A lesson from Longfellow

Socially awkward. Quirky. Tall. Loud. Quiet. Geeky. All things that could describe me I guess. All things that could be seen as negative or positive. There's something missing from that list, though, something more important than any of those attributes: Christ. I call myself a Christian, a word that means 'little Christ'. Today in my English class we read a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called A Psalm of Life. The poem talks about leaving footprints in the sands of time so one of the response questions my teacher asked us was what footprint we want to leave. I wrote down that if I can say or do one thing that makes someone's day/life a little better then I'll have left the footprint I can be happy with. But as I thought about it a little more I realized that I don't want to leave a footprint. I don't want to be remembered. If I am truly living as a 'little Christ' then who I am won't matter, his kingdom will. I don't want people to look at me and see Maggie, I want the image of a savior who would go to the cross for them to flash across their eyes. I want the bright light of that same man walking out of the tomb to grab hold of their souls. I want my words to be the words the Lord wants said. I want my actions to be what he needs done. My prayer lately has been for God to make me a pawn on his chess board. I know that I won't be here long, but I can do something for him while I am here.

"Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

How far does love extend?

It's been a while since I've done this. I've got several things to write about, most recently Hollymont! But today I don't have a whole lot of time so this is all I'm writing....

Matthew 5:44 tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Alright, I get that. In Paul's letter to the Romans we are instructed to hate what is evil. That makes sense too. But what about Satan? He's evil, but he's also our enemy. Are we supposed to love him or hate him? I've seen very recently just how terrible he is, but as "little Christs" shouldn't our love look like our Maker's? Something I've been really struggling with and trying to be better about is loving those I don't really want to. Is the devil one of them?

There's my weird question for the day.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7