God's Armor

This morning I woke up to a nasty e-mail from a guy I know. It was not nice to read first thing in the morning, or again later today, unlike Chelsea's beautiful prayer from her sister last week. I met this guy, we shall call him Hank, while volunteering...he's always been nice, a bit straight-forward, but a genuinely good guy. He had Facebook friended me and asked me how I was doing/if I was still in Boulder. I gave him some brief details, and he responds again asking where I am going. But I never responded. I didn't feel like divulging my life to him, as I don't really know him THAT well. But this morning, I checked my facebook (yay I'm aloud back on!) and he had sent me another message. It's probably been a month or so since I didn't respond. And in short, this is what Hank told me - "I ask how you are, and all I get is 'pics of your spoiled white friends. F you, you typical racist CU Bitch.'" Well, that's just dandy. Am I racist? NO! But way to call my friends, and all of the CU campus spoiled and white. He got me upset this morning, not only because he offended me and hurt my feelings for not responding to him, but also because my friends (and I'm pretty sure most of the pictures on facebook are of you girls) are NOT spoiled white b****es. Far from it. And I hope I am too. The whole day his e-mail was on my mind. What did I do to deserve that title? Whatever. Just blow it off Megan. But Tuesdays are typically a good day for me, and this one is no exception, except for that rant in the morning (and another, less harsh one in the afternoon). On Tuesdays I get the beautiful privilege of going to adoration for an hour in front of the Blessed Eucharist. Today I brought my Bible with me, and I had started reading Ephesians last week, so I thought I would pick up today where I left off. Sam is probably going to call me a spaghetti head for this post, because I'm pretty sure it is/is going to be all over the place, but bear with me, because that is just how my mind works. A hundred million thoughts come into my head, and they stay there! I picked up reading Ephesians 5 and I loved verses 4-10 - "Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving...Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light...and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." The first thought that comes to mind is "ooo, Thanksgiving. Give thanks to God (because I love Turkey)!" But then more serious thinking came with the second part. "Let no one deceive [me] with empty words. How empty were those words I had read this morning. And man did they ring in my head! But how good is God - he has brought me into the Light and I know that with him and his example, I can learn from those words and instead of dwelling on them or talking smack about this guy, I can pray for him and pray for me, that I might have the strength to not gossip and make God proud of me. I continued reading in Ephesians and chapter 6 is wicked awesome too, and I bet most of you ladies have heard these verses before. "Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having sod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." That was Ephesians 6:13-17. Did I wake up this morning and put of the armor of God? I don't think so. Instead of taking these words up to God this morning in prayer after I read them, I merely pouted on them and complained to my friend. Today, I was wearing one of my favorite sweaters, and I love wearing my boots and scarf, so it was pretty much a favorite outfit of mine, but instead of caring so much about this outfit, I should have also put on my outfit of God this morning - dressed myself from head to tippy-toe in God's armor, to take on the battles of every day life. To take on the harsh words that people throw at you. The empty words. Because I bet if I had my battle gear on, ready to fight for God, those words would have bounced right back off my shied, but instead, I let them pierce my heart. Tomorrow morning, the first thing that I'm going to put on is my armory. God's armory. And I suggest that you all do the same, because it's not always a nice world out there, and y'all are nice girls. Or maybe, now that I have my helmet and boots and belt on, maybe I'll just sleep with them...I'll bet they're pretty comfortable!