Blessed Are the "Poor"

one of my favorite things to do on a saturday morning is to just take the morning to reminisce of the places i've been and the people i've met. along with that, i like to pray for those i've met, those i will meet, and those who are being persecuted all over the world right now because of pursuing righteousness.

often times i look back and just give thanks for all i have learned through those experiences and from the people i've shared them with.

today, i was looking through some old pictures of my time in el salvador and found this picture of a women who i remember having eyes that smile Christ's love back at you. i was taken back to laboring along side her, her in her sunday best and me in my tank top and old basketball shoes, just being awed by her simplicity and authentic-ness. the fact that she could carry buckets full of sand and rock on the top of her head back and forth in a skirt was quite impressive alone. not only that, but this eloquent and quiet spirit was teaching me what it means to be beautiful.

when i found this picture today, i clicked to enlarge it and i just sat and remembered the realness of the place and people like her. surrounded by beauty, i remember being overwhelmed with a feeling of simple purity. this is a place God had laid his hand on many times before- He loves this place too. "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom in heaven" popped into my head... "blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.... blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

"blessed" means more than happiness. laughter, pleasure, or earthly prosperity are not promised in this life. to Jesus, "blessed" means the experience of hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances. to find hope and joy, the deepest form of happiness, this woman and others there were following Jesus no matter what the cost. i remember that. through their quiet yet hard-working nature, i saw what it means to be beautiful. with not much variety, no floor in their homes or even having the option of different shoes for basketball and for church, i saw what it means to live simply and to still have joy.

i want to be more beautiful in Christ's eyes. i want to be filled. i want to be persecuted.... if it means i will inherit the kingdom. i want to be real like the character of this woman. maybe the "poor" really are not that poor... maybe they are more rich than we'll ever be here. she is the "poor"; blessed is this woman... this is the person God cares about and who He loves and has such excitement about. i feel blessed to have worked along side her in my small way- even if it is just to know and acknowledge today, while looking at her picture, what simplistic beauty really is.

In Your Freedom

as the 4th rolls around this year, i can't help but think of what it means for america and the freedom this great country can stand on. paralleling that, i peer into my own life and compare myself to many others i know and even those i don't know who do not posses the same freedom i do. whether it be someone across the world in a war-torn country or someone sitting next to me at the coffee shop, i am reminded this week of all those who are not standing free in Christ.

paul wrote to believers in rome about the freedom Christ offers. "i consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. for the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

romans 8:18-21. with all the suffering and pain in this life, as followers, we can be optimistic because of the hope for future glory we hold to. we know the Word tells us that we have a new heaven and new earth to look forward to because God has promised this. think of all those who are enduring pain across the world and don't know this hope.

one person in my life comes to mind especially when thinking about freedom in Christ Jesus. although this person is a nonbeliever, i believe in joining God in the renewal of all things... i know that my Father is reconciling creation to Himself. i have hope that by my co-laboring with the Holy Spirit, this person might one day be reconciled to the cross. call it hope, call it faith, but i honestly feel that this individual will get to share in the wonders of this promise.

as we watch the fireworks this year and remember what those before us have given up so that you and i can be free here in america, let's remember the One who makes us free.... the One who died at Golgotha so that we could experience this kind of freedom. "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." galations 5:1