We are offically going to the Phillippines in less than a month! Which I'm like, super excited about. First time out of the country AND my first mission trip!
My current area of growth I'm working on? How shallow I can be. I can be an incredibly superficial and vain person when I like what I see in the mirror. It's as if my day/attitude/life is all about "look at how great I look" instead of being the light for "look how great God is."
I think of my qualities and I list how I look without even thinking.
I mean, there's nothing wrong with liking how you look, but I don't want my beauty to only be skin deep... So I'm trying to change that. I'm gonna work on my heart... And see what that does.
Also... Until I get back from the Phillippines on March 4th, I'm not wearing make up again.
I wanna really be able to do something for God. That means the focus can't be on me. That means I have to lay my heart out for God to change. Only He can make me a truly beautiful person because of how I talk and how I treat those around me.
Also. I realize how vain this post sounds, but I had to post it to help me stick to my word.
Shalom,
Alona, thank you! I've been thinking of asking you for an update, but I hesitated to trouble you.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to learn ways that I can light up the day for everyone around me, wherever I go. This month I tried something new: Pretending I'm in one of those old musical movies, when I'm out shopping and doing errands. I'm trying to fill my heart with joy, and fill the earth beneath me and the air around me with it, so people can feel it. I sing quietly to myself, and pretend to myself that I'm skipping and dancing along. I even try to act it out as much as I can without attracting too much attention. Now and then I spin around slowly as I'm walking, looking at everything around me and up at the sky. I stop here and there to look at a store window display, as if I were a little kid looking at a display of candy.
I'm not sure if it does anything for anyone else, but it does a lot for me! Dodging people who aren't looking where they're going, becomes part of the dance. Everything becomes part of the dance. My face is all smiles, because I really do feel as joyful as I'm trying to look. Often I can barely keep from laughing out loud. All the people around me are dancing with me, in my mind.
AH! that is so exciting you're going to the Philippines! My dad was just there not long ago working on helping to build a church in a small little town (i forget exactly where). Foreign missions is such an incredible thing to be a part of! be prepared to come home feeling like you've changed more than the people you went over to help. It's such a great eye-opening experience and I'm beyond certain you are going to love it.
ReplyDeleteas humans, it's in our nature to be a little narcissistic. i hope your journey to more-God and less-you is a very fulfilling one that leaves you with endless joy :)
I hope you'll tell us about your experience in the Philippines, after you come back. Also, about your efforts and progress in growth. That means so much to me. I rarely see people on the Internet trying to improve themselves, and I feel that the world needs that desperately. In your "About Me" you said that you hope your blog will speak to us. It speaks worlds to me!
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