Letters to Lorelai: Letter #1

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Posted by Brittney Murray | Posted in , , , , | Posted on 7:20 PM


Dear Lorelai,

I hope you laugh as easily when you're my age (28) as you do now. It's easy in this life to focus on the things that are going wrong in your life, but you have to fight against that. Don't let anything or anyone steal your joy, because they will try. This world is filled with people who are so unhappy and so hurt, that they want to hurt others to make themselves feel bigger and better. I pray you're able to meet that person's anger with love and that it comes easy to you. I wish it were easier for me, but I'm still breathing, so I know I'm a work-in-progress. I pray you never look back on your past with regret, but if you ever do, remember that there's no mess too big for Jesus to stop loving you. I never truly understood that until you were born. I continually held onto the guilt of past sins (and sometimes I still do) because I thought that God would be an angry, bitter God who would thwap me over the head if I so much as got a little messy.

You love spaghetti. I would imagine by the time you're old enough to read these posts that you'll still love spaghetti, but I'm willing to bet that you'll get leaps and bounds less messy while eating it than you do now. When I see how messy you are and you give me that dimpled, greasy, pasta sauce covered smile, I'm not angry with you for getting messy. Would I rather you not get messy? Absolutely, but I never mind taking a soapy rag and washing that pasta sauce from your face and hands. You hate having your face cleaned, but even amidst the unpleasant cleaning process, I continue to lovingly wipe you down until you're no longer messy. That's how God sees us, baby girl. He is our Father and when we're covered in the mess we've made, He lovingly wipes everything away.

Getting Rid of "Negative Nancy"

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Posted by Brittney Murray | Posted in , , | Posted on 7:27 AM

Have you ever read an article, or perhaps heard something that made you so angry that you HAD to write a response to it? Guess what? The person whose perspective you were debunking didn't care. I've gotten to the point in my life where I have a zero tolerance for negativity. I'm a recovering "Negative Nancy" and I refuse to slip back into those patterns when I know it does me absolutely no good to see the bad in every situation (even good ones). 

The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 NIV, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." If someone wrote an article or said something that I disagree with, then I simply disagree and move on. It does me no good as a follower of Christ to entertain negative thoughts about a person's opinion and I refuse to give more exposure to that person's opinion by talking about it. Now, I understand that everyone needs to vent and I definitely have times where I need to just get everything out about something and move on. My husband knows this and thankfully provides an environment where I feel comfortable enough to vent. I try my best to look at everything I'm about to post to social media (Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc) through the lens of Philippians 4:8. 

If it isn't true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable—or excellent or praiseworthy. It's not posted about. Granted, everyone vents, but if you habitually focus on the negative things in your life, then I encourage you as a brother or sister in Christ to be weird and not conform to society. Christ said in Matthew 5:14a, "You are the light of the world." This world has enough darkness in it without me adding to that by slipping into negative patterns, plus, I am called to reach the very people who may anger me with their opinions. I don't know about you, but for me, that puts A LOT into perspective. 
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