Layin' Some Truth On Ya...

January 1st Reflections

Welcome to 2014 everybody. I know that the beginning of a new year is always a time for nostalgia and a time for optimism. It creates a fresh start for those who feel that they may need one. And I do understand the wonder when the clock strikes midnight and you start Day 1 of 365. 

But I would like to remind you that this is simply another 365 days. It's another circle 'round the sun. It's the beginning of a new calendar, which is a socially constructed method of keeping track of our planet's rotations, determined largely by greek rulers ages and ages ago. 

There is nothing magic about the new year. The single second that makes the difference in the date has no power whatsoever. The gravity you ascribe to the new year is entirely in your head. New beginnings have nothing to do with the date and everything to do with you. 

You can start over any second of any day of any month. You can quit anything, drop everything, pick up and leave. You can switch your major or your school or your career path. You can change anything at all about your life and you don't have to wait for the perfect time to do it. Firstly because there is no time like the present and secondly because there is no guarantee that the perfect time will even happen. 

If you want to lose 10 pounds, start RIGHT NOW. If you want to get your finances in order, start RIGHT NOW. If you want to fix relationships, start RIGHT NOW. If you want to reinvent your image, start RIGHT NOW. If you want to learn something new, start RIGHT NOW. If you want to develop your character, start RIGHT NOW. 

Nothing is to be accomplished by waiting. New Year's resolutions are so seldom fulfilled because too much emphasis is placed on the circumstances of the resolution and too little is placed on the conviction behind the resolution. 

The magic is in you. Not in the day. 

Insecurity  Four-part Rant of the Day Part 3

To all my girls who feel like you don't like the way you look (all of you. every single one.***)

1. There’s nothing wrong with you.

Your body is not a problem to be covered and hidden. There’s nothing shameful or wrong about any part of you. Your body is literally just the vehicle you use to interact with the physical world. It doesn’t have to be anything other than exactly what it is. Often, the parts of our physical appearance that we perceive as flaws are not actually inherently negative. They’re just there, and we’ve somehow developed the idea that they’re bad. (Don’t EVEN get me started on how capitalism is the source of all evil, and how advertising manipulates our self image so we hate ourselves.) They don’t detract from your value.

2. Spring boarding off that first point, you are not obliged to look any which way.

There’s no official rule book for how you “should” present yourself (no matter what the magazines say). I hope that you find joy and creativity in personal expression, instead of pressure to conform. Nobody, not friends, family, movies, music, magazines, advertising, and ESPECIALLY not fabricated societal standards of beauty, can tell you how to look. Many may try, and the societal standards are the WORST, but your appearance is none of their business.

3. If you can, try to consciously avoid comparing yourself to other girls.

There are as many kinds of beautiful as there are people in the world. Her beauty doesn’t cancel out yours. You can celebrate her beauty and your own simultaneously. In fact, celebrating other peoples’ diverse beauty gives you a deeper appreciation for your unique beauty. And you are beautiful, my darling. I hope you can choose to believe that.

4. Wear whatever the heck you want.

Do whatever the heck you want. There is no such thing as like “______ girls shouldn’t wear this” and “girls with _____ shouldn’t wear that.” If you like it, wear it! Because if you like it and you think it’s pretty then you’ll feel good wearing it. And that’s the goal here.

5. This is the most important one: your identity has nothing to do with your appearance.

I mean, I personally believe that your identity has nothing even to do with your body. I am so here for body positivity because heck yes, everybody is beautiful. I affirm that. But you are so much more than your body. And beautiful is not the loftiest goal we should be aiming for. You are so much more than beautiful. You are smart, kind, radiant, and powerful. You are love, you are altruism, you are music. You are the spirit of the divine; your soul does not belong to this world. Only your body does. So don’t waste too much time worrying about a body that only exists in this fragile, temporary world. There are far greater things inside of you. Your body can barely contain them.

***ESPECIALLY trans girls

It still appalls me how so many affirming Christians feel like they don’t need to get involved in LGBTQ issues and take a vocal stand to stop oppression and ignorance. 

I understand that there are a ton of other issues that go on besides LGBTQ issues, but let’s be real. This is the biggest issue in our culture right now. Keeping quiet about issues like these is only self serving at this point.

Lost Generation

Do you think your parents would disallow you from reading books such as fifty shades of grey, go ask alice or crank?

dude man bro! I’ve read Go Ask Alice and I had forgotten it until this very second. That was such a sad book :( and I googled Crank and would probs totes read it just for educational purposes. [sidenote: this recent affliction I’ve acquired of abbreviating perfectly functional words such as probably and totally is shocking and will be cured as of right now.]

Now my ducky, as for Fifty Shades of Grey…why, I ask you, would I want to read a book whose contributions to the literary world are phrasal gems such as “kinky f***ery” and “puckered love cave”? I mean, I’m not into porn but I imagine that if I was I’d like something a tad more well-written.

All that being said, I wasn’t allowed to read Harry Potter until I was 13 and I wasn’t allowed to read Twilight until I was 16 because my mom was worried about the effects on my young impressionable mind. Having since read all four Twilight books, I think she was quite in the right. The relationships in that book are unhealthy, co-dependent and bordering on emotionally abusive. Harry Potter, on the other hand, is and will remain one if my favourite series. Anyway! It’s not that she didn’t want me exposed to the pain and evil in the world, she just wanted to make sure I was mature enough to put everything I read into it’s proper place in my brain. And I think we’re quite past that point now. My brain is far less malleable nowadays, and I think she recognizes my ability to use discernment when selecting reading materials.

And that ability is why I will NEVER read Fifty Shades of Grey. Haha..

Thanks for the question! Peace and love! -Katherine

This is me externally processing.

My beliefs about equality and justice are, to me, the logical outpouring of Christ’s love in my life. God commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves. We are called to glorify God by loving people: indiscriminately and unconditionally. A passion for justice should flow naturally from this love. Injustice violates love. God, whose divine essence is love, is supremely and perfectly just. Our love, as Christians, would be incomplete if it did not seek to correct injustice. 

Jesus was the ultimate social justice activist. He was the great equalizer. He spent time with society’s most marginalized groups of people and never looked down on anyone for the situation or their choices. He met people where they were at. He got on their level. Jesus was not someone who stood back and regarded injustice or oppression from afar. He loved them personally and practically. He was involved in their lives. Furthermore, Jesus did not come to uphold an unjust and corrupt social system. He was radical. He was subversive. He upset the status quo. Jesus came to give sight to the blind, and to set free the captive and oppressed. Jesus is the model of social justice. 

It’s because of my deeply-rooted convictions, because of the belief in Jesus Christ that defines my whole life, because of this moral code to which I adhere, that I am so implacably passionate about social justice. This is why discrimination and intolerance offends and outrages me so much. This is why I fight for the rights of all marginalized groups. 

For the past three weeks, I’ve been teaching the gospel to children at a Christian summer camp. The curriculum I’m using is the 5 Gs of the Gospel: God, Guilt, Grace, Gratitude, Glory. When we talk about Gratitude, we talk about how people act when Jesus changes their life. People who know Jesus begin to act more like Him. And God loves people and we love God so we love people. Now here’s the kicker, for me: loving people and acting like Jesus means correcting injustice. It means feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, liberating the captive, including the outsider. It means accepting people. It means treating everybody the same no matter what their struggle is. 

YOUR GOSPEL IS INCOMPLETE IF IT DOES NOT INCLUDE JUSTICE. THE GOSPEL IS JUSTICE. JESUS IS JUSTICE. 

And here is the very big problem that I have right now. This camp that I work at is not as inclusive and tolerant as I am. I’ve talked to way too many people who think my feminist views are unbiblical. The policies of this camp regarding people who are homosexual are in the process of being decided, and I don’t know how it’s gonna go. I’m told that transgendered persons are not permitted to work there and may not be permitted to attend as campers either. Is it because “we don’t want to send the message to the campers that that kind of lifestyle is okay”? Because parts of my lifestyle in 2015 definitely weren’t okay and still aren’t and you would not want to send the message to campers that it’s okay, but I was still hired. Is it because “we just want to focus on teaching kids the gospel, and not engage in discussions about those kinds of topics”? Well this is a problem, because I believe that your gospel in incomplete without the part about treating everybody with respect and equality. How can you teach kids the gospel while discriminating against people who quite possibly need love and support and acceptance the most? 

I’m struggling with this because I think that equality and tolerance is so integral to the gospel message, and when I see an organization that doesn’t practise equality and tolerance, I feel that they are misrepresenting the gospel. I wouldn’t want to work for an organization like that any more than I’d want to attend a church that didn’t teach sound doctrine. I do not believe that those attitudes are of God. God is not about discrimination. And I want no part in it. 

Prayer - July 17

I'm a broken record. I spit the same words out at you. Over and over and over. By now they've lost all meaning, even to me. I'm stuck on the same part of the song. I'm singing you the same refrain again and again, but it's getting tired. "I'm sorry for letting myself grow cold. I'm gonna make a commitment to do better." How many times have I been "saved"? How many times have I prayed the prayer of repentance? How many times have I recommitted my life to you? Did I ever really mean it? I'm lukewarm water. Unfit for drinking, unfit for cooking, unfit for anything. I'm stagnant and disgusting. There are dust particles and all sorts of nasty bacteria collecting in this water. No wonder it make you gag. Maybe the worst possible fate I could think of - making Jesus gag. God, I don't want to make you gag. I know that I'm lukewarm because my life has become all about doing everything "right" and being "perfect" and "having it all together". My all-consuming passion is keeping that pathetic insecurity at bay by trying to fit all the roles I think I'm supposed to fit. But you've called me to something so much more. You've called me to break the mold. I know that your plans for me are so much above and beyond anything I could imagine. I know that you can take my life and turn it upside down and inside out and make something crazy amazing with it. So why am I so happy with my average, nice, white-picket-fence existence right now? Here's my life, jesus. Maybe this is the first time I've ever given it to you. Here are my fears and insecurities. Here are my dreams. Here are my plans. Here's my time. Here's my money. Here are my talents. Here are my passions. Here are my skills. Here's my past. Here's my present. Here's my future. Take it all. Love, me.

May God break every weapon.

I loved your response about Margery Kempe, but I take issue with the "too heavenly minded" quote. Borrowing from Randy Alcorn's book Heaven, being heavenly minded is something missed in the Church today. Paul was very heavenly minded, but that drove him to focus all the more on serving Christ on earth. I think the two go hand-in-hand for Christians. If our heavenly focus is neglected, we are more likely to become wrapped up in things of this world that do not last.

Aw hi! Thanks for that :) I'm really happy you took the time to tell me that you liked my response. And also, that is a very excellent point!  I agree that there is definitely a rampant and dangerous pandemic of people who are far too earthly minded to be of any heavenly good. And really, I'd rather be of heavenly good than of earthly good because forever is an awfully long time, and if what I do only has any significance in this world, then I've essentially accomplished nothing. I suppose that I used the quote rather flippantly because I agree with you that heavenly thinking should truly be our motivator for...everything. And that everything we do in this world should be done with the consciousness of the double consequences: natural and supernatural consequences. Again, thanks so much for stopping by to chat :) And thank you for pointing out that blind spot in my earlier response. :)