Transparent

Ever since I left my internship at Mayfair last week, I have had a thought that has grown every day until tonight, it hit a high point, and I must get this out. First, let us discuss the idea and principles of the terms: opaque, translucent, and transparent.

Opaque is something that one cannot see through, a solid that when seen, it is all that is seen, and whatever may be inside such an object, cannot be seen because the outside is, well, opaque.

Translucent is somewhat of the in between phase between opaque and transparent. It is somewhat see-through but no completely clear.

Transparent, is completely clear. It has no boundaries. The most perfect example of this is water. What if one were to describe a person as either opaque, translucent, or transparent? Consider those terms to be a boundary of ones emotions. Everyone has secrets. But how deep and dark are one's secrets? To hide what one might not others to see or know or find out, how far will one go? Does opaque describe you and your boundaries? Or are you just holding back some, putting up only somewhat of a boundary? That might nail you as translucent. Do you think you could describe yourself as a transparent being though? Ask yourself, "Am I as clear as water?" I seriously doubt anyone is really and truly transparent. Like I said, everyone has secrets. Entertain the thought of what it might mean to truly be a transparent being, to have literally no secrets, nothing to hide. To live a transparent lifestyle would mean to live as though everyone can see what you are doing at all times. To truly be an honest person. To not live one way around certain people, but then put on your "church face" for Sundays and Wednesdays. I speak to myself when I say this- what if we all lived transparent lives? How beautiful would that be? Not meaning that we come out with all the secrets we have, but to live a lifestyle that doesn't require us to have secrets. To not be opaque beings means to have no boundaries, to live a lifestyle that one would want everyone to see. If we live for God, we should live for Him not just when others see us, but when we are alone. A constant awareness of being see-through and not putting up any boundaries of the other type of life we may be living and not wanting any one else to see. Let us all live transparent lifestyles, so that we may not be called opaque or translucent. Let us live a lifestyle that we would want everyone to see, and not a lifestyle that we want some to see, but definitely not others.

Peace and Love from up above,

Litz

3 is 3. 4 is not.

I have been seeing God in life lately, probably more than I ever have before. I have been interning for Mayfair since May 21st, and tonight, all the build up of good things God has been doing this summer, hit a high point. Instead of writing about what happened tonight, I would rather write about what has been on my heart concerning Him over the past several hours. God IS Love. God is so close to us, He doesn't come and go. I read something yesterday that will stick with me forever, "God is closer to us than the blood in our veins". Take a moment, and actually think about what that means. He never leaves us, ever. He is inside us at all times. His light is always shining, it is just up to us if we always see it or not. Also, I was listening to beautiful ending by barlowgirl while reading crazy love a few days ago. And it hit me, right there as I read, the same day that I taught a class on Ephesians 3, the chapter of God's "mysterious plan revealed", that I have a calling. We all are called to a different part of God's master plan. God knew us before we existed. He knew that I was going to eat chicken nuggets for dinner tonight. He knew who my second grade teacher was going to be, you get the point. Jeremiah 1:5 says that we were knit together in our mother's womb by God. Love is everywhere. And whether you believe it or not, God is always at work. He is constantly at work in our lives, and it is up to us whether we see His light, or the darkness that tries to put it out. Darkness tries to put out God's light at all times. Those with Jesus as their "firm foundation" have always known that Jesus is their actual foundation. Parallel this to the idea of we are all children, who know that 3 is 3. Hold up 3 fingers. Your whole life, you have known that 3 is three, not four. Now hold up 4 fingers. You know that is 4. Now 3 again. Imagine you walk into a room filled with your peers. Everyone literally believes that your three fingers equals four. Everyone is holding up 3 fingers like you are, and they are all telling you that it is four. This is what evil is like. Temptation, alongside with darkness, tries to consume us and God's light inside us. We know that Jesus is our foundation. But the lies we are told by the constant darkness around us make us want to believe that our "3's" are actually "4's." Allow me to close with this. You know what is right, you have known your whole life. Don't let everyone who believes that 4 is 3, which is a lot of people in this world, convince you that what you know to be true deep down, is not. Let your 3 be 3. and nothing else.

Peace and Love from up above,

Litz

God is Love.

Turn to 1 John 4, starting with verse 7. These verses have effected me to a great extent, and I would like to share some things about them. May they have as great of an effect on your life as they have mine. If you have read a good portion of John's writings in the bible, He loves love. He loves to talk about it in its entirety. To me, it is revealed why he loves love just so much in these verses. Go ahead and read 7- 21. John starts out by pouring out a plead that we all may love others as much as God loved us first. Look close, he goes on to present the fact that love and God are not two separate things, but are united as one. God is love. and Love is God. verse 12. "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us." One of the hardest things about faith, is sight. Faith is not just believing wholeheartedly, but believing in what one cannot see. God is indescribable. Our faith in Him is no easy task, for we use our five senses for most things we experience in our daily lives. God is past all of that. Too utterly amazing to fall under a category of smell, taste, touch, see, and hear. He is our touch, our taste, our sight, and hearing, our smell. He is in all, and most of all, he is Love. verse 12. If we love each other, His love, Himself is brought to full expression in us. How many times have we heard that "God is Love"? Do not dis-reguard this out of spite for it's repetitiveness. It means more than you could imagine. One thing that this sad world has not missed is the fact that Love exists. It is everywhere. All the new songs, all the advertisements, love is thrown around like a ball. There is even a show on "Music television" called a shot at love. That makes me sick. Seeing that the contestants were competing for a shot at "love" with a set of blonde twins. In cliche' I say, What is this world coming to? The point is what is missed, is the fact that without God, Love would not be possible. It would not exist. Check out 16b-17. But replace the word God with the word Love and vice versa. NLT would read, "Love is God, and all who live in God live in Love, and Love lives in them. And as we live in Love, our God grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." Is that not beautiful? And as we live in LOVE our GOD grows more PERFECT. same with 18a. "Such a God has no fear, because our perfect God expels all fear. Do you see the pattern yet? God is Love. Love is God. Live in Love. Live in God. Love lives in you. God lives in you. By loving others. Everyone. The two twins on shot at love. All homosexuals. All the homeless. Our enemies. Loving those who hate us, is one of the hardest things to do as humans are constantly subject to failure. However, If we love everyone, are we not showing them God? God is love, love everyone. God reaches out to whom He pleases. Through us. This isn't a new idea. All the world needs is love right? Hmm.. incomplete. Understand the principle that our God is Love first. Then entertain the idea that all the world needs is love. The world needs God. God wants the world to turn to Him. Let all creation praise His name. Let all we do be done for His glory. Let us show others our God, by showing them our love.

Peace and LOVE from HIM, the Father up above,

Litz.

Time. Volume 2.

Time cannot be talked about as a whole without God coming into the mix. C.S. Lewis talks about time in his unforgettable book, "Mere Christianity". I'll try to stick to my thoughts and not let his have an influence for the blogs sake. When I said everything has a beginning and an end earlier, I was saying that concerning the physical things of this universe. All we know, in existence, once started and will end: the galaxy, the universe, the stars, the sun, the moon, jupiter, mars, mercury, venus, people, air, dirt, animals, water, ipods, you get the point. Things that aren't truly in time will never perish: God and Love for instance. God and Love are actually the same thing, but we'll save that for another time. Concerning time with God in mind, He is not in it. Since God created time, He is the only being that is omnipresent. Key word- present. Remember how we talked about how the present isn't really there? That's because God is the present. He always has been and always will be. He was the God in every story of the Old Testament, the God when dinosaurs ruled the earth, the God who created all that we know, and the God who loves us more then we could ever comprehend. God is the only constant we have. God's presence should not go overlooked, even though it often is. We often think of God as being up in heaven, on the throne of His Kingdom. We usually don't think of God being right where we are, at all times. God is everywhere. In me, in you, around us. God is the air we breathe. In and out. He lives in all things at all times, but we don't think of Him that way. God is the only constant we have. Tim Tebow once said, "There are four things that will last forever: God, His word, people, and rewards." I speak to myself when I say this, that we need to stop treating God as if He is far away, up in Heaven, in His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is here, and the Kingdom of God is now. God is the omnipresent being. God is the only constant we have.

Peace and Love from up above,

Litz

Time. Volume 1.

Not too long ago, a conversation arose from some real talk I was having with a friend. The conversation was about time. More specifically, the past, present and future. Someone had brought up certain facts about all three: past, present, and future. The past is history. Everyone we know has a history. All that we know (in this universe) has a beginning and an end. A start and a finish. The past is not infinite, and never will be. The past is constantly growing, every single moment. This is how the future and past are connected. The future, for all we know is infinite, like space. We have no knowledge of knowing how long we are going to live. Everything that takes place, was once in the future, already set, just being awaited to take place. Then it immediately is the past. For instance, the next word I am going to write is this word right here. I was going to write that sentence all along, but now that I wrote it, it is permanent. Forever in the past. So, with this vast connection between the future and the past, a question arises. Where does the present come in? We give the present way too much credit. Most of the time, we consider the present to be a large portion of time, like the year 2010. But that is a lot of time, a lot of future and past. A lot of things awaiting to happen and a lot of things that have happened and are forever unchanged. We could also consider the present time to be like what we do in specific moments. Like reading a book or listening to a song or driving to the market. Where in reality, we aren't actually driving a car until we drive the car. The act of driving a car consists of walking to it, unlocking the door, opening it, getting inside, etc. So many acts overlooked because the present is divided into moments right? Wait, so what's the point? The point is that the present could be considered inexistent. Everything has a past, constantly growing its history, every second, microsecond, and nanosecond. Everything has a future, allowing history to be constantly written, with a direct change from future to past.

"Clausemas"

Since it is so close to Christmas, I would like to dedicate this blog to the holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ. Lately I have been thinking about something that really bothers me. Not that it can really be changed anytime soon, but it is definitely something to think about or take into consideration. Let's face it, the idea of Christmas doesn't revolve around what it should. In our modern day culture, Christmas has been celebrated for many years, based around trees, gifts, and the wonderful Santa Clause. I would probably guarantee that every child in America (of age) knows about Santa Clause and how he is what makes Christmas magical. Children know all about leaving milk and cookies out for him, waiting for him to come down the chimney on Christmas eve and give the presents that we have been longing for. I am not saying that the belief of Santa Clause and making Christmas special for your kids is a bad thing, I am just saying that maybe we have missed it. Maybe families around the U.S. have been focusing too much on what isn't as important as what the holiday is really celebrating - - The birth of our Savior. Perhaps there has been too much focus on Santa Clause and not enough on Jesus Christ. For some people, the holiday of December 25th should be called "Clausemas". I say we put the Christ back in Christmas. Having an equal level of the lies of Santa Clause (sorry, i know nobody wants to hear it but Santa Clause is a lie told to children to make Christmas more special. ) and Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ and it's holiday is one of my favorites, and I would much rather celebrate the birth of my savior rather than the existence of a jolly red suited man. Santa Clause is still a great way to make ones Christmas special, just be sure to never forget why it is called "Christmas" and not "Clausemas".

Peace and Love from up above,

Litz

think (without) thumbs

So yesterday I lost my phone. I had forgotten it in my dorm room, but didn't know that until I found it much later. I left the dorm to go to class without my phone. I felt lost. I didn't know what to do without it. The world today revolves around media and constant communication with others so much, that we forget what it is like to be without what we are blessed with.

I heard recently that the generation following the X generation is the "thumb" generation, since everyone from the ages of 7-12 (roughly), is constantly using their thumbs on some type of electronic.

When I left for class, the next few hours without my phone was a crisis. I just didn't know what to do without it. We are so dependent on our phones that when we don't have them with us, we are distraught. It's as if the cellular phone has become apart of our arm, always connected to our hands. iPhones and Blackberry's rule the nation. They are everywhere we look; and as soon as that arm attachment (of which it was so highly important to tell that special someone "lol :)") leaves us, even if it's just a few hours, we don't know what to do.

What if it was that way for Christians and God. Shouldn't God be what is constantly attached to us? What if prayer was our "arm attachment"? If prayer was taken away from us for a few hours, would we be as distraught or unglued?

Maybe we should start thinking about what really is important, rather than thinking with our thumbs. Think about that the next time you attach your arm attachment and txt "lol :)", cause now that I have my phone back I definitely will do the same.

Peace and Love from up above,

Litz