What's your nard?

First of all, nard? Great word.

Second of all, I'm grabbing that word from the book of John in which Jesus visits Mary and Martha and Mary breaks a jar of her most expensive nard {can't not giggle} to wash Jesus' feet. {full verses here for inquiring minds}

That verse was taught in my church yesterday in a way that I hadn't totally considered it before. Not just focusing on sacrificing wealth or even sacrificing anything, but focusing on the fact that Mary held nothing, not even her most prized possession, above Jesus. If I'm going to sit here and list the things that I regularly place above Jesus - that I'm not fully confident I'd be able to sacrifice completely for Him - I'd be sitting here all day.

What if all, like all, of my friends abandoned me? If my family was lost in a car crash? If I could never run again? If I developed a fatal allergy to avocados? Would I be able to carry on, knowing only that I had the love of God?

There's a part of me that says, "of course, after a period of mourning or struggle, I would eventually be able to carry on." But there would be a period of serious darkness. And I've endured that before. It's not a pleasant place, and it can be easy to lose sight of all that you do have. Thinking to yourself, "well, at least I have God," can, to the truly miserable individual, be akin to having your mom still think you're cool even though you didn't get invited to the popular boy's Bar Mitzvah. Like, thanks, but really, no thanks.

So this teaching was a powerful reminder to me to stop acting like a 12 year old girl, literally, and be sure that my priorities are in line. Like anything of true worth or difficulty, that's not an easy, one-stop endeavor. That's an ongoing, daily practice that will continue throughout my life to re-assess, to pray, to ask myself, "Would I be willing and able to break my bottle of nard today?"

It's an important lesson, because all that we have here is temporary. Our loved ones will pass away. You can't take your shoe collection with you. But “The Lord’s love never ends; his mercies never stop.  They are new every morning.  Lamentations 3:22-23” - and that's pretty cool.

Inspirational Friday!

I mentioned in my last post that frustrating moments can be wonderful as they offer us opportunities to grow and strengthen ourselves. In the past, I've allowed myself to throw raging pity parties in which I revel in my frustrations, my mistakes and whatever might be lacking in my life. As I've matured {sort of} I've recognized these habits in myself and developed methods to find joy in bleakness, calm in storms, blessings in every aspect of my life, and minor miracles every day. 

In the midst of all of my recent talk on ancient Indian ideologies, I thought I might mix in some other ideologies and introduce a favorite Bible verse that speaks to this same topic:

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint.” –Romans 5:3-5

I hope that, regardless of your religious background, this verse inspires you to welcome the inevitable difficulties of life with an open heart, because they can shape you in beautiful ways.

Do you have any wonderfully inspiring quotations I should know about? Please share!
Enjoy your weekend!!!