Recently I have been reading the book by Lysa Terkeurst called, “ Forgiving what you can’t forget.”  While this book definitely talks about forgiveness and how we need to forgive those who have wronged us, it also goes into how we can best heal from the pain the person has put upon us.  Because if we are honest, often the reason that we don’t forgive someone is because they have hurt us very deeply, and we can’t seem to get over that hurt. They may even bring up some pieces that we don’t like about ourselves or the pieces that we are insecure over or the general fears and anxiety/trust issues that we have from our pasts.  If we can’t heal ourselves, then we won’t be able to fully forgive the other person, and vice verses.  We won’t really be able to fully heal from past or current pain by not forgiving those who have hurt us, even if they never apologize or acknowledge how they had hurt us.  This then will make it harder for us to fully move on and become more joyful happy beings.  

There was a quote that came up in this book that said, “We can’t expect another person to carry the burden of making us feel better about who we are.  They may need to do a better job at loving us… but that’s their journey to take if they are willing.”  This really hit me.  Lately I have been struggling with insecurity and anxiety, specifically at my job as a teacher and as a speech coach.  I often feel as though I am not doing a good job.  Then if I have also been hearing the complaints and groans of students not doing a good job or not liking what they are learning about has been a bit hard to take during this last month.  (We were all like that in high school at times, weren’t we).  Therefore there is a good portion of me that is waiting and hoping for someone to give me a compliment and make me feel better about myself.  However, as this quote showed me, while that would be nice and it would be encouragement, inherently it should not be anyone else’s job to show love to me in order to make me feel better.  

If I am going to be completely honest and vulnerable like I was hoping that I would do with this blog from the beginning. When I started to get my anxiety really bad, I was also starting to hear some voices in my head.  You know the ones that tell you so many negative things about yourself, even if you have never had anxiety, most of us have heard those voices that tell you aren’t good enough, that you are not worthy of love, and that you are not enough.  These are the voices that give us a great amount of self-doubt and make us insecure.  If you have never had any of those voices or thoughts or have any idea what I am talking about, please consider that to be one entirely great blessing that you possess.  However, somewhere along the way, I really started to believe those lies that were being spoken in my head.  I am so afraid of getting into trouble for doing something wrong, because I believe that everything that I do is inherently wrong.   I started to believe that I am always the one that is evil.  This being the way that it is makes it really hard to find joy in all situations, (one of the reasons that I knew I needed to pick the word joy as my word of the year for 2021).  The more that I am believing these lies, the more and more I start to get more stressed, have anxiety, frustration, and ultimately have less joy.  

Satan is a very crafty and evil serpent.  He had a terrible idea that besides just fighting people with wars, fights, death, lies, and physical pain, he will also attack us in the one place where we should feel the most secure—our own bodies and minds.  Have you really contemplated that thought?  When struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other mental health issue, it is really your own mind fighting against you.  It isn’t someone else.  It isn’t someone else talking to you or any other voice in your head, but rather it is voices that are constructed from your own brain. Granted, there are times when other people don’t help out the situation, but at the end of the day, the mental battle here is more on a personal level.  The devil, that sneaky devil, knew how to use our wonderfully God given creation of our mind and brains to hurt us. 

There are many times that I believe there needs to be other people who should make my life easier by giving me a lot of compliments and making me feel better about myself.  However, that is really not their job.  It is my job to find love and joy in myself.  This, of course, is with the help of the Lord.   I can’t expect others to help me love myself if I am not willing to put into the work as well.  While it is nice to be encouraged and supported by others, and I do believe that this can have an impact on a person, it is very important that we don’t start to fully depend on others.  

At the end of the day, we are not responsible for anyone else’s responsibilities.  We are only ever responsible for our reactions or our actions.  We need to always be willing to love others even when they are not the ones who are showcasing how to love in the best way.  We also can’t as easily do that when we are really against the personal self.  I have noticed that when I am upset with myself, anxious or stressed about something that I am involved in, it is a lot harder to love the others that are around me.  With the Lord’s help it is my job to forgive myself from the mistakes that I make and the sins that I commit, love myself the way that he made me, and finally be able to grow as a person and love others.  I hope that if you are another person that has been struggling with mental health, hurt from others, or just simply loving or forgiving yourself, that you will be reminded that you are valuable, cared for, and loved by a Father above who also wants you to love him and yourself in order to better thrive in this world.  He does not want you to have this pain from anxiety or the voices in your head.  I am hoping and praying for you to find that joy and love, as I am hoping for that myself as well.  

Recently I have been driving in fog.  I don’t love driving in fog.  I suppose that not many people do.  However, while I was driving home, at about the halfway point of driving, the fog was lifted.  It was a very beautiful sight.  It was like the world was cleared.  The sun looked so beautiful.  It was most definitely just double as beautiful because it had been so ugly and cloudy outside a little bit before.  This really gave me a great perspective to the beautiful sight and the beautiful world that is around me.  

Then the day after, I went to church (on a cloudy morning as well) where we sang one of my favorite hymns, “Be thou my vision.”  I made a bit of a connection while listening to this song.  I realized that the song was discussing how God should be our vision.  He should be the one helping us see the things that are pure and holy in the world.  Just like my vision was cleared from the ugly fog, the Lord wants to clear my vision from the ugly things of this world. The lyrics will say, “still be my vision, oh ruler of all.”  He is the one that is ruler of the whole world.  He is the one who is in control of everything, so he can see everything clearly and he wants us to be similar.  This is a prayer that we keep the Lord as our main set of eyes for our entire life.  

There are so many lyrics in this hymn that provide a great deal of wisdom.  Including, two lyrics back to back of, “waking or sleeping, my presence, my light;” and then “Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word.”  The Bible should be the light that guides our steps or light to our path.  There is even a verse in scripture that says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” We should really ever only look for one book for advice in our life, and that is the Holy Bible. There are many times that we can look to other people’s advice, other worldly books, and many multiple other things to have the best life, but at the end of the day they will not provide the same wisdom to us as the Bible can.  Not to say that other books and other advice can’t be helpful, but they only can when they are based out of the Holy book, not based on the things or the wisdom of the world. The things of the world will not be a sufficient lamp for our feet as one day they will fade and grow dark like all other things of this world.  

Another lyric is, “I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord; Thou in me dwelling and I with thee one.”  Once we have become a Christian, the Lord is always with us.  We have a part of the Lord in us and that is the Holy Spirit.  This should be a constant great comfort and joy from the anxiety and evil that comes from the world because we are one with the Lord.  We know that we have a part of the world beyond inside of us no matter what time it is and no matter where we go.  Listening to the Holy Spirit also reminds us to make wiser choices.  When we lean into what the Lord tells us, we can grow more patient, more compassionate, more joyful, and more loving.  This is really only going to happen with the Lord and the Holy Spirit (who are one and the same) guiding us.  

The song also has the lyrics of “thou and thou only first in my heart.”  This is my favorite lyric in the hymn.  This is a reminder that when God is first in our hearts, being able to see clearly is significantly easier.   This comes right after the lyrics in the same stanza of “Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise.” There are many times we can start to look at almost everything else as the first in our hearts.   This may be a significant other, jobs, sports, clothes, cars, and riches.  That is when our vision can easily get cloudy.  I often do this with my job.  I love my job as a teacher,  and I dedicate a lot of time to it.  However, I can also so easily get wrapped up in my job, I also start getting a lot of anxiety that I am doing my job incorrectly and that I am really not serving my students correctly.  I may even be seeking that vain and empty praise from doing my job the best. When I start to focus more on the Lord, then I am seeing clearly and letting go of the pieces of my anxiety and look to the Lord to do my job to the best of my ability to serve him and the people around me.    

God wants to make everything clear in our lives like it was when the fog cleared on that sunny afternoon.  He wants us to be able to see completely clearly.  The next set of lyrics says, “High King of heaven, my victory won; May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun.”  This song is also looking to the future when we reach heaven and get to spend our eternity with the Lord.  This will end up being our final victory.  This then will be the clearest and the most sunny place in our entire world.  When one focuses on the clear items of the world, and keeps our focus on God as first in our hearts, we are rewarded with the ultimate victory of heaven and being able to see clearly for the rest of our lives. 

There are many times that I don’t always pay attention to the simple things in the world around me.  I don’t always pay attention to the beauty of the nature around me, even though there is so much happiness and realization that can come with it.  I also don’t always pay attention to the lyrics in the Christian songs or hymns that I sing or listen to, even though they provide such great wisdom, joy and thankfulness.  There is a lot that we can learn from the music that we chose to listen to.  There are times that I don’t listen to the music that I should, and hearing this song was a reminder that I need to spend more time in devotion to the Lord through the worship and songs that I seek. 

If you followed my blog last year, then you may have read my blog post where I wrote that freedom was my word of the year for 2020.  For the year of 2021, I have decided that the very short, yet very important word of Joy would be my new word of the year.  I did some brief research and found that there are at least 16 Bible verses about joy in the Bible, so clearly this is a word that God and many other Christians care about very deeply.  One verse that I want to highlight this year is Nehemiah 8:10 that says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Having joy in the Lord is a great strength, and I want to continue to develop that strength over the year of 2021.   

For a vast majority of my life, I associated the word joy with happiness.  It is very easy to do, and I believe that a majority of the world does this as well. When we think of someone who is joyful, we often think of someone who is happy most of the time.  You may never see this person as sad or upset, etc.  Now while I do think there is some truth or connection between happiness and joy, I do not think that joy is merely just being happy.   Happiness easily for me comes and goes.  While I am very happy when things are going my way, there are times when things that aren’t going my way and I, of course, I get disappointed, sad, or even angry.  Those emotions are healthy and natural, but I know that joy is something that can be found amidst all those different emotions.  That even when we have a bit of sadness, anxiety, frustration, disappointment, even depression, there can be joy that will continue to see us throughout.  While continuing to still focus on the joy, we often can start to look through those other emotions.  

The world just celebrated Christmas and often throughout that season, there will be a phrase discussing how Jesus is coming to the earth to bring great joy.  We sing songs like, “Joy to the world.” Why is Christmas such a joyful holiday?  Because the idea is that Jesus is coming and eventually will die on the cross for our sins so that way we have an opportunity to live with him forever in eternity.  This joy is a celebration of God being on earth and being with his people again. That relationship that is developed through knowing the Lord, the love that he has for us, and the eventual promise of an everlasting life produces great joy. This again is not merely happiness, but joy, unending and continuous joy. 

I have written about this before, but I am still continuing to read the book, “Forgiving what you can’t forget,” by Lysa Terkeurst.  In this book and journal there is a quote that is great to think about when one is thinking of joy.  This quote says “He (God) promised the grief would turn into joy.  The grief would produce the joy.  The grief was a part of the journey, but it would not be the way that it would all end.” This put a lot of things into perspective.  The Lord does not necessarily promise to take away all grief from our lives here on earth.  No matter how much we would want that.  However, he does promise that he will use that grief and those problems that we have faced or are continuing to face for our great good and that eventually we would experience great joy.   Again, this is very different from happiness as it is something that is everlasting and something that does not just come and go with differing emotions.  

I have chosen this word because there has been a lot this past year that has made me at times question my joy.  Like many people, I was struggling at times through the Quarantine.  I was trying to tell myself to be more optimistic and to find the positives, but then the weeks moved on and on.  I still wasn’t with my students and I still wasn’t doing my job like normal.  I wasn’t getting the chance to talk to people, and I was starting to have more and more anxiety.  I did not feel the joy that I usually do.  Now I feel like a lot of people were there with me.  We all in some way, shape or form were impacted by this past year of 2020 and all of the things that came with it.  Because of this, I want to make sure that the grieving and anxiety over the present will continue to develop this promised joy in the future.  

The other reason that I have chosen the word joy is that if I am honest, there are times when I am a complainer. I am a planner. I love to make plans for the days, set goals, etc, which is one of the things that I love about myself.  However, I HATE when plans change.  I don’t like being asked to do things last minute. (unless I’m asked to go out to a movie, because I always want to go out to a movie!) So even if I agree to the last minute plans that I don’t want to do, you know that I am going to grumble to myself about it or to anyone who is close by.  (It’s hard to not have things go the way that we want them to, isn’t it.) Learning how to do all things without complaining is one of the things that I want to grow as a person, just as the verse says in Philippians 2:14, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.”  I want to continue to find joy even when it is through things that I don’t want to do or like.  

Some of the ways that I am going to learn more about joy this year is I am starting a joy journal where I will write something down that fills me with joy.  I will use this also as a way to reflect on how I am feeling in regard to joy.  Then I also just bought a devotional that I am planning on working through called, “Happy Today; A guided journal to genuine joy.” by Max Lucado.  I am very excited for this as a way to reflect and learn more about joy through a devotional as well as some questions.  I am really excited to grow in joy this year.  My challenge for all of you is if you have not thought of your word of the year (or a few) of 2021, that you would consider finding one word that you can personally grow and focus on.  What is something that you want to develop better or work through?  Please let me know if you do think of one! I would love some good ideas for the future years!! 

The year of 2020 has been a very long one.  In many ways, I can’t believe it hasn’t been over for a long time, but at other times I can not believe that this year, the year of the pandemic, the rioting and protesting, and personal struggles is about over.  While I know that it can be very easy to push this year away as a total wash and hope that we never have a year like this one again, (I do definitely agree with that last part), there are also many positives that have come out of my personal year of 2020.  I actually feel as though this is one of my biggest years of growth, even amidst the struggle.  Maybe it was the struggle and adapting that helped me to grow as a person.   

This year I had my first real heartbreak, a couple actually.  I have talked many times throughout my blog posts about losing my grandpa.  Wow, did that shake my world and it still does in many ways today.  I would love nothing more this Christmas than to have my grandpa back. Only my mom, grandma, and I went to the Christmas Eve service.  I remember just a year or so ago, there was my grandma, grandpa, mom, and a couple sets of aunts and uncles that all went to the Christmas Eve service.  It was hard sitting there without Papa being there listening to the songs along with me. There would have been so many things that I would say to my grandpa if he could also come to our family Christmas.  I would tell him how school is going, that even though it has been exhausting amidst mask mandates, teaching online and in person, there are still so many great stories about my students and what they are learning.  I would tell him how running my Middle School study hall is going, that there have been ups and downs, but overall I believe we have gotten into a great rhythm.  I would tell him all about learning how to keep score-book for Basketball in order that I can go to at least some basketball games in person.  I bet he would think that was cool because he was interested in sports.   That is just a small list of the things that I all really want to tell him.  

I also struggled through the death of my dog, Kaiser. I really loved that dog, and when my mom called and told me he was run over, it brought me to my knees in tears.  I have never felt pain like that where it literally weighed me down to the floor.  Granted it was probably everything from the pandemic, my grandpa, and finally the death of Kaiser that was enough to bring me to my knees and make me wonder if I will ever be able to escape the pain of my current circumstances.  This blog post is not supposed to be about my pain as I have already written a lot about that, but those items were very much present in my 2020 and I can not easily forget it.  I will say that those hardships have helped me grow even more throughout this year.  I have decided that I am very grateful for the people, dogs, and things that are in my life and now I know better than to take them for granted. 

I grew a lot professionally throughout the year of 2020.  This year was the first year where I taught in the same school from the beginning of the year to the end.  I started in January still in my first year of teaching, and now I am in my second year of teaching.  I have learned so much over this past year, including how to teach online.  I still have a lot to learn, but I can see where my handouts, presentations, practice exercises, and units are overall so much better from this full year of teaching.  I also was blessed this summer with the chance to be the one in charge of the summer program at the Bridge of Storm Lake.   I absolutely love the Bridge, and I have loved all the summers that I have gotten the chance to work there, so I was very happy to help the team out for another year.   This summer definitely was different as the pandemic was going on, but we as a team found a way to spread love and joy to the kids and community amongst those struggles.  I was by no means the only one involved in these decisions but as the person in charge of the summer program and team, I had to continue thinking of creative ideas to stay involved in the community.  This was a great way to grow in my leadership skills that will no doubt help me become a better teacher and just general worker in the future.  

I have also continued in my passion of fighting against human trafficking.  I am still involved in IJM through helping college students.  I got to be a part of starting the race to rescue event which was a great amount of fun.  Then I also completed Dressember like I do every year that raises funds to anti-human trafficking organizations.  Because of my family and friends support, I finally got over $1000 which is the first time I have achieved that in the four years that I have been a part of Dressember.  There is still the month of January to fundraise, so I will continue to try raising more money for this wonderful cause.  If you would still like to give money to end Human trafficking/Modern Day slavery around the world, here is the link to my personal page or, of course, I would recommend giving to the Dressember team as well. https://dressember2020.funraise.org/fundraiser/courtney-post

I have also grown a lot through the goals that I have set from this year.  The first big thing is my exercise goals.  I have always loved to exercise but the year of 2020 I set a couple of exercise goals that I was for the most part able to achieve.  My first exercise goal for the year was to be able to run 750 miles, and I did it! I worked very hard on this goal.  I have never kept track of my miles for the year, and I am really glad that I did.  I now have a better understanding of just how many miles I can run within a year’s time.  Plus, this just reminded me how much I love running.  I wasn’t able to run much the year before because of knee surgery, so this year was definitely making up for lost time.  I loved getting the chance to run around Buffalo Center and Storm Lake.  Another goal I had was to be able to squat 160 to 170 pounds.  I also achieved this, and I found out that I really feel very strong when it comes to going to the weight room. The other goal was to bench press 110-120, now I will be honest I made it more to 95 pounds.  I never really had anyone spot me in order to see if I could do the higher weight amount.  I will keep working on my bench press, but I have definitely gotten stronger in general in regard to my upper body strength.  

Another goal of mine was to be able to read 25 to 30 books.  I achieved this goal and I definitely read some great books this year.  I tried to read books this year that fell under different genres including reading all the autobiography books of Maya Angelou.  Maya is known for many things, but one of those is her book, “I know why the Caged Bird Sings.”  However, it may not be commonly known that she continues her story through 6 other books.  Her life story has many highs and lows, but she writes with such grace and style throughout it all.  This book series was a good reminder to read from a different perspective and lifestyle as a way to grow in empathy and sympathy.  I have never experienced sexual assault, and I certainly never did underage.  I also have never had racial stereotypes or prejudices impact my daily life personally as a white woman growing up in the Midwest of the United States.   I was able to learn more about what that feels like through reading her story, even if her story takes place 70 years ago.  I highly recommend reading that book series if you ever get to it.  

Another goal that I had for this year was starting a blog.  I had wanted to start a blog for a long time, and this year I finally did it.  I have found that writing this blog has provided me with a great deal of joy.  I love getting the chance to take the thoughts I have about a verse, a concept, or a quote in writing that anyone can read.  I love that there are some people who take the time to read what I have to say (Including you if you are reading this right now).  This also has given me a way to express myself when I was dealing with a great deal of pain in my life as well as help me to remember certain experiences and things that I am learning.   I plan to keep this blog up in the years to come and hopefully that will only help me continue to grow as both a person and as a writer.  

The very last Beatitude that I am going to talk about is actually quite a few verses.  The last Beatitude is Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  

Throughout the looks of the Beatitudes, I have often brought up that the Beatitudes are not often idealized in this world.  They are often not the characteristics that are owned by people who are in high charge places.  This Beatitude shows us all of that.  The world does not always love those who are poor in spirit, meek, love mercy, those who mourn for others,  a peacemaker, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Because of that, there are many times they will sometimes show anger and persecute what they don’t like including the people who possess those qualities.   That is why this Beatitude holds extra weight including a great reward in heaven.  A person who is willing to be persecuted, mocked, scored, hated, and maybe even killed for the sake of the Lord or for the sake of having those righteous qualities will be later well honored and loved by the Lord. 

The Bible includes many different examples of those who are persecuted.  The verse even introduces that when it says that “the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  One example of a good prophet/follower of Jesus who was persecuted for his following of Jesus is Paul.  Paul started out killing Christians for their belief in Christ.  Then with a blinding light (literally) he sees God, becomes a Christian and then is the one who is being persecuted, through being thrown in prison and eventually many perceive beheaded in Rome.  

However, Paul always takes great joy in the Lord, even if he is suffering a lot from the people of the world.  In Philippians 3:8 Paul says, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ” Even though Paul has lost a great deal through following God and sharing God’s word, he still considers the love of God as something that means more.  That while in this life, there may be suffering at the hands of others in the form of persecution, in the end, there will be an everlasting life that will be filled with joy and love.  Paul at this time didn’t even know about the grand reward that will come from being in heaven after being persecuted.  His biggest prize is getting to know the Lord.  

The other example of someone who had struggled with persecution is of course, Jesus Christ himself.  He himself was definitely persecuted for his strong beliefs in the Father and also that he came with the prophecies about himself and the future for believers.  Eventually he would be arrested, put on trial, and later of course, executed on the cross.  He does this to die for our sins, so that way we have the opportunity to live forever with God in heaven.  He also then understands completely what it means to be persecuted and killed for one’s beliefs, so therefore, he would be the most understanding and loving to us when we also struggle through this.  

Persecution may, of course, not always end up in death.  There are many times that persecution may have nothing at all to do with any body harm, but instead there is a lot of mental hostility and hurt.  This can be as simple as people making fun of you because you may choose to go to Sunday morning church service as opposed to sleeping in.  Even though that is not a huge deal, for many that can be painful and sometimes hard to endure.  I am not going to ever say that it is not painful to be looked at strangely for talking about Jesus or for having people not understand why you feel the need to go to church on a regular basis.  I certainly have no idea what it means to be heavily persecuted where you are threatened to have your life taken away or even hurt.  I can’t even imagine that.  However, that being said, God has promised that whoever is persecuted for the sake of the Lord and the Lord’s name will have a great reward in heaven.  I have no idea what the award will be, but there is the promise that it will be grand and the Lord always keeps his promises.   

In conclusion, this Beatitude shows us that when you choose to live a righteous lifestyle, you are not going to be loved and adored by everybody.  Similar to how the Lord was not loved and adored by everybody.  There may even be some that really hate those who have that righteousness.  However, in the end the Lord will look at those people’s lives and remember that they suffered a lot for the sake of God’s glory.  This overall concludes my look at the Beatitudes.  It has been really great to look at them each individually.  Each one of the Beatitudes is individually hard to achieve and it is not at all loved by the people of the world, but each one is adored and loved by the Father.  Continuing to have a deep love for the Lord and looking to the world and the characteristics above will be the only thing that helps us achieve each individual Beatitude and therefore the relationship and rewards that come with it. 

The next Beatitude is “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  This is one of my favorite Beatitudes.  If I am honest, this is an item that I believe I am fairly good at.  I have talked before about the term Harmony and how that is one of my strengths in one of my blog posts.  If you would like to read that blog post, here is the link: https://wordpress.com/post/mychristian.law.blog/175 Therefore, this was the verse that I wanted to focus on, so I had a chance to pat myself on the back.  However, I learned that while I think this isn’t something I struggle with as much, I also have realized recently that I am not always as good about making peace as I would like to pride myself on.  

I am a turtle in the sense that I hide away from any kind of conflict that I can.  I hate getting into arguments.  Arguments often get me very anxious, so that is why I try to run and hide away from it as fast as I can. While there are sometimes when being a turtle is a good thing.  There are moments when we as people may be upset about something that we just need to have the second to let go of and then there is no need for any discussion or argument with the other person.  However, there are other times when something must be said to amend the problem and possibly any hurt feelings.  I may not always be very good at telling someone when I am upset with them, but instead I may let that anger keep building in my heart against a person until I grow up or I continue to gossip behind their backs.  There are times when someone can do something that upsets myself or others around, so therefore getting mad at them but not saying anything could actually be detrimental to the relationship because of a slow building resentment that was created.  Therefore people who are peacemakers care about taking the situation and trying to fix the issues that are there to create a better peace, not fully hide away in fear, even when they do it completely with a gentle heart filled with love.  

The blessing or the reward for this Beatitude is that peacemakers will be called children of God.  This is very much because our God is a God of peace. Like the Christmas lyrics states, when God sent Jesus to the world, the sole purpose was to bring “Peace on Earth, Good will to men.” Therefore, he also wants his people that are in this world to create a world of Peace on earth and good will to men.  He still to this day brings peace to the world.  I know that as this year as I have struggled, like many of us have, amidst a pandemic, racial injustice being brought to light, and many other of my personal heartaches, I do often feel quite a bit of peace around myself.  I know that is because of God and that I know that at the end of the day God still loves me and gives me great peace.  In John 16:33, it says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  Even amidst all the hardships, God has overcome the world and all of the problems, we will still have God that can do anything and bring us peace no matter how dark the situation seems.  

God really does care a lot about peace and therefore the people who also care a lot about peace will be children of that same God. This means that we should strive to love and have peace with all the other creations that God has made in order to showcase the characteristics of our father above.  I have recently been reading the book , “Forgiving what you can’t forget.” by Lysa Terkeurst that brought up the devil is the one who wants to take away our togetherness.  “The devil is real and on an all-out assault against all things good and real.  He hates the word together.”  This hit me and went perfectly with this topic.  Satan does want to take away our personal peace and harmony while also ripping away our togetherness and harmony with one another.  Therefore, when we try to fight against these tendencies that are in this world, and rather fight for peace like the Father would. This is why we must continue to fight against the Devil’s tendencies like the verses of Romans 12:18-21 describes, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  

This isn’t easy, like the rest of the Beatitudes isn’t.  This isn’t always something that brings glory and instant popularity to oneself.  However, this particular Beatitude I promise you will bring you more joy and happiness if you continue to keep peace both inside of yourself and amongst those around you. 

The next Beatitude is “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” This beatitude is a big one but a hard one.  What does it mean to be pure? The general definition of pure is “not mixed or adulterated with any other substance or material.”  Something to compare this to is pure water-water that doesn’t have any contamination or mixed with anything and  water that is very safe to drink.  Likewise a person who has a pure heart is essentially like someone who has no contamination in their heart. 

As I was looking up more information or background on this verse, I read an article on the website Desiring God.  The article by John Piper reminded me that this Beatitude is essentially all about acting on a person’s heart, not just on how people act on the outside.  This Beatitude like all of the other Beatitudes describes that God does not look at a person the way the world generally does.  God does not spend his time looking at the status of a person.  He insteads spends that time looking at the person’s heart, and this doesn’t include how high or low in society that person is.  

Obviously, this also implies that besides being pure in our hearts, we need to be pure in our thoughts.  There are other verses in the Bible that discuss how our thoughts should be controlled and considered in everything that we do.  In Philippians 4:8 there is a list of items that a person should be thinking of and even includes that a person should be thinking about things that are pure or without contamination. This says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  

Wow.  I don’t know about you, but I know for sure there are many times that I am not pure in heart or pure in my thoughts.  There are often many times when my heart is filled with frustration, judgement of others, and general sinful desires.   I think we can all know that feeling when we have a great amount of anger or frustration in our hearts that we just want to hold on to, even when that doesn’t keep our heart pure.  There are moments that we struggle to forgive and continue to hold onto the grudges for a really long time that continues to then fill our hearts with contamination. Similarly to my thoughts that it seems when all the world is filled with many different negative things, it is hard to not get those items stuck in your head.  I know that I personally struggle keeping my thoughts clear especially as I listen to music that maybe has a lot of swear words or when I watch movies and shows that broadcast things that maybe don’t promote the best or moral things.  

The reward of this Beatitude is that those who are pure in heart will be able to see God. This is because God is completely pure.  God is completely loving and without any blemishes, which is why we as people who are not completely pure or without contamination can not see God.  For example in the Old Testament, God came down to Moses a few different times in different ways that did not include Moses seeing him fully.  This was because Moses was not as holy as he needed to be in order to see God.  One of the times was when God told Moses he was going to lead the Israelites to the promised land through a burning bush.  The other time was when God came down in a dense cloud on a mountain so that way Moses could talk to him but not fully see him.  When Moses was bringing the Israelites to the promised land and he was receiving the ten commandments for the people to follow, God met with Moses on a hill in a cloud because he would be too holy for Moses to talk to without some kind of barrier.   

However, even when being pure in heart is incredibly hard, the best thing for us is that we have Jesus Christ who is the main one who needs to be pure.  That is such a good blessing for all of us.  Jesus never sinned and was completely but pure also Jesus being pure in heart is a blessing for us in that he loves us so purely.  We don’t have to be concerned or anxious about not being 100% perfect or pure.  When he died on the cross for our sins, his purity has the ability to cleanse our impurities. This is also why we need to not focus on the things above to the things that are pure.  In Colossians 3:2, it says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Because we have been forgiven and have a relationship with God, we have a lot of things that are above in heaven and with God that we can instead be thinking about.  Then when we do that, we actually are given the blessing from this Beatitude and that is that the person can see God.  When we set our heart to the things that are pure, and therefore the things of God, we are actually then able to really see God.  

(Also just as an extra side note, this is my 50th blog post!! Thanks to everyone who has read even just a few of these posts.  It has been a fun journey to start writing this.)

The fifth Beatitude is “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  Mercy is one of those words that pops up very often in the Bible.  It holds a lot of meaning and it is definitely a word that a Christian should be very familiar with.  Often the word mercy or merciful gets confused with the word grace.  They are incredibly similar but the one that I describe the two is saying grace is “getting what you don’t deserve,” where mercy is described as “not getting what you do deserve.”  An analogy that I would describe is that grace is like giving a gift to someone for no apparent reason where mercy is like the judge in a trial case says that the person does not need to pay the sentence that he has been sentenced to.  This is considered mercy because the person who has been sentenced to jail deserves that sentence, but has been shown by mercy by the Judge taking it all away.   

Jesus is the best example of showing mercy.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  He showed us a great deal of love and mercy when he chose to die for sins that he never committed.  He never ever did anything wrong, yet he was willing to go through all the suffering and pain for the people who had committed the sins, the people that he loved and created.  We the people have all sinned and not deserving of heaven, yet we have been given an opportunity to go to heaven.  He took away what we really deserved, which was death and no access to the Lord, by paying the price for us and then giving us an opportunity to go to Lord and heaven.   1 Peter 1:3  captures this concept completely when it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” When we are reunited with God, we also are given a great deal of hope and love.  While we did deserve punishment and judgement, we have instead been granted a relationship.

The thing about mercy is that it is very wonderful to receive and very hard to give.  We live in a world that feels the need to make sure people are punished for the wrongs that they have achieved.  However, as we are commanded in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”  Jesus showed us a great example for us to follow. I have thought a lot about this recently in my career as a teacher. As a teacher myself, there are times when obviously there are times when my students need to have a punishment for behavior that they had.  There are some behaviors that need to be corrected.  However, I have also had some moments where I have given mercy to students.  I have seen students be in a really rough spot emotionally or just really frustrated where I have excused behavior and opted to give a hopefully more meaningful conversation.  I know that in those rare situations, there are times when I need to give that conversation as opposed to give punishment so that way I can show that I really do care about the students.

I was struggling to figure out exactly what to write in this blog post.  Therefore, I looked up more information about this verse in order to write this blog post.  While reading an article in Desiring God titled “Blessed are the Merciful” by John Piper, he pointed out the first few beatitudes that come from a poor spirit that knows they are broken and therefore in need of Jesus.  We also looked at this when we looked at the blessings given to the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and those who are meek.  Those first three Beatitudes create a desire for God that then is promised to be filled and therefore one can act more and more like Christ.  The only way that we can give mercy is through our relationship with Christ.  We are not most likely capable of giving this mercy that Jesus talks about without this relationship with Christ.  Therefore, even though this is something hard, this is made to be a lot easier through our love of Jesus Christ.  

Overall I believe showing mercy goes with the idea that we need to fight going against our desire to seek revenge or seeking to do wrong to those who have hurt us.  We as people have a desire to seek revenge for ourselves.  If someone does wrong to us or the people that we love, there is a deep desire to get them back for the things that they have done.  However, that is not the way of the Lord and therefore not the way of the Christian believer.  This will also not in the end make us feel even remotely better.  What is the better option is to offer forgiveness for the wrongs that they have done against us and even possibly showing them extra kindness and offering to help them in any way that you can.  

In general, we have all made mistakes and have fallen short of the glory of God.  Therefore we need mercy from God.  Like we have been shown mercy and forgiveness for the wrongs that we have done to God, we need to be willing to also show that similar mercy to the people around us. They are not always deserving, but neither were we.  While this can be a hard action, it is found better through our relationship and dependence with Christ.  For the Christian believer who wants to be more and more like Christ as well as receive more and more mercy from God, we also have to be willing to give similar mercy. 

The fourth Beatitude is “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The word righteousness here is “acting in accord to a moral or divine law.”  Essentially this is following God’s perfect law.  Therefore, looking at this blessing it is showcasing that people are blessed if they are striving in every way that they can to follow God’s law and abide by his commandments.   If that is sounding like a daunting and impossible task, don’t worry, my hope through this blog post is to encourage anyone to hunger and thirst for righteousness for God’s glory without the impossible feeling hanging over anyone’s head.  

It is impossible for us humans to completely follow God’s law.  We can never fully be righteous in God’s eyes on our own.  Every single person has sinned and therefore can not be completely made clean or whole on our own after the fact.  That is why it is so important that we have Jesus who chose to die on the cross for our sins, so that through his blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ we have a chance to become righteous.  Therefore, this righteousness does take a bit of a different role for us.  We need to hunger and thirst for Jesus Christ.  While we should still try to abide by God’s law as much as we can, it is important to always realize that we can not achieve righteousness on our own freewill.  

The second part of this Beatitude or the “reward”reminds us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.  They will feel completed and whole.  They won’t feel the need to be filled with the things of this world like fancy clothes and shoes, the bigger house, and even a significant other.  They will instead be filled with the Holy Spirit and the joy of Jesus Christ and therefore will have great satisfaction and feeling filled.  Not to say that it will always feel easy, but one who sets their thoughts and mind on Christ, will find a way to fight through the dissatisfaction that may come from the worldly temptations and desires.  

There are many times in our lives where we as people desire so many things.  We may desire a bigger house, a significant other, a better job, a promotion, a luxury vacation, etc.  Whatever it is, there are many pieces and items in the world that serve as desires to want more and more.  I am guilty of this in many ways.  Even from something as simple as always, without fail, wanting more and more jewelry and clothes.  I own so much jewelry and such a big wardrobe, yet that is always what I want more of in regards to Christmas or birthday presents.  Is that inherently a bad thing, no, but even that can serve as a deep desire of something I am constantly seeking that is in many ways worldly and will not make it beyond the grave.  I also desire to be thinner.  I have written before in these blogs about how much I love to exercise, and I love feeling as though I am losing weight.  Again, this isn’t necessarily evil, but it does start to become something I desire to have or focus more on than Jesus Christ.  

This Beatitude reminds us that we need to focus more on Jesus and focus less on the expendable, depleting, unimportant things of this world.  This also can be an easier way to avoid getting frustrated with the things of this world that are really at the end of the day, not important.  I know that I have often gotten really angry at the “stuff” that we have in this world.   I have definitely thrown a temper tantrum when I have lost or broke a piece of jewelry, when my cell phone or my computer internet doesn’t work, and even messes that are created from cooking supper in my kitchen. 

I was recently reading a devotional book named, “Unglued,” by Lysa Terkuest.  This book discussed all the ways that we can have raw unwanted emotions that then can be turned into quick unglued outburst reactions.  There was a chapter all about getting wrapped up in the world that we often start to become unglued at those little things.  Lysa Terkeurst, the author, discussed how her children got angry over placemats at restaurants, and that she would never understand why they would get so upset over something so small.  However, she realized that in moments, there are times we can also get mad about things that really are just as small.  “That was the strange moment I thought of those stupid placemats–the ones the kids fought over.  And my anger burned.  Not at my kids, but at myself and all the dumb things I can get bent out of shape about.” If we instead change our focus to the glorious things of heaven as opposed to the mediocre, and replaceable things of this world, it may be a lot easier to be a person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.  

This world will not last forever.  If the year of 2020 has taught us anything, it has shown that the things of this world are not permanent and are fleeting.  Sadly, this can even be family or friends.  Does this mean that the things and the people in the world don’t matter.  Not completely, but when they take the precedent over the Lord and the things above.  This also includes how we choose to act.  We should not get caught trying to act like everyone in the world, but that we really take the time to focus our energy on how to act and respond in a way that is Christ-like.  That is what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  This is to hunger and thirst to act as close to God as one can, not because they want to feel the pride of being a good person but because they want to feel closer to the Lord.  This is to have a desire to get to the world above and beyond this one.  Only once you start to focus on the bigger picture and the things above, will a person truly feel filled. 

The third Beatitude that I am now starting to talk about is, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”  This one is a bit tricky, and I often think that it gets confused for being something that it is not.   Often the idea of being meek is very much associated with being weak, and therefore there are many people who don’t want to take this Beatitude seriously.  Why would anyone want to be considered weak especially amidst a world where people really care about being strong both physically, emotionally, mentally, and even amongst the other people around them.  

While doing a bit of research on this verse, I found that the best synonym for the word, “meek” is “gentleness.”  While I don’t think that is the word that best encompasses meekness, the word gentleness does describe an important part of being meek.  Gentleness and meekness is more than just kind, but it is a loving kindness.  It is the kind of kindness that shocks others.  The kind of gentleness that will shock others to their core.  The kind that really can only come from the Lord.   Gentleness and therefore, meekness is not a surface level deep kind of kindness but rather a deep sort of kindness.  

Meekness is also described as power under control.  To be meek does not necessarily mean that you are weak, but rather that you possess great power.  However, that power that one has is not used in a negative way or used in a way that could cause harm.  When someone confronts a person who is meek and is harmful to that person, the meek person doesn’t choose to fight back in response.  Rather, they show gentleness and kindness to the person who has caused harm.  This is not at all an easy thing to do, and it is definitely not the thing that is idealized in our world, but it does usually make the biggest impact on the person who originally caused the harm.  

The promise of this beatitude is that those who are meek will inherit the earth.  What exactly does this mean? Well, as we have mentioned this Beatitude like many of the other beatitudes are not the ones that are idealized in the world.  Rather the prideful and the rulers are the ones that are most honored in this world.  Therefore, there will be a change in the power dynamic.  Those meek and gentle souls will finally have the power that they were not honored before during their lifetime in the world.  Again, this will be similar to the idea and concept that whoever is last will be first in the future.  

Jesus was an example of being meek. Even though he was God’s son, he still took the time to care for the widowed, homeless, and the ill.  While many in the time period, even still to this today would not recommend doing that if you want to stay at the top, Jesus had a caring and compassionate heart for all those who came in close encounter with him.   Then while he wasn’t the most rich, most powerful, and always the most respected in the world, he is the one that is sitting on God’s throne in heaven.  He is sitting by God, the Father in complete power and glory that he was deserving the entire time he was on the earth.  

Jesus is another example because he not only was kind and compassionate, but he had great power that he used to care deeply about the things that were happening in the world.  He had and still does have a deep compassionate heart for the injustices that are in this world.  He didn’t shy away from being confrontational with Pharisees who were making high demands out of the law and therefore leading many people to being stoned.  He quickly reminded them that everyone (minus himself, of course) has sinned and therefore is needing the mercy and the grace that he and the father can provide.  We too, can have deep passions, especially against injustice and against things of this world that is ugly and evil.  A person who is meek though knows how to best care about these deep issues while also not losing their integrity of being unkind, unloving, and unfruitful. This again, is not being weak, but having incredible power sustained and used in gentle and loving situations.  

It is not weak to walk away from a situation, especially a situation where people are doing wrong to you.  When someone does wrong to you, it can be easy to want to fight back instantly.  I know that I personally struggle with this.  It can be very easy for me to want to fight back when there are those who are harmful to me.  However, it is in the best moments that when others are being cruel and unfair that we be compassionate and fair, so we showcase that power and strength under control.  One verse that showed up in my devotional book recently is Philippians 4:5, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”  Even though this doesn’t have the word meek, it does have that word gentleness.  It is very important to have that gentleness all throughout the world and with everyone that we interact with in order to share God’s love with the world around us.