#writing this out makes me wonder if our own hindrance is ourselves

[grapecaseschoices]

I am still struggling in how to define why people have stuck around Hiyam for so long [especially since Black Women dint get yhe pass white men do, si the fact that she hasn't learned and been katowed would be off putting. Plus no one really likes the relentless jackass, regardless of race or gender] and how much of an asshole and when is she as well as what and when are her soft spots.

I'm struggling with this as well, since my my second mc is also black and not a man, so I've been trying to develop their personality a bit more but I am also struggling to define this. Because I think about the fact that white people in the entertainment industry often don't get the same pass white, cis men do when it comes to how they behave and as you said people don't tend to enjoy being around a jackass. My second mc is not intentionally mean, they're just very blunt and honest with what they think and doesn't really like to be in the in the spotlight but they can appear to be mean/an asshole to people who they don't know. I got 42% on the hated/loved stat when it came to fans so I think you're doing better than me djndjdj. I might try and flesh them out a bit more and see what happens. I have another mc who's the exact opposite when it comes to my other mcs personality, they're outgoing, easily adaptable to situations, and goes with the flow of things; this is the first mc that I came up with with so they're a lot more developed than the second mc. It's really interesting to see the contrast between my mcs. I might end up creating more lmaoo. Infamous is truly giving me brain rot. This is the first time I've created more than one mc for an if game or fleshed them out all. 😩

Sorry for the late response! I had work! And then I've been tired. Even now my brain is on "dysfunction", so this probably will be a mess.

I feel you on the last. I mean I've created multiple MCs before but this is the first time I've had them so pre-decided. Unless they're an old MC I'm reusing [and even then], I usually decide as I go. This is the first time I pre-created MCs before really even trying the demo. So it is new territory for both of us, homes. But we shall figure it out. Thats the beauty of creating, right?

Haha. Hiyam got higher than that - even though they decided to play the villain - I THINK because I decided she WOULD stop and sign autographs before the photoshoot. It came off favorable to her, of course -- even if the reason is partially selfish. Lmao. Mostly selfish. [Hiyam believes the attention is due! But she also realizes there is a relationship there that she needs to foster. IE, if these fans have tye good sense and taste to be HER [and the bands] fans, shouldn't she reward them? Ejbshshe.

So it comes off nice but it is really her securing her bag/feeding her own ego. Maybe that's a sort of balance you need to find for your character? Make their more ... unsavory tendencies work for them almost as much as it is a block for them.]

And I agree. Seeing the contrasts are fun. Not only in personality, but what comes easier to you with one vs the other. Like you said, time developing can have a lot to do with that. This is when you question how you can maybe make a certain aspect make more sense to you [if THAT makes sense? That sentence feels weird. That said, I've realized sometimes you're thinking oh I don't know this or can't figure it out because idk that character as well but then it turns out it is just yhe new character is keeping le secrets jsjdbdv]

I will say, one thing I do like is outside maybe the fans / media, the main characters [and the npcs] tend to treat asshole characters the same regardless of race or gender -- IG. Not that it helps me really, because I'm still struggling on why Rowan hasn't pubted her [actually this play through did help me a little. ]

Maybe I'm worrying too much for nothing.

[mishervellous]

Hiya dashing Paola I just thing you are the most wonderful & an amazingly talented creator with art, writing & make-up in your bag what else can't you do? 😆❤️ Your ability to inspire & impress me has no bounds ily 💖

I wanted to ask who or what are your art inspirations?

Do you have a special place tonget inspired or make your art?

What's your favourite medium to create with?

How do you handle art block?

Also if I were to go to Italy where would be the first place you'd take me & what foods would you get me to try? 😘😘😘

myn, my beloved, how are you the sweetest person on this planet? like you manage to put a smile on my face every single time 🥺💙 ilysm!!

i have a lot of art inspirations! first of all our dear ian and mickey have inspired me endlessly these last eighteen months. 70% of my paintings/drawings are about them! but also whatever makes me happy or pleases my eye: a sunset, the beach, blooming trees, plants. my friends! i love making art for them. i love doing makeup for them too! drag queens are a big, big inspo as well. alfons mucha! van gogh! my wonderful grandma. virginia woolf! italo calvino! remarque!

i feel the most inspired when i’m high on the rooftop of my building or down below by the sea, feet in the sand and salty skin 🌊 anywhere i feel at peace, really ☁️

my favorite medium to create with is a toss-up between my ipad and my own face lol like i’ve only very recently gotten into digital art (just last july!) but i’ve been playing with makeup (glam, sfx, artistic, anything) since i was 12, so it’s a big part of my artistic journey!

the way i deal with art blocks is i have a means of expressing my ideas that i keep to myself for the most part; something that’s for me only. a lot of the time what stops me from creating, my biggest hindrance, is the fear of not being good enough. of not meeting a certain standard that people have put on me (but that, really, i have put on myself, by myself) so i just stop creating altogether. but whenever i paint with oils on a real canvas (i’m really not great at it!), or stitch, or cook, or sing, or skate, it’s just me. i’m doing it for myself, nobody will see me but me. so it takes the pressure off a bit! i believe you should always create for yourself first, but sometimes it’s hard not to put what you think other people would want from you first instead. so i literally do something fun like no one is watching!

and oooh my goodness!! any time i get to talk about italy i’m so so happy 😭🇮🇹 of course i’d take you to rome! florence! milan! but then i’d show you around my city too! it’s smaller and not as well known, but it’s really beautiful. i’d take you to the old part of town, made entirely out of white stones and marble, to the old wall flanking it, surrounded by the sea. we’d have gelato because duh! and then focaccia—which we’re known for here! then, if you’re into it, there’s like toooons of seafood here! we could go fish it ourselves if we wanted 😌 but if that’s not your cup of tea, then i’d take you to my place of work (which is also a place where i spent a lot of my childhood!!), a uni campus for agronomy students, and we could harvest our own produce from the fields and make our own fresh salads or lettuce wraps!!

hello from the beans!!

and of course we’d go to my favorite restaurant too, where someone sings every night and each table has a wonderful view like this 💙

i talk too much!! sorry!! ily!!! 💙💙💙💙

[weaselbeaselpants]

Hazbin Hotel Review part 2: Mistakes were made please don’t kill me

This pilot is polarizing at the moment. In between the two sides of the anti-fanbase (ppl crying “if you like HH you’re homophobic”, or the BWW with it’s cringey politics), you have lots of fans who are falling over themselves about how good this is. If you love Hazbin unconditionally that’s fine, but here’s the thing:

I like it too.

I’m the kind of person who’s naturally critical, pokes harmless fun at what I like, and is always rewriting and reimagining things within the fandoms I like. I want to be a ‘Hazbin’ fan but I don’t know if I’m allowed to since the fanbase can be so staunchly overprotective and Viv herself has said she doesn’t like criticism, no matter how valid or done in good faith.

Tbh, that’s why the drama revolving around @frootrollup1​ upsets me: the fandom is fine with lumping all criticism or redesign stuff in the realm of ignorant hate, when redesign, rewrites, revamps and other fan dribble are kind of a labor of love onto itself in other fandoms. Guess that’s a talk for later though.

With all this in mind, let me go over my thoughts:

There’s no PROPER establishment of Hell as a place, setting, world, or proper establishment of the characters.

The armor-piercing question Hazbin needs to be asked is this:

“is this a generic version of Hell we should all be familiar with and need no introduction to, OR is this a unique take that requires it’s own rules?”

^ It feels like the latter but we don’t get a good rundown of said rules. Besides that, characters are one note and serve either no purpose or become flies on the wall to other characters’ purpose.

Things were said and places were shown but we honestly don’t get a good idea of Hell by the end of the pilot. It’s a ritzy(?) place where souls of the damned literally become demons and then get purged. I THINK. I THINK, that’s what the writer’s were going for here. TBH, it feels like they’re skipping ahead and thinking of the show as a finished, fully realized product with developed characters and plots already, and not an introduction to a series/standalone piece.

If I didn’t have some inkling or the lore prior to watching it, I wouldn’t have known that the demons sans-Charlie were once human. Angel says in passing in the car that he’s already dead, but really references to the fact that they were once human are rare.

Now I’m a simple woman - I ain’t picky with mah demonology - But, call me crazy, when I think Hell I don’t think of the people who end up there turning into demons, I think of people going there to be tortured. That’s the hell I’m used to seeing and is prevelant in like every religion that has a hell. Taking a spin on that and making demons the souls of sinners trapped in hell? A-okay, but I NEED MORE. Instead of talking in a car or spending time on this lolsofuny demon turf war, we really needed more time given to the fact that Vaggie, Angel, and others were once human. No, I don’t want a full flashback, but it would give us a better grasp of the mechanics of sin in this world if these two characters told a little bit more themselves than just having some lines offhandedly explaining how everything works. 

EX- How to do revamp of a familiar setting right while still leaving certain details vague? One Word: Hadestown. 

Hadestown doesn’t need to give you all the details of it’s setting cause that’s not the point. You don’t need to know if the workers of Hadestown are literally dead, metaphorically dead, or both or where other gods live. Those aren’t the things we need to know for the musical to progress. What we need to know is Hades’ underworld is a mining colony of doom, that Hades buys peoples souls so the workers can never leave, that Persephone and Hades are on the rocks which is messing up the seasons, and that oop! Eurydice had to go back. Between the commonplace to complex knowledge westerners have of Greek mythology and the revamped Prohibition-era setting, all is explained that we the audience need explained.

I have the feeling Hazbin Hotel wanted the same thing: explain what needs to be explained for the currant plot and leave bits and pieces in the dark. It just didn’t really work.

The flow of the narrative was bad.

So apparently on the PizzaPartyPodcast Vivziepop admitted there were things that were moved around or turned out rushed.

Fair enough but even with that excuse can someone please tell me why they thought it was a good idea to start the story after Angel has already been made a patron of the hotel?

Getting to know not only how the world works first and foremost, but who our main character (Charlie) is and what she is doing (the hotel), would be the easiest way to drop us into the action of the story and get the ball rolling. But instead we start off with an intro song that sort of shows us what this world is like but doesn’t explain anything about who or what we’re seeing until the newscasters come in. Angel’s introduced in this time and the build up and execution of this character is poor, rushed, and feels more like writers fudging around with a character they like than giving us, the audience, a proper introduction*.

After that, I’m sorry to say the spots where the story picks up, drifts off, lulls about, or comes around all kind of melt into this big slurry the characters are drowning in, without any real care for telling a story. BUT THIS IS A STORY!!!

This is not a little menagerie of random characters ala the Pastoral Symphony from Fantasia. This is not a collection of little things just for the fun of it to get to to know these people (it does a bad job at getting you to know these guys). This is a three act structure. I can tell where the intro, rising action, climax, and falling action are SUPPOSED to be, but they don’t stand out, don’t do their job, and melt into the fluff in a way that makes the emotional impact we’re supposed to feel null somehow...

The pacing was bad. 

While some scenes go by far too quickly others go on for faaaaaaar too long. These are the bits that don’t surprise me when I hear this pilot was changed around, cut down, or fudged with a bit.

Scenes like this include Charlie’s back and forth with Katie Killjoy before and after her song, Charlie and Vaggie’s fight in the car, Alastor explaining himself to Charlie and Vaggie trying to talk him out of it, ALL of the Ser Pentious/Cherry Bomb terf fight bits.

Oddly, it feels like these parts are trying REALLY hard to get a point across but they end up being more of a hindrance to this otherwise snappy dialogue and supposedly simple set up. This pilot is 20+ minutes, but the bits we need to endear ourselves to our main cast are squandered on what the writers thought was “fun to write” at the time.

Too many characters, even in a 20 minute pilot. 

Instead of getting a good idea of our leads, everyone is treated with the same level of importance or interest in a world that hasn’t even been fully introduced yet.

The truly important supporting characters to Charlie, Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor are Husk, Katie, and Nifty. Katie provides conflict to the first half of Charlie’s story, while Husk and Nifty are hires by Alastor for the hotel; they establish his power over other demons and his influence on the hotel and it’s success. Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb needed to be cameos. Their characters should be glorified plot contrivances/resolutions, No More. I ain’t gonna care about a cast of billions from the start. We gotta start small first. Not only do we have four mains, we also have a bunch of little guys who need to eat up screen time...except they absolutely don’t need to and should be simple background cameos for now.

Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb get as much character time as the four mains even though Angel is underdeveloped and Alastor is overdeveloped. When it comes to storytelling - unconventional or otherwise - priorities, is what this pilot needs.

Angel basically does nothing after Alastor is introduced. 

Of all the characters in Hazbin to get left in the dust (lol) and be underdeveloped, Angel Dust would be my last guess. He’s popular with his creator and with the fandom but because of how the pilot is set up, his character falls to the back-burners and is kind of unnecessary: (Charlie uses him as an experiment to see if she can reform a sinner but he doesn’t hold up, so when Alastor comes into play the focus of Charlie’s plan switches almost entirely to Alastor and Angel is unneeded). If this were two episodes of a series; one about Charlie getting to know and trying to “fix” Angel, and another about Alastor coming in and taking over, that’d be fine. But this is a pilot so the plot and character development is kinda crushed in and neither Angel nor his existence amounts to much of anything.

I honestly forgot Angel was even in the latter half of the pilot. The poor demon-spider whore dies on the way to his home planet.

Not to fan-blurb here but I think it’d be more interesting if the conflict in the latter half wasn’t Vaggie trying to warn Charlie away from Alastor but Angel feeling shown up by Alastor and him being the one protesting to Alastor’s take-over of the hotel. It would have given Angel more to do and would cement him as one of our four leads.

Alastor gets a backstory because he is A) not the character I thought they were going for, or B), they’re jumping the gun on him. Alastor is a maddening character in my book because if he’s the character I thought he was supposed to be - our main villain - then they royally messed up a good villain by explaining his story. If he ISN’T the main villain, than color me confused on what he’s supposed to be. 

It goes without saying that a good villain should remain somewhat mysterious throughout the rising action, which is what the pilot is building up to (I think?). Alastor’s personality makes him an absolutely wonderful villain and probably the most outwardly “demon”-like of anyone in Hell. Him being a rogue demon that scares the inhabitants of Hell should be alluded to, not stated.

Vaggie and Angel get passing “we dead” bg but our villain gets a backstory dumped on him? For the standalone pilot this episode is, his backstory doesn’t do anything for the plot. For the rest of the series, this feels like a big waste to reveal this guy’s history over anyone else. The rest of the HH cast are sorta small stereotypes and cliches that the writers want to endear to us because of what they do and what they go through, though since there’s too many of them they end up just being there. Alastor, on the other hand, is where they hit gold and really have a character who oozes personality and the feel of their show...but they kind of taint him by giving him an unneeded (at this point) history.

Big problem with him not only being explained but him outright stating his intentions with the hotel.

Maybe I’m wrong and Alastor is not the bigbadvillain in a cast of villains...in which case I don’t know what the pilot wants us to think of him or where the show’s going with him. Is he a demonic version of Harold Hill who learns to care about ppl and gets redeemed? Maybe that will change with future episodes....

Hazbin is confusing as a person not privy to the franchise/development prior ,and feels disappointing from the pov of someone getting hyped for these characters. As a follower of the project it feels like a let down to the respective characters and plots we’ve been anticipating. While, as newcomer, it’s hard to care about anyone. My sister, who had far less info on the pilot than me, was watching it the whole time going “who are you?” and by the end said “why should I care?” Really good summary from this IMDB review here:

Little harsh but my thoughts exactly.

TL;DR: The writers need to really rethink how to introduce their world to newcomers AND fans alike. -

There’s so much passion in Hazbin Hotel but I feel it’s misaimed and a prime example of why “write/draw what you like and what sounds ‘fun’!!!!” isn’t a good idea for storytelling.

There’s technically a story in Hazbin Hotel, but because of the bad pacing and lackluster approach to world and character development, for the kind of project that it is, it’s not very good. 

-

Again, for the people in the back: if you think I’m a bully because I happen to be harsh with my criticism, sorry but harsh critique isn’t the same thing as bad faith criticism (CinemaSins, NC, Bad Webcomics Wiki) and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t lump me in with those turds because I don’t love every second of this. I may not be the best writer, but storytelling is my passion and I think this dropped the ball. IT DOESN’T MEAN I HATE IT. - Alternatively, if you love Hazbin unconditionally or disagree with me on these things: great! Like what you like as long as everything’s safe, which it is. Stuff is problematic but hey so is everything look at the stuff I like. Also, if you’re one of those people who unironically says “if you like HH than I’m blocking you teehee unfollow me”, you fittingly have a very special seat in hell set up for you. Don’t threaten my friends cause you don’t like something they like. =)

[acrobaticcatfeline]

Unstable (A Fe Sides Fic)

Word Count: 2171

TW: It’s another vent fic babyyy swearing, yelling, insults, threats (sort of), an excess of anxiety, there’s an intrusive thought from one of them about jumping off of a building but its one line that she gets scolded for. I think that’s it but if there’s more let me know!

Notes: I had a really rough week last week and now that I’m done with school I have time to write fun things again and I needed a vent. It also is part of rebuilding my personal mind palace! I plan on making more with these guys, they are really easy to write honestly, it was like an out of body experience.

Pairings: Lol nope, not even a little bit no.

Summary: The mind palace was usually quiet. The facets did not all get along, and everyone is high strung during Quaranfinals. Someone needs to step in and get this train moving again.

The mind palace was usually rather quiet. All facets left each other alone for the most part, hoping to stay functional and avoid unnecessary fusions but the last few weeks had been out of the norm. Inge was high strung as ever and was snapping at the smallest inconveniences and that wasn’t even addressing the others.

“Listen here you unstable mother fucker! We don't have time for your whiny depressed bullshit right now! She has two huge finals and your fucking cahoots with Barbie is the opposite of helpful! She needs to WORK and you guys are actively working against that! Don't either of you care about her future?!”

“How about you shut your trap for 5 seconds and drop your high and mighty act? The only reason me and Izzy have been working against you is because you have been failing at your job ever since this quarantine started. If you actually did your fucking job maybe me and Iz wouldn’t be falling down a hole ourselves. For someone who needs to have so much control all the time it's surprising how little you’re ever able to keep. You act like you're the ringleader around here when it's obviously Izzy and Lia. I may not like Lia but at least she can work with me. You on the other hand-”

Lia and Isadora were nervous. They were onlookers in the argument and couldn't get a word in edgewise to stop them. Izzy was trying to hide in her Roman Sanders sweater and Lia was hidden in her hoodie that was too big on her, biting her thumb as her eyes darted everywhere but the fight. In the real world Fe was closing her laptop with a sigh, desperate to go and take a nap. She looked quickly to Izzy with all she had to say, communicated in the glance. Suddenly the palace shook and Inge snapped her head at Lia who was very interested at her chewed up Crocs and not the anger filled gazes directed at her.

“LIA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“She's too stressed. If you keep at this you're gonna wake up T and that wont help you in getting her to do her work. If T gets up right now she's gonna fail and we all know it. Let Izzy calm her down for a bit. See, she's only taking a half an hour long nap, like her dad told her to. We all just need to chill for a bit.”

Lia was scratching at her face and Inge finally let the anger and annoyance leave her. She gently swatted at Lia’s hand, placing a quickly conjured sheet of bubble wrap in it. Lia smiled at the floor, still not meeting her eyes, vaguely worried at the signs of T waking up, hoping beyond hope that she was just still channeling the hyperactivity that Fe was plagued with. Izzy was meanwhile glassy eyed, placing herself on the floor blindly, waving her hands about in a way that all three recognized as her weaving a dream. It was wonderful to watch, extremely relaxing to see her go off on an adventure of her own design. It was almost meditative to watch her methodical movements, the simple twists of her wrists as she moved the story along. Lia busied herself with popping the bubbles, as Carli and Inge both left to busy themselves in their own wings of the palace. Lia sat across from Isadora, glancing up at her every once in a while. She muttered quietly to herself and maybe Izzy as well.

“She's waking up. I don't know what we’re gonna do, we really gotta get Fe through this last week, but Isa will stop us, I know she will, but how are we supposed to still get things done”

“We’ll figure it out”

Lia’s head snapped up at Izzy whose eyes were still unseeing as she spoke.

“Talisa works with us. We just need to convince her to use her strengths to support us in this. I know she can. Besides, dreams are so much more fun with her around. Who knows, maybe daydream mode will help her write her essay”

Lia smiled softly as she felt comfortable enough to look Izzy in the eyes that couldn't see her. She nodded and went back to her bubble wrap, far more content with the slow draining of anxiety from her body. At least until the palace shook again.

“AAAAAH!!! Well what a wonderful time to be alive eh? Heh, that's a joke, gods, she's asleep and she's still exuding panic like no one's business!”

Out of a darkened corridor walks Talisa in all her glory and self deprecation. There was yet another shake as Fe awoke. Isadora’s eyes cleared in an instant as she rose to her feet.

“Oh boy, Pops woke her up? Ooooh that's not great. I'm sure she's gonna be off all day huh Iz? Oh that's just fuel for this, gosh what have I missed?”

“Quarantine you lucky bitch”

Izzy walks to her with a cocky grin and does a simple handshake with the crazy eyed side. Talisa’s eyes glance around the room. She grins wider, scratching at her scalp.

“All this panic and mania and I wasn't invited? I feel like I should be insulted!”

Lia rose as well, abandoning the bubble wrap as the need to stim left her, and walked over. She smiled small and avoided her face.

“She's got homework. Its, it's all homework now, everything's homework. I haven't been helpful much, but I knew you would probably make it all harder for her, I've been enough of a hindrance for her, I imagined she probably wouldn't do well being overly mentally compromised AND lazy as all get out”

“Oh Lia! I'm wounded! I'm not all bad! Plus-”

There was a sudden shift of the palace again as Fe sat down and started furiously writing her essay, anxiety as her fuel, aided by a giant cup of soda from the gas station.

“A little blood pumping’s good for the brain, ain't it? She just needs a little push! Maybe off of a building eh? Sounds like a ball!”

“Yo, you've been up for less than 5 minutes, stop with that shit, give her a week maybe? So we can properly talk her down?”

“Oh fine, I guess my premium service can wait to activate!”

Her hands moved from her scalp to her arms, scratching without conviction. Isadora softly took her hand off, stopping the scratching and handing her a fidget cube to replace the destructive stim.

“Ohhhh! This is neato mojito Dora!!! Where'd you think this un up? It's pretty! It's my colors too! Ain't that sweeter than molasses! Why I've been so rude, how've you been doing Dora? And you Lia?”

The two smiled. They genuinely liked her, she was nice to be around, while she had her problems, she didn't get mean and angry like Inge and Carli do. She was just… manic. A little odd, maybe crazy, but she wasn’t mean. She didn't yell, and it calmed the two. And they got along well anyways, Lia because she often was a placeholder for her when Fe wasn’t extra out of it and knew how to deal with her quirks, and Dora because divergence fed her like nothing else, made her imagination run wild.

“Whoo! Well ladies, looks like I've got my work cut out for me eh? She invited that boy over last week and that was the first time she saw him in weeks? Oh and her other school friend left her group chat? Yikes, she's a right mess!”

“Yup. she… hasn't been adjusting well to all of this well”

“I’ll say!”

Talisa fidgeted absently with the cube in her hand as she walked around the palace commons, looking around at the scenery. The walls, usually a light lavender were dark violet and the paint was peeling in spots, revealing a gooey black underside. The TV was stuck on a looping image of the most recent Sanders Sides episode. She grinned wide enough to look uncanny, bending her back to crack her spine, almost splitting in half and did a spin as she rose again. She interlocked her fingers and cracked the lot of them and twisted her neck to pop that as well. 

“What are you about to do?”

“Why, what I do best dear Lia!”

She jumped in the air snapping her fingers twice. Her appearance changed, her extraordinarily unruly hair was tied back in a ponytail, tucked through the hole in the back of her baseball cap with the Slytherin logo across the front of it. Her shirt that had been well worn from being worried between her fingers as well as used as pajamas, changed to a tangent hoodie, her shorts with frayed strings switched to a flower patterned pair of leggings, and a skateboard appeared under her feet. She spun around on the board with her wild smile never leaving her face.

“WE’RE ON THE HIGHWAY TO HYPERFOCUS BABES!!! And a little smidge of depression but hey it’ll add to its effectiveness”

It was then that Inge and Carli came running and screamed simultaneously.

“LIA YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP HER ASLEEP!!!”

“Couldn't you for once just do something that was helpful for Fe?”

Talisa stopped in mid spin, turning slowly to look at Carli and Inge. She was no longer smiling. She was glaring and she stepped off of her board and took slow methodical steps towards the two.

“Now now girls, there's no need to scream!”

She was completely in Inge’s face when she said her next words.

“Isn't that right brainiac?”

Inge nodded instantly, fear filling her instantly. Talisa then turned to Carli and grabbed her by the collar of her dress. She glared hard into her eyes and began to grin as Carli’s eyes filled with panic and she avoided her gaze.

“And just for your information, Lia is more helpful than you could ever hope to be, you coward. For someone whose supposed to be confidence you’d think you might be able to share some of that with our host instead of sitting in your room at 3 in the morning and crying into Ramen over the fact that she still isn't in a relationship”

She released Carli, who fell to the ground and scrambled as far away from her as possible and sobbed quietly in the corner she curled up in. and then a moment later, her entire demeanor changed and she smiled happily.

“Oh hi there gals! I was just starting to get Fe to get working!”

Inge blinked owlishly. Her head tilted, as if the whole interaction before held no merit over what Talisa had just said.

“What? But I thought?”

She walked to the TV screen, changing the screen to be a first person view of Fe working away on her essay. Inge made a noise of confusion as she looked back at Talisa yet again.

“But, but you’re a hindrance! You, you make her life a living hell, how is she still doing her work?”

“You know what I do right? Like, you know what my job is? Come on pinky and the pain, I do ADHD yeah, but I also do anxiety and depression. If she doesn't get this stuff done she’ll fail, doncha think that'd drive her to be anxious enough to get it done? If she doesn't she’ll be depressed as all hell, there's no chance she can do law school if she can't even pass an English course. And the bonus of ADHD is that sticky hyperfocus! She’ll be done with that essay before Thursday, and that test for math?”

The palace shook again as the TV showed her turning in her math test. Talisa grinned.

“I’d say it was a walk in the park, wouldn't you? But you know, on an unrelated note, we should really fix that shaking affect, makes me dizzy”

Inge stared in shock and Carli did the same. Talisa stuffed her hands into her front pocket on her jacket and went over to the beanbag across from the TV and plopped down onto it. She pulled her right hand out and chewed on her thumb as she watched the screen. Her job was done for the moment so she let herself relax as she felt the others do the same. Inge rushed back to her room to help aid Fe with the memories needed for writing her essay, but the others placed themselves somewhere in the common room. Carli sat on her love seat and watched the screen intently. Izzy fell asleep quickly, not being needed for the moment, same for Lia, the both of them curling up with Talisa. She let her left hand leave her pocket to pat Lia's head. The only noise was coming from the soft snoring of the sleeping sides and the TV projecting the real world. Finally, finally, the mind palace was quiet again.

Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @tacohippy56900 @analogical-mess @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @angels-and-dreams @fandomloverangel

Let me know if you want to be tagged in my writing or taken off my list!

Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

He Gave Himself For Our Sins

by Martin Luther

Paul sticks to his theme. He never loses sight of the purpose of his epistle. He does not say, "Who received our works," but "who gave." Gave what? Not gold, or silver, or paschal lambs, or an angel, but Himself. What for? Not for a crown, or a kingdom, or our goodness, but for our sins. These words are like so many thunderclaps of protest from heaven against every kind and type of self-merit. Underscore these words, for they are full of comfort for sore consciences.

How may we obtain remission of our sins? Paul answers: "The man who is named Jesus Christ and the Son of God gave himself for our sins." The heavy artillery of these words explodes papacy, works, merits, superstitions. For if our sins could be removed by our own efforts, what need was there for the Son of God to be given for them? Since Christ was given for our sins it stands to reason that they cannot be put away by our own efforts.

This sentence also defines our sins as great, so great, in fact, that the whole world could not make amends for a single sin. The greatness of the ransom, Christ, the Son of God, indicates this. The vicious character of sin is brought out by the words "who gave himself for our sins." So vicious is sin that only the sacrifice of Christ could atone for sin. When we reflect that the one little word "sin" embraces the whole kingdom of Satan, and that it includes everything that is horrible, we have reason to tremble. But we are careless. We make light of sin. We think that by some little work or merit we can dismiss sin.

This passage, then, bears out the fact that all men are sold under sin. Sin is an exacting despot who can be vanquished by no created power, but by the sovereign power of Jesus Christ alone.

All this is of wonderful comfort to a conscience troubled by the enormity of sin. Sin cannot harm those who believe in Christ, because He has overcome sin by His death. Armed with this conviction, we are enlightened and may pass judgment upon the papists, monks, nuns, priests, Mohammedans, Anabaptists, and all who trust in their own merits, as wicked and destructive sects that rob God and Christ of the honor that belongs to them alone.

Note especially the pronoun "our" and its significance. You will readily grant that Christ gave Himself for the sins of Peter, Paul, and others who were worthy of such grace. But feeling low, you find it hard to believe that Christ gave Himself for your sins. Our feelings shy at a personal application of the pronoun "our," and we refuse to have anything to do with God until we have made ourselves worthy by good deeds.

This attitude springs from a false conception of sin, the conception that sin is a small matter, easily taken care of by good works; that we must present ourselves unto 18God with a good conscience; that we must feel no sin before we may feel that Christ was given for our sins.

This attitude is universal and particularly developed in those who consider themselves better than others. Such readily confess that they are frequent sinners, but they regard their sins as of no such importance that they cannot easily be dissolved by some good action, or that they may not appear before the tribunal of Christ and demand the reward of eternal life for their righteousness. Meantime they pretend great humility and acknowledge a certain degree of sinfulness for which they soulfully join in the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But the real significance and comfort of the words "for our sins" is lost upon them.

The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul "who gave himself for our sins" as true and efficacious. We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mountainous sins; not for one or two, but for all; not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained.

Practice this knowledge and fortify yourself against despair, particularly in the last hour, when the memory of past sins assails the conscience. Say with confidence: "Christ, the Son of God, was given not for the righteous, but for sinners. If I had no sin I should not need Christ. No, Satan, you cannot delude me into thinking I am holy. The truth is, I am all sin. My sins are not imaginary transgressions, but sins against the first table, unbelief, doubt, despair, contempt, hatred, ignorance of God, ingratitude towards Him, misuse of His name, neglect of His Word, etc.; and sins against the second table, dishonor of parents, disobedience of government, coveting of another's possessions, etc. Granted that I have not committed murder, adultery, theft, and similar sins in deed, nevertheless 19I have committed them in the heart, and therefore I am a transgressor of all the commandments of God.

"Because my transgressions are multiplied and my own efforts at self-justification rather a hindrance than a furtherance, therefore Christ the Son of God gave Himself into death for my sins." To believe this is to have eternal life.

Let us equip ourselves against the accusations of Satan with this and similar passages of Holy Scripture. If he says, "Thou shalt be damned", you tell him: "No, for I fly to Christ who gave Himself for my sins. In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God's fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure." With such heavenly cunning we are to meet the devil's craft and put from us the memory of sin.

St. Paul also presents a true picture of Christ as the virgin-born Son of God, delivered into death for our sins. To entertain a true conception of Christ is important, for the devil describes Christ as an exacting and cruel judge who condemns and punishes men. Tell him that his definition of Christ is wrong, that Christ has given Himself for our sins, that by His sacrifice He has taken away the sins of the whole world.

Make ample use of this pronoun "our." Be assured that Christ has canceled the sins, not of certain persons only, but your sins. Do not permit yourself to be robbed of this lovely conception of Christ. Christ is no Moses, no law-giver, no tyrant, but the Mediator for sins, the Giver of grace and life.

We know this. Yet in the actual conflict with the devil, when he scares us with the Law, when he frightens us with the very person of the Mediator, when he misquotes the words of Christ, and distorts for us our Savior, we so easily lose sight of our sweet High-Priest.

For this reason I am so anxious for you to gain a true picture of Christ out of the words of Paul "who gave himself for our sins." Obviously, Christ is no judge to condemn us, for He gave Himself for our sins. He does not trample the fallen but raises them. He comforts the broken-hearted. Otherwise Paul should lie when he writes "who gave himself for our sins."

I do not bother my head with speculations about the nature of God. I simply attach myself to the human Christ, and I find joy and peace, and the wisdom of God in Him. These are not new truths. I am repeating what the apostles and all teachers of God have taught long ago. Would to God we could impregnate our hearts with these truths.

[tk-duveraun]

The Tower (Inverted) 16/?

Inquisition fic: Ancient Elf AU

Parts: 1 - 13 14 15

Vellum and fabric samples covered Josephine’s desk. Kirtida had a pile of buttons and buckles in her lap. Her mind whirled with technical terms for different stitches and cuts. It was only early afternoon, but Kir felt as frazzled as her hair. She would have slumped against the desk in defeat if Aquila had been sitting next to her as a warm beacon of calm energy.

“Lady Meshurok,” Josephine said, “I’ve reinstalled the mirrors in the baths. Has Miss Tine, ah, settled enough that they will not be a problem?”

Aquila laughed and pushed away from the design she was modifying. “That’ll be a few years, at least, I’m afraid. But Juniper and I rigged a bath for her in that drafty tower of theirs. Your mirrors are safe.”

“Given the particular nature of her reaction, I must recommend against bringing her to the Winter Palace. The late Emperor was rather fond of his own reflection and I believe the Empress has not redecorated the salient areas.”

“I like her, but the mirrors would be the least of our concerns if I took Cakara. I made a deal with George,” Kirtida ignored Josephine’s flinch, “so I have to bring Vasili, but the two of them together would cause a scene. Which could be a nice distraction, if it was controllable, but they’re really not.”

“I always wondered what would happen when she realized there was no one on Amorgos with the same raw, chaotic energy she has. It should have occurred to me she’d just leave.” Aquila added a final line to her drawing and then flipped it around for Josephine. “Make these changes and the uniform is acceptable.”

Josephine lifted the vellum, but lowered it after a glance. “Lady Meshurok-”

“This isn’t negotiable.”

“These designs are Dalish-”

“And so is Kirtida. Is she the Inquisitor or is she your puppet?”

Kir pulled the design to herself while they argued. The plain sashes had been replaced with bands of braided leaves. The intricacy might have been an issue on their schedule, but that wasn’t what Josephine had a problem with. While she never would have suggested it herself, Kir loved the design and would hug Aquila fiercely once they left.

“The nobles will-”

“Fuck the nobles, Ambassador. Servants out-number them five to one in the royal palace. And them? Elves, all. All we need from the nobles is siege engines and I’m willing to bet Juniper and I could tear down the walls ourselves if we had to. We’re going to stop the assassination of the shem Empress and garner support. None of you in your fancy clothes like it when Sera talks, but she’s right. The support comes from the people and the people want to see an elf that doesn’t kneel.”

Josephine lowered her pen and turned to Kir. “Inquisitor?”

“Aquila’s right.” Bolstered by her own rebellion, Kir sat up straighter. “And I won’t wear shoes. You can have the tailor make some fancy bracers, but I’m not going to wear boots.”

“I will… inform the tailors.” She made a note. “One last thing. What are the… cultural limitations on your headscarf? It will be a challenge to make it work with the uniforms.”

“It’s not cultural.” Kir pulled off her scarf and shook out her hair. She needn’t have bothered; the moment it was free of the fabric, it poofed out in a great, black cloud. “It takes ages to treat it properly and my magic always makes it… like this.” She gave Josephine a little smile. “You can do whatever you’d like with it for the Winter Palace.”

A light sparked in her eyes, so Kir took that to mean she was forgiven. “I’ll choose an appropriate style for the venue. With a mask as a hindrance, we have many options.” She reached across her desk and fingered a few strands of Kir’s hair. “Yes, a very similar texture to my own. I imagine your magic would upset it. Do not worry; I know just how to handle this.”

Josephine slipped into her chair and pulled a fresh sheet of vellum onto her writing board. She wasn’t so undisciplined as to mumble to herself as she sketched, but the words may as well have shot out of her ears like steam. Kir glanced at Aquila, who smiled, winked and mouthed ‘well done.’

She’d already sketched three styles before remembering that Kir and Aquila were still there. “Ah, yes, that was all, Lady Lavellan. Unless you have anything..?”

Kir stood. “No, that was all. I’ll see you at the next war council.”

“Indeed. I will have a few options for you to choose from at that time.”

Once she was behind a closed door, Kir let the giggles escape and pulled Aquila into a tight hug. “Thank you.”

“Of course, dear one. It’s long past time Juniper and I did something about the oppression of our people. We hid away on Amorgos for too long.”

1-14 - 15 16 17

[jpaulfontan]

Pressing Toward the Goal

Oh YES! You gotta run the race….. Fight the fight… Keep the faith and I know it’ll be alright!

Pressing Toward the Goal

This will be our 4th and final lesson under the general heading of Paul In Prison. We’ll be drawing Scripture from the 3rdChapter of the Book of Philippians.

I wonder? Have you ever paused to contemplate just exactly what the Christian life really is? I mean, how is the Christian’s outlook on life different from the worlds’? At some point in their walk with Jesus, every Christian will probably ask themselves these basic questions. Paul understood how the gospel transforms a persons’ life. In this letter to the Philippians, Paul discusses the contrast between a Christian’s worldview verses that of a person who doesn’t know Christ. We have a different mind-set toward our pasts.

We have different motivations and goals for the future as well.

Because of our relationship with the risen Jesus, we have that certain confidence that we’ll experience one day the promise of the resurrection.

Not only do we know in our very hearts that there will be a resurrection, we know that the event will be the one that Jesus raises us up to be with Him…..forever! The apostle Paul described life in Christ as running a race in which we press on toward the goal of fully knowing Jesus as we hope in the final victory of our glorified bodies. Our perseverance in the race reminds us of Jesus and His endurance of the cross, which provided forgiveness of our sins and salvation.

Paul was born into the tribe of Benjamin.

He had grown up learning the Law of Moses from Gamaliel who was one of the most renowned teachers of his day.

He was a Pharisee, considered himself a righteous man, and whole-heartedly persecuted the early church considering it to be blasphemous. That all changed for him on the road to Damascus.

Where he had once persecuted the church, after his conversion, for the rest of his life, he, himself was persecuted by those he was once comrades with. Before his conversion, his confidence was in himself and in the Law of Moses; but now he trusted in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

Now, how is such a transformation possible? The gospel!

Section 1 of our lesson today is entitled: Run the Race Without Hindrances

The Scripture is: Philippians 3:7-11;

But everything that was gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ— the righteousness from God based on faith.

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. As I said earlier, Paul described life as a Christian as someone who is running a race.

The runners need a focused outlook; therefore, they must lay aside everything that slows them down or hinders them.

So what slows down or hinders a Christian? Well, mainly sin and distractions.

In our last lesson, I identified sin as a spiritual power. But let’s look at the subject of sin a little closer, shall we?

Sin traps people, both believers and non-believers alike.

It holds sinners in a cycle of guilt and shame.

It weighs down a person who wants to obey the Lord. It saps the believers’ energy and destroys the motivation to “run the race,” or, to live with the power of endurance for the remainder of his days .

We just can’t run the race of a Christian life and hold on to the weights of sin. Then, there’s “distractions.”

The main hindrance in this passage of Scripture is that of distractions, even good things that could keep our eyes off of Jesus.

Paul recognized that all his religious background and credentials as a Jew and specifically a Pharisee ultimately were worthless when compared to the value of knowing Jesus.

Paul had a pedigree. He was proud of the facts that he had been born into the tribe of Benjamin, that he’d been circumcised on the 8th day, (just as the law prescribed), of the reputation he had among his peers, and of the wealth of knowledge and wisdom he’d attained from one of the most prominent teachers of his day. These were his riches.

And these were things that he gladly set aside in his pursuit of Christ.

As Christians today, we should always be aware of the things we’ve been blessed with and take care that none of them distract us from the prize we ultimately want to possess;

Life eternal with our Lord!

Can’t we more easily lay aside our hindrances when we understand the all-surpassing value of knowing Jesus and His righteousness?

There is nothing in our own merit or good work that can cause us to inherit eternal life.

Our only hope is the righteousness of Jesus that we’ve been given because of our faith in Christ.

Paul taught that religion, regulations, and rituals wouldn’t do any good in making us right before God.

He taught that righteousness is a gift from God by His grace through faith in Jesus.

That righteousness is not something we can earn ourselves.

This is just so important to understand.

Christians don’t work for salvation, but instead we work out our salvation to make Christ more evident in our lives.

We do this by not looking at the Christ-less world but by fixing our eyes on Christ Himself!

As Christians, we aren’t shackled by guilt and shame because we’re free from our sin in Christ.

We know we can’t earn God’s righteousness and we know we can’t lose it.

Our salvation, which is by God’s grace alone, through our faith alone shows us we’re loved unconditionally by our God….. the Creator of everything…. the Master of everything…. and the only one who has the power to give us a future that we simply cannot completely comprehend… …..yet!

Part two of our lesson today is: Run the Race, Pressing Forward Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-14;

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brother and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do; Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

The Christian life is one of discipline and striving toward a goal.

It is not easy and it requires effort.

It’s like the athletic imagery Paul uses in this passage of Scripture.

We can’t coast through this race but must pursue the prize.

Yet we do so because the prize has already been won for us.

Jesus ran the perfect race all the way to the finish line to assure us that our goal would be waiting for us.

So we can forget the past, with all of its failures and heartaches, and press forward in forgiveness with confidence, knowing what we’re aiming for.

As much as Paul had already accomplished for the Kingdom of God, he never gave any indication that he thought he’d completed his race.

Just as Paul, we must understand that our Christian life starts and ends with humility and repentance.

It’s error for a Christian to consider themselves……saved.

We’re on the path to salvation.

None of us can or will ever reach the highest point of Christian maturity.

We can’t coast.

The Great Commission still stands.

We are to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone who God puts in our paths.

And, we’re to be sensitive to His promptings.

(That’s one I’m still working on…. and probably will be to the end of my days.)

Whether we considered our lives before coming to Christ as good or bad, dwelling on those memories can become distractions.

I can tell you from personal experience, dwelling on the memories of my life before becoming a Christian, or even on the mistakes I’ve made since then, can definitely become distractions. Memories of our past can cloud our vision of what God has in store for us based on the teaching of His Word and the leading of the Spirit.

Focusing on our past before Christ could sidetrack us with guilt, shame, and embarrassment.

And, at the same time, we could even let a wrong focus on the future, (aside from Christ), fill us with anxiety, fear, or confusion.

But when we look upward to Christ, we’re encouraged onward in hope and joy.

We’ve talked about sanctification before, but I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to point out something Scripture says about it.

As believers, we’re already sanctified.

But it’s also an ongoing process.

It affects the whole person; it transforms our hearts, our minds, and our character to reflect the image of Jesus. So Paul writes in Philippians that he runs this race to gain the prize.

But what is the prize?

Seems silly to ask the question, doesn’t it?

Yet, it’s a question whose answer we should all be in agreement on.

He said he counted everything he was and everything he had before as loss so that he might gain Christ.

He also plainly tells us that he wanted to experience the resurrection of the dead unto eternal life.

I’m with him…..what he said!

Gaining Christ is gaining His resurrection and it’s gaining every other promise too.

Now look, the power to run and persevere in this race can’t come from us, but from God.

It’s the power of God in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit that makes possible our salvation and sanctification.

It strengthens all of us for the ministry of the gospel.

It was God’s grace that started us on this race.

It’s God’s grace that sustains us as we run it.

It’s His forgiveness that allows us to forget what’s behind and press on toward the prize.

It’s the prize of resurrection and eternal life for believers that drives us forward.

So, what are some ways a Christian can run this race?

I mean, what are some tangible ways we can actually live Christian lives? Well, to start with, Jesus has forgiven us for the sins of our past.

Certainly, we can find it in our hearts to also forgive others who have done things against us.

We can be compassionate toward others; to give to or serve those around us.

We can give a helping hand to those less fortunate than us.

We can help re-supply those who’ve suffered loss to storms, fires, floods and the like.

We can serve our local church.

We can proclaim the gospel to unbelievers.

We can pray for God to show us the sin in our lives.

And, we can pray for His direction and for the strength to obey Him.

The last section of today’s lesson is entitled:

Run the Race With Victory In Mind

Philippians 3:15-21;

Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way.

And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.

For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things,

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything

to himself.

With the Christian life comes the expectation to grow into maturity.

We are to ever strive to not only ferret out hidden sins we may not even be aware of, but to continue to grow spiritually.

Just as the Hebrew peoples used the Law of Moses as a sort of checklist to ensure their obedience to the Lord, we’re to open our Bibles and learn about the Lord and about the things the various authors of the New Testament, who wrote under His divine inspiration,

teach us about how we are to live.

As Christians, we should be striving to see everything in the light of Jesus Christ and the work He did on the cross.

When we’re focused on the temporary things of this world, we reveal our immaturity, and, possibly, our unbelief.

On the other hand, the maturity and health of a believer is revealed by a mind that’s focused on eternal things like the coming of our Savior and the resurrection He’ll bring.

In verse 9 Paul warns the Philippians not to stray toward false teachings that directed their focus and energies on earthly things.

Running this race means that we must have the proper mind-set.

This doesn’t mean we are to ignore or forsake life on this earth.

I knew a woman once who’s husband plainly told her that she was so heavenly minded that she was no earthly good. We’re to live in this world, but not be “of it.”

What we are to do is to take all the joys of the world God created and live in a manner worthy of our Creator. How?

You’re doing it right now in studying this lesson with me. And you’re doing it when you pray;

When you read God’s word;

When you serve others;

When you go to church; When you serve your church;

When you seek out more mature Christians and imitate them; When you set the example for the younger people in your church;

And there’s a myriad of other things that are right and good.

All living Christians are in the process of salvation.

We’re justified by our faith in Jesus.

God sanctifies us by filling us with His Holy Spirit;

And that cleansing power of His Spirit is an ongoing process where we notice that more and more as time goes by we gain the power to resist sin and the ability to obey His Word more and more.

And then, there’s “Glorification!” Glorification is the finish line for the Christian runner.

Glorification refers to the future time when a Christian reaches moral and spiritual perfection at the time of Christ’s return.

Glorification also involves the physical perfection that we will have once our bodies have been resurrected.

When we’re glorified, we will have a fuller knowledge and understanding of God and of His Word.

Living with the future resurrection in view impacts our present-day lifestyle.

Those who ignore the future coming of Christ fail to recognize their coming destruction in hell and so continue unabated in their sin.

Believers who live with their minds set on the 2nd coming have a vision of their future resurrection in Christ, which motivates their pursuit of that promise.

In Christ, the victory has been won, so we can run the race with confidence in our completion.

Enemies of the cross of Christ live an idolatrous, shameful lifestyle and live for earthly things rather than those that are eternal.

They love the things that God hates and hate the things that God loves.

They don’t know God and are in danger of losing the most precious thing a human being could ever hope for. It won’t be pretty for them come judgment day. Paul made it abundantly clear to the church in Philippi.

He let them know he, himself was still striving for the goal of perfection, but that he’d not yet arrived.

He wasn’t being conceded, boastful, or egotistical about his walk with the Lord when he encouraged them to imitate him.

But, still, he did recognize that his life was a good example of what it means to follow Christ because he aimed to imitate Christ Himself.

As Christians who are maturing in the faith, each of us ought to be able to say the same thing. Let’s pray…

[mycorinth]

Pressing Toward the Goal

Oh YES! You gotta run the race….. Fight the fight… Keep the faith and I know it’ll be alright!

Pressing Toward the Goal

This will be our 4th and final lesson under the general heading of Paul In Prison. We’ll be drawing Scripture from the 3rdChapter of the Book of Philippians.

I wonder? Have you ever paused to contemplate just exactly what the Christian life really is? I mean, how is the Christian’s outlook on life different from the worlds’? At some point in their walk with Jesus, every Christian will probably ask themselves these basic questions. Paul understood how the gospel transforms a persons’ life. In this letter to the Philippians, Paul discusses the contrast between a Christian’s worldview verses that of a person who doesn’t know Christ. We have a different mind-set toward our pasts.

We have different motivations and goals for the future as well.

Because of our relationship with the risen Jesus, we have that certain confidence that we’ll experience one day the promise of the resurrection.

Not only do we know in our very hearts that there will be a resurrection, we know that the event will be the one that Jesus raises us up to be with Him…..forever! The apostle Paul described life in Christ as running a race in which we press on toward the goal of fully knowing Jesus as we hope in the final victory of our glorified bodies. Our perseverance in the race reminds us of Jesus and His endurance of the cross, which provided forgiveness of our sins and salvation.

Paul was born into the tribe of Benjamin.

He had grown up learning the Law of Moses from Gamaliel who was one of the most renowned teachers of his day.

He was a Pharisee, considered himself a righteous man, and whole-heatedly persecuted the early church considering it to be blasphemous. That all changed for him on the road to Damascus.

Where he had once persecuted the church, after his conversion, for the rest of his life, he, himself was persecuted by those he was once comrades with. Before his conversion, his confidence was in himself and in the Law of Moses; but now he trusted in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

Now, how is such a transformation possible? The gospel!

Section 1 of our lesson today is entitled: Run the Race Without Hindrances

The Scripture is: Philippians 3:7-11;

But everything that was gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ— the righteousness from God based on faith.

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. As I said earlier, Paul described life as a Christian as someone who is running a race.

The runners need a focused outlook; therefore, they must lay aside everything that slows them down or hinders them.

So what slows down or hinders a Christian? Well, mainly sin and distractions.

In our last lesson, I identified sin as a spiritual power. But let’s look at the subject of sin a little closer, shall we?

Sin traps people, both believers and non-believers alike.

It holds sinners in a cycle of guilt and shame.

It weighs down a person who wants to obey the Lord. It saps the believers’ energy and destroys the motivation to “run the race,” or, to live with the power of endurance for the remainder of his days .

We just can’t run the race of a Christian life and hold on to the weights of sin. Then, there’s “distractions.”

The main hindrance in this passage of Scripture is that of distractions, even good things that could keep our eyes off of Jesus.

Paul recognized that all his religious background and credentials as a Jew and specifically a Pharisee ultimately were worthless when compared to the value of knowing Jesus.

Paul had a pedigree. He was proud of the facts that he had been born into the tribe of Benjamin, that he’d been circumcised on the 8th day, (just as the law prescribed), of the reputation he had among his peers, and of the wealth of knowledge and wisdom he’d attained from one of the most prominent teachers of his day. These were his riches.

And these were things that he gladly set aside in his pursuit of Christ.

As Christians today, we should always be aware of the things we’ve been blessed with and take care that none of them distract us from the prize we ultimately want to possess;

Life eternal with our Lord!

Can’t we more easily lay aside our hindrances when we understand the all-surpassing value of knowing Jesus and His righteousness?

There is nothing in our own merit or good work that can cause us to inherit eternal life.

Our only hope is the righteousness of Jesus that we’ve been given because of our faith in Christ.

Paul taught that religion, regulations, and rituals wouldn’t do any good in making us right before God.

He taught that righteousness is a gift from God by His grace through faith in Jesus.

That righteousness is not something we can earn ourselves.

This is just so important to understand.

Christians don’t work for salvation, but instead we work out our salvation to make Christ more evident in our lives.

We do this by not looking at the Christ-less world but by fixing our eyes on Christ Himself!

As Christians, we aren’t shackled by guilt and shame because we’re free from our sin in Christ.

We know we can’t earn God’s righteousness and we know we can’t lose it.

Our salvation, which is by God’s grace alone, through our faith alone shows us we’re loved unconditionally by our God….. the Creator of everything…. the Master of everything…. and the only one who has the power to give us a future that we simply cannot completely comprehend… …..yet!

Part two of our lesson today is: Run the Race, Pressing Forward Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-14;

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brother and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do; Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

The Christian life is one of discipline and striving toward a goal.

It is not easy and it requires effort.

It’s like the athletic imagery Paul uses in this passage of Scripture.

We can’t coast through this race but must pursue the prize.

Yet we do so because the prize has already been won for us.

Jesus ran the perfect race all the way to the finish line to assure us that our goal would be waiting for us.

So we can forget the past, with all of its failures and heartaches, and press forward in forgiveness with confidence, knowing what we’re aiming for.

As much as Paul had already accomplished for the Kingdom of God, he never gave any indication that he thought he’d completed his race.

Just as Paul, we must understand that our Christian life starts and ends with humility and repentance.

It’s error for a Christian to consider themselves……saved.

We’re on the path to salvation.

None of us can or will ever reach the highest point of Christian maturity.

We can’t coast.

The Great Commission still stands.

We are to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone who God puts in our paths.

And, we’re to be sensitive to His promptings.

(That’s one I’m still working on…. and probably will be to the end of my days.)

Whether we considered our lives before coming to Christ as good or bad, dwelling on those memories can become distractions.

I can tell you from personal experience, dwelling on the memories of my life before becoming a Christian, or even on the mistakes I’ve made since then, can definitely become distractions. Memories of our past can cloud our vision of what God has in store for us based on the teaching of His Word and the leading of the Spirit.

Focusing on our past before Christ could sidetrack us with guilt, shame, and embarrassment.

And, at the same time, we could even let a wrong focus on the future, (aside from Christ), fill us with anxiety, fear, or confusion.

But when we look upward to Christ, we’re encouraged onward in hope and joy.

We’ve talked about sanctification before, but I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to point out something Scripture says about it.

As believers, we’re already sanctified.

But it’s also an ongoing process.

It affects the whole person; it transforms our hearts, our minds, and our character to reflect the image of Jesus. So Paul writes in Philippians that he runs this race to gain the prize.

But what is the prize?

Seems silly to ask the question, doesn’t it?

Yet, it’s a question whose answer we should all be in agreement on.

He said he counted everything he was and everything he had before as loss so that he might gain Christ.

He also plainly tells us that he wanted to experience the resurrection of the dead unto eternal life.

I’m with him…..what he said!

Gaining Christ is gaining His resurrection and it’s gaining every other promise too.

Now look, the power to run and persevere in this race can’t come from us, but from God.

It’s the power of God in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit that makes possible our salvation and sanctification.

It strengthens all of us for the ministry of the gospel.

It was God’s grace that started us on this race.

It’s God’s grace that sustains us as we run it.

It’s His forgiveness that allows us to forget what’s behind and press on toward the prize.

It’s the prize of resurrection and eternal life for believers that drives us forward.

So, what are some ways a Christian can run this race?

I mean, what are some tangible ways we can actually live Christian lives? Well, to start with, Jesus has forgiven us for the sins of our past.

Certainly, we can find it in our hearts to also forgive others who have done things against us.

We can be compassionate toward others; to give to or serve those around us.

We can give a helping hand to those less fortunate than us.

We can help re-supply those who’ve suffered loss to storms, fires, floods and the like.

We can serve our local church.

We can proclaim the gospel to unbelievers.

We can pray for God to show us the sin in our lives.

And, we can pray for His direction and for the strength to obey Him.

The last section of today’s lesson is entitled:

Run the Race With Victory In Mind

Philippians 3:15-21;

Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way.

And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us.

For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things,

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything

to himself.

With the Christian life comes the expectation to grow into maturity.

We are to ever strive to not only ferret out hidden sins we may not even be aware of, but to continue to grow spiritually.

Just as the Hebrew peoples used the Law of Moses as a sort of checklist to ensure their obedience to the Lord, we’re to open our Bibles and learn about the Lord and about the things the various authors of the New Testament, who wrote under His divine inspiration,

teach us about how we are to live.

As Christians, we should be striving to see everything in the light of Jesus Christ and the work He did on the cross.

When we’re focused on the temporary things of this world, we reveal our immaturity, and, possibly, our unbelief.

On the other hand, the maturity and health of a believer is revealed by a mind that’s focused on eternal things like the coming of our Savior and the resurrection He’ll bring.

In verse 9 Paul warns the Philippians not to stray toward false teachings that directed their focus and energies on earthly things.

Running this race means that we must have the proper mind-set.

This doesn’t mean we are to ignore or forsake life on this earth.

I knew a woman once who’s husband plainly told her that she was so heavenly minded that she was no earthly good. We’re to live in this world, but not be “of it.”

What we are to do is to take all the joys of the world God created and live in a manner worthy of our Creator. How?

You’re doing it right now in studying this lesson with me. And you’re doing it when you pray;

When you read God’s word;

When you serve others;

When you go to church; When you serve your church;

When you seek out more mature Christians and imitate them; When you set the example for the younger people in your church;

And there’s a myriad of other things that are right and good.

All living Christians are in the process of salvation.

We’re justified by our faith in Jesus.

God sanctifies us by filling us with His Holy Spirit;

And that cleansing power of His Spirit is an ongoing process where we notice that more and more as time goes by we gain the power to resist sin and the ability to obey His Word more and more.

And then, there’s “Glorification!” Glorification is the finish line for the Christian runner.

Glorification refers to the future time when a Christian reaches moral and spiritual perfection at the time of Christ’s return.

Glorification also involves the physical perfection that we will have once our bodies have been resurrected.

When we’re glorified, we will have a fuller knowledge and understanding of God and of His Word.

Living with the future resurrection in view impacts our present-day lifestyle.

Those who ignore the future coming of Christ fail to recognize their coming destruction in hell and so continue unabated in their sin.

Believers who live with their minds set on the 2nd coming have a vision of their future resurrection in Christ, which motivates their pursuit of that promise.

In Christ, the victory has been won, so we can run the race with confidence in our completion.

Enemies of the cross of Christ live an idolatrous, shameful lifestyle and live for earthly things rather than those that are eternal.

They love the things that God hates and hate the things that God loves.

They don’t know God and are in danger of losing the most precious thing a human being could ever hope for. It won’t be pretty for them come judgment day. Paul made it abundantly clear to the church in Philippi.

He let them know he, himself was still striving for the goal of perfection, but that he’d not yet arrived.

He wasn’t being conceded, boastful, or egotistical about his walk with the Lord when he encouraged them to imitate him.

But, still, he did recognize that his life was a good example of what it means to follow Christ because he aimed to imitate Christ Himself.

As Christians who are maturing in the faith, each of us ought to be able to say the same thing.

[riverdamien]

Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns

Station 6: Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns

Then Pilate had  Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. “Hail, King of the Jews” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.” John 19:1-3.

------

WE SHAKE WITH JOY

“We shake with joy, we shake with grief.

What a time they have, these two

housed as they are in the same body.”

     We hear the cries of those who are homeless, sexually and physically abused; we hear the cries of the “dispossessed”, and their words penetrate our hearts: “The pain is so intense I do not want to live.”

     Let us pray:

     We sit smug in our apartments and homes, we have plenty to eat, clothes to wear, and we fail to see Jesus being scourged before our very eyes in the person in our doorways; we fail to listen to young men and women who cry out in their pain of hunger, loneliness, and pain of abuse; we flog you each time we fail to listen.

     O flogged and mocked Jesus let us acknowledge both the pain and the joy in our bodies, and work to bring joy for others out of that pain so that others may live. Amen.

 Patience

The mother of expectation is patience. The French author Simone Weil writes in her notebooks: “Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” Without patience our expectation degenerates into wishful thinking. Patience comes from the word patior, which means “to suffer.” The first thing that Jesus promises is suffering: “I tell you . . . you will be weeping and wailing . . . and you will be sorrowful.” But he calls these birth pains. And so, what seems a hindrance becomes a way; what seems an obstacle becomes a door; what seems a misfit becomes a cornerstone. Jesus changes our history from a random series of sad incidents and accidents into a constant opportunity for a change of heart. To wait patiently, therefore, means to allow our weeping and wailing to become the purifying preparation by which we are made ready to receive the joy that is promised to us. Fr. Henri Nouwen

--------------------------------

    We hear of the things people fast from in Lent--from food to sex, we make a big deal of how much we give up. We are so proud of ourselves.

    How about fasting from "impatience" and learn to be patient.  I have always been in a hurry, always trying to "accomplish success", such a fake way of living.

    We all want to be remembered, and that is fake as well, and so we push, shove, and not remember what our true journey is. We fail to remember that God loves us for who we are.

    When we are patent on our journey we learn to look at the sky, the ocean, the eyes of people, hear their voices, and walk with them in their pain. When we are patient we learn to live with our own pain and let God bring support.

    Elizbeth Gilbert reminds us that: "You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures."

    Patience allows us to walk the path of love for all of creation and see our true worth in God and service to our neighbor, to all creatures, and to our environment.

 The Word

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

—Mark 12:28-31

Reflect

Honest self-examination will not go on long without love—love of God and of one’s self. And love flourishes only in truth, truth not about ourselves only, but about ourselves and others. Here’s a scary question: how interested am I in those persons God gives me? How much care do I show for them? Interest and care bind others to us and us to them, as God wishes. They are the runway to love.

1. Give Thanks. I thank God for this day, for my life, for all I am and have, and for His Word.

2. Pray for Light. I ask the Father to let me see my day as the Holy Spirit sees it, and to show me what I need to see.

3. Find God. I look at my day in the light of the Spirit.

Had I good things to achieve, and did I get to them?

Am I deliberately breaking a law? Must I feel guilt at something done or left out?

Where do I see my spirit—trusting the Holy Spirit or anxiously focused on self?

4. Anything Wrong? I acknowledge boldly what I have done, repenting any failures.

I wonder whether I refuse to look directly at something I feel may be wrong.

I feel the sorrow of any wounded relationship.

I repent of any even partial infraction of a commandment.

5. What Now?

I look forward in hope.

What am I to do now? What do I have to avoid?

Prayer

I watch how You forgive, Lord Jesus, asking the Father to forgive and telling Him the reason to forgive: “They do not know what they are doing.” Was that as hard for You to say as it has at times been hard for me? I need Your compassion, Lord, when I try to figure out how they could have hurt me so hard and callous, a nail driven into my life. O Lord, was it just as hard for You? Amen.

--------

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw., DMin., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

[miggey29]

Fixing Humanity

“One of the most spiritual things you can do is embrace your humanity. Connect with those around you today. Say, "I love you", "I'm sorry", "I appreciate you", "I'm proud of you"...whatever you're feeling. Send random texts, write a cute note, embrace your truth and share it...cause a smile today for someone else...and give plenty of hugs.” ―Steve Maraboli.

People nowadays are so precious that when utter insulting words towards her/him, it will change their character as a human. This situation when there is an involvement of two people: one is the bully and one is the victim. The bully is the one who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable, the victim is the one who got harmed by the doings of the bully. 

Why bully do exist? Simple, bullies do exist because some people or someone broke their dignity as a human, their peaceful living, their dignity, their everything. Bully is the victim who got traumatized and tired of being bullied by someone else. Some of the bullies are just seeking for revenge and that is not the definition of humanity. Those who are both bullies and victims of bullying suffer the most serious effects of bullying and are at greater risk for mental and behavioral problems than those who are only bullied or who are only bullies.

I define humanity as attitudes and feelings of love and respect for human beings, and for animals too. However, this does not mean that a person should not be angry or upset with specific actions and behaviors of particular individuals. Losing one’s humanity occurs when love and respect for fellow humans is turned into hatred and grudge. Hatred and grudge are factors of the ending of someone's life. Killing people for the reason that you hate them or you don't like them is like a 7 feet underground pathetic reason to kill someone.

How to avoid this kind of happening? Simple, forgive, and forget. The easiest way to forgive is to love. As Steve Maraboli said, "There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love". Learn to love humanity and accept their imperfection. That's the definition of humanity, loving each other equally. “Without forgiveness and love, you will live with resentment, bitterness, malice, and strife which result in more pain. You can never love without forgiving. Forgiveness deepens your ability to love and frees you from pain.” ― Kemi Sogunle. 

According to google Humanity is the human race, which includes everyone on Earth. It's also a word for the qualities that make us human, such as the ability to love and have compassion, be creative, and not be a robot or alien. Google said that we are not a robot nor an alien for the reason that we have feelings, we have family, we are generous, we are human and that's the definition of humanity. If you want to build a wonderful world of humanity, then start it from yourself. "If you want to understand the quality of humanity in individuals take note of what he does for people who give nothing back in return for the favor they have offered. One of the most outstanding examples of extraordinary humanity in a human being has been portrayed beautifully by Mother Teresa... Humanity means caring for and helping others whenever and wherever possible. Humanity means helping others at times when they need that help the most, humanity means forgetting your selfish interests at times when others need your help"― Kemi Sogunle.

If ever we can fix the problem with humanity then how can we maintain humanity? how can we people to be good? It is possible to fix the world with ourselves? The questions that are possible to ask if you are talking about Humanity. So if you want to fix humanity then start it with yourself and be the human character that people can get inspiration to be a good human. However, it is really hard to inspire a person to do things well and be good to each one another. It is hard to inspire people for the reason of the word PRIDE. According to Google Pride is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired but for me, it is the hindrance of people who feel high on themselves which is not a characteristic of humanity. To build a peaceful living of humanity you must first be a good person starting from yourself.

Being a good person is not hard, but it doesn’t just happen. As much as anything else, you have to want to be a good person and make choices that correspond with your beliefs. No matter where you are in your life, you can choose to change. Here are the 15 simple traits of a truly good person. 

          1.They are honest in relationships.

Be a good good person and a partner. Being in a relationship is not easy because it's not about how luxurious things you give to your loved ones but it's about being honest in a relationship. A nice person may try to stay in a relationship for too long for the reason that he/she felt joy but once it fades she/he will leave immediately. But a truly good person will be honest in their relationship and move it forward when things are going well and end it when the time comes. Be honest about how you feel and stay loyal when you’ve committed. Be faithful to have a beautiful relationship.

          2.They compliment others when deserved.

Be a good person that people could want to be with. Good people understand that some people are deserved and need to be praised. Complimenting is not the only way to do it, but a sign that you can be excited about other people’s triumphs. A truly good person will compliment when deserved and offer constructive criticism when warranted.    

         3.They call their parents regularly.

Be a good person starting from your family. It's simple to be a child of your parents and obey their commands, but being respectful and grateful for your parents is a truly great thing. It’s easy to get too busy and let life get in your way, but truly good people find time to make sure they check in with mom and dad regularly.

       4.They are polite.

Good people are polite. They show respect and mind their manners. It’s not to be a showoff or to look better; they just truly respect individuals and want to treat them how they want to be treated.          

       5.They are kind to everyone.

Be a good person not just with the people that you know but also to the people that you encounter. A good person doesn’t have to like everyone, but they are at least kind. Whenever if one person is asking for your help then you immediately help them without any return or helping for no cost.

        6.They are generous with their belongings.

Be a good person that is not selfish. A truly good person is willing to be generous. A good person understands that the things we got and the money we got is not worth anything without people to share it with. Just be simply be open and generous to those less fortunate in a time of need.

       7.They remember their manners.

Be a good person not just today but also for other days. Whether it is making a way when somebody is walking that is older than you eat or opening the door when others walkthrough, proper manners are definitely not out of style. Truly good people understand the importance of their actions and always remember their manners.

       8.They think of others.

Be a good person with a good heart. It is easy to be selfish to be good or to do good that is best for yourself. Yet, truly good people consider others in their decisions. They understand that sometimes what's good for them is not good for the others. They don’t have to cater exclusively to others rather, they understand and take into consideration how their actions will affect others and are comfortable with the decision to move forward.

       9.They go the extra mile.

Be a good person by being goad oriented. A truly good person makes sure the task gets done and always goes the extra mile. Whether it’s staying to help clean up after an event or spending their own time ensuring things get done properly, a good person understands the importance of finishing what they start.

       10.They are kind to loved ones.

Be a good person with a good heart. Sometimes you can be great to others but treat the ones who love you the most the worst. A truly good person doesn’t take out their problems on their loved ones and is as pleasant at home as in the public eye.

      11.They smile.

Be a good person by just simply giving a smile or, and a truly good person is always smiling not just when things are going well but also through their ups and downs.A smile can light up a room

      12.They make the best out of every situation.

Be a good person that possess a attitude of being possitive.A truly good person will find and focus on the positives. That’s not to say they don’t take the negatives; rather, they find ways to improve and become better because of the bad things.In every situation, there are positives and negatives.

      13.They make friends easily.

Be a good person that could make rupport.People are drawn to them. By being positive and finding the best in others, they can make and keep friends easily.A truly good person is one who people want to be around.

      14.They don’t take things for granted.

Be a good person by being person that could understand that what they’ve done in the past doesn’t ensure results in the future.Being a truly good person is an ongoing pursuit

       15.They are consistent.

Be a good person by maintaining the good characteristic of a person, a truly good person will ensure they always put their best foot forward and treat every person and situation the same.

Being a good person isn’t hard, however, it does take a consistent approach. By using the traits above, you too can be a truly good person and also you can build a good characteristic of humanity.A first impression is a lasting impression.

That's the 15 examples of characteristics we need to apply in our self in order to build harmonious humanity. Don't lose hope in humanity nowadays because there is a saying that people can change, however, it's not simple as that but time will pass and bad people will be good just let's help one and another. Many people are so toxic nowadays for the reason that humanity isn't existing anymore. Some people are losing hope and some people are just finding a way to fix everyone's problem. It's not over until it is over. You can cheer people up by simply hugging them, asking them if their fine or if there any problems you want to share, that's what people need to do in order to maintain harmonious humanity. Be a good person and spread it to all people that you will encounter, if somebody makes mistakes to you just remember that you need to forgive and to forget: forgive their mistakes and just correction they're mistakes and forget their mistakes ad move on don't ever ever ever hold a grudge or hatred to one person because it will cause many many many many problems in your life and it will affect your daily life. No matter what happens be good to everyone because sooner or later they will realize the importance of being good to everyone and when that time comes, humanity will be fixed and all the hopes that are lost will return.

[the1997diaries]

The Guy who got the A in me...

FLASHBACK November 2, 2012

YFC Batch 28 - Undefeated

It was YFC Camp— a three-day camp that all will be about is knowing our Lord Jesus Christ— when I saw him, Kuya A. But at first, of course, I didn’t mind cos what I wanted the most and the reason why I join YFC is to know more about Him, my savior. And kuya A, he’s like the contrary of everything I dreamt of.  Naaah, don’t get me wrong, he got the looks, yes and the brains too, I guess but he’s not really that guy okay. He’s not that. But I don’t know why there’s a sudden movement in me that unknowingly caught my attention.

We arrived at the venue around 6 pm, that’s I guess the call time. We just have some random introducing of ourselves with our team leader, Kuya B and we ate dinner afterward. Then the moment of truth, the first talk started. The feels were legit and authentic. After the mind-blowing first talk, those people behind the camp played a song, entitled, Kung Ako Nalang Sana, without lights and with our eyes closed. It was mesmerizing. Who would have thought that Kung ako nalang sana can also be about Jesus? I was moved by my emotions. I cried. I didn’t expect that it will be sucha heartbreaking song. And that song became one of my favorites; I love the voice behind it. It captured me— almost all of me.

The morning of the following day, November 3, 2012. We were gathered in a room with no idea of what will happen. While waiting, this guy they call A—  yes the guy I was talking about— I call him kuya A. Together with kuya J, both of them rushed to the blackboard to face us and I can say that he’s a little bit shy based on his looks. They taught us worship songs, they taught us how to praise and even our batch dance craze. He’s cute when he sings and he can also play the guitar. He got sarcasm and made us all fell into his witty jokes. Did I mention that I just stared at him for like a minute that time? Yes, I did. Di lang ata minuto yon eh. Then there, I guess it all started.

By afternoon, I often see him around— or more likely I’m really always looking for him. You know that feeling when you know you’re starting to like a person, you feel like you always want them to see. And that feeling is like as if you’re on cloud nine. Haaaay only heaven knows. Baduuy uy.

The evening agenda was to choose a team— dance, sing or a comedy show. Through my interrogating skillz level 101 (hahahaha) and my guts, I was able to ask a lot of and (random) people of what team kuya A will be part of. By that, I knew kuya A will be the one who will mentor the singing team so I guess you now know what team I chose? And tbh right now while writing this one, I still feel the giddiness, the kilig, the never ending smiles and the same feeling I felt and I can’t help but think... How was he able to change my perception of my own dream guy? Paano ko naconvince yung mga kaibigan ko na singing yung piliin without the hint that I might like him? Why did I fell to someone who is totally different to me? Hmmmmm.... idk. It’s indescribable you know, di ko din alam kung ano nakain ko non at sobrang lakas ng loob ko. Shet naiiyak ako while writing this. 

Expectedly he taught us possible songs to sing for the E-Night where all of us must be participating. And you guys he never failed to make me smile all throughout that practice. We sing we dance, and (we laugh and that’s mandatory). I remember while rehearsing, there’s a sudden blackout and we all screamed out loud and turn into bursts afterward because of our own unexplainable expressions LOL. He called our team “Girls Direction” cos we’re going to sing that time some One Direction’s songs. After the given time for rehearsal, we ended up having just one song and we’re still not prepared for the performance. But he assured us that we’ll just be fine. And okay, I’m gonna say it… I’m gonna admit it. I’m sooooo kilig while he’s teaching us and when he looks at me. Okay. OMG!

After the entertainment night was our first ever praise fest where we sing worship songs to uplift and praise Christ. And with kuya A as our worship leader— I didn’t expect it to be him. That moment when he’s telling stories and the way he closes his eyes while singing. His sincerity, passion, and dedication in serving God are just amazingly superb about him— and I love it. And by that I know, yes this guy… is that guy... right at that moment... I knew it was something else. For the first time in forever, I felt the feeling of how it is to like a significant other. That affection that sees no perfection, no faults. Yet I’m also feeling guilty that time because, I’m supposed to be there because of my Savior but, I just found myself knowing Him and knowing that He also wants to teach me of loving with no limits, with no hesitations, to see no hindrance, to just love and appreciate.

Day 3, November 4, 2012. Our last day. We are all terribly exhausted: lack of sleep and the random emotions we had through talks. And the last talk started in the morning and ended at noon. There’s a part where all the old YFC’s were going to welcome us and will show us how to do the YFC handshake. I got so excited because I knew that kuya A will be holding my hands. Ya ya ya ya. I tried to focus on the speaker but hey excitement is so real. But I did focus on the talk and I absolutely didn’t expect the last part— the coffee-changing-colors thingy. Gawd those guys behind the camp were just so amazing and I’ve also realized how amazing God really is despite all our shortcomings.

And my most anticipated part. After the talk, the old YFCs started to line up in one corner of the room. Few minutes, I saw him running and making his way to the line wearing his heavenly smile. Oh geez, kuya A you're an angel in disguise. My eyes can’t see no one but him and I’m looking straight into his eyes. Gawhd I wonder, how many girls had fallen for it. And these people started giving their hands for the handshake. And I can still remember how they were moving so fast like how my heart was and my nerves were. Waaaaaahhh bat ako kinikilig ng gantong oras.

Okay… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two…

“Hi, Kuya A” I said while giving him my hand. “Hi, Ace!” and we shook our hands. “Welcome to YFC!” he said again, smiling...

Gawhd!

After the camp, I finally told my friends that I have a thing for kuya A and they actually agreed that he is really cute. Days after the camp was lighter than ever. No heavy feelings on the inside and no more worries— at all. Then, I got his number. I texted him with some kind of thank you messages for taking care of us and things like that. He is really approachable you guys and really naughty— yep no doubt about that. We almost texted a whole day. A whole day of non-sense and kilig overload ya know what I mean... yep shhhh. I can still remember those exchanging of cheesy lines and punch lines like what? Did I actually text that to him? eewww hehehe joke hahaha. A big OMG.

The following camp, we were both part of the mission team of Batch 29. It is the last day when I was assigned to wash the dishes. While washing, he went to me and asked if I already ate but I don’t exactly remember what I said to him. Then he left and came back with food and I remember laughing at him. Gawd why did I laugh? I said that I’ll eat later but he insisted and he really scooped the food for me. Yay, that’s one of the most unforgettable experience I had with him.

I didn’t even know that the guy behind the “Kung Ako Nalang Sana” voice is him. Gahwd... Divine! And what I really admired about him the most is that he is serving our Man up there for like 13 or 15 years now? and still counting. Gawhd kuya A, you’re unbelievable. 

But as days passed by, I knew everything should stop.

Above all, thank you kuya A for sharing your fun stories with me. With us all your bunso. Thank you for giving us countless reasons to live for Him, to praise Him, to uplift Him. Thank you for everything. I’ve learned so much from you and I became closer to God. Thank you for those never dull moments. The seawall tambays after mass. For all the inspiring words during the worships. For everything that you’ve done unintentionally. I will never ever forget that short video message you made for my 16th birthday, despite your busy schedule. Thank you for that sweet message. Thank you for singing Iris to me. That will always remind me of you every now and then. Sad thing is, I already lost that video. But those words that you told me… will forever be stored in my heart. And that song… that song will always be my song for you as well. Even though I lost that video, I will never ever lose this another video message you gave me with you singing Kung Akin ang Mundo for my 20th birthday. Kuya A… I’m speechless. I can’t thank you enough for the memories, for the time, the effort and all. You will always have a soft part in me. I will always love you. I got you. I’ll never ever forget you, I promise. I miss you so bad. I don’t want you to read this but if you do, please don’t let me know or yes please let me know. 

I just wish that you find the right person for you, the one you have been dreaming of too. The one who will make you happy just like what you did to me. You deserve more than that. I’m always hoping for your good health. Please do take care of yourself— that will mean a lot to me.

And yes, kuya A***, you got me.

Photo from: xxx 

PS: it still hurts.

[creatingthewritelife]

The Cycle of Inspiration

The list of things creatives argue either for or against never seems to end. So of course inspiration makes the list as well. As time passes I hear more and more about how writers can’t wait for inspiration to strike, how the Muses are fickle and so instead of leaving writing up to inspiration we should instead focus our attention elsewhere. How instead of inspiration we should focus our energy on more practical matters like self-discipline.

The one who writes is a writer. While this statement ignores the cases of severe writer’s block, health issues (mental or physical), and obligations that can infringe on writing time, energy, and ability it is otherwise true. Discipline and dedication are an important part of the craft. Learning to dedicate blocks of time to writing - or at least trying to write - every day or week can greatly change our writing, and more often than not lead to improvements. Time and effort are two things that play a massive role in creating these improvements in our work. The more you do something the better you get at it. Naturally this goes for writing as well. This is why finding and dedicating chunks of time to work on our craft is essential. However the dedication of these blocks of time is worth nothing without the commitment and discipline to follow through and actually use that time to write. Unless we can learn the discipline necessary to write even when we lack tools such as motivation and inspiration we may always struggle, not only with improving our writing but with writing frequently.

This sort of discipline is something many of us struggle with. Often times it’s not just a lack of motivation or willpower that we’re facing when we find it difficult to train ourselves to write more frequently but something that actively tries to fight us. Depression. Anxiety. ADHD. Executive dysfunction. Hyperfixation on another interest. The list goes on and on and these are only some of the hindrances of mental health problems that can pose a challenge to establishing the discipline to write often. They’re all, also, struggles that try to hinder my own ability to create and stick to a schedule for writing. Something I’ve always struggled with when it comes to my writing is committing myself to writing frequently. I still fight often against the things that sometimes lead me to do anything other than write. There are always things that worm their way in with the determination to disrupt me and my schedule. Writer’s block can quickly spark into anxiety that turns into depression and guilt over not writing. Sitting down with every intention to write may never move past steps one, two or three. Scrivener never gets opened, the playlist never gets played, the most recent sentences never get re-read and the story never gets re-entered. Something else can capture my interest before I start writing and refuse to leave me in peace and my determination for the day begins to evaporate. Those fights are ones that I’m not always capable of winning. I expect there are times when you feel the same, whether your struggles are similar to mine or not. This is where the belief that all we need in order to write is discipline and determination fails.

This is where inspiration becomes essential. It is the heart of every piece of creative writing you will ever encounter. Whether in fiction, music, poetry, all of it begins with something that inspired it; a spark, a drop, a trembling, a whisper of what could be that signals the beginning. Without inspiration artistic work simply does not come to be, because inspiration is emotion and without emotion creative work lacks life. From time to time during the creative process inspiration needs to reappear to help us find our way forward. It’s more than just the flash and the bang that people outside the know expect a creative endeavour to begin with. We often see it when writer’s block threatens to stand in our way but we push on, when one plot point miraculously leads to another, or when realization strikes that something in the story is going to come together perfectly. Each of these moments are brought about by inspiration, one thing, one moment, inspiring another and allowing the pieces to connect like a puzzle. Of course, inspiration is not at our beck and call. It has a will of it’s own and will come and go as it pleases. Though the Muses are not always as fickle as one might think.

Inspiration often pairs well with discipline, dedication, and commitment. Many assume that these attitudes would struggle to coexist because inspiration is wild and fleeting, untameable, while discipline is sturdy, calm, and reliable. However Inspiration is less like the tidal wave or flash of lightning that it’s expected to be and more like a dripping faucet or a flickering light bulb. It’s something that’s capable of slowly and steadily growing. The faucet that drips occasionally, if left unhindered begins to drip more frequently. The light bulb that flickers when the flip is switched on, in time, will fill the room with light. With a little encouragement a drip an easily become a steady stream, and with minor adjustments a light that once flickered may begin to brighten a room more quickly. When we show up consistently so do the Muses.

While inspiration may be where an idea begins it isn’t always as fleeting as it seems, it doesn’t have to be. Consistent effort can help lead to more frequent inspiration and more frequent writing. The two - discipline and inspiration - don’t just coexist, they’re almost codependent in the way they play off each other. One inadvertently leads to the other. The cycle starts with inspiration, moves through dedication and discipline, before starting over again. By having the discipline to write more frequently we invite inspiration to join us. Just like a sculptor or a painter with a live model, when we sit down to work, so does our Muse. By putting in the effort and spending time with our work - even if we are not actively writing but researching, planning, or just thinking about the project - we allow ourselves to cultivate a mental space that encourages creative thinking and welcomes inspiration.

Though a circle is said to have no beginning or end that doesn’t make it unbreakable. Just like the moon we cannot expect to be full all the time, either of inspiration or discipline. Just like it’s cycle our creativity will wax and wane. Some days there will be more and on others there will be less. We cannot prevent other forces from interfering with our ability to create but we are capable of choosing to press on despite those interferences. We can choose to carve out the time in our schedules to attempt to write, to add just a sentence or a word, to research, to people watch, to wander, to think and wonder about the writing that we’re doing and leave ourselves notes, reminders, and stray thoughts to check later. There will be successful days, and days that go by leaving us feeling as though every bit of effort feels like a waste, but those small amounts of time and effort add up.

If inspiration is the beating heart of every piece of writing than discipline, dedication, commitment, and motivation make up the rib cage that protects it. Without them to defend it inspiration is fragile and easily injured. Though just like a broken rib or damaged heart both inspiration and discipline can be mended and are able to heal. With care and effort they are strengthened, as is our writing. Like this post? Want to see more? Consider becoming a Patron!

[authoraesthetic]

Magic much exist because I’ve seen it with my own eyes in the midst of the happiest place on earth.

Disney World. Despite it being so crowded I wanted to scream and so hot I wanted to cry, the three days I spent at Disney World were truly magical. This is partly due to the wonders of the parks, the details of each corner, the excitement of the rides, and the endless options of activities. But it is even more to do with the wonderful company of three Losers.

Remember Emily, the broadway-crazed wannabe from this post? She was, of course, the front-leader of our group. This was her trip to see the wonderful Savannah and in order, Randi, me, and Alissa all invited ourselves. It’s safe to say we somehow created a wonderful group with which to explore the magic of Disney World. 

If you read any of my blogs, you’ll recognize the reoccurring name “Emily.” She’s my honorary-sister (technically cousin, but I’ll hence forth be referring to her as my sister because she basically is, so don’t get confused) and the mom-friend of every friend group we’ve been apart of together. While this was Em’s trip, she didn’t spend the entire time planning and stressing, instead the majority was spontaneous and chill.

“It’s up to you, Alissa, you’ve never been here before.” But Alissa rarely knew, and Randi is fairly indecisive, so Em and I often made the decisions.

Alissa is the newbie of our group. She’s known Randi and Em for a while and met me briefly before the trip so it easily could not have gone well. Thankfully, it did. Alissa is a sarcastic soul, so we got along well. When I asked her what your favorite moments of the trip were, this was her answer:

There was a lot of roasting. For me, it was all about climate change and global warming (seen my latest video?) and for Randi it was about… not handling roasting well.

Randi’s lived in Florida before so she knew the place pretty well. She took us to Uncle Julio’s and INSISTED we go to Disney Springs, which turned out to be pretty cool. Her interactions with Alissa were always fun to witness because of the above. They did make a compromise the last day, though: Alissa was going to be less mean and Randi was going to be less sensitive. I’m not sure it worked, but we had fun.

Last member, whom we met in Florida and is not pictured: John. Man, is that boy the biggest Loser of all. But I guess it was fun to have him around.

Yeah, Randi is less sarcastic than us, I wanted to get up early, get out of the hotel early, and make quick decisions while the others did not, and Alissa barely knew me before the trip, but I wouldn’t trade our little group for anything.

First rule for a successful trip: find good travel buddies.

This vacation ended up showing me how wonderful strangers can be. Sometimes the kindness in the world gets lost in the sea of evil, but I promise you, the kindness is there. Disney World is expensive, but because of the extreme generosity of Savannah (and her friend, Cassie) we were able to get into the parks for free. See, Savannah works at the Haunted Mansion and was able to give us guest passes. (Thank you again, Savannah.) She was also able to get us fast passes for the first day, which was amazing due to the 80,000 people in the park. However, she only had enough for two days worth of passes, so her friend, Cassie, (who knew NONE of us) offered to give us some of her guest passes without expecting anything in return. These allowed us to get into Epcot our final day, which ended up being my (and I believe the other Losers’) favorite part of the visit. On top of this, earlier in the day we went to lunch at Disney Springs and a woman at the table next to us offered us the rest of their desert. (Sounds weird, but I promise it wasn’t. They hadn’t touched it and there was a lot left.) Thank you, lady at the Boat restaurant, the desert was delicious.

Later that day we spent hours in Epcot. We stood in line for two different rides and drank around the world, (Which means we got one delicious Cider from England and took two hours to drink it), saw Neil Patrick Harris, (Let’s get coffee sometime, dude) and reveled at the beautiful fireworks. The day was filled with dumb comments, running jokes, multiple different countries, and memories to be made.

When I was a kid, Epcot was my least favorite park. It was boring and I didn’t care that every building looked different. As an adult, I’m in awe of the details and the wonderful architecture, foods, and attractions. If you’re an adult planning on going to Disney World in the future, please please do not overlook Epcot and all its wonders. Also, be sure to ride Test Track, even if the wait is an hour long.

  Second rule to a successful trip: Be flexible. It’s okay not to have a plan.

The above was the first example given to me when I asked the Losers what their favorite moments of the trip were, but I was also given these:

We walked to Starbucks in the morning, took an Uber that stopped to get gas, got lost in the airport (no one listened to me. We were baggage claim B. B. Not A, people), left way later than planned…every. single. day, and tried on random, ugly hats in a hat store. None of these are big, expensive events. In fact, some of them could be seen as hindrances or annoying nuisances. But instead, they became some of our best memories. The extravagant firework shows are incredible, but it’s the unplanned little things that stick with you and make a trip worth writing about.

  Third rule to a successful trip: The small things are important. Don’t overlook the details or the mistakes. They make the trip memorable and great.

I’m an introvert and too much social interaction or stimulation can make me tired and irritable. I know this about myself, so on Tuesday, while the other Losers went to church (I know, I’m a heathen) I stayed at the hotel, worked out, worked on my computer, and watched Youtube videos for three hours. By the time they got back, I was happy, rested, and ready for another day of magic.

Fourth rule to a successful trip: Know yourself and what you need. I need alone time. Randi needs food.

Finally, one of the best memories was the tower of terror. It’s one of my favorite rides, in fact it might be my favorite, and Emily and Alissa love it too. Therefore, we rode it three times one day. The last time all the passengers on our “elevator” were crazy, loud, and around our age. Everyone was making dumb comments and screaming at inappropriate times during the ride. Or really we were all screaming the entire time.  To some this might sound annoying, but for us it made the entire ride that much better. We all high-fived at the end and talked about how “lit” our group was. Later that day we even saw three of the girls that were on the ride and said hi.

Fifth tip/rule/Idk I’m making this up as I go: It’s okay to be a little extra sometimes. It can make things more interesting.

I couldn’t not write about Disney World because it truly was magical. I’m so thankful for the Losers, and Walt Disney himself, for making this trip so memorable. I believe Disney World is more for us adults than the kids, anyways. Why? Because everyone needs a little magic to excite their inner child. And at Disney, Magic comes alive.

Magic, Disney, and Losers Magic much exist because I've seen it with my own eyes in the midst of the happiest place on earth.

[woodworkingpastor]

Sabbath

I began my final year of seminary studies in the fall of 1998; I also met with my District Executive to fill out a Pastoral Profile. Jim also gave me permission to look at all the Congregational Profiles from churches looking for a pastor.

It was a very interesting process, because even as our congregations all share a heritage, they each have their own flavor. But even so, the profiles began to sound the same after a while, so one of the things I started doing was to note details that sounded different.

That came in handy when I received a call about a church in Ohio that wondered if I’d come for an interview.  Their profile had a statement that I hadn’t seen on any other: “we expect the pastor to dress appropriately in all circumstances.”  I read this and thought “there is a story here.”

1998 was also a National Youth Conference Year.  NYC finished on a Sunday morning that year.  As our youth group was driving through Fort Collins on the way to the Denver airport, we passed a church that seemed to have a reasonably full parking lot.  That church was next to a sports field that had a parking lot filled with cars that had brought children and their parents to that morning’s soccer games.  There’s a story here, too.

Noticing the little details that seem out of place to us in Scripture and in life can often be a helpful way to understand things more completely. That is true of the 10 Commandments, especially the 4th Commandment, “Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.” You’ll notice from our Scripture reading this morning that the 10 Commandments are included twice in the Bible:

In Exodus 20, the Hebrew people are three months removed from slavery in Egypt, but they are 400 years removed from a close relationship with God. So God has Moses assemble the people at Mount Sinai and gives them the 10 Commandments and a whole host of other laws and details about how to structure their lives. Nearly all of Exodus 20 – 32 is focused upon this.

In Deuteronomy 5, the people have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and are poised to enter the Promised Land. The generation of people who left Egypt has died, and Moses gathers this next generation to instruct them on how to live in this new place as God’s people.

The interesting detail that should have jumped out at us is that while the fourth commandment is the same in both places, the reason given for the commandment is different.

 There is a story here! What do we learn from this?

 In Exodus 20, God wants the people to remember the sabbath.

We tend to forget that the way things are today is often because of decisions that were made in the past.  For the 10 Commandments, they would certainly remember what life was like three months ago.  But they might remember all the way back in Genesis 41—over 400 years before our story today—a different Pharaoh had a dream about seven thin cows came up next to seven fat cows and ate them, and about seven stalks of ugly, blighted grain eating seven stalks of healthy grain. Joseph told his Pharaoh that the dream meant a famine was coming. That set things on the course to slavery. Pharaoh began gathering resources to feed the people, but it wasn’t so very long before gathering resources became hoarding resources. The massive Egyptian infrastructure required slave labor to build and maintain. Pharaoh was determined to rule the world; because of this he could never rest.  Production could never cease—there would always be more bricks to make, more barns to build, more grain to harvest, more borders to defend.

As the people remembered their days of unceasing labor—they’re just three months removed from this—God tells them to keep remembering all the way back to creation, and the stories they’d been told. Pharaoh had been trying to rule the world, but God had created the world and still found time to rest. God did not need to work constantly and enslave others to create the heavens and the earth, and neither would they.

And in their remembering, they would begin to imagine how they were to be different.

In Deuteronomy 5, God wants the people to observe the sabbath.  This is an interesting word in the Hebrew: it means to guard, keep, protect, watch over. You might think of it as that thing you’d want to take with you if you had to leave your house suddenly due to an emergency.  The people are to “observe” the Sabbath: not watch it from a distance, but protect it and practice it, make provision for it in their life.

This new land they were to possess would have everything they needed to become prosperous.  If they remained faithful to God, their lives would not become the “lifestyles of the rich and famous,” but there would be enough for them to enjoy life, family, friends, and faith.

But God recognized that prosperity might breed spiritual amnesia. They might forget God in their new-found well-being and begin dominating others just as Pharaoh had them. So God tells them to not forget where they’d come from.  They were to protect the importance of the sabbath as an anchor that would root them to their spiritual heritage.

Part of the story here is that the people were to remember and to observe the Sabbath. We might think of the Sabbath in terms of the blue laws that used to exist—all the places that were required to be closed on Sundays. But what did God want the people to realize as they remembered and observed the sabbath?

If we had read the all 10 Commandments this morning, we might have noticed

that the first three commandments define our relationship with God: there will be no other gods, no idols, and don’t use God’s name in vain.

the last six commandments define our relationships with others: honor your parents, no murder, adultery, theft, false witness, or coveting among us.

It is a very early indicator in the Bible of something we have known to be true for a long time—we cannot separate our love for God and our love for one another, because they are different aspects of the same thing.  The sabbath is the hinge point that connects the two.

Because the people were working all the time in Egypt—even using their “free time” to gather straw—there was little time for them to be neighbors to one another. Under those stressful circumstances, neighbors become competitors. But in this new land where the sabbath was to govern their lives, the needs of the other could be given greater priority. The people could be neighborly to one another because they were serving a God who isn’t anxious, who lives and loves us by grace, not law; hope, not fear.

When we are rushed or anxious with no margin in our lives, we have little time for the possibilities of relationship. Other people become a hindrance to what we want.  Things like theft and character assassination become a possibility. But sabbath-keeping opens the possibility to become sisters and brothers to one another. I have time to practice forgiveness, because I recognize a renewed commitment with life together is better than my dominating them or forcing them to behave in a certain way so that I can “get even” with them.

When we are rushed or anxious with no margin in our lives, we can have little time to nurture the primary relationships in our lives. Other people attract our attention, and things like coveting and adultery become possible. But sabbath-keeping creates space to care for our primary relationships.

Sabbath-keeping is designed to strengthen relationships.  This is why in the disciplines booklet, sabbath is paired with hospitality.  Relationships are about more than enjoying one another’s company (although they certainly are about that!), They are about enjoying an openness and honesty and depth that comes when we are free enough from clutter and busy-ness to truly see one another as friends and family, not competitors.

One of the interesting parts of our culture right now is how much we watch other people do things: from sports to reality shows. We watch people play a game, launch their singing career, survive in the wilderness, or remodel a home.  We can even be deeply touched by a moving testimony in a devotional book or movie.  But we really can’t watch people be Christian, and think we’re doing anything for ourselves. The whole purpose of creating margin in our lives through the discipline of sabbath keeping is to move from reality shows to real life.  We begin living life as God intended it. There’s a story there, too, and we’re the ones writing it.

[letsdiscoverkitty]

Do you find writing and posting pics of yourself / your ED on the internet a help or a hindrance? I honestly would've never got better had I not deleted my insta. It triggers me now seeing people posting their food intakes and full body pics so much - it makes me feel like such a failure. Everyone on insta compares their bodies and food intake/types of food they are eating to each other (even tho we never admit it) and competes and it's just so unhealthy and damaging. your opinion? xxx

Interesting question and one I have thought about quite a lot on many different occasions. It’s hard. 

Under a red more because I went on a bit of a rant...

Personally I could not agree more about the instagram community - I have dipped my toe in a few times and found it incredibly unhelpful. There is a lot of competition and comparison and even though we hate to admit it, EDs are fuelled by these things even if we don’t notice it at first. However saying that there are some wonderful RECOVERY accounts on there and there can be quite a lot of support. Sadly it does/can fuel EDs even more, make people more conscious of what they are eating/comparing intakes/not feeling “sick enough” and generally feeding into all those niggling disordered thoughts, however I can see how it could be helpful in some ways (support/feeling less alone/staying accountable/if used in a non disordered way it could be helpful with challenging ED thoughts/behaviours etc). This, of course, can be damaging and make the person want to cling to their EDs/they identify as it, compare to X or Y, engage in other disordered habits and I think in many cases the things that people write on there simply fuels their EDs even more. How does posting a body checking photo help? How does asking about calories or body pictures help? Posting number of admissions/NG tubes/numbers/weights; it just ugh it makes me skin crawl. It doesn’t help anyone- it feeds into the disordered thoughts. And a lot of the time it is the illness seeking validation/worthiness of “recovery”. Also, it is SO important to remember that everyone is on different journeys. Yes there may be similarities and paths may cross at times but RECOVERY IS AN INDIVIDUAL THING. We are on different roads, coming from different places, going to different destinations, at different stages; comparing your own recovery to someone else’s is, well, pointless. They are not you; and you are not them. What helped one person may not help another. Ultimately the individual needs to listen to the support they are getting from outside - e.g. doctors/therapists/parents etc. We can so easily can wrapped up in bubblewrap/lose ourselves in these online worlds/fantasies that we forget that THIS is not “real life”...sorry for the little rant there.The internet in general can be a very harmful/dangerous place but it is part of our society now so it is hard to avoid. As for tumblr, in the darkest of my illness before I even made my blog, finding tumblrs that were in recovery from eating disorders literally saved my life. They helped me to see that there could be a light, that there was an ounce of hope, even if I couldn’t quite believe it for myself. As I have said before, I find writing invaluable. It has helped me in so many ways including allowing me to become a lot more aware of my own struggles and learn from my stumbles along the way. I also have a very positive dashboard and chose the people I follow very carefully. I tend to follow lots of positive blogs, and not a huge amount of personal ones. It means that if I am feeling a bit low or find the disordered thoughts swamping my head I can come online and reblog some quotes and positive things. I can see how it could be unhelpful and I suppose that’s when you have to ask whether it is doing more help or harm. As for posting photographs of myself; this is my personal space and I like to have a bit more contact with my followers. This is, ultimately, part of my journey. Yes I am very conscious that I have some followers who might find pictures triggering so I try not to post too many/focus much on the pictures/try to ask myself whether it is my ED that wants me to post certain things...I also took a bit of a break from posting when I was relapsing, however it has been a huge help in turning around said relapse and finding a fight/spark inside of me again. 

I want my tumblr to be a beneficial place for ME and my recovery. Many times in the past I have felt a pressure to say certain things or not admit struggles but at the end of the day hiding those things only made me worry and think about them even more. I love to write. It helps me. One day I know that I will have to move on from this account in order to fully recovery but for now I see it as one of my major tools to help me move forwards/stay motivated. Of course there are many downsides but such is life. I have also met some of the most amazing people on here; one of my best friends for example who I have met up with a number of times and talk to pretty much every day. And yes we may have met under shitty circumstances but we get on because we have similar interests and honestly it was like meeting my long lost sister when Meg and I first met up in Bristol. She is the best. And without my tumblr I wouldn’t have met her. 

I think in a tumblr vs IG discussion tumblr will always come out on top for me. I just don’t like how you have to post photographs in order to write about things (yes I know that is basically the whole idea of IG but for me if I were using it as a recovery tool I would find it unhelpful.) I think there can be a lot of support on IG, which is what I miss about tumblr - the recovery community a few years ago was very very different on here. But I suppose it is what you make of it really. I try to keep my tumblr real; I don’t paint a sunshine and roses picture of recovery but I also don’t allow my posts to delve into deep disordered thoughts - doing so is not helpful for me or anyone else. Having a “recovery” account might help different people in different ways; I suppose you just have to stay as mindful as possible. 

Okay I know I haven’t really answered this in the most eloquent of ways, and at the end of the day everyone is different so I don’t think there is a simple answer. The most important thing I think is finding what HELPS you (not your illness) and being conscious of what you are posting/why you post certain things and just being aware that it could be a way of the disorder holding onto you. Yeah, gosh sorry, this feels like a very messy reply. I am proud of you for putting yourself first and doing what you needed to do in order to move forwards with your life and recovery xxx

[wendyhermansongeller]

Lukas Graham Frontman Talks Politics, Fatherhood, and '7 Years' Worth of Grammy Nominations

The list of 2017 Grammy Award nominations, revealed in December, was filled with a handful of dominant and expected pop royalty, most of them female and in need of only one name. But then, there was a name that popped up three times among the Beyoncés, Adeles, and Rihannas: Lukas Graham.

That name, as fans well know by now, does not denote a single person, but rather a group of four Danish young men who tickled our ears for most of 2016 with the ubiquitous single “7 Years,” a raw tune with heartfelt lyrics, soaring vocals, and a cultural presence that ultimately scored Grammy nods for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Frontman Lukas Forchhammer not only lends his first and middle names to the band — he also serves as a flesh-and-blood personification of the multifaceted charm its music delivers. He grew up honing wrong-side-of-the-street smarts in a Copenhagen-area collective, while simultaneously developing his ethereal soprano as a classically trained choirboy. As one might expect, he’s an equally flexible conversationalist, tossing well-thought-out opinions on everything from music to politics in quick order.

Yahoo Music sat down with the singer to get his thoughts on this year’s Grammys, the band’s next direction, and his very favorite event of 2016.

YAHOO MUSIC: You’re up for three Grammys next month. How many musicians from your country have been nominated for Grammys?

LUKAS FORCHHAMMER: Eleven Danes have been nominated, three have won, and the most prominent Grammy was won for best rock ‘n’ roll piece in 1962 — by Danish composer/piano player Bent Fabricius-Bjerre with the melody “Alley Cat.” The funny thing about that story is he didn’t even go to the awards ceremony, because he was up against Elvis Presley and he was expecting not to win! So when he won, he was in Denmark. He jokes about it still, he’s like 92 years old now: “Well, that would have been the highlight of my career, but I missed it!” [laughs]

Hopefully you plan to be there this year!

We definitely going to be there, just to experience an award ceremony — for not one, not two, but three Grammys! We’re very satisfied with just being nominated. It feels very, very heartwarming to be voted by peer-by-peer voting.

Given what an explosive year you’ve had, did those nominations actually come as a surprise?

I was very surprised. But also, two months before our nominations, I became a father. So that’s like the biggest and most crazy thing for me to happen in 2016 — having a little daughter. The Grammy nominations were like icing on the cake. I’m driving through eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, in the tour bus with my baby girl, and I’m getting the news of being nominated for these Grammys — it was a little too magical of a moment. It was one of those moments: “Something’s gotta go wrong in the next hours, otherwise this is too crazy great.” [laughs]

Plus, the unreality of it all must have been magnified by that fuzzy, sleep-deprived new-parent stage…

You don’t get much sleep, but there’s also so much love, all these love hormones. And all these thoughts about the future and your own childhood. And then suddenly three Grammys on top of that while you’re touring America (laughs), it’s an unfathomable feeling. I didn’t know that you could add on to that wonderful feeling of being a parent.

“7 Years” is a standout song in the Grammy categories it’s nominated in. What do you think is the main element of its extreme and universal appeal?

Speaking in hindsight it’s always easy to figure out what is the good part of a song or why are we listening to it. But it’s also a very dangerous path to go down. I think very simply the song is so different from everything else on the radio that it stands out naturally. But also it talks about a subject that is so close to heart — it talks about family, and dreams, and ambitions as you’re growing older. It made it very understandable to the musical audience. It’s not very pretentious.

It’s also unique in that it really doesn’t have an easy hook. Rather, it has a prolonged buildup, which you don’t find often these days in pop music.

It’s all a hook. If you think further back, to like folk musicians — if you take a Woody Guthrie song, “This Land is My Land,” the way the melody keeps repeating itself…It is basically back to country ballads. It’s what we would call Bise in Danish — a basic folk structure where the retentive melody makes sure you remember what you’re supposed to be singing. I just like different song structures and styles, being a classically trained soprano soloist, growing up with a lot of folk music, rock ‘n’ roll, British invasion bands, rap music. I just find it annoying that people say “Oh, but a song has to sound like this, grow like this.” Why does it have to do that? Why can’t we change the structure because we feel like it?

In one interview earlier last year, you mentioned that you don’t even think “7 Years” is your best song.

I don’t, but then again, it kind of changes which song I’m happiest about performing or singing or just listening to myself. I’m a very prolific writer and I think I have better songs in me to come, definitely. Now that I’ve become a father I’ve got this new dimension to love, life, and my writing.

Do you ever worry, then, that “7 Years” might become the centerpiece of your career, given its tremendous popularity?

I think that if we let ourselves be afraid of a song like that [becoming] the paramount experience of my career, then it will be. If I let it control us, it will be a problem. But instead, I think we’ll just brush it off and keep going.

It may be too soon to ask, but do you have an idea of where you want to go with your next album?

I don’t ever really do that. We’re not the kind of guys who sit down and say “We need six songs that sound like this, and then two in this direction.” [“7 Years”] was just a sneak peek into my life between the ages of 18 and 20, and 30. The next album is going to be my life now as a parent, a touring musician, and a citizen of this world.

I’ll probably be a little more political on the next record, probably talk about some gender politics, role model politics, maybe have a song about how are we communicating with each other. Because, to be honest with you, I find most of our public communication and media communication is so ugly that it really sickens me to my stomach.

Touring America during the period preceding the presidential election must really have sickened you, then, given the extreme vitriol being hurled around.

The political conversation took this turn because the political elites failed to recognize there is a world outside the major cities. And it’s the same in Europe, and Denmark — political and economic elites keep forgetting at the end of the day a democracy is a lot of things. And you need to take into consideration what goes on in rural parts of America and Europe. Small hillbilly towns also need to be heard. It happened too much in American and European history that we dismissed the poor white population as being stupid and ignorant. But the fact is that they are very much there, and they’re a huge part of political life.

You have seen a lot of this first-hand growing up and getting into your share of what some would term juvenile delinquent acts, yes?

I have indeed seen a lot of it first-hand and participated in a lot of juvenile delinquency first-hand. And I would have to say that juvenile delinquency comes from a society and culture that is not valuing what these young people have to offer. I mean, if you look at all our celebrities, they’re supposed to look young and act young and be young, but we’re not letting our young people be young. Kids aren’t allowed to be kids, but everyone’s getting Botox and fake tits.

It’s interesting, because it seems the natural musical outlet for a rebellious childhood would be a genre like punk, or gangsta rap — something with anger. Lukas Graham isn’t anything like that.

I spent so much of my life being angry, being afraid, and feeling downtrodden and sorry for myself. Be it the way that the police treated me as a teenager, or the way schoolteachers treated me in primary school and high school, or be it the way other kids’ parents looked at us. Because of the way we spoke, everyone knew where we were from, and we just weren’t welcomed everywhere like most normal kids were. When you grow up like that, at some point you become either permanently angry, festering, or you switch it up and do something about it.

Speaking of switching it up: A totally different topic. How are you managing to balance fatherhood and a musical career? It must be difficult.

No not at all, I find it very easy to balance work and my child. But then again, I’m from Denmark — my girlfriend went on maternity leave for a full year from her college. She’s basically getting a state-funded scholarship, which everyone in Denmark gets for a certain amount of time when you study. So for a full year she’s getting $600-800 a month while she’s taking care of the baby and on tour with me. The system that we grew up in Denmark facilitates parenthood and bonding with your child. Fathers in Denmark can choose to do paternity leave up to eight months. So my country is definitely making it a lot easier to be a new father.

That’s wonderful, but, still — a career in entertainment has logistics that are just naturally challenging to blend with parenting.

I grew up in a world where I saw everybody making hindrances for themselves. Everything becomes more and more problematic: “Oh, we can’t do this because of that…oh, this is going to be difficult.” Or else you just do it and make it work. Make that decision to make your life easier rather than more difficult. Make that decision to facilitate things rather than not.

And, it’s my girlfriend who makes sure that I can do this. If she wasn’t in on it—if she wasn’t prepared to facilitate me being a father, it would be very difficult and I wouldn’t see my child for three weeks at a time. So I’m very grateful that she wants to go on tour with me, and live this lifestyle for a while. Ask me again in a year when she’s back studying her masters, and I can’t just bring the baby on tour.

“7 Years,” as well as the rest of your album, was largely inspired by the death of your father. What do you think he would have thought of these songs if he had been able to hear them?

I think he would have liked them; that I took a turn and started writing more personal lyrics. Real songs about real life. I think he’d be very proud of what we achieved. But it’s a Catch-22 question, you know, because if my father hadn’t died when he died, I wouldn’t have written the songs that made me travel all around the world. We can’t get everything. And it’s OK. [There’s] a lovely Japanese proverb written as a haiku: “You can’t catch all the falling leaves in the autumn.”

Back to the Grammys. Is there any one of your three nominations that you would most particularly like to win?

Song of the Year definitely would mean more — I mean, I don’t even dare to hope for one — but Song of the Year because it is in celebration of the writing process and the creative process leading up to the song being released. I like to be acknowledged for the fact that I write my own music, and that I have a hand in the creative process. But any of the three, I mean c’mon! It’s winning a Grammy!

What if you win all three?

If we get all three, I’ll shave my head. On the Grammy podium (laughs)