#VBSlove

This week was Vacation Bible School at my home church, and it was a blast as always. I was the photographer & slideshow-maker this week, which was a great time.

I learned that there are three kinds of children in the world: 

1. ones that avoid being in pictures at all cost
2. ones that will not smile in pictures
3. ones that make extreme eye contact and smile endlessly, just in case you happen to snap their picture. 

All are fun experiences, because all provide a sense of challenge to the photographer's endeavors.
For the photo-haters, my goal is to see how many pictures I can get of them in which they do not refuse me angrily.
For the photo-frowners, the challenge is to get one, just one, happy picture of them. And cherish it.
For the photo-hoggers, I aim to see how many pictures I can get of them off-guard and unposed. This might be the most challenging of the three, but I think it can be accomplished if done with enough subtlety.

In all seriousness though, this week was such a blessing. The message of the gospel was preached, the kids had a great time and the volunteers all served God beautifully. Success! Now that the week is over, I really miss it. The squealing children, the catchy songs that never leave your head for the rest of your life (really, how does that even happen after one week?), the intense games, the cute crafts and the hilarious skits... but beyond all of that, the way children respond to the gospel. If there's one thing that makes my heart smile, it's children's innocence and ability to take God at His Word. I remember how easy it was as a child just to trust God, because He was God. Oh, how I long for the faith of a child again. To just take Jesus at His Word, because He is Jesus.
This week, I was reminded that children are a blessing.
They remind us of what life is really about- enjoying who God is and telling other people about it. They're so honest, fresh and free. No drama. No complications. Just simplicity and joy.
That's what I call beautiful.

Despite being exhausted and down this week (for no real reason), my heart was filled with love and joy because of everyone involved with VBS. You are all a blessing in my life! I am thankful to be a part of such an awesome church family, and hope to stay involved, God willing, for many years to come.

On another note, I was reading through #VBSprobs tweets on Twitter, and some of them are absolutely hysterical, so I just have to share some of these tweets:

‏@bellaiavarone 26 Jun

"Okay what else sounds like trinity?" "God" "Triangle" "Tranquilizer" #vbsprobs

@ElizabethErinn 20 Jun

Today, a 6 year old called me an "old maid" when she found out I was 21 and not married. #VBSprobs    <--- (this tweet is so relatable haha)

@youthgroupprobs 22 Mar

It's not VBS without the older men of the church attacking with their water guns when the kids go outside #VBSprobs

‏@build_a_BRIDGEE 24 Jul

Got attacked by these 3 kids for 10 minutes 😁 #VBSprobs 

‏@atbelcher27 19 Jul

Of course I'd be stuck with about 20 first graders when the power goes out. Oh, and did I mention they enjoy farting? #VBSprobs #stormprobs

@vmharris1995 18 Jul

"Can anyone tell me how God is in control of nature?" "I had three cats and they all got hit by cars and died." #VBSprobs

@KaciLeopold 27 Jun 12

Having VBS songs stuck in your head ALL THE TIME #vbsprobs

@jd_polk 6 Jun 12

"There is no dog heaven kids!!"-Me "Well where does my dog go?"-Little Girl "...........Hell"
#vbsprobs

@blairblckburn14 4 Jun 12

I officially have a boyfriend! His name is Wyatt and he asked me at 11 today! He's three...... #vbsprobs

@MaryEllaRogers 2 Jun 12

Having to make a grand canyon with just orange paper and paint #VBSprobs 

@KelsiHope_18 31 Mar 12

Having glue all over your hands so much that it peels off your nail polish and only comes off your hands with paint thinner... #VBSprobs

...Yup. All of these sound pretty legitimate. #VBSprobs

To Overthrow the "Entitlement" Mentality

See all those successful people who you admire and envy? Those individuals who have accomplished their dreams and contributed to society? Most aren't extra special nor do they have an incomprehensible IQ. Most just tried until they accomplished something. Failure did not stop them and neither did people's discouraging remarks.

Probably one of my largest pet peeves is when people hate on the wealthy or successful, screaming at them to "give me some of that."Though I'm sure some have inherited the money, it was earned none-the-less. I'm obviously not talking about bootleggers or illegal money-making scheme, but as far as the honest money-maker, it takes work.

Whenever I walk around Boston or any city in general, I wonder to myself who the owners are of all of the successful businesses.
How did they begin? 
How did they excel? 
What does it take to accomplish something hard?
Work. Time. Dedication.
For the most part, nothing came to the developers easy, whoever they may be.
They sweat. They stressed. They endured. They probably failed many times.

It seems to me that my generation of Americans has lost their sense of pride in working and have fallen into a mindset of entitlement.
"I deserve this because....
I'm an American.
I'm a woman.
I'm a minority.
I'm a teenager.
I'm a cat (haha just kidding.. but really)...."
The list could go on and on.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but we don't deserve anything. We never have.
We all have dreams. We all have passions. We all have talents.
But alone, these things cannot be cultivated without work.
Hard, honest work.
I think about all of the different passions I have, all of the people who have helped train me to accomplish these passions and all of the different possibilities in them.
I don't know what I'm going to be or what difference I will make, but whatever it is,
I'm going to be it and make it well.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going." Ecclesiastes 9:10

In this incredible country, we can pretty much choose to do anything. We can choose to be anything.
The sad truth is, many of us waste it.
The government just gives us things, we take it and it makes us lazy.
The hard-working, honest living is shriveling up into oblivion for many of my generation, and it breaks my heart.

"In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty."
Proverbs 14:23

Don't just talk about it- DO IT. Get up, work and do what you were made to do.

Working was never a curse, even before the fall of man.
God worked (and He also rested). (Genesis 1 & 2)
God also created mankind to cultivate the earth we've been given, with whatever occupation.

²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27-28

Work was created to glorify God and to minister to others (which also glorifies God).

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:32

I've been doing a study on Proverbs 31, which is specifically about what a virtuous woman looks like, but the concepts really are applicable to all human beings. She works with her hands willingly, she has integrity and ultimately she is looking out for the good of the people in her life (Proverbs 31:10-31). She is not lazy and because of her hard-work, her whole family benefits.

Hard work with the talents God has given us BREEDS success. Yes, this earth is not our permanent home, but God put us here, nonetheless, and He expects us to serve Him in all we do.

The Poem of Unrest

Miles and miles by car or flight,

The world seemed to have shrunk,

The Caribbean star, the Arabian night,

A filled, yet empty trunk.

To pasture grand with roaming horse,

Or eastern salty wave,

So far to learn, no past remorse,

I thought that I was brave.

And though the travels did entice,

My heart was left behind,

I found that though each place was nice,

My love was not that kind.

Romantic dreams of southern stage,

Made faulty thoughts unkempt,

And though the dreamer dreamt a page,

The words were still unmet.

Expectations, inspirations,

All but really fake,

Though I still have aspirations,

It’s not my time to take.

Willing attempt, decision and plan,

Each a noble cause,
Still fall short for every man,

They’re destination flaws.

Every place, experience galore,

Though rewarding in their way,

Leave its partakers wanting more,

Grown hunger every day.

One thing fulfills and does suffice,

Its mysteries unfailing,

Few prove willing to pay the price:

Surrender and exhaling. 

Gossip, Words & Speaking the Truth in Love

Gossip. 

The cliche posters in high schools saying "Gossip hurts."
The Christians who talk about how bad it is, but find time to tear people apart on a daily basis.
The idea that it doesn't even show up in Christian circles.

Unfortunately, despite people's recognition of how unbiblical it is, we still tend to shove it under the rug. Why? Why do we recognize other sins, yet find it justifiable to use words to rip people to shreds? What makes us think that it's ok?

I write this because I realize that this is one of my deepest and most real struggles. Let's be honest.
I am the first to blame. Right here, right now.

As Christians, our gossip may not involve a "Oh wow did you see her shoes? How hideous." (or maybe they do.. in which case, that's just sad).
Often our gossip entails sitting in our Christian circles and idly discussing others failures and mess-ups.
Does the fact that people sin or do something we don't approve of give us the right to go and talk to other people about them?

I guess the more specific question is, Did Jesus ever say this?:
"To make yourself more holy, go ahead and talk trash about an individual, let everyone know exactly what they did wrong and make sure they know that you would never do something like that. Humiliate them if necessary."
NO.

In fact, He said quite the opposite.

In Matthew 8:1-12, Jesus is in the middle of teaching a crowd when some Pharisees bring a woman (who was caught in the act of adultery) to Jesus, telling him to stone her.
His response?

“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

Now, I don't believe Jesus was saying that sin shouldn't be punished.
No, not at all. Sin is sin.
Sin is the reason Jesus came to die for us. Sin is what put Him on that cross.
I believe that this was Jesus' point: the Pharisees sought to publicly display individuals sin so that they themselves would seem more holy. So that people would recognize their works.

Isn't this often the motivation behind our idle conversation? To glorify ourselves?
Is this Biblical?
Why is it so difficult for us to show grace to others when JESUS shows grace to us DAILY?

When sin issues need to be addressed (and are done with a humble, loving heart), sin won't be addressed in a method of gossip.
Matthew 18:15-20 clearly tells what one should do if someone sins:

¹⁵ Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

 It also addresses what to do when a believer won't listen to you, if you do talk to them about their sin:

¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ ¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

There's a pattern to dealing with believer's sin issues, and gossip is not one of them. Yes, if they absolutely refuse to leave from a sinful lifestyle, we are to view them as any other unbeliever (that does not mean we should sit and gossip about unbelievers either).
Sin should be addressed, but it should be addressed directly to the person.
Jesus addressed sin, and he addressed abandoning ourselves and our fleshly desires to follow HIM:

Matthew 8:34-35

³⁴ When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 

When talking about sin issues, he didn't drop names- he simply talked about the sin for what it was. Romans 3 is extremely up front with man's depravity. It talks about the human condition and one's need for a SAVIOR.
However, Paul (in Romans) does not sit and name every person, what they did and how wrong they were.
He says "THIS is sin. THIS is why we need a Savior. THIS is the type of forgiveness we can have from our sins."
Not: "Woah, look at Sally Sue's sin! Can you believe that!"
No.

Believer or unbeliever- gossip is unacceptable.
Whether just empty chatter or whether seemingly "holy" talk- if it's not uplifting, edifying, encouraging, if it's not building up the body of Christ, if it's not pointing people to Christ, if it's not righteous LOVE- don't do it.

Really, it all comes back to LOVE. 
1 Corinthians 13 says,

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

Words. How powerful they are, yet how freely we use them.
The same tongue that says loving words can also be brutal and evil. (James 3)
So many verses in the Bible about this topic.

It's difficult because people often don't even know what constitutes "gossip." 
Basically, this is how I can tell that I should not say something (though often times I say it anyway, sadly) and that
it fits into the "gossip" category:

• If I would not want it said about me, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's something that, if the subject matter had been about me, I would have rather it said in private, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's untrue, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's not furthering the kingdom of God, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's not glorifying the name of God, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's not bringing someone to Christ, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's something I'd be embarrassed to have repeated to me later, I shouldn't say it.
• If I don't have all of the facts, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's not the business of the person I'm telling it to, I shouldn't say it.
• If it's going to get spread unnecessarily, I shouldn't say it.
• If what I'm saying isn't done out of LOVE, I shouldn't say it.
  As one of my elementary teachers used to always say:
  "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary."

I borrowed this picture from a Pinterest user: "OMalls."

Gossip is detrimental. It destroys friendships, builds enemies, breaks trust, hurts everyone.
Eradicate the gossip, whatever form it may take. It's not worth it.