The Story of Your Life

I've been writing a book for months now. If you were to ask me what I do in my free time, I'd probably answer by telling you all about this book. My life now includes all sorts of nonsense involving this book; I drew out maps for it, wrote out pages of character development stuff, and spent hours and hours scrutinizing my book of baby names to figure out the perfect names for each of my characters. Yeah, I'm a geek- it's true. But as an author, that's what I do with my free time and I absolutely love it. My characters, my plot line, my settings, and everything else that are involved in creating my book mean quite a lot to me.
Did you know that God is an author too? If you don't believe me, read Hebrews 12:2, 
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."(NASB)

But, what does God write about? YOU, of course! He is putting together the most magnificent story ever told right now, and you and I are some of the characters in it. Here are a few of the elements of His beautiful, spectacular story.

1. Setting- In a story, the setting is very important for making the mood for the entire tale. Look at the beauty around you. The blue sky. The green grass. The millions of different animals that live here on earth. You do realize that God invented all of this, right? Seriously, that's AMAZING. It sure creates a mood of awe when we realize that there is someone so much greater than ourselves out there. I think that's what God was intending to do. The Psalmist wrote about this too, 
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Psalm 19:1

2. Characters- The characters are the heartbeat of a good story. Each one is developed uniquely and three-dimentionally if it's a good book. God develops us in this way too. He gives us each a special design, a unique personality, and a purpose to fulfill. So in other words, you matter. I think back to how much I meticulously design each of my little fictional characters. If I can spend that much time thinking through fiction, how much more does God think about you? The Psalmist said a great thing about this too:

"How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;  they outnumber the grains of sand!" 

Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)

¹⁸ 

Another thing about characters: I went to listen to a talk by an author who has published five fictional books and she said something very interesting: every character in a book has a piece of the author inside of it. I know this through personal experience since I tried to measure all of my characters against the four temperaments test (look back on past blogs if you don't know what this is) and almost every single one of them had quite a bit of melancholy in their personalities. Well, we're created in the "image of God", so this is absolutely true about each of us as well. We, as the characters, reflect the Author; all of us have the thumbprint of God on our hearts. That sure changes a lot about how we think of ourselves.

3. Plot

In a good book, there is always a conflict in the plot line. There is most definitely a big-picture conflict going on in our big story: the fight between good and evil, between heaven and hell, between Jesus and Satan. 

This sounds cliche, yes. So, what about the smaller conflicts that happen in the story, the battles in the great war? In a book, every skirmish is written in for some type of purpose, whether it be to bring the characters closer to victory, to develop their character, to put the right two characters together in the right place to develop a vital relationship or friendship, or to prepare the characters for a bigger conflict coming ahead. The author has to be very skillful in putting together the puzzle pieces of situations in just the right way to make the story happen correctly. It is the same way in our lives. Every conflict in our lives has been ordained by God for a specific purpose. Paul talks about this in Romans:

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28 (NLT)

4. Ending

I hate books with bad endings, really, I do. I am forever grateful that the huge story that we're part of has a guaranteed happy ending. How do I know this? Well, my favorite verse in my favorite book of the Bible says so, that's why...

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11(NLT)

So, in the end, God is going to make everything beautiful. The other amazing thing about this verse is the fact that we have eternity set in our hearts. 

This reminds me of another literary term known as "foreshadowing". Foreshadowing is when the author puts hints of what is to come inside the storyline. Think about it: we each have foreshadowing put right inside our own hearts! God has planted the idea of an eternal life in heaven inside all of us. One of my teachers once talked about this in one of his devotions. He talked about how we see tiny glimpses of heaven throughout our lives- tiny flashes of the wonder and majesty of God. It's spectacular that the Creator of the universe would give us this foreshadowing gift. 

So, what does all of this mean for each of us? Well, for me personally, it's a huge comfort to know that there is a loving Author who is creating a wonderful story for me. Even when I'm in the middle of a terrible day or a difficult season of my life, I know that everything in the plot line of my life is somehow contributing to the beautiful ending. That's amazing.

  "...Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed."

Psalms 139:16

There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over and over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
and pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now you're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

I give You my destiny
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

~Only Hope by Switchfoot (sung by Mandy Moore too)

The Power of Influence

So, my Facebook has been buzzing about the VMA performances last week, specifically about one performer, Miley Cyrus. Now, I never actually saw a recording of that awful event (not do I want to), but I've read enough about it in the World Wide Web to realize that Miley's innocent days of Hannah Montana have been violently pulverized into non-existence. People seriously haven't stopped talking about her raunchy performance, so I began to think about it a little bit too.

I came to realize something very important that we can learn from Miley: the power of influence. Even though none of us may realize it, we have huge influence. Even though we don't sell hits on iTunes or appear on national television, we have direct influence on the people all around us. 

I actually learned this fact last year. While I was at school one day, I saw one of the new 7th graders sitting by herself in study hall. Now, before I continue, you have to understand the layout of my school. It is set up with 7th grade being the beginning of middle school. When you move from 6th grade to 7th grade at my school, you go to a completely different floor in the building where you are grouped with everyone from 7th grade to 12th grade. So essentially, the leap into middle school makes you feel like a tiny minnow in a sea of whales (my random analogy). I remembered experiencing this drastic leap, so when I saw this 7th grader, I decided to go and talk to her for a while. She was a nice kid, and we talked for about fifteen minutes until I had to leave. I didn't think anything of this conversation until about a day later when my mom told me that this 7th grader's mom had talked to her. The 7th grader's mom said that her daughter was SO excited that I had come to talk to her. She even came home that day using my full name and saying, "she actually talked to me!" 

I was so shocked. Just the fact that me, a normal junior in high school, had stopped to talk to the 7th grader made a huge difference to her. It made me realize that every little thing I do and every choice I make is being watched by someone and could even be mimicked by someone who looks up to me. Pretty scary, isn't it? 

The Bible backs up this point very clearly too. I'm sure you know this verse very well, but read it again anyway, thinking about it in the context I just discussed:

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."

1Timothy 4:12

It's all about influence. 

And if you want to see the example of a bad influence, you can always look back to our friend Miley. In the end, the key to having a good influence is to have a good reputation. See, I realized something. Despite all of the good values and concepts Miley communicated through her Hannah Montana days, I'll bet that in years to come, the only thing people will remember about her is the negative: this MTV performance and the awful things to follow.

It reminds me of a saying that a fabulous teacher and role model of mine said once,

"It takes years to build a good reputation. It only takes a moment to make a bad one."

Think about that for a second. Your influence and reputation can be changed that quickly. In just a moment- the snap of a camera, a step outside your room after choosing what to wear, the click of a button on the Internet, a single word out of your mouth, and your entire reputation can be ruined and your influence changed from good to bad.

What will you do with your power of influence: use it for good or for bad? 

Snacks and Spiritual Leaders

Walk through the grocery store on any given day and you're bound to see all sorts of grandiose claims.

"No Trans Fat"

"All-Natural Ingredients"

"Low Fat"

"Gluten-Free"

"No High Fructose Corn Syrup"

etc. etc. etc.

However, many hidden secrets can be found if you flip over that box and begin to wade through the lengthy list of ingredients. For example, several years ago, my mom discovered the folly of eating trans fats and she immediately trained my brother and I to be on the lookout for the dreaded fat whenever we walked into the supermarket. Trans fat was sneaky when it was put on the back of boxes; it had a secret identity to hide its true intent to DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE (insert dramatic music here). Its real name... partially hydrogenated oil. 

 So as a little 9-year old homeschooler, I became a pro at zooming through the lists of unpronounceable ingredients listed on the back of cracker boxes and cake mixes to find the villain of all oils. As I became a detective for finding partially hydrogenated oils, I realized something very shocking indeed; some of the boxes would claim to have "zero grams of trans fat" on the front of the box but have trans fats in the ingredients on the back! Then, I would figure out that this was simply because there wasn't enough partially hydrogenated oil in a serving to add up to a gram- a pretty cheap way to cheat people.  

As I've gotten older and continued to shop, I have realized that this paradox can be found in many other forms, such as the claim that Lucky Charms cereal helps kids grow stronger because it has "whole grains" in it. Basically, they're trying to say that their cereal is healthy simply because they add those little cat food-looking things amongst the rainbow marshmallows (and most kids don't eat the kitty kibble anyway...). Even the healthiest-looking snack that you can find at Whole Foods is bound to have something that can't be very good for you. Even an all-natural snack that contains "cane sugar" is still not the best for you to eat (even though it may be better than eating a bunch of artificial nonsense). Ultimately, the only food that is really trustworthy to be the healthiest of them all is... *drumroll*... FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

That's right. Go ahead and think through all of the other foods that you could be eating and see if you can find another food that is guaranteed to be 100% good for your health. It's hard to think of anything.

So, now I'm going to tell you why I just spent several paragraphs discussing Lucky Charms and partially hydrogenated oils. It all stemmed from an article I discovered on Facebook several weeks ago. This particular article was actually written to discredit the teachings of one of my favorite speakers, Joyce Meyer. It basically went through many things that she has said and discussed why they are against the Bible. While this article was rather shocking for me, it also opened my eyes to something that we Christians need to be aware of. We need to practice discernment when deciding what to believe. 

1 John 4:1 talks about this concept. It says,

"Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world."

When I bring up this verse, I'm not saying that Joyce Meyer, or anyone else for that matter, is necessarily a "false prophet". I just bring it up because it makes me think a lot and ask myself this important question: Am I actually testing everything I hear from my pastors and spiritual leaders, or am I just blindly absorbing everything they say?

Back to the unhealthy food examples, I like to think of secondary sources such as pastors and teachers as those snacks put into boxes; although they have lots of good things to say that stem from their faiths, there are also bound to be those things in them that are not good. The truth is, everyone here on earth is a sinner. All spiritual leaders are sinners too, so if we are blindly consuming every single thing they say without thoroughly scanning the "ingredient list" of their doctrine, we could be making a big mistake by believing the wrong concepts. Even blindly absorbing this blog is a bad idea. I'm a sinner too, you know. But, how do you test what these leaders are saying? 

Isaiah 8:20a tells us,

"Look to God's instructions and teachings!" 

That's it. You take everything your pastor or teacher says and weigh it to "God's instructions and teachings", also known as the Bible. I love it when a speaker backs up his or her points with LOTS AND LOTS of scripture, because that's a telltale sign that the ideas he or she is discussing really did stem from the Bible. Back to the food example again, if secondary sources such as pastors and teachers are like those snacks in the boxes, the Bible, the primary source, is like fruits and vegetables. It is the only way to find absolute truth. So, in order to have a healthy "diet" of teachings, we need to get daily dosage of the purest, healthiest food out there. Ultimately, by studying the Bible, we will be able to build an understanding of God's character and how he feels about us. With this basis of understanding, we will be able to move forward and test every spiritual leader that we hear. Then, we will truly receive impact from these spiritual leaders by picking out what we know is true and applying it to our lives. Plus, if you are thoroughly analyzing everything your pastor says in comparison to the concepts from God's word, I'll bet you won't be tempted to fall asleep in church anymore... 

Guest Blogger: The Servant and the Rebel

Hi, there! I’m a friend of Clara’s. For the sake of privacy on the internet, you can refer to me as Courtney. I'm a teenage girl who loves chocolate ice cream, performing, reading, I Love Lucy, Disney movies, Jesus, and writing. Clara recently asked me if I would be a guest writer for Beauty in Everything, and I eagerly accepted. Her blog has really inspired me, and I’m thankful for this opportunity. I hope you enjoy!

The Servant and the Rebel

If you were suddenly left as an orphan and then treated with both verbal and emotional abuse, would you still trust in God? Would you still wake up singing a song of hope? Meet Cinderella: a young woman who lost both of her parents at a very young age. Her stepmother is known for being evil (and her stepsisters for being ugly). Because of her threatening good looks, Cinderella is forced to become a servant in her own home among her own “family”. In the 1950’s Disney film, Cinderella never says anything mean about her stepfamily. She is honest, kind, respectful, and serving. Every day, she wakes up with a purpose full of hopes and dreams and works diligently.

Cinderella is an excellent example of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees were people who plotted against Jesus, trying anything to prove He wasn’t the Messiah. Similarly, Cinderella’s evil stepmother put her in rags to take away from her beauty. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and Lord of Lords, yet he humbled Himself to become a servant for mankind. Mark 10:33 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Cinderella has a servant’s heart that really reminds me of Jesus’. She follows Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” In addition to this, she didn’t deserve her harsh treatment, and neither did Jesus. In fact, Isaiah 53: 9 says, “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

When I was a little girl, my favorite princess was not Cinderella. She seemed too sweet and unreal. I liked the red headed and passionate Princess Ariel from The Little Mermaid much more. In this Disney movie, Ariel is a mermaid with a desire to become human, even though her father, King Triton, specifically orders her not to go near them. The desire being too much, she seeks out the evil Ursula, a sea witch octopus. In their meeting, Ursula agrees to turn her into a human for three days. If Ariel kisses her human crush, Prince Eric, before the end of the third day, she’ll permanently be human. However, if she is unsuccessful, her life belongs to Ursula. Unfortunately, Ariel fails, and the octopus drags her back into the ocean. Because Ariel legally belongs to the sea witch, her father can’t save her with his magic triton. Finally, Ursula agrees to give Ariel her freedom in return for the King’s power- and his life. Hesitantly, he complies in return for the safety and freedom of his princess.

There are some obvious differences between Cinderella and Ariel. For example, Cinderella respected her stepmother and worked with a faithful heart. Ariel, on the other hand, disobeyed her father and was merely concerned about achieving her lifelong dream of being human. In the movie, Cinderella sang joyful songs of contentment and hope to her animal friends. Ariel sang of wanting more, even when her friend, Sebastian, sang, “The seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake."

Now before you start hating the little mermaid, consider how our actions are very similar to hers. I know I’ve rebelled against God, sinned, and compromised for things I thought would make me happy. Similar to how Ariel’s father gave his life, our Father gave His, and by no means did we deserve it. Romans 3:23 makes that clear: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Just like the mermaid, we’ve disobeyed our Father. But there’s redemption. Even though we’ve messed up, our sins are forgiven, thanks to a merciful and loving Savior. Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

Through Cinderella and Ariel we can take a peek at how to live life as a princess- a princess of God. A follower of Christ should strive to be like Cinderella: having a pure and innocent beauty, a servant’s heart, a loving attitude, and being full of joy, peace, and hope. Ariel’s story is a reminder that although we’re princesses, we’re not perfect, but our Father in heaven most certainly is.

More than Meets the Eye...

Miss Bates and Mrs. Bates from the 1996 adaption of Emma (the version I like to watch)

Emma, a movie based off of a book by Jane Austen, is my go-to chick flick movie. The basic premise of the movie is about a witty young woman named Emma who enjoys getting into other peoples' business. Throughout the story, she continually faces consequences from her matchmaking attempts (which are a whole different matter that I may talk about some other time). But, one thing that particularly stands out to me about Emma are its crazy characters. One woman in particular, Miss Bates, adds lots of humor to the story (as if there isn't enough already). She is an old maid, living alone with her mother Mrs. Bates. Her mouth runs many times faster than her brain and usually she is continually saying stupid things. To make matters worse, she laughs at her own lame jokes too. The audience sees Miss Bates as a two-dimentional character; she is simply the batty, slow type that adds comic relief to the plot line. But, towards the end of the movie, a scene takes place that changes this opinion completely (the following quotes are actually from the book, not the movie, but they are very similar)

Emma and several of her friends (including Miss Bates) are at a picnic. They are running out of things to talk about, so one of the picnickers suggests that everyone tell Emma "two things moderately clever or three very dull things indeed". Miss Bates teasingly says, "'Three things very dull indeed.' That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan't I?" 
Emma responds, "Ah, ma'am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me—but you will be limited as to number—only three at once’."
This remark suddenly shows something in Miss Bates; her entire happy-go-lucky, dull attitude changes into one of embarrassment and spellbound shock. For the rest of the picnic, she sheepishly wonders out loud if she really is as dull as Emma says she is, and her entire afternoon is essentially ruined.

Isn't it funny that this seemingly two-dimensional character took that blow so drastically? Watching that scene and its painful outcomes made me realize something important: there is more to every person than what meets the eye.

We all have those people in our lives who seem to have no depth to them. For example, while I was working at a kids day camp this summer, I came into contact with this one crazy girl in my cabin.  She was loud, bold, and comfortable with everyone. In fact, this girl even gave nicknames to several of the counselors. She was also the one who liked to stick her tongue out at me whenever my will clashed with hers and the one who complained rather frequently. It seemed as though she was just a crazy, slightly annoying kid, nothing more. 
Until the last day of camp came around. We were doing various relay races that day and eventually we reached an egg-and-spoon race. The girl dropped her egg during the race and everyone, in their competitive spirits, naturally started yelling at her, telling her to "go get another egg" and "turn around", stuff like that. Only about a minute after the race had ended, I found the girl crying her heart out. I suddenly came to a realization; everything that this little girl had done this week, from pushing to get her way to giving out obscure nicknames was for a single reason: to cover up HUGE insecurities. 
Beyond the loud and often obnoxious little girl was a human being with looming insecurities and doubts of whether or not she was appreciated. 

We need to realize that there is so much more to everyone than what we see. From the annoying jerk to the painfully shy wallflower to the flamboyant attention-seeker, there is so much more to every person than meets the eye. 

As Christians, we are definitely called to look beyond initial judgments of the people around us. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

If you listen to any CCM music at all, you probably know the song "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath. This song actually depicts this concept very well by challenging us to see beyond the outward appearances of the people around us. Even if you could sing the song in your sleep, reread these lyrics, thinking about the meaning behind them.

"Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see."

Let's start looking beyond ourselves into the lives of others. I don't mean to be nosy and probing. I mean to start truly caring for people, no matter what type of outward appearance they seem to have. Start praying and encouraging EVERYONE around you, even when it seems like your efforts could never penetrate their initial personality. You might just be able to have an impact on someone who needed support, love, or good influence in their life, or you might just meet an awesome friend :) 
As Shrek said, ogres (and people) are like onions, they have LAYERS...