okay..okay.. I know this post is late, but I actually am keeping up with the challenge. I just don’t have time to post every single day so I’m picking my favs and posting those.

Day 2

Matthew 5:1-6

The Sermon on the Mount

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

² And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Day 2 of my IF: Gathering, The Hardest Thing: A Study of the Difficult Sayings of Jesus gave me these verses to reflect on. Then asked this,

“The Kingdom of Heaven Jesus explains is upside down from what the world tells us. What does that mean for you?”

For me, it means that my life isn’t about me at all. The world constantly tells us that our lives are about us and that we have to make decisions based on ourselves. This is not true for those who want to experience heaven on earth. The world says, “If a person doesn’t make you happy, distance yourself from them” and “If someone isn’t giving to you, you shouldn’t continue to give to them.”

While I believe there are some relationships that we need to walk away from, and draining people that we need to distance ourselves from, the answer to whether we should stay or go is not ours to choose….and it’s not your best friend’s either. Often, people who love us will tell us to walk away and stop pouring into people who aren’t pouring back into us solely because they care about us and are tired of seeing us screwed over. But, your friends don’t always know the big picture or see what the Divine is working on. I think in every situation, we have to pray, ask the Divine what He wants, and meditate on what to do from there.

I know this concept of not getting out of situations that don’t benefit you is taboo, but hear me out. We are all people. We all make mistakes. We all screw each other over occasionally and sometimes we have seasons of continually screwing people over. Even in the worst of seasons, we still need each other. Some of my best friendships have come from resilience. They’ve been resilient about loving me when i was at my absolute worst, I have loved them at their absolute worst, or both scenarios have happened.

Don’t love people just because they love you back well and don’t even love them because maybe they’ll return the love back to you one day. Love people because you are so loved. The Divine adores you. Connect with the Divine’s energy and ask what to do. If you follow the voice of anyone other than the Divine, you’re bound to miss out on the miracles of the world.

This doesn’t just mean listen to the Divine and stay. There are times the Divine tells you to go far, far away. I am not always the chosen one to help every draining person I encounter. Sometimes I am meant to show love once and then walk away. Being the unrealistic, drunk in hopefulness, control freak type of a person that I am, its often harder for me to walk away. I want to see thinks come to fruition. I want to be the one who finishes the race with everyone after encouraging and cheering them on. So if you’re like me, don’t play the sacrificial martyr unless you have communicated with the Divine and that is what you feel told to do.

To sum all this up, I think we live in a world that says to make everything about ourselves, but I think that is the loneliest way to live. If we live only for ourselves, we kick everyone else out. I think that often times religion tells us to sacrifice everything- which is true in a sense- but if we don’t ask the One to whom we are giving ourselves away about when to stay or go, if we are always giving and never caring for ourselves and connecting to the Divine, we will lose ourselves and possible our faith along the way.

Point yourself to the Divine. Connect to the One who has all the answers. This is upside down from the world’s voice, but the world cannot yet see the big picture.

For more information about this challenge read Earth to Austin’s My 31 Prayers Challenge. And if you decide to take the challenge now (currently 10 days into it)- do it! Just write your day 1 today, and then finish up with all of us on May 1st to see where this journey has taken, or not taken you.