macbook

June 28, 2011 marks the day of death for my little white MacBook that I've had since the end of my senior year in high school.  Macy was a dear friend and treated me wall for 4 and a half years.  I can't tell you the anxiety that ensued on my life when that little gray screen with a folder labeled "?" came up on my screen indicated my hard drive had crashed.  I am an extremely laid back person, but my heart started beating at an enormously fast pace.  Everything I needed was on that computer. Now, gone.  I started to think about how much I rely on my computer, and how I literally felt sick at my stomach when I realized I didn't have it anymore.  "Well, what do I do now?" was the first thought that crossed my mind.  I go to my computer for answers; I go to my computer for advice; I go to my computer when I'm bored; I go to store things that I need/want; I go to my computer to communicate.  My life in some--well, many--ways revolved around that computer.  I'm not saying we should all give up our computers, and be without technology.  (I'm blogging from a computer at school, so obviously I think it's somewhat useful...) But I am saying in our relationship with Christ, how many times do we truly get sick in the stomach to think of our life without Him because of how much our lives revolve around Him? The grace of God is the greatest gift in the world because we know we never will go without Him, but if we had to put our lives in a ratio of computer to God ratio, how much do we go to Him for answers, advice, when we're bored, to store the things we want and need from our heart, and use Christ as a means to communicate with Him and others? I love the Lord with everything I am. Macbook is dead, and she isn't going to be resurrected and save the day.  But He did. 

grasshopper

As you might be thinking I'm naming this after the delicious mint chocolate cookie because I'm me and I usually can't help myself, I'm not (although I am considering starting a bakery of sorts...wishful thinking).  Yesterday I was driving, and there was this little green grasshopper that was on my mirror to the left.  She was the most brilliant color green.  Like that color green you can only imagine happens in a rainforest.  I felt kind of bad as I drove off, and she was still on my mirror, because I knew she was probably scared.  Her antennas were blowing harshly in the wind, and she didn't know where to go without using them.  She was holding on for dear life.  I honestly thought to myself, "if I stuck my head out the window and my hair was flapping in the wind, it would feel good." So, in my mind, I thought she can't be that scared, I bet she enjoys it.  Isn't that sometimes how our compassion in this world gets skewed?  We start to justify how it can't be that bad for others with statements like: "It's all they know." and "If it were me, I would change my life in the following ways."  Isn't our job as Christians to change what they know to the love of Christ for them?  With a love like that, all they'll know is mercy and grace and kindness and faith.  Don't we want that for others? As Christians, we have to stop justifying why we're not compassionate.  We have to know that sometimes their antennas are blowing in the wind, and we've got to help them know where to go.