To My Wonderful Parents

I have always known that I am lucky to have parents who love me so much and who love each other and who love the Lord but it really touched me for my mom to tell me just how much they loved me. She was telling me how long they waited for me and how excited they were when I came into the world. So, Mom and Dad, I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you do. For loving me unconditionally, for loving each other, for loving the Lord, and for raising me with Godly values. I know that I can be rebellious, argumentative, and generally difficult to be around at times and I want to thank you for putting up with me during those times and for gently correcting me. I thank you for encouraging my love of animals, nature, reading, and writing. You will probably never know how much it means to me to have your approval and support. Thank you for being quick to forgive and slow to anger. You are both such great role models for me. Mom, I want to have your patient and encouraging heart. Dad, I want your prayerful spirit and love and compassion for people in need. I just wanted to let you and everyone else know how much you both mean to me.

Love,
~Beth

Forest Halls. A Poem.

The trees of the forest conceal great halls
Their trunks and branches form the walls

Leafy limbs reach over head
Lush green moss makes the bed

Delightful dances here commence
The dancers are creatures no one can place in a fence

The air, perfumed by petals so sweet
Intensifies with the mid day heat

As tempting as this place might be
My destination is calling me

And as I trek away from here
I promise to return some other year

Easter

I know that it's a little late for the typical Easter post, but I believe that Easter is something to be celebrated all year long.
Easter is my favorite holiday and it's about a lot more than some eggs, candy and a bunny. Easter is the day that represents our day of salvation. It is the day that the son of God rose from the dead after being in the grave for three days. But let's rewind. Jesus was born sinless (of a virgin), lived a perfect life, spent his time teaching the truth, healing people (both physically and spiritually), and Jesus did many miracles. Then he was betrayed by one of his own followers and then the son of God who was sent to save us was put to death by us (Don't worry God planned it this way). Jesus hung on a cross and even as He died He forgave us. Well, our lives would be pretty depressing if not for Easter because here we would be eternally separated from our Creator, but God didn't leave us that way. On the third day (Easter) Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended to heaven, but He left us His spirit, The Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and lives. Jesus did all of this in payment of our debt because we should have died. For our sins the perfect son of God died for us. He died for us. This is our hope and our salvation. This is why we celebrate Easter.

What Makes Good Characters

I love to read and I love a good under-dog-down-and-out-come-back-making protagonist, but every time I read the sob story or back ground of my favorite character I want them to get a little recognition for their acomplishments, relish in their success or take a little wallow in self pitty. I guess that's because if I were in their position I would want to. Amazingly they never do. And I think that's why I like those characters so much. Because even when they have the right to do nothing or the right to do what they want they don't. Instead they sacrifice something or everything without asking for anything in return. That's the kind of person I would like to be. I want to live such an unselfish life. Wouldn't it be amazing to be someone who does great things for a bigger purpose than just "me"? And I can't think of a bigger or better purpose than God's.

Anger Management

I didn't know that I could be so mad at a group of people in all my life. Just a few days ago, what at this time seems like the beginning of the end of America as we know it was passed by our government. I'm not even going to go into everything that I think is morally and constitutionally wrong about this healthcare bill-made-law, but I am going to delve into my reaction to the news in order to make my point... Well, I was filled with what I considered "righteous" anger. So much so that that I thought my chest might burst with because of the rage inside of me. I lashed out at the T.V. and all of the turncoat "conservative" democrats that voted to let the bill pass. But then bam! God hit me with a Bible verse that I had read earlier. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His plan." Romans 8:28 I was comforted by these words because they mean that God is in control and that no matter how bad things seem now He will work them out for my good (even if good isn't good by worldly standards.) After rereading the verse I decided to let go of my anger, but I knew that I couldn't do it by myself. So, I prayed and asked God to take the anger and the hatred from my heart and to through it out. You would not believe the imediate relief that I felt! To be clicé it was like a weight had been lifted off of me. It is always best to go to God first and to hand over worries, problems, questions, and runaway emotions to God first.

Neglect and a New Direction

So, as you might have noticed I've been neglecting my blog, but it's not just that, I've been neglecting a gift God gave me. A while back God pointed out to me that writing was one of my strong points and I really believe that He had been sharpening my ability when pride got in the way of me using a gift for God's glory. I started a blog with zero expectations. I thought that just family and friends would read it and that thought was some what freeing. I could write whatever and expect only praise and constructive criticism, but then the stat counter I had installed started to show that a lot of people from all over were Reading my blog. That planted a seed of pride in my heart. I would write a post and instead of thanking God for the skill and words He had given me I would read it and pat myself on the back. Eventually my pride led to selfcontiousness and my blog began to lose the transparency I had loved and my words sounded hollow and "preachy" even
to me. All of this ended with my not writing anything at all. Now I am rededicating my gifts to God's glory. Because of this rededication I am not going to restrict the blog by only making certain kinds of posts. I'm going back to the basics and the genuine writing style that I used to have. I also feel called to make a commitment to write something every day (even though I'm not sure how much of it I'll post) because it's like a wise person recently told me, "Gifts are like muscles, if you don't use 'em you lose 'em."

Gardening

It's that time of year again! It's time to start gardening! Right now is the stage between the changing seasons... It's after the coldest, shortest days of winter, but before the warming, blooming days of spring. Yesterday I bought some seeds for my herb and flower gardens and today I planted the first seeds! I stated the planting process by pulling weeds and stones from one of our garden boxes. This task was more difficult than I had first thought it would be. It was cold outside and I had no gloves so by the time I was half way through my fingers were numb and covered in dirt. Once I had cleared my enemies (the weeds) from the battle field (the garden box) I went inside to thaw my fingers. After warming up I dug shallow little rows, placed the tiny poppy seeds carefully, gently covered them with dirt, and then covered them with straw to keep the rain from washing the seeds away. The work has just begun. I'll have to thin out the plants once they sprout and I'll have to keep the weeds at bay. Gardening today reminded me of our relationship with Jesus. It reminded me of how we have to prepare our hearts by pulling the sin from our lives, how we have to read God's word daily and bury it in our hearts, and how we have to continually weed out the sin in our lives so that we will bloom and make God's name famous.

Dreams

Recently I have been having unusually vivid dreams... The fact that they are so realistic isn't all that strange it's the fact that I am remembering them well after I wake up that's weird. In the first dream I was running a marathon and suddenly all of the racers had to come to a halt because a bridge was broken in half. The bridge appeared to have a river of water rushing over the broken part and people were up on the bridge catching alligators like normal people would catch fish. Then I was sitting in front of a Target and I was texting my friend C.H. there was a group of runners that I knew and we were all waiting for C.H. and as we are waiting we begin to realize that none of us have ever met C.H. in person. I then get a text saying that C.H. is in the museum of natural history which is just down the street. We go to look for him and I remember looking at all the displays. C.H. had told us to especially be sure to look at a certain type of duck. We get there and he's no longer there. He texts me and says that he went ahead to the Target. So we all rush back there and I am about to see him when *poof* I wake up! The second dream was so real and I remembered it in such detail that I was on the phone with my best friend and I asked her about her new kitten only to realize that she had only gotten a kitten in my dream! Isn't that strange? Even though I now know that it was only a dream I remember Kristin telling me that she had gotten a new kitten and I was so mad her for not getting it from me. While I was on the phone with her I was thinking that since wasn't mad anymore I would be nice and ask her how her new kitten was doing. She said, "What kitten? Beth, I don't have a kitten." At that moment I knew that it had all been a dream.
Have you ever had dreams that were so real that you had to stop and think about whether or not that had actually happened?

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that it's 2010 already? I am amazed that the year whent by so quickly! I quietly brought in the new year with my family. We had comfort foods, played ping-pong, watched Bringing Up Bobby, and we simultaneously watched the Peach in Georgia and the Ball in New York fall.
My 4 goals for the year are:
1)To have a healthier life style
2)To have a dailing quiet time
3)To spend more time in prayer
4)To live a life of love, compassion, and mercy
I plan on keeping these and I would love to know what your resolutions are for 2010! One of things that I have to look forward to this year is turning 15 and getting my learner's permit.
Letters From Beth is also in for some changes this year including a make over, possibly a web address change, new book reviews and give aways, and much more!
Happy New Year!
~Beth

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

As Christmas day approaches it's easy to get caught up in shopping, decorating, etc. It's also easy to forget about the true meaning behind Christmas. I know that I am just as guilty of staying busy all through the season as anybody else. I make a wish list, buy presents, decorate the tree, attend Christmas parties, and I start to focus on the material part of it. But presents and parties are what man has added to this day. The real meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have to realize that the gifts we give can never amount to the gift that Jesus already gave to us; eternal life with our creator, God, by offering His life. So, as the season progresses I encourage you to put down the presents, sit back and reflect upon what Jesus did for you and to read the account of his birth that you can find in the Bible.