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“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”

Genesis 1: 14-15 KJV

Why do we ignore the signs part?

Why do we consider astrology to be a form of witchcraft instead of another way to interpret God speaking to us?

Why do we leave out the first purpose listed?

Are we too educated, too intelligent, too unbelieving to seriously consider the possibility of fate?

Do we get to pick and choose what we believe, when it sounds ridiculous, but not when it serves a political purpose?

What if we paid more attention, as a whole, to all of the tools we are given?

“A lie is a lie, whether you’re joking or not”. The tone Jeremy used to correct me, a little girl of about 8, was firm and serious.

I remember feeling confused by his words, and can still feel the carefree smile mixed with laughter leave my mind to be immediately followed by a fear that would become all too familiar in my adult life.

I hadn’t meant to do anything wrong. I had only wanted to make him laugh. He seemed to really like my mom, so I really wanted him to like me too. He never seemed to want me around when he visited.

I knew that lying was wrong. I remembered how angry my Nanny got with me when I lied about wearing the makeup I was given at a birthday party.

I wanted to wear the beautiful blue, shiny powder so badly. It was so beautiful, and I wanted to feel beautiful too.

“Young ladies that love God don’t wear makeup.” My aunt had gently explained. “You can have it for the drive home, but when we get home, I’m afraid we’re going to have to throw it out. You don’t want God to think you don’t like how He made you, do you?”

Of course I didn’t. I loved God, and I wanted to be a good girl so He would love me too. All I ever wanted was to be good enough to be loved.

But, the sparkles had my full attention. Only a little bit wouldn’t hurt….

“Is Ashley wearing makeup?” Nanny asked my aunt, her disapproval was evident in my shame filled mind.

“No.” I lied.

It never occurred to me that it was obvious that I was lying.

A few days, maybe a week later, Nanny stopped to talk to my uncle through the car window. I was so excited to see her. I hadn’t seen her since the makeup Birthday party, and I had already forgotten that I told her a lie.

“I love you Nanny!” I shouted through the window excitedly.

Nanny turned her small frame toward me, and looked at me with sad eyes through her round glasses. She didn’t say a word to me, but she asked my uncle to remind me that little girls who lie don’t deserve to be spoken to. Then she walked away. I was crushed. I also never forgot how bad lying was, and took great care to be as honest as I could be from then on.

“A lie is a lie, whether you’re joking or not.”

I wasn’t sure I liked how that sounded, but lying was wrong and Jeremy believed it. Jeremy liked my mom, so I had to make sure to be very careful to only tell the truth. No more jokes.

It’s really hard to make people laugh when you have to worry about not making God angry all of the time. If joking is the same as lying, God must be a very serious, stern person.

If I were the Silence
What would I say?
What would compel me
To throw Silence away?

Would I speak with a voice
Calm, free of regret?
Would I whisper a prayer
Filled with hope, but yet…

Would I make a false start
And then change my mind
Would the thoughts I see swirling
Take form or rewind?

If I were the Silence
What stories I’d tell
Of people who loved
And people who fell

With wisdom beside me
I ponder and think
For Silence no more
I am once I speak.

Saw this floating around, and thought I would give a side by side comparison. This meme replaces “turn their ears from the truth” with “they won’t listen to what the Bible says.”

What’s the difference?

Simply put, the Bible, as we know it, and as it is implied here, didn’t exist at the time these words were written.

The concept is true, but the impact is insidious.

By correlating “the Bible” with “what is true”, you take away the readers trust in their God-given ability to use logic and sound reasoning.

You breed a fear of questioning the tenants of the religion they were raised in.

You create an “us vs. them” mentality.

You remove the quality of worshipping God with your whole mind, and replace it with the expectation of “obedience to those in spiritual authority over you”. (Which by the way, isn’t a biblical concept. Jesus removed hierarchy.)

One component of Spiritual abuse is removing the peace of a relationship with God and replacing that peace with the fear of getting it wrong. Because, eternal consequences.

Impact over intention.

Contrary to the beliefs of many, the Bible was never meant to be taken literally. Individual books need to be read and understood in their entirety in light of the context of the culture, and original audience.

The book of Timothy was written to Timothy, not to present day American Christians. We benefit, but we are not the intended audience.

If you disagree, feel free to apply 1 Timothy 5:23 just as literally.

If drinking wine is a suggestion for Timothy only because of culture, time, health, etc. so is the rest of the letter.

If the rest of the letter is literal, so is the command to drink a little wine.

Either way, enjoy!

Kindness Challenge:

Determine to be kind to the very first person you encounter tomorrow, regardless of the situation, and regardless of if they are kind to you. Then, do the same for the next person. Repeat.

Some examples of kindness in action:

Participate in a pay-it-forward line at your favorite coffee shop. Better yet, start the line.

Move to the far left lane (if safe to do so) when approaching a merge lane.

Compliment someone for something other than their looks.

Make eye contact and smile. (Just don’t be creepy about it.)

Hold the door open for someone. Even better- hold the elevator.

Let someone cut in front of you in line.

Have bottles of water prepared for pan-handlers, even if you have witnessed them driving a nice car 2 blocks earlier.

There are so many real life, practical ways to show love, and religion, culture, race, and politics have no bearing.