The least of these

One of my favorite scriptures is Matthew 25:34-40. In this scripture, Jesus talks about doing for the least of these is the same as doing for him. I love this because to me it says that we are to care for others whether we like them or not. We are to care for others whether we agree with their choices or not. The difficult part of this scripture is figuring out who the least of these are. Usually when I read this scripture I think of the least of these being the poor people in the world that are not as fortunate as me. But I think we are all the least of these at some point in our lives. There are times in our lives where we are needy, sick, imprisoned, hungry or thirsty.
This idea came to me after taking food to friend who has cancer. I say this not to pat myself on the shoulder for doing something good but because this friend having cancer has impacted so many of the lives that I work with. It has shown me a different side of these people. In the spring, when a fellow teacher was diagnosed with cancer, my school came together. We had this amazing faculty meeting where everyone got involved in figuring out ways to help her. By emailing, sending cards, texts, taking food, and taking her to the doctor. There wasn't a person in the room who didn't have a part in this. God was present at this school in this faculty meeting. We ended the meeting in prayer. It was amazing. The whole group held hands and prayed. Yes we were praying for healing for another teacher but we all were healed from this prayer. We have continued to be healed and strengthened in this experience. It makes me so proud to be a part of a faculty that comes through for another person. I am in awe of the God that I serve. He is providing healing for this friend and he is providing strength for the rest of us. When I left the teacher's house, she told me that our prayers and actions were lifting her up. The thing that I thought of instantly was this scripture. I thought about how much it lifted me up to take her food and to visit with her. We are all healed through feeding the hungry, giving clothes to the naked, giving water to the thirsty, inviting the stranger in, visiting the sick.
I encourage you to look for those who are the least of these and offer them a hand. By providing for them, you are being the light that we're called to be.

Matthew 25:34-40

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Wearing pink to raise awareness?

This isn't my usual topic of blogging but it is on my mind this month since it is breast cancer awareness month. If I offend anyone, I apologize ahead of time. That is not my intentions.

Breast cancer awareness month gets under my skin. The whole idea of wearing pink and buying pink things drives me crazy. I have nothing against breast cancer. My heart hurts for all those who are battling it or have family members that are battling it or have lost that battle. But what does wearing pink do? I think that most Americans are aware of breast cancer now. I applaud those people who are encouraging early detection as opposed to awareness. That's where our focus should be now. I saw on the news about a radio station who was providing mammograms for the first 107 people who came. That is wonderful. I honestly am not going to do a self exam because the NFL is wearing pink shoes or wristbands. I'm not going to do a self exam because the White House is lit pink for a night. I will do a self exam when I actually learn how to do it. I would like to see a Breast Cancer event where women are taught explicitly how to do a self exam. I don't know how to do one. I have looked at the countless diagrams in magazines and the thing you hang in the shower. But I still don't feel like I know how to do one. (Side note: I did find a video on the Susan G. Komen website that showed how to do a self exam.) Early detection is the key to preventing breast cancer.
I think it is time to move past the breast cancer awareness stage and start making people aware of other terrible diseases and types of cancer. I have a personal stake in this. My uncle died three years ago from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). This is a horrible disease that I knew nothing about until I was affected by it. Since I've been affected by it, I have met other people that have been touched by this horrible disease. There is no cure and no real treatment for it. This is a disease that needs awareness.
There are many different kinds of cancer besides breast cancer that need awareness. We all are affected by disease of some kind. It is important for us to remember that wearing pink or changing our facebook status is not a cure. It isn't even anything but a way to make ourselves feel better. If we want to do something for these diseases, participate in walk or races that raise money.
I want to encourage you to join me in learning how to do a self breast exam and then to do it each month. The only way we can put a dent in breast cancer is early detection.

Weighty Issues

Being a woman in today’s culture is difficult. I actually think being a woman has always been difficult. One of the challenges we face in today’s media and celebrity centered culture is body image. I have always tried to not succumb to what the world tells me is beautiful and normal. But I’ve also never really had to struggle with weight or any of those kinds of challenges. As I’ve gotten older, it has gotten more challenging. Several years ago, I lost a lot of weight. I dropped from a size 8 to a size 4 in a matter of months. I didn’t try to lose the weight. I think it was just the stress of this new life I was making for myself. I loved being a size 4. I felt so pretty and thin. I was able to wear anything and not look fat or even question how I looked. (Don’t hate me. I promise I’m going somewhere with this).

Well last winter I started to notice that those size 4s weren’t fitting that great anymore. I started exercising more regularly and trying to eat better. I liked being a size 4 and didn’t want to give that up. But I just kept gaining weight rather than losing any weight. As I turned 29 this past summer, I discovered that I could no longer eat anything I wanted and wearing a size 4 was out of the question. But it was ok because I was a size 6. I told myself that I wasn’t suppose to be a size 4 anyway. A size 6 was more healthy anyway. Well as it’s gotten cooler and I’ve had to put my jeans on, I discovered I couldn’t fit into one pair of my jeans. I cried as I realized that I have gained weight. My mom and I went shopping so I could find some jeans I could wear. I had to wear a size 10. I’m not happy about that. I don’t want to be a size 10. So I’m back to doing weight watchers and counting my points of everything I eat. I’m also back to exercising at least 4 days a week. I like exercise so that isn’t too bad. But I love food. I love to eat whatever I want. As I was upset about wearing a size 10, my mom tells me the average woman is a size 12 or size 14. (I did a little internet search and found that the average size of women is 14) So I’m still below average in my size. But I thought to myself, I don’t care if that’s the average woman I don’t want to be that size.

This thought has haunted me the past week. I realized that I’m giving in to the pressure that the world is putting on me on what size I should be. I’m looking at the images of famous woman and how skinny they are as to what I should look like. Well, if I’m giving in to those pressures, what are younger woman and little girls doing. Girls don’t have real sized woman role models. They have skinny woman who use sex to further their careers to look up to. I’m not saying that they actually use sex but they use sex appeal. I want to be a role model for young girls in my classroom and in my youth group. I want to be someone that girls can look up to as a real woman. I hate to think that being obsessed with the way I look and how much I weigh can affect other girls. I’m trying to have a healthy perspective. Eating more fruits and vegetables are good for you. Exercising frequently is a good habit. I hope these are the habits they see and not a woman obsessed with they way I look.

This also got me thinking about what the Bible says about our appearance. There are many verses that deal with not looking at the worldly view on things but the spiritual side. We are told to make our bodies as living sacrifices. I take this to mean to have a healthy perspective on our physical bodies. We need to do things to keep our bodies healthy but not to obsess about what they look like.

^“So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” – Romans 12:1-2

Hopefully, I can keep this in mind and look to be healthier and not being skinnier.