Proverbs 30:31 + the Hunger Games

If you have not yet read all 3 Hunger Games books, please do so before you proceed! :)

   Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

                          Proverbs 31:30

   Proverbs 31:30 is my memory verse for Bible study this week and although it is a well known one, I don't think people think a whole lot about what it actually means. I think we look at it and think to ourselves that it is a beautiful, simple verse and rings with wisdom and truth and then we move on. At least that is what I've been doing for the past 15 years and 111 days (aka until this morning). This morning I was thinking about how we never question the truth of the verse in words, it is clearly correct, but it is definitely questioned in the actions of our society. Take models for example, they clearly much more good looking than all the rest of us(whether natural or otherwise) so these lucky ducks get jobs where they don't get to pick what they wear and have to pretend to feel emotions they aren't feeling and are constantly being dissected in magazines ect. and worrying about how they look. And what do they gain (in terms of appearance)  from all this trouble? The chance to grow old and gain wrinkles and gray hair just like the rest of us. So, what was the point of that rambling you ask? Simply to make sure you are aware that beauty is indeed fleeting. Now for charm...

   This one is harder because some may like to present the argument that charm is not nearly so superficial but, alas, it is. They dictionary recently taught me that charm is a trait or feature imparting the power of pleasing people through personality or beauty. Now, if you are one of the aforementioned "charm is not superficial people" you may feel that the use of personality proves your point but it does not. You are born with a personality the same way you are born with you face. You may try to tweak it or change it to fit the image of what you or society think it should be but parts of the "real you" will always be peeking through the mask. On the other hand, character is the real deal. Character is what you have the power to change whether for better or worse.
   So, I was thinking of this while I was reading the Hunger Games and decided that a great example of this would be Peeta. Peeta is a charming guy. At school he was one of the cool kids. In his interviews, everyone loved him. During Quarter Quell training it took 2 hours for the other tributes to become his friends. Also, he's fairly attractive. But despite all this, the thing that saved his life was his character. Katniss liked Peeta but in her first games she was perfectly willing to kill him along with his charm and beauty. But when she gets a true glimpse at his character, his goodness, she can't. 
    Anyway, I thought that was a cool demonstration, hope you liked it! :)

Alice's Sister

       At the end of the book Alice tells her sister about her dream and then runs off for dinner. Below is the books conclusion in its entirety because I really think it's quite wonderful:
   
    But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her head on her hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and all her wonderful Adventures, till she too began dreaming after a fashion, and this was her dream:
    First, she dreamed about little Alice herself: once again the tiny hands were clasped upon her knee, and the bright eager eyes were looking up into hers-she could hear the very tones of her voice, and see that queer little toss of her head to keep back the wandering hair that would always get into her eyes--and as still as she listened, or seemed to listen, the whole place around her became alive with the strange creatures of her little sister's dream.
     The long grass rustled at her feet as the White Rabbit hurried by--the frightened Mouse splashed his way through the neighboring pool--she could hear the rattle of the teacups as the March Hare and his friends shared their never-ending meal, and the shrill voice of the Queen ordering off her unfortunate guests to execution--once more the pig-baby was sneezing on the Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed around it--once more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the Lizard's slate-pencil, and the choking of the suppressed guinea pigs, filled the air, mixed up with the distant sob of the miserable Mock Turtle.
     So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality--the grass would be only rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds--the rattling teacups would change to tinkling sheep-bells, and the Queen's shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd boy--and the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and the other queer noises, would change (she knew) to the confused clamor of the busy farm-yard--while the lowing of the cattle in the distance would take the place of the Mock Turtle's heavy sobs.
    Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.


       Hopefully you enjoying rereading it as much as me! :) Anywho, the reason I love this so much is because, one, it points out the world's versatility or shows that their is always more than one way of looking at something. It displays that our surroundings can be viewed as dull reality or be made a bit more exciting by seeing through the eyes of a child. The Bible tells us that we must receive the Kingdom of God like a child or we will never enter it. (Luke 18:16-17) I think this is because children tend to see everything like they are seeing it for the first time and as though it is beautiful and new and exciting even the rest of the world thinks otherwise. And those of us who can hold on to the understanding of how to look at the world in that way can enjoy life much more fully but also have the maturity to separate day dreams from reality. You see, Wonderland is real. Perhaps no the one in which the Queen of Hearts rages on but there is certainly a land where everything is wonderful. And that land is not the kind that you journey to physically but rather a state of mind that changes the way "ordinary" things seem to a particular individual.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

     "And here Alice began to get rather sleepy and began saying to herself in a dreamy sort of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do get bats?" and sometimes "Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question it didn't matter which way she put it."

      I found it very interesting how LC (Lewis Carroll) says that when you don't know the answer it doesn't matter how you ask the question. I on the other hand would venture to say that the phrasing of questions is of utmost importance if you're ever hoping to have it answered. When we have a question about God, we can't just give up on asking it because we can't figure out how to say it! On the contrary, I do find that a lot of times when I pray I don't know how to phrase what I'm asking for but as long as I know what I mean that is what God will hear.

"For,  you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible."

      I love this line because I feel like that's how people must feel when they first become Christians. For me it was super gradual so I can't say that for sure but I do know that when I started getting really close to God and waking up super early I certainly felt that way. Like, practically nothing was actually impossible if God gives you the knowledge and tools to make it happen.

    "First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this; "for it might end, you know", said Alice to herself, "in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?" And  she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle looks like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing."

       And now we've reached  the point where things are truly impossible, both in wonderland and our own world. If the flame of a candle is blown out, the flame of the candle is gone forever. Even if you light it again, it's a different flame. This, of course, has a vast amount of metaphoric match ups but the most obvious, in my opinion, is life and death.

       "She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it)"

        I often feel this way all the time when God is clearly telling me to do one thing and then I think about it for ever so long as though it is unclear when in reality only my feeble arguments against God's will are "muddying" it. Then I advise myself in the best possible way and proceed to do the wrong thing. Honestly I suppose everyone does this and it is most annoying (I do the things I hate)! But more annoying to God than anyone else!

        "She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself "Which way? Which way?", holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing; and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size. To be sure, this is what generally happens when one eats cake; but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way."

        I know exactly how Alice feels on this one. Often, I go into my Bible Study with the mindset that I will have a great revelation and come out of it feeling completely revived and refreshed. When that is my mindset it never happens because I'm so focused on me rather than God and I'm rather disappointed. The wonder of the joyous feelings the Word and time with God brings is that it comes only when you haven't set expectations for God to meet. That way He can create a wonderful episode of life that you didn't expect (although you didn't doubt either) because you were to focused on God to over think the event itself. 

        When Alice meets with the mouse and birds she continues to mention her cat Dinah, thinking only of what she'd like to say rather than being sensitive to what they'd like to hear. As a result, the all leave. This happens in real life too. When we are insensitive and selfish, we are left worse than before.

       "Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradict in all her life before, and she felt that she was losing her temper"

        Generally speaking the result of continuously contradicting someone is a struggle with patience inside that person and quite a dislike from them as well. 

       "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

       "The depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

       "I don't much care where----" said Alice.

       "The it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

       "----so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation."

       "Oh, you're sure to do that", said the cat, "if you only walk long enough." 

       This conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat cracks me up because it does seem so silly for Alice to ask where to go when the only place she wants to go is "somewhere" but, if fact, we do it all the time. We ask God to direct us without giving a thought to where we might like to go and, honestly, it seems to me that that would be a pretty God hint at what He might like us to do. 

So that's a bit of my thoughts on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I will follow up soon with a post on her sister.