The Potter and his clay

I was reading Jeremiah 18 and the analogy of the potter struck me more than usual. God is our potter and we are his clay; He spins us to shape and reshape us to make us a useful container according to His image, His purpose and His glory. "And when the vessel that he made of clay marred in the hand of the potter, so He made it again into another vessel", God is patiently fashioning us according to His desires (just like he was with Peter or Paul). Yet, we are ungrateful for the way He is shaping us or the path He is choosing for us; we become callous and resistant. God never gives us a life without difficulties, but He wants us to learn how to trust that we are in good hands and He does only what is good for us! I'm learning to be a clay that cherishes and welcomes the Potter's hands! Interesting note is that the verses never mentions furnace, because we will never be 'finished' until we're with Him. So, I was praying in which areas of my life I need God to rework on and amongst the things that popped up was to dwell in Christ more and another thing was the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. I'm so short on everyone of them, but I want those traits to be ever more present in my life for Christ!

Gratitude

In times of sorrow, pain, suffering, injustice or happiness, always have a grateful heart. Always. It will change your life mightily. Amen.

If you learn from your suffering, and really come to understand the lesson you were taught,
you might be able to help someone else who's now in the phase you may have just completed.
Maybe that's what it's all about after all...

-why is it I don't respect you? If I respected you, I shouldn't talk to you without shame, should I?

Any person we respect is someone autonomous and masterly, with his own boundaries and opinions, to whom we can and cannot say certain things because we know they will react and give us arguments.

Imagine you meet someone who accepts everything, who listens to you; that person lets others flow through him. That someone sets no barriers, and insists on no strict boundaries between the 'him' and an opponent, 'you'. Does that mean some self-loss? loss of identity and ego? In our society, we dread any self-loss; instead it's a gift we should welcome because it frees us from doubt and it is our chance for rebirth. If one attains perfect self-forgetfulness in the love of your neighbor, then that that person will believe without doubt, and no doubt can possibly enter his soul. Self-forgetfulness, liberation from our own ego and its clamorous demands, is the gift that love gives us. Love brings a voiding of our ego, which allows us to fill it anew. Dare I say that unless, one's loving attains to this, one has no chance for renewal. Is it not what Christ meant when he said unless you die, you cannot be reborn or begin anew?

No matter how hard I make myself believe I feel comfortable living in the U.S., my heart is still in Europe. I lay my whole trust in you...

Signs

A friend sent me this video and I thought I'd share it. 
Two main reasons I like it: 1. It's a Schweppes commercial (I am obsessed with carbonated water nom nom nom) and 2. It's an overall well executed short video; the music is especially well coordinated with the sequence of events and 3. I have to admit it, it's rather cute.
Watch it for yourself.
I want to be able to produce a short video as this one!

Don't pursue happiness, make it.