January 3rd

Philippians 2:4 "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others."
This verse goes against everything society tells us about taking care of ourselves first or only.

This passage comes along right after we have spent time with different parts of our families over the holidays. After Christmas Haley said," Mom I always call Papa (Steve) Craft Papa because he does arts and crafts with us but after staying at his house God helped me see he is more than just about crafts, he is kind and generous." It made me think about the amount of time we spend with others and how with time and God (as Haley recognized) we can see things differently.

It's strange that most of us have learned to have a sense of civic virtue, community responsibility, or church loyalty but forget about those who may be closest to us. We see strangers in need and we exhibit great patience working or helping them but at times fail to have that same level of patience with those closes to us. The author encourages us:"So next time you are with someone who is not easy to get along with, ask Jesus to help you find a way to extend His love". Not my usual first move. Tonight I have to be around someone who easily angers me and need to ask God to help me extend the same level of kindness I give to strangers. Prayer will be required!

What a difficult, humbling read...

Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Never been a strength of mine (shocking babe, I know). Admittedly, I've been a pretty selfish person my whole life and really struggle with this. I haven't known many people that appear to live this way, but those I have are definitely strong Christians. I'd like to think I've improved in this area, but still have miles to go...

The key to getting along with others is having the mind of Christ.

Is that all?

As I'm sure Tricia can attest to, I struggle when around people I don't like. I don't want to be there and look for the first opportunity to vacate the situation. I have my own circle of friends and family and rarely feel like going outside to meet or be with others. Perhaps it's because I deal with such a wide variety of people at work. Perhaps that's just an excuse.

Enough self depreciating for one day... Good luck tonight Carlos!

Mom asked my sister and I if there was someone we could get along with better. I said Nya and Nariah. I talked about this with mom and my sister and decided one way I can begin to do this is by being less negative about them so that maybe I can see the good in them.

After the reading today it reminded me of a cousin that I didn't like because she didn't treat me nice. But I kept being nice to her and not avoiding her and now that we are older she is nice to me. Had I not been nice to her we may have become enemies instead of friends.

What a heavy passage.

There were many current military or ex-military in Boise. Half of our Life Group was military. We got into many discussions about the wars. When they found out that I was a moderate pacifist they were often shocked. To many of them, all Christians were Republicans, pro-gun, and pro-war. One guy, ex-army and works for an arms company, flatly asked, "How can not support the war?" I told him, "The people your are being commanded to kill, are the very people Jesus is commanding you to love - the people we are supposed to bring the Gospel to. How do you reconcile your Nationalism with your Christianity?" He said, "I struggle with that all the time."

I think it's easier when talking in terms of war. Sometimes it's easier to say you'll love your enemy, but it can be a lot harder to love your cousin. Good example Haley.