What is in your alabaster box?
How to lay our dreams at God's feet













The Beautiful Tradition

     I was reading the book Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall and Debby Jones, when I ran across this beautiful tradition.  

     In Jewish Tradition, when the young girl was ready for marriage, her family would purchase an alabaster box and fill it full of expensive ointments and oils.  How big the box was and how much it weighed was a symbol of how big the dowry would be for the marriage of the daughter.  When a man came and asked for the girl's hand in marriage, she would then take out the alabaster box and break it at his feet, anointing them with the oil, a sign of her honoring his request.
     We see this happening in Luke 7, when a woman, who was known in the city  a sinner, came into the place where Christ was eating and broke her alabaster jar and anointed Christ with it.  


Your Alabaster Box
 

     Whether we know it or not, we all have an alabaster box, too.  It may be full of our hopes and dreams, what we think our perfect wedding and marriage would be, everything we want in Mr. or Mrs. Right.  We clutch this box very tightly until we find the right guy or girl who we think could fulfill all our hopes and dreams.  So we break our alabaster box at his/her feet, hoping for the best.  And sometimes good things happen, but sometimes this person scoffs at our dreams and tramples them, and crushes our alabaster box.

     So we try to gather up the shattered remains of our box, pull it together and super-glue it.  It doesn't look the same.  It doesn't have the same dreams in it, as the originals have been shattered.  It doesn't even look like the same box.  But now we clutch it even tighter, because we know what happens when it breaks.
     How do we end the cycle of breaking our alabaster boxes in front of those who will never be able to fulfill and complete us?  We break our box at the feet of Jesus.      Why would we want to break our box at the feet of the Lord?  Because He loves us.  Because He wants the best for us, and His plans are so much better than we can ever imagine.  

     Because it shows that we trust Him with everything in our life, even our love life.  Is it hard?  You bet!  It is always hard to admit your ways are not the best, and someone else's plan is superior.  But oh the rewards if we do break this box for Jesus to have and do with what God wills!


Complete in Him
     Often you will hear people saying such things as this: "I am just looking for someon to complete me."  Or, once that one person is supposidly found, "Oh, he/she completes me!" 
     By saying that you are looking for someone to complete you, you are in for a long journey.  This indicates that you are incomplete, not even a whole person. Wrong! 
     One is not ready to look into a relationship until he/she find his/her contement in God.  You are a whole person as a child of God.  God doesn't make incomplete people because He doesn't make mistakes.  You are His creation, He loves you!
     When two "incomplete" people marry each other, they do not become one complete person, they instead become two incomplete people in a marriage. 
     Find your completeness in the Lord, and you will be content!


What is in your alabaster box?  Have you laid it at the feet of the Lord?  Let me know in the comments below!

God Bless you all,

Chloe M.


     

The Best Big Brother Ever











To Those with Big Brothers:
     I'm jealous.  Really I am.  I am the oldest in a family of eight kids, and one of the things I have always wanted is a big brother.  I have seen how the big brothers of my friends are protective over their little sisters, and I'm green with envy.  I don't have someone who is there to protect me against mean comments, other guys, and encourages me when I need someone to listen to me.  
     What is crazy is that the girls who I talk to who have big brothers wish they didn't have them.  "They are so annoying! They pick on me and are just weird and rude."  I guess that big brothers are the kind of thing that you don't want when you have them, and you want them when you don't have them.




What I want in a big brother
     I would love a guy who loved me because of who I was, not who I looked like.  I would love a guy who was protective and was always looking out for my best interests.  I would love a guy who  I could turn to for advice on what he had already gone through.  
     I know that this might be a highly romanticized version of a big brother, but this is what I've always dreamed of.  I've shared this with my Mom, (who grew up always wanting a big brother, too), and she said I do have a big brother.  Jesus.  

The Ultimate Big Brother
     Looking at my list of what I would want my big brother to be, I find a lot of similarities.  

   
     1)  I would love a guy who would love me for who I am, not what I look like:  Well, Christ has seen me through thick and thin, beautiful and not so great looking,  and still loves me.  He loves me when I have walked away from Him, and He loves me when I come running back to Him.  Unconditionally, He is always there.     


     
     2)  I would love a guy who is protective of me and always looks out for my best interests:  Christ protects me from a lot of things that I cannot see.  He sends His protection in forms of the sacraments and graces that strengthen me against the enemy - Satan.  He never has anything but my best interests in mind and always wants me to succeed in my spiritual life so I can be with Him in Heaven one day.  


     3)  I would love a guy who could give me advice on what He'd already been through:  This is the beauty of Christianity.  We believe that Christ came down to earth, took the form and nature of a human, while still retaining His divine nature, and went through everything we go through (except sin.).  He can give me advice on what I'm going through.  He knows what it is liked to not be popular, to have someone like you for what you can do for them, to have to stand for the truth, and to sacrifice everything for God.  And He leaves all His advice in a convenient location - The Bible - so that I can turn to Him in prayer and in the Word whenever I need help.  



In Conclusion....
     So, I have a great big brother - the best big brother! He loves me, looks out for me, and is always there for me to talk to Him.  I can even go to adoration and hear Him whisper that He loves me.  

Do you have a big brother? Are you a big brother?  Do you look to Christ as a big brother?  Let me know in the comments below!

God Bless you all,

Chloe M.  

God is AMAZING
My belief in creation









Evolution v. Creation

     I have a wonderful friend who believes in the theory of evolution.  I love this friend to death, but I have to disagree with her, and I support the biblical belief of creationism.
     Now I know that even if evolution was proved to be a fact (instead of just a theory), the Church would never have been wrong.  Archbishop Sheehan said, "But even if the proof were forthcoming tomorrow, that the body of hte fist man was evolved from lower animals, it would not be found to contradict any solemn, ordinary, or official teaching of the Church."
     Yet I wanted to explain my thoughts on creation and the origin of man. 



Here's a monkey...I think I'll name him Adam.

   One of the main beliefs held by my friend is that, at one point during creation, God breathed a soul into a primate and that soul made the monkey the first man.  This is a belief I cannot support and here is why:
     "The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." - Gen. 2:7.
     Some thoughts.  First part of the verse: "...formed the man from the dust of the ground."  Looking at this closely, it doesn't really "jive" with the belief that the first man was evolved from a monkey.  God clearly made man from the dust of the earth, a fact we acknowledge on Ash Wednesday when we are told that we are dust and to dust we shall return.  We are not told that God decided it was time for man to make an appearance, picked up a monkey and breathed him a soul.  He made man from the dust, not some random monkey. 
     Second part of the verse: "...and the man became a living being."  This would mean that the materials used to make man had never been alive until this point.  Now, if this was a monkey that had been used to now have a soul, the verse would have read: "...and the man became existent, no longer an ape, but a man in the image of God." 


Cross this line to de-evolve
     Believing that Adam and Eve were the first on the earth, we believe that they existed very happily, even walking with God, in the garden of Eden.  Then came original sin, and due to their blame game, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, but with the promise of a savior that would come and rescue them from their sin as to open the gates of Heaven.
     Here is where my next thought comes in.  Adam and Eve were obviously advanced in knowledge enough to converse with God, name animals, and function as human beings.  So when they crossed the threshold of the garden of Eden, did they de-evolve?  Did they become reduced to grunting "cave men," hunched over, uncivilized, and animalistic?  This would actually go against this bible verse:
     "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." - Gen. 1:26
     Man was created to have dominion over animals, not to be reduced to being animalistic himself. as this would be de-evolution,
     Also, one thing you have to love about God is that He is a God of order.  For man to be created in God's image, then to be reduced to what we have learned as  the "cave man," would go against God's beautiful plan of order in the universe He has created.

Just some thoughts on the amazing love of God.  Studied some of this in religion class tonight, had to share some of my thoughts!

Let me know what you think in the comments below!
God Bless you all,

Chloe M. 

Meet Matt Maher

     I have to introduce you to one of my favorite Catholic contemporary music artists, Matt Maher.  Find out a little bit about him below and enjoy the music!


His Story
     Matt Maher is a Catholic contemporary singer.  You may have heard some of his music, most commonly known for pieces like: Turn Around, Christ is Risen, Litany, and Hold Us Together.

     He writes much of his own music, and has also co-wrote songs with the likes of Christ Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Matt Redman, Audrey Assad, and Jars of  Clay. 

     A Canadian, (eh? Sorry, couldn't resist) Matt started out taking piano at a young age and quickly broadened his horizons in everything from choir to a garage band.  And get this, he payed for his first three years of college by playing piano in a hotel.

     In 2001, he started releasing his music, his first CD being The End and the Beginning.  He just released his big single, Rise Up, from his new album, The Love In between.

     He has been nominated for the dove award six times and has performed in front of over three million people in the past five years. 

     I had the wonderful experience of seeing him play at NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) in 2008 - and am getting to hear him against next month at a concert. 

His Music



    

Are you a Matt Maher Fan?  Headed to any of his concerts this year?  Let me know in the comments below! I'd love to hear from you.

God Bless all of you,

Chloe M.

Control: A fight I cannot win

Have to share this video that goes with what I was talking about in the post "Letting Go of the Life I planned for me." 
The song is by JJ Heller, a Christian artist on my local Christian radio.  She's very good - and I love the message of the song.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.