Hello Friends,
It was great that so many of you were able to make it to our movie night to see A Dog's Purpose. I had a great time, and great popcorn :) The movie has been on my mind, so I thought I would write about it. Feel free to comment below, as I am curious to see how the movie sat with all of you. First of all, I truly hate sitting through movies specifically designed to make you cry. When Bailey made his first transition away from Ethan and that family, I was UGLY crying. Sobbing. Embarrassed to be crying so hard, especially in front of all ya'll :) I turned to my husband and I said (word for word) "THIS IS A TERRIBLE MOVIE." No reason to make me cry that hard, movie, not fair!!! That said, I liked a lot of the movie. I mean, cute puppies allllll over the place! Bailey had a main question throughout the movie, throughout his many phases of life. "What is the purpose of life?" I think we ask ourselves the same thing now and again. The ideas he bats around are that the meaning of life is to have fun, and to make people happy. I think those things are essential to life, so I have to agree with him there. But, it seems he finally settles on the idea of BE HERE NOW. And I happen to LOVE that. Here and now are really all we have. So, if we live our lives centered by LOVE in the here and now, we are living our life with purpose. Bailey says at one point "trying to make sense of life is a waste of time." What if that is true? Remember last Sunday when we talked about being OPEN to MYSTERY. We don't have to fully understand it to participate in it. We can have faith that God's got it. It makes sense to me that if we focus on the here and now, doing what we know to give us the best shot at a good life (centered by love) in this moment, that is the purpose :) Of dogs and humans alike! What are your thoughts? Which part was your favorite? I loved the K9 cop part. And the Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey part. And all the parts where I was NOT crying :) Love, Kim
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Well, I am SUPPOSED to read this verse apparently. Does that ever happen to you? Where something pops up in many different places, where you know it just couldn't be accidental?
I started our lesson notes from this past Sunday with John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Since then, one person has referenced it in conversation, and I get a daily devotional each day and guess what verse it was about TODAY? You guessed it, John 10:10. So, why pay attention to this verse. What does it say, what does it mean? To me, I'm ALL IN for a life to the full. I love the idea of not just living my life, day after day, kinda so-so, but living it to the FULL. Full of love, full of joy, full of friends, full of laughs. ALL the good that is out there, for ME! The "thief" could be Satan, it could be that little voice in us that knows the right way, but helps convince us of not doing it. Following that path leads to destruction! Like we talked about on Sunday, Jesus came to show us how to get a life like that. We will continue to learn the work that goes into that, but for now, what's one thing you can do that follows in Jesus's footsteps? Kindness, patience, compassion, generosity....What's your first step? Keep taking steps and your on the road to life in the FULL :) So thankful you stopped by to read this today. May you have a taste of what life to the full feels like <3 Love, Kim Hello my friends! Today is amazing--the weather keeps bouncing between fits of rain and sun-filled blue skies. I went outside to walk Griffin, my adorable work companion for the day (aka my dog) without my jacket because the sky was clear and lovely. And, wouldn't you know, not 5 minutes of being outside and it was raining. Let me rephrase, these were not just typical rain drops....they were rain PLOPS. Giant, annoying plops of rain. It made me chuckle (well, not at the moment. At the moment, I ran like heck to get back inside), because it made me think about what we talked about yesterday! For those who weren't there, we started a cool new journey called The Guide to the Beautiful Life, and we broke down 4 characteristics that serve as the basis of living the beautiful life God has in mind for us. Namely, to work towards the beautiful life, we must be: -Rooted in Reality (facing the good, the bad, the ugly.) -Open to Mystery (looking for what God is up to, leaving our desire to fully understand it alone) -Open to being Directed (being tuned into what God is up to and joining him) -Fueled by Love (being fueled by anything else like pride or ego, not good outcomes) Looking at how we get the beautiful life God has in mind for us, we need to realize that God is doing things FOR us, rather than TO us--which is REALLY hard to grasp while happening. The purpose of "tests" or situations that arise in our lives are to help us understand where we are, and ultimately to grow in us what we need to become more fully ourselves! (see James 1:2-5 for some wise words about that) So, although getting rain plops all over me isn't as bad as some (well, really most...okay....all) situations I have dealt with, it was a stark reminder to me that things in life pop up. Real quick, real unexpected. And that yes, its cruddy to be in the middle of cruddy stuff. But, the more we buy into centering our lives around those 4 characteristics above, the better shot we have of living the good life, through rain or sunshine :) What did you think of the lesson yesterday? Any take aways you feel like sharing? Comment below :) Until next time, sending love, Kim My trusty assistant
Hello my friends!
I have really been thinking of the idea of us all being one in Christ. Christ in each of us. We are more alike than we are different. And then this verse popped up in an email I received and I thought, YES! We are crucified in Christ. We ALL are. Warts and all. Doesn't mean we are perfect, doesn't mean we get it right all the time. Just that Christ lives in us, and to the extent we are able to let the Christ in us lead our actions and decisions, the more we actually LIVE! Jesus Christ came to show us the way to live a life centered in LOVE. Following his example, learning to love in the way Jesus did, gives the Christ in us the best chance to SHINE! Pretty good news in my opinion. So that got me thinking, the things that we outlined on Sunday as things to focus on to live a life of love (understanding, forgiveness, selflessness, patience, etc) have a lot to do with not just letting our instincts run the show! It has a lot to do with being intentional about how we view and react to the things that happen throughout our days. Today, I am going to try to let the Christ in me SHINE, even through this rainy day :) Sending you each a big hug, Kim Hello my friends!
It was lovely to have some time together this Sunday. I've really been thinking a lot about what we talked about on Sunday. For those of you who weren't able to join us, we talked about unity, and how we are all one in Christ. We worked with puzzle pieces and realized that without each of us, we couldn't complete the puzzle--how each of us has something unique we bring to the group, and how the group would not be a whole without our piece. We talked about how we are more alike than we are different. Yet, sometimes we focus way more on our differences and how that pulls us further away from acting in a loving way. Remembering that our main goals are to love God and to love others, it makes it much more hard to love correctly if we find ways we are different. We thought of some things to focus on to help with seeing the good in others, to help seeing us as pieces of a puzzle that fits together. We came up with patience, love, understanding, selflessness, and forgiveness. We wrote what we'd aim to focus on this week on our puzzle pieces to remind us of our intention. I wrote UNDERSTANDING on mine. Sometimes when I'm not acting in a loving way, seeking to understand the other person is the last thing on my mind. I want to prove why I'm right, or I listen to them all the while thinking of what I'm going to say next, not to actually listen. I put my little puzzle piece on the mirror where I get ready in the morning, and I'm going to focus on seeking to understand this week! What about you? What will you focus on this week to help you act in the most loving way to all? Sending love, Kim "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body--whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many." 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 Hi friends,
A few of you have mentioned that I should blog. And I listened. And now I am blogging :) I view this as a way for me to jot down the random things that enter my head throughout the week that I think would be helpful to you, as we don't get to see each other much during the week. I ask that you send me ideas of things you'd love to read about and I'll do my best to write something about it. Today, I want to share with you what happened as I watched this recent storm. It got me thinking how wind is a lot like God. We don't see air, and a lot of the time, we don't really pay much attention to it. Unless its stormy. The winds were just SO powerful during this storm. My kids were afraid of the sensation of the wind against their faces, the trees were swaying, the sound of the wind against our house felt incredibly loud and forceful. Air is always there, but sometimes it takes shaking it up a little for us to notice it. Same with God, right?! God is always present, but we don't always pay much attention to that. Unless we get shaken up a bit. And how it can be so incredibly stormy through the night, and we wake up to a clear, sunny sky. Things can be so hard, but if we just hold on, sun always reappears. It got me thinking how I can begin to notice air, even when it is not windy. Taking a step outside and pausing to breathe in the crisp winter air. Noticing. And further, how I can notice God when my life isn't "windy". He's there. In every single thing. It is a beautiful and powerful thing to begin to look at. How can you notice God today? Until next time, my sweet friends. Love, Kim |
AuthorKim Labozzetta is the interim Director of Middle School and High School Student Life at The Quest. ArchivesCategories |