Food For Thought: Light and Salt

This morning I came across this picture of something I wrote when I felt that I could study no more anatomy last year:

In my Human Structure & Function course (HSF), we started with the musculoskeletal system, in which the anatomy portion required us to memorize the origin and insertion of each muscle, what it’s function was, and what nerve(s) innervated it. At one point I felt really overwhelmed, and I did not want to study any longer. How I came up with this, I have no idea, but I guess you could say that coming across it this morning was my saving grace. This semester has been pretty hellish, and there have been many times where I just wanted to throw in the towel and call the whole thing off (Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers anyone?). Coming across this picture reminded me this morning that I have a purpose. In all the craziness and stress, I have a purpose.

Where we started (origin) and where we are now (insertion) and all the places we pass through all serve one function–to be a light to the world and salt to the earth, to imitate Christ. And what gives us this power? What–or Who, rather–enables us to carry out this function? The Holy Spirit. We are not expected to carry this function out on our own; just as a muscle is unable to contract unless it has a source powering it (nerves), we were given the Holy Spirit to give us the power to carry out the function of lighting and seasoning the world.

Food For Thought!

God bless,

Marina

Food For Thought: You Used To Make Me Happy

It’s funny how we humans, we who are supposed to be the smartest organisms on this earth, can be so dumb. It’s not a ha-ha kind of funny, but really a sad kind of funny. We condition mice and dogs and rats; we train them and they learn that hitting the button means a shock so they avoid it. But we humans, we “intelligent” ones, we keep shocking ourselves, over and over and over.

We can’t put our trust in each other. I mean, yeah, we can trust each other (well some of us), but we can never fully depend on another person and expect never to be disappointed. Depending on another person means risking that shock, that debilitating, mind-numbing, heart-stopping shock. Because let’s face it, sooner or later, you’re going to get shocked.

And yet, we continue to put all our trust, our hopes, our love, our lives, in other people. We go to them looking for love, for joy, for acceptance, for fulfillment.

Abouna Bishoy once said something: “What makes you happy is exactly what makes you sad.”

When we give someone the ability to make us happy, we also give them the ability to disappoint, and disappoint they will. They are only human after all.

I know I sound really cynical, but here’s what I’m trying to say. We are supposed to be dependable and to be able to depend on people. But to a point. People will always disappoint. They will make mistakes. So what we should root ourselves in is not other people, but the one Person who will never disappoint. When we have our joy and hope rooted in God, even the sadness caused by others will be trivial compared to the joy you will still have from God.

This message is meant more for me than it is for you all, in hopes that I can convince myself of this truth. I pray we all root our joy in God, so that we may live full, joyful lives.

Food For Thought

Marina

Food For Thought: Sacrifice

Today I was watching the first episode of “The Bible”, and something struck me, deep in my heart. It was the scene where Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac (click here). I think when we read this story, along with many other stories in the Bible, we don’t really think about what is going on, how these individuals felt. This scene in the show really shows how Abraham must have felt, how anyone would feel, no doubt.

What struck me was this: to Abraham, he already lost his son. The entire time he was tying him up, getting ready to kill him, Isaac must have been dead in his mind. Imagine how that would feel. Now think about this–God went through the same thing. The difference? God had to actually kill His only Son. Imagine how God must have felt as we watched His only Son die on the cross. Imagine how He must have felt watching His only Son get spat on, get tortured, get beaten. And yet, He followed through. He allowed His Son to die because He knew that meant we could live.

He went through all that pain because our lives are that important and that dear to Him.

This is so important to continuously keep in our minds, especially in this time of Lent. And for those who already celebrated the Resurrection, it is equally as important to keep this in our minds and hearts every single day of our lives.

Food For Thought

Marina

Food For Thought: Why So Serious?

Lately I’ve really liked going to the gym (I know, I’m surprised at this statement myself). It’s a great opportunity for me to think about everything going on in my life, everything I need to do, everything happening, and so on.

Just typing this I realize how wrong this is — not the gym, go to the gym, it’ll do your body good — but the thinking. We over-think and over-worry until we’ve given ourselves stress-induced aneurysms. 

Anyway, on the elliptical today, I was looking out the window, dwelling on all the  rubbish in my life, when I noticed this beautiful little bird sitting on a little branch of a tree right outside the gym. It was so content, sitting there on a twig, and I thought, you lucky bird; you have no cares in the world. On the other side of this glass is a woman who can’t STOP caring about all the things going wrong in her life. And then I got a reply–not from the bird; I’m not crazy no matter how insane I may come off as–but from God: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26).

We who are so valuable that we were created in God’s own image, we who are called children of God, we are cared for more than a little bird. God cares for the bird, providing it with food and shelter. How much more will He care for me, His child?! “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11). 

It’s time to stop worrying, to stop dwelling, to stop thinking. It’s time to surrender. It’s time to lay our burdens down on Him who promises a light burden and a sweet yolk!

Why so serious?

Food for thought!

God bless,

Marina

Food For Thought: Intimacy

So my dad got me into the habit of opening the CNN site when I want to make sure my internet is working properly. This morning I was trying to open my internet and blackboard was being SUPER slow, so I tried CNN, and it worked! The point is (yes, there’s a point to this), I clicked a link that led me to the religion blog on the CNN site. I found a blog that said something I found really interesting:

Intimacy (in-to-me-see).

Intimacy is being seen.

You know in “Avatar” when Jake is in his human body during the war and Neytiri comes to him? He looks at her and says, “I see you,” and she responds, “I see you.” In that moment does your heart not melt? And why? Because in this moment you see true intimacy; they see each other, not just physically, but they see within each other. You see this mutual understanding between them, in their eyes, that says, “I see you. I see your flaws. I see your beauty. I see everything about you, and for all that I see, you are mine and I am yours no matter what happens.”

This is what we are all looking for! We desperately want someone to look at us, to look INTO us, and say, “You are beautiful. You  are broken. But I understand you, and I love you for all of it.”

The post I was reading was about looking for intimacy and ending up with sex, and the difference between the two. We give our hearts, we give our bodies, we give everything, when what we really want is intimacy. We want to be seen for all that we are, and we want to be loved for it.

Well, I read the wrong Psalm for today’s readings, since I’m blind and read 96 as 95, but that’s beside the point. Psalm 95:6 says, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” One word stuck out to me: “Maker.” God made ME. He made ME exactly how He wanted, and He said, “you are My perfect creation.” He sees into me, and He says, “it is good.” Every little quirk, every little detail within me was made on purpose, just the way God knew would make me beautiful. And even after I fell, after I sinned and betrayed Him–even BEFORE that–He said, “I love you too much to let you go. I love you, and I see your beauty, and I see Me in you, and I will do WHATEVER it takes to be with you for the rest of eternity.” He sees into me, my flaws, my sins, my betrayals, my controllingness, my stubbornness, my lack of trust, but He also sees Himself in me, He sees my hurt, my scars, my heart, my beauty, my eagerness, my desire to be loved. He sees all this and all the things even I don’t see, and He says, “You are My perfect creation. You are My beloved, and I will DIE if it means I will be with you for the rest of eternity.”

Intimacy with others is not bad; God made Eve to be intimate with Adam. But how can we be fulfilled with the intimacy of others if we do not first fill ourselves with intimacy with the ultimate Love?

We all want to be seen, and we are. Someone is seeing into you RIGHT NOW. And He says, “Wow. I did good.”

Food For Thought!

Marina

Food For Thought: Don’t Even Think About That Plan

What I’m about to say is something we’ve all heard many, many times. But this time when you read the words, I want you to really stop and meditate on this concept.
Whatever plans you have in your heart, whatever things you want to do, God has an even better one, one that your puny little human brain would never even have thought of thinking of! God’s plan is greater!
Food for thought!
God bless,
Marina

Food For Thought: Mysterious

Today I’d like to talk about something I find pretty interesting: the seven sacraments.

The other night Abouna Saweros talked about each one of them briefly, and it hit me. These MYSTERIES are truly mysterious! Mysterious transformations occur with each sacrament, and I’d like to go over them really quickly with you.

• Baptism: we are transformed from the old to the new man. Here we are given the Holy Spirit inside of us.
• Consecration (the holy Mayroon): this also occurs at the same time as baptism and plays a role in transforming us into new, spiritual beings.
• Communion: during the liturgy, the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood, a huge and seemingly impossible transformation that gives us life and brings us in communion with Christ.
• Repentance/Confession: through repentance and confession, we are transformed from our unclean sins into purity. A truly awesome example is St. Moses the Black. When he confessed his sins for the first time, an angel held a slate that was black with all his sins, and after each sin he confessed, the angel cleaned off a part of the slate.
• Unction of the Sick: the sick are transformed to health, pretty straightforward.
• Marriage: and the two become one!
• Priesthood: a man is transformed into a consecrated servant of God when he becomes a clergyman.

Just an interesting thought I wanted to share!

Food For Thought: Optimism or Denial?

Last night I saw a tweet from Joyce Meyer, one that really hit home that I really had to share with y’all:

Being positive doesn’t mean we deny the existence of difficulty; it means we believe God is greater than our difficulties.

For me, this quote holds heaps of meaning. I’m generally a pretty optimistic person. I try to make the best out of bad or not-so-good situations, which I seem to find myself in frequently. The problem with my form of “optimism” is that it’s denial more than anything. It’s denial of how much situations affect me, denial of how upset I truly am or other emotions I don’t want, denial of the fact that anything is really that wrong. I’m the kind of person who, when I start feeling upset, I think I have no right to be upset because there are so many people who are much worse off than me, so I shut away my feelings, convincing myself that what’s going on ain’t so bad. Although it’s often true that there are worse things that could happen to me, it is wrong, false to shut up my feelings. I’ve been working the past few months on acknowledging my feelings, acknowledging my situations, my circumstances, and then giving them up to God. Like Joyce says, being positive is believing that God is greater than any difficulty I have, not brushing my problems under the rug. I’ll be honest, it’s the truly believing that I struggle with. Sure, acknowledging the difficulties is the first step, but the next and most important step is believing in God’s ability and power. So, ask yourself as I am now asking myself many times a day, do you believe that God is greater than YOUR difficulties?

Food For Thought!

Food For Thought: The Truth And Nothing But The Truth

“No one’s ever discovered any truth by barfing up sunday school answers to questions.” –Titus, “The River Why”

We must discover the Truth, not just blindly accept it.

Food For Thought!

Food For Thought: I Am Loved

So, this morning I was contemplating…lots of things. Then a thought popped into my head: how unbelievably blessed am I that the most beautiful, wonderful, amazing King loves ME?! Some days I just need to take a break from all the worries and anxiety, and remember the only thing that really truly matters: I am dearly and unconditionally loved by the God of the universe and beyond! Nothing, NOTHING, can separate me from His love. Think about that. NOTHING! Not sin, not Satan, not doubt, not unfaithfulness, not my filth, not any created thing, NOTHING. Regardless of what I do or say, I will always be loved by my Jesus. This is the most wonderful thought to wake up to, and I pray that in the midst of all your anxieties and worries, you would stop and think on this truth.

I’ll be completely honest with you, I am currently living the most stressful season of my life. I find myself in class 7 to 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, with very, very, VERY little time to study. Medical school has monopolized what used to be my life, and stress has overwhelmed my already weak and aching heart. I’ve been shedding a few tears periodically throughout the day for the last few days due to my stress over school, over relationships, over feeling satisfied–unsatisfied–with how my life is going. I have never been this stressed. I find myself nauseous, achy, and emotional. I find myself not being me.

The good news? This is just a season. The even better news? I have a Lover who knows all of this. I have a Lover who not only understands, but is taking care of me. If I didn’t have hope in my Savior, I honestly don’t know where I’d be. There would be no way for me to get through these seasons of stress. So what is my point here? Take some time in the midst of all the stress in your life and contemplate the vast, immeasurable love of Christ specially for you! Nothing matters more than this, and nothing is more beautiful than this.

What if we all just lived in the love of God instead of living in our stress?

Food For Thought!