to those around us... determine who we are. You don't even have to do anything or have anything happen to you to have it change. It doesn't make sense. Well all week I've been on this sort of "high." Everything in life was just grand; no stress at work, friends wanted to hang out, leaving in a couple days for the Keys, bought a ticket to JH and WY for Britt's wedding, had a week off to go home in July, hair was cooroporating... you name it, life was good. There was this little voice in my head that would pop up everytime I'd get really giddy that would remind me I am susposed to focus my mind on things above, where thieves do not break in and steal and moths do not destroy. I absolutely couldn't make myself do it at the time though. I was so happy and had so many good things going for me that I couldn't imagine life better. I didn't want that 'happiness' to end and couldn't think on other things.

God blew me off that high horse today. Speaking of moods... right now I can't even imagine why anyone would want to live on this earth another day. I'm not being/thinking fatalistic at all, just realistic. There is so much evil in the world, people wanting to rape and kill, people who will do anything for money, people as selfish as they come. Store owners forced to close shop, people without jobs, people without food, people without love. Bills and laws being signed and passed that will only make life more difficult. An absolute downward spiral because as a people, we've turned a blind eye to evil. We look at a problem and determine it isn't ours to deal with, or ask what just one person can do and move on with our lives and the little bit we "can control." I know there's people out there who are in a much more difficult situation than I am. People who have much more to complain about than mood swings and "hidden" problems. But I think this goes to show that God cares about my tiny little heart too. I needed to be reminded that this place isn't my home, I'm just passing through. No matter what I am stoked about today, is nothing compared to what He is planning. What I'm wondering though is why I can't find that happy medium. Why am I either way excited or way depressed? I do know I need to spend more time in the Word and thinking about those things, things that will last.

Work... later

I'm glad I wrote that last post, not that I enjoy it or that it was a fun time in my life but sometimes I really need to be reminded of what the Lord has allowed me to go through because too often I forget. Overall, I have to say that I have such a great job. I work with such great people (for the most part) and I've just really been blessed. I'm learning alot, alot about me - being a young, female in the professional world; alot about others - the way they view me, sometimes with respect and sometimes not so much. Either way I'm learning a ton and am really growing as a person I believe. I am so thankful for this job and the oppertunities it has brought into my life, I know that not all days are good but I am so greatful that I have so many more good days than bad - so many people have it so much worse and I've really been blessed. I no longer dread coming into work, I actually look forward to it and somedays when I have stuff to keep me busy all day, I don't even want to leave...it's probably the Adderall....ha ha just kidding - baruk Hashem!