IT’S A TRAP!
A friend of mine once encouraged me on a video shoot saying, “Anything can be interesting if you look at it close enough.” The past is no exception.
Humanity has a tendency of either hyper-fixating on the past or avoiding it until we are force to face it. Either way, as the wise Admiral Ackbar once said, “It’s a trap!”
Our past experiences as individuals, whether they be victories or defeats, are a collective of choices that we have the privilege to learn from, celebrate and surrendered. While the idea of “celebrating life’s defeats” might sound strange, people were made for it.
James 1:2-4 says it simply, “Count it all joy.” There is joy to be found in uniting around life’s highs and lows to celebrate the goodness of God, remember the role that we played in our experiences and then take the necessary time to surrender it all to Him.
SEIZING DAILY
Work in progress…
WITHOUT CEASING
Work in progress…
Relationship & Responsibility
What makes us valuable? People have a hard time with this. Worth. Am I worth it? Is today really worth living?
I know that this rings true for America. The bastard son of another country, we’ve long since tried to run away from our past many times over.
The bigger guns. The bigger bombs. The bigger rockets. Always having to prove ourselves to the rest of the world. What we were feeling could have been said in one little sentence.
I don’t know my value.
Some would look at our country, even our world, and say that it is a lost cause. But I still see hope.
I still see worth in every last person that I lock eyes with. Not because I know them but because I know the potential behind every individual for relationship and responsibility.
Defining Freedom
“Freedom is a fundamental yet multifaceted concept, encompassing various dimensions of the human experience.” …or at least that is what some people might tell you.
Growing up in Midwestern America, freedom has always been synonymous with liberty. What do I have the right to?
But our rights do not merit our worth nor our value. Freedom is not about rights or rewards.
Real value and worth hold volume. They can be a lot to carry. But the blessing is in the burden. A weightless life will pan out cheap and meaningless.
Freedom is defined as being given the ability to take responsibility of our own personal character as individuals and, after owning that responsibility, using it to love the people around us as if they carry the same worth and value… because they do.
Freedom isn’t about what we can get. It’s about what we can give. The greater our capacity for love the greater our capacity for freedom. The more we give out of love the more we reflect God’s heart, and the more we experience the true joy of freedom in Christ.
Fortunately, we have the ability to grow because personally, I suck at being free.
Galatians 5:13 - “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
"I realize that words fall flat if they’re not followed through with action. So, as I call you along side me, I ask you to hold me accountable to this…
You are the joy of the Lord... so be it."
- Sam Norwood
Isaiah 62:5 - “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.“
