This is the end of the year 2021.  All in all, this was a year that had a lot of highs and lows personally.  2020 was incredibly hard as it was the year of the lockdown from Covid, not being able to run regular school classes and a summer program, as well as the loss of my grandpa and dog, Kaiser.  This year started hard as I lost my aunt Rhonda, but since that rough start, I was able to finish my second year of teaching (that also was my first year completely in person) and I was able to have a normal summer program at the Bridge of Storm Lake.  I am in my third year of teaching now, and while I will not say it has been the easiest time, I am still continuing to grow as a teacher and am feeling a bit more confident in my job.  

One thing about my year of 2021 was my word of the year which was joy.  This was not always easy, which is why I believe that picking the word of joy was a good decision.  I will say that this is the year that I have struggled the most with my mental health.  Again, there were a few deaths in the family, going back to school after a pandemic, and growing disrespect in the classrooms.  There have been a lot of reasons why it is not always the easiest to be the happiest.  However, I know that joy is always most important.  I had a joy journal where I wrote down one joyful thing from everyday.  Even when there were lows, this helped me remember to find joy in everyday and in every situation.   

Some of my goals from the year of 2021 were reading 30 books, run 800 miles, squat 200 pounds, and participate in my first golf tournament. I have achieved these goals, and I do believe that I have grown as a person in these certain areas.  I am a goal setting person, and I am happy that I have these simple goals that help me grow in knowledge and exercise.  The one goal that I didn’t completely achieve was writing a draft of my first book.   I have done a lot of writing, including writing for this blog every week, but I know that I have a lot of growing to do in my writing and patience in order to achieve a full draft of a book.   

This year I also had an opportunity to be a coach figure in more ways than one.  At the beginning of this year, I finished my first season as a speech coach, and this included both Large Group and Individual.  I am also currently in that season right now.  While this can provide me with a lot of stress, there is a lot of joy that comes out of seeing my students get to be creative and have fun developing their roles in Reader’s Theatre and Choral Reading.  I also found that I really enjoy working with individual speech students and developing their skills at speaking in front of others.  I also got the chance to work as an assistant cross country coach for the first time this year.  If you know me, and/or have read my blog you know that I loved cross country in high school, and I obviously still love to run, so getting this opportunity to run and work with my middle/high school cross country team was a wonderful experience.  I loved the chance to run or bike next to the runners, and I loved getting to cheer them on at every cross country meet, including the state meet at the end of the season.  

This year I also got the chance to lead the summer team at the Bridge for my second year.  However, this year was the first summer I led that was more “normal” and didn’t have as many Covid restrictions.  I have found more and more that I love getting the chance to develop college age students into leaders and getting to support them throughout both the summer and in their college careers. I have gotten the chance to see one of my summer team members play football in college, and I saw the other one participate in a play.  It was great to see their other passions and know that even though the summer was over, I know they will be wonderful people and will grow into powerful leaders, whatever it is they choose to do with their lives.  

There are a few different ways that I need to grow in this following year of 2022.  One of those things is growing financially.  I don’t always spend the greatest amount of thinking in regard to my financial decisions.  I would really like to finish paying off my student loans from college, so that will be another great help to my financial health and saving of money.  Another item is to continue to make exercise and fitness goals.  However, I have decided instead of making a total miles goal, I would rather be able to run a 10k race in less than an hour. However,  I hope that I can run about the same amount of miles that I have the past two years, which is between 750 and 800 miles.  Along with exercising, I would like to increase my squatting to 230 pounds.  Besides that, I want to be able to find more ways to volunteer at anti-human trafficking organizations, and compete in a few more writing competitions (especially now that I received a manual typewriter for Christmas).  

In conclusion, 2021 was another long year in a pandemic, but it was also a year where I got to develop friendships, achieve goals, and complete different jobs.  There was a way to get more exposure in my writing through my first writing competition, raise over $1000 for Dressember, and run a half-marathon.  All in all, this was a good year, and I am hopeful that I can continue to grow in the year of 2022.  I am grateful for the year the Lord has given me, and I am excited about the opportunity for the next one. 

Recently I was looking at verses of the day.  The verse of the day as of recently was Psalm 119:18, which says,“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”  The Lord has a law that is gracious, loving, and provides us with a great amount of freedom.  However, we often as people, including myself, can look at items in the law and not understand how much value it will have on our futures.  How much happier we will be when we don’t live with the anger, sadness, or the things of this world that are actually very much bringing us down or negatively impacting us.  This is even when those items of the world seem exciting, passionate, and mesmerizing.  

When I was a kid, I often begrudgingly followed the laws of my parents.  I remember the one that I despised the most was going to bed at my bed time.  I am a night owl still to this day, and I felt as though all my playing and creative works were being shortened by my mom telling me it was time to go to bed.  However, as many of you know, the reason my mom chose bed time was to make sure I started living a healthy lifestyle, and one can only have a healthy lifestyle when getting enough sleep.  As I have grown up, sleep is not the law or the item that I have needed to focus on.  I actually now, of course, get very excited when I have the chance to sleep more.  I love the chance to go to bed early and sleep in late.  I have found that the best way to function and stay good at my job as a teacher is through having enough sleep.  

I have found that as I get older, I know that I need to avoid the other adult temptations that can come from wanting to be like everyone else.  It can be just as easy to fall into temptation as an adult as it is when you are a young child.  It just seems as though the items of temptation are a bit different.  I have noticed that I really need to make sure I don’t always talk like some of the other friends that I am hanging out with.  When I am with my friends from school, who are wonderful and whom I love, I can sometimes start to gossip or even use words and phrases flooded with profanity.  They start doing it (mainly because we have stressful jobs and need to vent) that soon I start to do that as well, and there are other times when I am the one who initiates the gossip or the venting with profanity.     

Recently I was watching a Youtube channel called “The Take.”  This show takes a look at something that is shown in shows, movies, and other entertainment.  I watched one about a good girl who is described in many movies and television shows as a girl who is innocent, follows the rules, and likes to be nice and timid.  The T.V shows and movies love to take that girl and somehow make her eventually go bad, where she breaks rules, and is more experimental with drinking and sex.  This is not supposed to be considered the bad moment of the movie, but rather the moment where the girl finally finds herself.  The greatest example of this is Sandy from Grease.  This did make me realize that we really do, in life, idealize those who don’t follow the law or love to be “bad.” The ones who are following the law and are timid need to change to be more like everyone else.  That is their true self.   

Even though the world provides a lot of temptations and objects of distraction, there are ways that we can fight the desire and urge to break the law of God.  The biggest thing that we can do in order to appreciate the law is to spend more time in it.  We can’t follow or learn from God’s law if we never read or study it.  I understand that it is not always easy to read the Bible.  I love to do Bible studies over Christian books by Christian authors.  I think that this is important too, and there is a lot that we can learn from Christian books and authors, but there are times when I need to be better about spending time in the Bible and really diving in deep to God’s word.  The Law comes from the Bible.  Christian authors study it and write books on it, but it is important to get the law from the source itself.  

Another verse that discusses this topic is Psalm 119:9-11 which also happens to be in the same psalm as the verse listed above. “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.  I have hidden your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.”  This was a verse that I have put to memory in this past year, which is incredibly fitting as this verse talks about hiding his word in our hearts and memorizing pieces of scripture.  There are a lot of benefits to memorizing scripture including being able to use it when you are tempted or in a bad situation. We are all tempted to sin in our own different ways.  This could be in our impatience, our gossip, our loose words, our worship of different gods, or any other item that your particular temptations may be.  The good news is that pretty much any temptation that you as a person can be struggling with, there are some verses that are in the Bible to help you in your time of trouble.  

This is all a good reminder that the Lord’s law has been a gift given to us.  These are the words of God who, just like the best teachers and parents, wants to give us rules and regulations that will make us the most happy and filled with joy.  There are definitely times when this will be hard, and there will be many moments when we will want to be like everyone else in the world.  But we have the word that we can read on a regular basis as well as memorize for our assistance in becoming the best God-followers that we can be. 

If you know me, you know one of my all-time favorite worship or Christian songs is “Sparrows,” by Cory Asbury.  This is a good reminder in a song that the Lord takes good care of us and that he always loves us.  We have the opportunity to live with the Lord forever in this world and beyond in God’s kindness and goodness. The lyrics of this song have many other pieces of truth such as a good reminder that we don’t have to fear the future because the Lord has a plan.  

One of the lyrics that recently was brought to my attention was, “A heart that’s planted in forgiveness doesn’t dwell in the past.”  What a beautiful line!  All of the other lines in the song had to do with the birds in the sky and the trees in the ground and how the Lord takes care of them, so we don’t have to worry about ourselves.  This line had to do with our own hearts. This line was a reminder that the Lord really loves us enough and he will always forgive us, no matter what bad things we have done or no matter how many times we have walked away from Him.  He will always love us and care for us.  

This is also a good reminder of the importance of forgiveness, both of ourselves and those around us. There are many things that people do wrong to us, but holding on to those items is not what will help us prosper in our lives. While it can be hard to forgive and to think about the terrible things others have done to us, it also is a good reminder that God has forgiven us so much and that is the example he has set for us.  The second part of the lyrics is what almost brought tears to my eyes.  The Lord doesn’t want us to think about the past.  We don’t always forgive ourselves.  There are times that we can make mistakes in our own lives, and get very frustrated with ourselves.  However, the Lord wants us to be able to forgive ourselves and to not dwell in our choices that we made in the past.  Whatever choices or decisions that were made in the past, do not matter because the Lord has forgiven us.  

Being willing to forgive is one of the best things that we can do.   I believe there are many reasons that we should do this, not just because the Lord has told us, but because we should do it as a way to live healthier: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  There has been a lot of study and research into whether or not forgiveness can have a deep impact on our health.  John Hopkins medicine conducted research and published an article that described that when people are more naturally forgiving and willing to let go of grudges, they are less likely to struggle with depression and anxiety.  “Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress.”  (John Hopkins Medical)  However, as you can imagine, when you are not willing to let go of anger, you have a more likely chance of struggling with depression and anxiety.  

Recently, I was watching the show Dance moms.  (I know, that is such a healthy and righteous show-sarcasm.  I actually sometimes get mad at myself for loving it because I know that it was a tragic event for a lot of the kids.  That could be a blog post for another day.)  I watched this scene where one of the moms apologized for her behavior in front of the other moms and to the dance teacher herself.  This was received well, but she was a bit upset that she didn’t get the same apology that she gave out.  She was willing to move on, but at the end of the day, she wanted the same apology and chance to hand out forgiveness that she gave out to the other moms.  This reminds me that sometimes, we as people also need to be willing to say our apologies for the wrongs that we do or the part that we take in arguments, even if we are not going to receive the same apology or the same reception of forgiveness.   However, this is something that we now should know how to do as we have had the Lord as an example.  

Last reminder and example that the Lord has given us is that he also forgets our sins and throws them as far as the east is from the west.  This is mentioned in Psalm 103:1, “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” We never have to think about our transgressions ever again.  If we have forgiveness from our Lord and we are willing to forgive ourselves, then we need to make sure to learn from our mistakes and move into our future.  We also need to be willing to do this with the others that are around us.  A heart that is completely surrounded and planted in forgiveness never needs to dwell or stress about the past, just the future growing relationship with the Lord. 

Link to John Hopkins Medicine article: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/forgiveness-your-health-depends-on-it

Quick introduction: I submitted this following devotional for my first writing challenge through Compel training which is a part of Proverbs 31 ministries. While this submission was not accepted, I am still happy with what I wrote and what I have learned from this experience. I am aware that rejection is a part of life, especially when you want to make it in a subjective field such as art or music. Learning how to grow, even amidst rejection is a wonderful skill. I will also say that I grew from this experience as a writer. I was only allowed 500 words in this submission. I know that I have a tendency to get long-winded with both my writing and speech. Being limited in the words meant that I had to pick the correct words and sentence phrasing to still get across the message that I wanted to say. I can’t wait to continue to submit my works for other writing challenges and soon that will help me be the exact writer that I want to be.

With that introduction done, here is my devotional that I wrote, Seeing their Joy. I hope you enjoy a piece of writing that I put a lot of work and love into.

I am a first year cross country coach, and I am absolutely loving it.  I love getting to watch my athletes compete in races.  I love getting to know each and every one of them better.  However, my absolute favorite thing is getting to hear from my athletes that they really love to run, and they can’t wait to run again.  One time at practice one of my athletes yelled at me, “I love running Miss Post, do you love running?” to which I replied, “Yes, I love running!”  It was such a joyful and refreshing experience I was able to witness.  It is hard to run, and they may not enjoy every single second of practice, but for a majority there is an enjoyment that comes from spending time together at practices.  

This was a good reminder for me that I should be looking for other’s joys in all experiences and in walks of life.  In Proverbs 10:28, “The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.”  The righteous are in reference to those who have been made right with the Lord.  They are the ones who have been born again in God’s love and are therefore corrected from their immoral behavior and sin.  Because these who are righteous have a great relationship with the Lord, they should be filled with joy.  Because they have been filled with joy, other’s joys should not be a threat or take away their own.  The prospect of the righteous is joy for everyone and for all who hope for good, not just for themselves.  

Paul was one of the best men of the Bible finding joy through others.  Paul had a long life and for most of his Christian walk, it was also very hard.  He was put in jail several times and would eventually be murdered in Rome.  However, Paul is also known for his letters he wrote to the different churches in the area.  These letters were always filled with encouragement and hope.  There were times that he would give advice or would offer a great deal of prayer, but there was always joy present.  Paul knew that every success and joyful experience that the churches in the different countries experienced, was another joyful experience for the Lord, and therefore a win for him as well.  

This verse and Paul, as a man of the Bible, serve as a good reminder that those who are righteous, or those who have been made right with the Lord, care about joy and think about joy on a regular basis.  This is even when it could be very easy to be filled with competition and jealousy.  When we are living in a “me” society, it can be very hard to root for others, but when we are filled with joy for others, we start to become more joyful ourselves.  

Lately,  I have been struggling with my impatience.  I have always struggled with impatience, but lately it has been with the feeling that people, specifically my co-workers, are treating me a bit begrudgingly because I am sometimes the “nice person.”  I am often the person they can get their anger out on.   I find this really hard because I don’t like being taken advantage of.  I am personally struggling with how to best approach this as a Christian.  I don’t want to be walked over.  I don’t want to feel like the punching bag for others’ problems.  But, I want to be God’s walking light.  I want to share his radiance and want to be the light that this world sees.  I want to know that my integrity and character stay intact, even while others don’t and are not acting the most agreeable.  I know who I am and more importantly I know whose I am.  I am a child of God, and that should be what matters most.     

This was a problem that many in the Bible faced as well.  In Romans 12:18 it says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  Paul wrote this to the church of Romans after he had seen many not getting along, even when they were supposed to be in the same family, God’s family.  In the end, creating harmony can only be done as long as it depends on you and not on others.  Even when the other members are making life hard, it is very important that we keep our integrity.  It is important that we don’t spend our time speaking harshly to them, we shouldn’t gossip, and we shouldn’t try to create hostility or use words our enemies could use against us. 

I have a perfect example from this past week.  I was talking to a coworker, and I got very upset by their comment that they made to me.  This being said, I responded in a way I hardly ever do.  I was snippy and I raised my voice.  From her perspective, it very much seemed as though I was yelling at her.  Now, this was already after a bad day, and filled with disappointment from many other parties, students, and just generally, myself.  Then put salt on the wound, and I was ready to yell out in pain.  However, afterwards I was filled with deep regret.  I don’t know so much if I was filled with regret for the fact that I had gotten upset.  While I did want to stand up for myself, there was also a part of me that didn’t like that I didn’t act with my usual integrity. 

Romans 12 will continue its theme of living in Harmony in verses 19 and 20.  These verses remind us that we should not take revenge, but rather if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  Basically, we need to do the contrary to what our flesh and our human hearts want.  They want to seek revenge and to get even, but our God-like heart should want to show love and support even when that person does not love us equally.  The Lord also reminds us that in verse 19 we need to let the Lord avenge us and fight for our injustices.  In a recent church service, I was reminded of this.  The pastor asked us some prompting questions including, “Do you believe in the Lord enough that he will avenge for you”  Basically asking that if we truly trust the Lord, than we shouldn’t feel the need to fight back for our injustice, because we will know that the Lord is there for us and will take care of us and will make things right and just.  If we then believe that we don’t need to take the issue into our own hands, then we can spend more of our time thinking about how to act more like the Lord.  

It is also important to remember that God and the Holy Spirit are the main source of help that we have in this world.  I often believe that I can will myself to be completely patient and kind no matter what happens.  However, it is never really, truly me that is the one that becomes more and more patient.  It is the Holy Spirit that the Lord has given me.  What is the most important is for me to remember that I need to pray and focus my attention more on the Lord and how he can help me achieve my patience rather than by myself.  

The thing that I have found helps me the most in this matter is to talk it out with someone else.  I need to make sure this is actually talking it out as opposed to venting.  I often can find myself talking badly about the situation, making myself sound like the obvious sufferer and victim and the other person, the evil, malicious one in the wrong.  I need to make sure that I find someone who I can talk out my problems with, and to find growth.  I know that this for most people can be a therapist, or a mentor. I have also taken moments to write things down about my feelings and why I feel wronged, and then more importantly what I can do to change the situation.  This is, again, one of the many reasons why I have a blog. I definitely need to continue to grow in this, but I know that the older I get and the more mature I become, I will be able to live in harmony with more and more people, even when they do wrong against me.   

For the last few months in church we have been covering Romans 12. In this chapter, there is a lot of description about the different jobs and gifts that the Lord, through his grace and mercy, have given us.  These verses say, “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.” The Lord has given each of us a role and items that come easier to us and ones that he really wants us to capitalize on.  

Even though the Lord has given each of us our certain roles and our certain positions in life, the Lord also does expect us to slowly but surely work on the items that we are not as good at.   That is why we are supposed to grow in all the fruits of the spirit. One of those gifts that the Lord has given out but also has an expectation that we all grow in is kindness or mercy.  I enjoyed that my pastor spent time highlighting this particular gift.  It can be very easy to believe that kindness is not a gift, but rather a weakness.  However, it is definitely a gift to be able to give kindness and love to the people who are in this world that then make the world a better place.   

I am not always the person to believe that all you have to do is be kind.  We can look at kindness as sometimes good enough.  As long as a person is kind, they don’t have to worry about fighting for justice, or they don’t have to be a witness for the Lord.  A person can be a quote on quote “good person” by just being kind.  Being kind is important, but it can often be looked at as a word that is shallow.  However, when I think of kindness, I think of a person who deeply cares about the other.  This means that kindness goes deeper when a person cares about the person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.  This is caring about justice, their peace, and that they feel cared for and have been taken care of with hospitality.  

I believe that everyone, especially right now needs a little bit more of kindess.  A Proverbs that I really enjoy is Proverbs 16:24 that says, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweet and delightful to the soul and healing to the body.”  Kind words are refreshing to the body and to the soul.  It seems as though everyone is at odds with every issue and argue about everything that pops up.  Because of this, there is a lot more hostility in the world.  However, when we take the moment to really be kind, the deep kind of kind, when we care about our neighbor’s social, emotional, and physical well-being, we are able to provide real healing.  

I know that as a teacher, I have felt a little more discouraged by the way I see students and parents acting and the way they talk to both me and the other teachers in the area.  I even sometimes get very exhausted from the way I see some students talk to their peers.  It seems as though I only see items being said with sarcasm and a mean heart and not with a kind, compassionate, and encouraging heart.  At the end of the long days, and at the end of all of the stress we deal with on a regular basis, it is so much easier to hear kind words that are sweet to our souls.  

My challenge for everyone is to pick one person that is in your life that you can write a letter to, and that letter should be filled with a whole bunch of kind words and encouragement.  I know words aren’t for everyone.  I know that I love words because that is why I have a blog, so maybe the idea of writing a letter or a card to someone isn’t a hard concept for myself and other word-lovers, but I believe that putting into words how you appreciate someone is a great beginning to honor them.  

This blog post is coming out the weekend after Thanksgiving.  This is the season when it is easy to appreciate and love others.  The holiday of Thanksgiving is set aside specifically, so we can say what we are thankful for.  However, it is very important that we don’t just take this time to really talk about what we are thankful for, but rather that we spend every part of the year discussing what we are thankful for.  It is a good reminder that we need to continue this feeling of gratitude and this feeling of kindness throughout the rest of the year. 

I have noticed in my life in the last few years that I tend to get really mad, really impatient, and even upset with God over the little things that pop up into my life.  This could be losing my phone at a cross country meet, locking my keys in my car, spilling the noodles for my Mac and cheese, etc.  No doubt these are frustrating moments.  These are things that put us behind, make us do extra work in something that wasn’t planned. These are the moments that I start grumbling, or I start cursing.  I am ashamed of these moments, and I knew that I needed to take some time reflecting on why I can get so upset over these little things.  

However, the thing that bothers me the most is that I do get upset with God in these moments.  I yell up to heaven and I ask why there are these small inconveniences that have to pop up in my life.  I will usually have guilt about this and pray for forgiveness quickly after. It is strange to think that when my grandpa or my aunt died, however, I never got mad at the Lord.  These were big tribulations that never made me question the Lord’s love for me.  I never was upset because I knew that the Lord said there were going to be hard things that come up in life. I think the reason for this is because I have this terrible thought, probably from Satan, that the Lord is laughing at me in my small inconveniences.  I start to wonder if the Lord is finding enjoyment out of my struggles.  This is a piece of entertainment for him as I run around trying to find the small thing that I lost or hitting my head on a cabinet.  Satan is very good at using our weak moments against us to attempt to drive a wedge between us and the Lord.  

However, the thing that I believe the Lord is trying to teach us, and specifically me, in these small inconveniences is that we need to slow down.  There are many times that I get stuck trying to do 10 things at once, so I can get a million things done in a day.  When I am going to school or I am working in the summer, I am on a very strict schedule.  Therefore, I am so very upset and impatient when my plans get ruined.   The Lord, I believe, is trying to teach me that I don’t need to get all of those things done.  I don’t have to make such a hectic schedule, and I don’t have to be everywhere at once.  I also know that I would actually lose less items and would forget less things if I did slow down.  If I took my time, and I didn’t get concerned about getting all those things done, I would probably less frequently forget to do something or I wouldn’t misplace things as much because I took the time to put them in the correct place.  

I think that the Lord is also often trying to remind me that I am just a human being, and that I need to be humble.   I am often very proud of myself for how much I can get accomplished in a day.  I am always so happy if I can keep myself on track.  When I have a lot of these mishaps, I am reminded that often the things that I achieve in a day are only able to be achieved from the Lord.  The moments where the little things are going wrong should be a reminder that I am not meant to achieve everything on my own.  It is ok, more than ok, to ask others for help, and definitely to pray to the Lord for guidance and assistance.  

There are many times that the Bible brings up patience.  Obviously the biggest lesson is that we need to have patience in times of trial and tribulation, but it is also highly important to have patience in everyday life. One verse I found that discusses patience is Proverbs 14:29.  This says, “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”  This is a good reminder that when one is patient, they are also understanding, empathetic, and have a better handle on situations and relationships that are taking place on earth.  This also is a good reminder that those who don’t have patience, and those who get upset about the smaller things look foolish.  

I am still going back and forth on whether or not I will pick the word patience, or I will pick the word courage as my word of the year for 2022.  These are the two words that I feel I need the most growth in, and I have felt this way since I was a child. I think this is something that I do really need to consider because I do really need to make sure I am working on patience in the small items and in just everyday life.  I don’t want to get impatient and curse underneath my breath when I am behind someone slow on the road.  I don’t want to get instantly mad when I can’t seem to find the item that I had just misplaced.  I want to continually grow to be a calm and peaceful human on earth as often as I can in order to serve as a better example of the Lord.  

Recently I was watching one of my favorite shows which happens to be “Say Yes to the Dress.”  It’s a great show, right?!  Can you think of a better show than watching women try on their future wedding dresses and deciding which ones they are going to buy and wear on their wedding day.  Anyway, one of the comments that they make often is trying to be respectful of the budget that the brides have set forth.  This also reminded me of when people will use the saying trying to be respectful of people’s time.  This made me think about what I think being respectful is.  I think for a majority of time I considered being respectful as just being kind to one another.  However,  now I am starting to think of it as showing consideration and thought to the person that you are with.  

Respect is being cognisant of someone else’s feelings and their place in life.  The best example I can give of this is in regards to food.   Food is a big piece of our lives though, so that is why it serves as a great example.  I have had moments where I have friends who are on a strict diet for health and personal reasons.  Even though I wasn’t on the diet, I knew that I should be aware of their feelings and shouldn’t eat the food that may seem tempting to them in front of them.  Therefore, I was trying to be respectful of my friend’s feelings.  I know many people who have done this with their languages when they are around me.  They may try to hide their harsher words or swear words because they know that I try not to speak with swear words.  Similar to in “Say Yes to the Dress,” when the consultants are trying to work within the bride’s budget, they are being aware of the financial stability of the bride.  

There is also respect that one should have for the people who are in power or in authority.  This is even something that is mentioned in the Bible.  Romans 13:1 says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”  The Lord knows who is in the government authority positions.  I am not saying that he agrees with what every single authority person is doing.  I am not saying that he believes that every authority is a good representation of God.  In fact, many of them fall incredibly short.  I do know that a lot of people who are not fans of many of the representatives in government currently.  However, part of respect is learning how to follow the laws while still being able to stay within our moral grounds and thoughts.  

There are examples of people who do this in the Bible.  For example, Daniel is known for not agreeing with the king of his time.  He didn’t agree with the food that the king wanted his soldiers and servants to eat, because Daniel disagreed with the cleanliness of the food.  Overall, it didn’t follow the morals that he and God had set for himself.  He simply told those who are in charge of him that the food they were requiring was not what Daniel wanted as part of his clean Jewish eating.  However, he never was mean or disrespectful.   Therefore, as long as he was still able to fulfill the duties the king and his authority figures set out, they agreed to let him try his clean eating and eating the food that was more morally fitting.  Daniel was able to do this, and he even succeeded more than the men who were eating the food that the king provided.  

The passage of where this is seen is in Daniel 1, and especially in verses 15 and 16, “At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.”  The Lord also would bless Daniel and the others with great knowledge of dreams and literature.  This would make it so Daniel had an even higher calling in the king’s government than his other workers.  

This also includes many of the others who are following the authority of their bosses or supervisors.  There are going to be times when we don’t want to always follow the bosses and supervisors that we have.  We may not always agree with their rules or with their policies.  I am not even saying that we have to.  However, there should be a certain amount of respect that we should give to those who are in charge of us.  We should all be able to approach our supervisors with a question yet acknowledge them taking the time to listen and hopefully change whatever is on our hearts.  

Being able in all situations to disagree with someone, but being able to speak these thoughts without arguing, or angering the other party is highly important for advancing the kingdom of God.  Every single day, besides just our bosses or those who are in authority over us, we will encounter those who are different and have differing perspectives.  I believe it is very important that we are able to speak our truth and our beliefs, especially when defending the Lord or our religious perspectives, but our other goal is to gain members of the body of Christ and that will only happen through kindness and respect.  This will happen in the moments where we show love and compassion to those who are different from us and will be willing to love and care for all that we see and meet.  Being able to do that will speak more volume than getting along and being kind to the ones who always agree with us.  

Overall, being respectful is being willing to think of others.  This is again being aware of more than what is going on in our lives and what we find as disrespectful or awful.  It is being willing to not argue on everything and to be caring and compassionate enough to think about how they must be feeling.  It is being willing and able to speak your thoughts that may be different from others with humility and love.  This is being able to be a valuable employee and citizen while also being able to follow your morale obligations. 

Every year I participate in an event called, “Dressember.”  Throughout the entire month of December, every single day, even on the weekends, I wear a dress.  Yes, this means in the really cold weather, I am wearing dresses.  (Don’t worry too much though, I have leggings and sweaters to wear with my dresses as well.  I am not completely crazy.)     The reason that I participate in this event is because it is a way to raise awareness about the issue of Human Trafficking and modern Day slavery.  More people learn and hear about the problem of Human Trafficking when I and others participate in events that raise awareness to it.  There are many who have heard the term, but they may not exactly know what it is and how it can impact billions of people around the world.  This has become a fundraiser that many people are starting to recognize about me as well. I know that since I have started participating in Dressember, even my students at school are becoming more and more aware of what the fundraiser is for and why it is a good thing.  

Along with raising awareness about human trafficking, I am also given the chance to raise money to help end this problem world wide.  Last year, I raised a little over a $1000 on ending human trafficking in the world.  These funds go directly to other non-profit organizations such as International Justice Mission or A21 campaign that go into the areas that have those who are being trafficked and rescue them.  These organizations, yes, do complete investigations, rescue operations, and they also make sure to supply those who have been rescued with the items they need in order to achieve success and reach happiness.  

Another great reason that I love Dressember is that I love to wear dresses, and I love the chance to think about fun and cute outfits that I can put together.  The whole reason that this organization started originally was as a style challenge, and I definitely love using this opportunity to grow in my own personal style.  Every year that I do this, I find a new way to put dresses and outfits together in order to grow in my confidence and my love of style.  This also serves as a reminder that we as all people can use our passions to help make an impact in the world.  I know that Blythe Hill, the original founder of Dressember, has a passion for fashion and even studied design.  Creating Dressember gave her a chance to complete a new style challenge once a year.  Then through that passion and style challenge, she has now created a nonprofit that raised 3 million dollars in their campaign in 2020. 

All in all, I have fallen in love with Dressember for many different reasons.  I absolutely love that I have the opportunity to do this fundraiser, and I am hoping that I can raise about 1500 dollars this year.   I know that in order to raise enough money for a rescue operation, one needs to be able to raise around 8,000 dollars.  This is a rough estimate, and each rescue operation could be different in regards to price and even the amount of people saved, but overall this is how much money it does take to fund a rescue operation to help save those who are trapped in slavery.  This means that if I raise my goal of 1500, then I can be a little short of a quarter of a rescue operation! 

All in all, I am using my platform of this blog as well as my passion for writing as another call to help.  I am also going to be giving a challenge.  The first challenge is, of course, for you to think about participating in your own dressember style challenge.   Make a dedication to wear a dress or a tie throughout the entire month of December.  This could be a page that you choose to start on Dressember.org.  The other thing that you could do is sponsor or give a money donation to those who are already participating in Dressember.  If it is pleasing to anyone,and if you would like to give me a donation, I would greatly appreciate it.  My page is https://dressember2021.funraise.org/fundraiser/courtney-post

Yep, you read my title correctly.  This blog post is going to be about food.  This is definitely one of the weirder titles that I have had on my blog.  However, I realized recently that my relationship with food, as well as our cultures, can actually have a big saying in our relationship with God.  Despite what many people will think, God does have some words to say in regards to food and our relationship with it that we need to reflect on as his followers.  I recently was watching a youtube video by Kiana Docherty called, “The Disturbing Truth of Mukbangs,” and I realized that our culture’s relationship with food is one that needs to be reflected upon.  

If you are not on youtube a lot like me, you may not know what a Mukbang is.  A Mukbang is “a video, especially one that is live-streamed, that features a person eating a large quantity of food and addressing the audience.”  The term from the years of 2017 to 2019 was searched at least 100,000 times on Youtube, and the youtubers who do Mukbangs can raise over $100,000 dollars because of subscribers watching these Mukbangs.  Essentially, you are watching people overeat.  You are watching them enjoy their own gluttony and food.  

So we have this one side where we see people who are obsessed with watching others eat food, but then we also have many people, including teenagers who still struggle with eating disorders.  Eating disorders in the sense that these teens choose not to eat or eat and then throw up, so they can achieve a thinner size.    I know that since I have become a teacher, I often hear about some of my students who are struggling with an eating disorder and often not eating in order to stay skinny or to achieve a certain weight. So on the one hand you have a culture who loves to watch and maybe participate in making Mukbangs which is again essentially watching people eat food for the duration of the video, to also a high amount of teen girls and boys who are not eating in order to stay thin.  These are two very different extremes, and I am going to say here that neither one is healthy.  

What does the Bible say about food? One thing is that the Bible talks about gluttony.  The Lord condemns those who are gluttons.  Some of the verses that speak wrongly to being obsessed with overeating and gluttony are Philippians 3:19 and Proverbs 23:2.  Philippians 3:!9 says, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”  This verse clearly points out that there are those who have made feeding their stomach and the food that they enjoy as their God.  They care more about eating and feeding themselves, plus indulging in the things of this world.  This was used in the New Testament, but this concept is also referred to in the Old Testament.  Some of the people who were sinning in Sodom were sinning because they had a love of food and indulging themselves.  They were more self-indulgent and not caring about the needy.  

Then there is also a verse of Proverbs 23:2 which says, “and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”  This verse is intense.  This verse is a clear warning against having a clear obsession with food or with anything that is not the Lord.  This verse is a reminder that we need to get a handle on our obsessions before they become a major problem.  This doesn’t mean that we should put a knife to our throats, but maybe we need to talk to our friends and mentors about our obsession with food.  We also need to make sure to pray to the Lord and bring him any concerns or problems that we have with food.   I am not a therapist, but I know that if there are times when one feels they are overly obsessed with food or counting calories, then seeking professional help is also another great option.  

Does this mean that we should never talk about food?  I am again going to go to the Bible and answer this question with a no.  The Bible does think that we should be hospitable, especially when sharing the Gospel or through growing in fellowship.  Because food is filled with nutrition and everyone needs to eat, it is important to include food and to make sure your guests are fed and enjoying their food when you have people over.  

The Lord also speaks well of food.  The Lord is the one who made food.  In Genesis 9:3, God was telling Adam that all the food that is on plants can be for him and something that he can enjoy.  “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”  The Lord wanted to make sure that Adam and all the people who are in the world are able to enjoy food and feel well nourished.  Oftentimes throughout the Bible, there is a lot of discussion of the disciples eating together and convincing others to be hospitable including serving meals to those who are being shown love.  This is because God knew that food is important to creating relationships.  Many share their thoughts and emotions while they are eating shared meals.  

In conclusion, God created food and wants it to be used for goodness.  This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t ever enjoy it, but also means that we shouldn’t become obsessed with it.  The last verse that I am going to highlight is 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  This is a good reminder that no matter what we do, or whatever is in our lives, we need to honor the Lord.  Some helpful tips I have tried to learn is to pray over my food.  I am not the best at this, but I know that I should make sure to pray thankfulness over what the Lord has given me.  Then again the next important thing is that I need to make sure to share food in a state of gratefulness and in a state of hospitality.  I need to make sure that I don’t look to food as my own god, but rather as a gift from the one and only God.