{Thoughts} Recently Crossed My Mind

I read a book last week by Elizabeth and Anna Sofia Botkin called It's (not that) Complicated. Really it was mostly about godly friendships/relationships with boys/young men. The emphasis was really just on friendships versus more romantic relationships. I did enjoy the book. It was engaging, very thoughtful and had lots of good points. However, I wasn't overly impressed. EXCEPT the section on being a godly sister. *bam* Where they specifically looking at my life when they wrote that? I'm very suspicious. So here's a little run-down of my favorite parts about that section... also known as the very convicting parts.

 The whole brothers section started out with the point that we are commanded to treat all men (and women) as brothers (or sisters) in Christ. Personally, I don't want to start treating everyone like I do my siblings (as Hiccup says, "we need  her to like us!") So, first step... work on my relationships with my real brothers. Because they are my practice. I know personally, the relationship I have with my younger and older brothers needs some work. "Some" in this instance means "I will be working on this for the rest of my life".

The Botkin's listed several things that I hadn't considered in my role as a godly sister/woman "...to confess...to admit wrong...to defer to another in love...to care, to ask questions, to sympathize...to be capable of giving wise counsel, loving reproof, and gentle exhortation..." (56). Okay then, let's just apply that list to my younger brothers.Maybe I'll tell another time how this book convicted me about my relationship with my older brother. But for now, we'll just stick with the little, dirty, loud, and pesky ones.
I have a very common relationship with my younger brothers. They plague my life...I plague them back. They tease me...I tease better (I mean, just sayin'!). But to defer in love? (Can you hear me justifying? "But they're my little brothers, I should NEVER defer to them! If I do, I will actually be able to watch their heads swell") But that's not really necessary is it? I don't always have to be exerting my rights as the big sister, do I? And "wise counsel", that would involve actually stopping to listen to them and showing interest in what they're doing ("But I don't care about swords and legos!"). But I'm supposed to be one of their examples of a godly woman. The mission I assigned myself: Stop. Listen. Learn to care so that I can be what a big sister should be; someone who can give encouragement (because I know them well enough to know the encouragement they need), wise counsel (because I'm seeking out God's purpose and plan), loving reproof (loving, not criticizing, undermining, or aggravated), and gentle exhortation (because a gentle answer turns away wrath). Those adjectives are important, let me tell you.

So that's what's been floating across my mind this week. :)

{Thoughts} The Earth is the Lord's

I'll get back to those pictures in a second. In the meantime, you can just enjoy them without my commentary!
 
During family Bible time in the mornings, dad has been reading through a book called What is the Gospel? (by Greg Gilbert). Last week he read this bit:

(Context being, the writer is telling a story of he and some college friends who went on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park, and after they got there, just took of hiking... with no map.)

"...But then, all of a sudden, before any of us really had time to notice that anything was changing, the forest cleared and we found ourselves standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Stretched out below us for miles was a magnificent gash in the earth. A river ran through the bottom of it, sparkling as the sun glinted off it. Birds flew below us, and low-hanging clouds sped by above, caught, I guess, in the wind currents being channeled by the canyon. What an incredible feeling of smallness I had at the moment, staring into a dizzying expanse below me and looking into the sky. For a few moments, all three of us were-for the first time all day-speechless. And then one of my friends began to sing, 'O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds they hands have made...' {...} For the next few minutes we stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and praised the One who had created the awe-inspiring masterpiece."

When I first heard this, I just thought how cool that was. These young men obviously had a strong grounding in God. When whey were faced with this awesome beauty, their first thought was to praise GOD for His marvelous work.

Then, as I kept considering it, I realized I was subconsciously thinking, "Yeah. If something so big, and awesome, and beautiful was before me, I would praise God too!" One of my favorite things to do on Pinterest is look at the "Travel" category. I mean, talk about cool. Professional picture after professional picture of wonderful places all over the world. The pictures at the beginning of this post are some I ran across recently. But, as I look at these big places that are just overwhelmingly beautiful, and thought I would certainly praise God if I lived there, I realized in my life there are beautiful things God created, too. If I can't be grateful for those seemingly small and insignificant things, or don't even try to be grateful, would God really be glorified by my praising Him over the "big" things He created? I put big in quotation marks because that's how my brain thinks about it. But I don't think God really sees a soaring mountains as so much "bigger" and more important the the smallest flower He created.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
Psalm 24:1

That's just what I've been thinking over this week. :)