In All Honesty, By Gabby M.

In All Honesty

By Gabby M.

In all honesty, we shouldn't have had a chance at even a fraction of the kind of lives we lead. Especially as Americans, we were born with more than enough to keep us doing reasonably well, if not thriving. Sure, we've all had our ups and downs in life. I can say I've had my fair share of hurt and trials. But do we ever just stop and think about how incredibly blessed we are? 

The other day I was watching television, and a commercial came on advertising mascara, and again, it was dramatized to the point where I just had to roll my eyes. Seriously? How is it even possible to dress up an eye product commercial that much?

But this time, I did more than just sigh and roll my eyes. Something different happened. Suddenly I was viewing the commercial in the mind of someone who is from a third-world country, and this is what I saw:

A white American, flashy lights, booming colors, and a rich snob who knew nothing of what she had. She was trashy. Greedy. Vain. Ungrateful. I suddenly had no desire to purchase what she was selling and instead felt a burning anger toward the American way of life.

Can you imagine what would go through their mind? Take Haiti for example. They just suffered an earthquake not long ago, and are still in ruins. And here we are, trampling each other and camping outside the store on Black Friday, just so we can get STUFF. That's all it is, just stuff. And most of it we don't need.

I am really getting sick of all the selfishness and lack of gratitude I'm seeing in people today. We are so busy going after what we want that we can't appreciate what we already have.

I know the statement I'm making is bold, and I am saying this having been guilty of this attitude myself. But God has opened my eyes to see that life is more than boys, celebrities, drugs, parties, test finals, internet and even friends. I am just going to go ahead and go all "mom" on you guys and say, "There are kids in Africa who don't even get Christmas presents!!"

But back to a more serious note...the older I get, the more I find this statement to be more than a "mom" thing. I know when I get to be a mother I will probably say the same thing no matter how much my kids talk back, because we must appreciate what we have. It keeps us from being selfish, and prevents negativity in thoughts which, if left unattended, will quickly spiral into depression.

Jesus had a hard life. He was born in a barn, for starters. That's pretty weird for a king, don't you think? Then growing up, he had to play with his friends without sinning. What about peer pressure? Or when they treat you wrong? Then in his adulthood, his days were full of stress and crowds of people pressing in on him, wanting him only for what he had and not for who he was. He healed people even when his best friend passed away and he wanted nothing more but to be alone. He didn't have a place to stay, and I wouldn't be surprised if some nights he had to sleep on the street.

But he still loved people, no matter how self-centered.. He still came to bring us peace, hope, healing, and truth. All those things we would do well to offer to each other this Christmas year.

In all honesty, we don't deserve what he has given to us. But he gave freely, and so should we.

Merry Christmas everyone. :)

5 Things you Might not be Thankful for, but Should Be, By Gabby M.

5 Things you Might not be Thankful for, but Should Be

By Gabby M.

How much do you like dirty dishes? Or piles of laundry? Or cleaning in general?

I can say I have my preferences about cleaning, like I would rather wash dishes than dry them. But I get tired of it, especially with kids around making a mess of what you just cleaned!

You're probably wondering what this has to do with thankfulness.

I'm not heading into the cliche "be thankful for what you have because you don't live in a third world country." Because that simply doesn't express the amount of prosperity we've been blessed with.

When I took a trip to Haiti in April, I saw a lot of things that broke my heart. A little Haitian girl no older than 5 was sleeping under a table her mom had set up to sell things. She was curled up in a ball on a piece of cardboard while cars and motorcycles whizzed by 5 feet from her head. Thats what she has to do to get some rest.

We went and painted a house for a family. When we got there, they were cooking lunch on the porch and kept their dishes stacked like wood in a pile against the wall. The pile wasn't tall. It only took ten minutes to clear out their belongings so we could paint. That's how little they had.

And we complain about having to wash the amount of dishes after our enormous Thanksgiving feasts, cooked in multiple ovens and on top of nice stoves in warm houses?

Some aren't quite that fortunate; even in America there are places of poverty where its a hassle just get dinner at night.

People in Haiti don't usually name their kids till they're one year old because often they don't live past that age. Some people I met were ex voodoo believers. A lot of young Haitians don't have parents.

So 1) We should be thankful we have dishes to wash, clothes to fold, and beds to make.

2) Thankful for our homes, even if they aren't the best.

3) Thankful that your siblings are alive, even when they are bugging you to no end and you kind of want to kill them.

4) Thankful for friends. Sometimes they make mistakes, but friends are necessary God created us to be social to some degree. And by the way, if they backstab you and treat you wrong, they aren't your friends. Just saying.

5) We should be thankful for our families.

Now I know this is a tough one, family can be very dysfunctional. And everyone has family problems no matter who they are in society, and I pray that God will heal the brokenness that may be in your family, reader, because it's a hard thing to go through.

But often what I see is teenagers saying they hate their families or simply don't get along with them. Then they just leave it at that and get angry with their parents over every little thing.

Okay, if your parents give you rules to protect you, don't abuse you, fed you as a child, any of those things, you need to realize that no matter how many fights you've been through, they're still your family. And you never turn your back on your family, even if they do. Christ calls us as Christians and humans in general to love because He first loved us. When you think about that, none of the rest of it matters. You have to have some sort of amount of respect for people, no matter who they are or what they've done to you, period. Don't forget how those good people in your life influenced you, and don't forget to tell them thank you. To tell God thank you.

So I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don't forget to appreciate what you've been given. :)