Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thankfulness day! I hope yours was full of as much food, family, and fun as mine was.

It's not difficult to list what I'm thankful for today. I am so supremely blessed. I could probably go on for pages, but here are just a few. :)

1) God's presence in my life. Isn't it so comforting to know that God has a perfect plan for our lives? It's been amazing to have that revealed to me piece by piece and day by day. I'm grateful for the times I can feel him working in my life, and that I can trust that He is there when I can't feel him.

2) My Christ-centered home life. There are so many broken homes in this world. I am blessed beyond words that I have grown up in a home that teaches unconditional love, forgiveness, justice, peace, and joy. Who knows where I would be without the amazing decisions my parents made raising me?

3) My health. As much as I inwardly (and sometimes outwardly) complain, it is obvious that my health is so much better than many suffering people. Also, the health issues I do have are improving! There's so much to be thankful for!

4) My considerate and thoughtful family. Today was my first holiday since I was told I could no longer eat gluten. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to indulge in my favorites, but they took good care of me. It blessed me so much that they went out of their way to prepare food I could eat. Also, they are just wonderful.

5) Faithful friends. I cherish steadfast friendship. You know who you are. You are amazing.

6) My cousins. Seriously, those girls bring hope and joy into my life in even the darkest moments.

7) My education. This covers a lot of things! First of all, I'm thankful for Olivet, where I can grow academically and spiritually. It is a privilege that I do not take for granted. Secondly, for my teachers. OH MY GOODNESS. I have had some amazing teachers. Each one taught me, helped to shape my world view, and inspired me to pursue a career in education. You are all rock stars.

8) Literacy. This is something I don't think we appreciate enough. I can write this blog and read the billboards I pass as a drive. That's much more than a lot of people in the world. Wow.

9) YOU! Thanks for reading my blog and constantly sending me support as I figure out this whole college thing. I know many of you are praying for me which means so much and WORKS! Keep it up. ;)

Response to Ferguson

THE COLD WITHIN
James Patrick Kinney

Six humans trapped by happenstance
In dark and bitter cold
Each possessed a stick of wood--
Or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs,
But the first one held hers back,
For, of the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.

The next one looked cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And could not bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of wealth he had in store,
And keeping all that he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For he saw in his stick of wood
A chance to spite the white.

And the last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain,
Giving just to those who gave
Was how he played the game,

Their sticks held tight in death's stilled hands
Was proof enough of sin;
They did not die from cold without--
They died from cold within.


I've posted this poem before but I thought it was appropriate in our country and world right now.
Living in the college bubble, I haven't read or watched the news in a few weeks. Coming back to the "real world," I am...appalled. I am not a political expert or a moral prodigy. I'm a college student exploring and questioning everything in life. But I know one thing for certain. Love is the only thing that can fix this world. It isn't courts, it isn't laws, it isn't guns. Love is the ONLY answer. God IS love. God made us to love. All I see right now is the opposite of God: HATE. Hate from white people, hate from black people, hate from poor people, hate from rich people, hate from religious people, hate from people without religion. You know what comes from hate? Death. Like this poem shows. Death of all good things.
I am not going to share my stance on whether this was violence or justice or whatever other opinions are out there. All I am going to say is that this single act is tearing our nation apart. But it doesn't have to!! No, we can't ignore the problems we are having in our world. But do we have to conform to these problems? Absolutely not. "Do not conform to the patterns of this world."
Christians, don't fuel the flames! Don't harbor hate and prejudice.
Just pray and love. That's all God asks of you in this world.
Leave the judgment to God. He will do that on his appointed day.
Your job is to pray and love. That's it.

Martin Luther King Jr. said it plainly: "Hate can not drive out hate. Only love can do that."