"Jesus, I did this to you" - sin & the crucifixion

It's Holy Week y'all! Only a few more days of Lent and then He is risen!!! For those of you who don't know what Holy Week is, it's the last week of Lent and during this week we celebrate/ reflect on the passion of Jesus Christ. It starts on Palm Sunday then Holy Thursday is the last supper, Good Friday is the day Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, and Holy Saturday is the day Jesus's body was laid in the tomb. Easter Sunday is actually not part of Holy Week, but it is the first day of the Easter season. You can read more about Holy Week here! 

Last night (Palm Sunday) at my youth group we watched this short film appropriately entitled, Palm Sunday. I'd definitely seen it before but last night was the first time I got the full message it has to offer. I put it below, it's only four minutes long so you should definitely watch! 

Okay so obviously being whipped and beaten and nailed to a cross after carrying a huge wooden block of wood for miles would be extremely painful. But I've read other torture stories before and many have seemed pretty comparable to Jesus's Crucifixion. So for the longest time I didn't get why the Church says that Jesus experienced the worst pain possible. I just always assumed that it didn't even matter how much it hurt physically, Jesus was going through it all as an innocent man saving humanity and that was enough for me. Then  it hit me last night while watching this video...
Jesus died to save humanity from sin. Not just the sins of the people of His time on earth, not just the sins we are committing on earth now and not just the sins that will be committed in the future. He died for all of the above - every sin that has or will ever be committed. Every one of those sins whether it be a swear word or a genocide is a lash to His side or another thorn on His crown. That is insane! There are 7 billion people on earth right now, each one a sinner. Add that to all of the people that have and will live and you'll have over a trillion sins. All of the pain sin causes us caused pain for Jesus. Just try to imagine, a trillion lashes, a tear just dropped onto my laptop at the thought. We will NEVER even come close to knowing how much pain Jesus endured. He did it to save us because even though we are sinners and are unworthy of His Love, He loves us unconditionally. 

I hope I've sparked a new appreciation for the crucifixion of our lord, Jesus Christ for you. I for one am still trying to wrap my head around it all. 

I'm praying that this has been a lent full of repentance and new appreciation for all of you. If it hasn't, it's never too late to start! I don't know if "happy Holy Week!" is the right phrase to use so I'm just going to leave you with the classic verse from the Gospel of John: 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

In His Name, 

Meredith 

questions, comments or prayer requests? Feel free to email me: meredithmunro@icloud.com 

**PRAYER REQUESTS** 

Those being baptized at the Easter Vigil this Saturday, especially my friends Alex & Gabby.

The 8th & 9th grade confirmants at St. Ann

"Hop on my back!"

Well friends, we're approaching the busy season. Banquets, recital, tryouts - oh my! For me, there are a lot of "lasts" and I'm only a sophomore. A lost of it has to to with growing up, which is both scary and exciting. In this past year alone my responsibilities have doubled, driving, choreographing solos, and as of yesterday, becoming an EMHC (Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion). Being able to do all of those things and be trusted to carry them out properly is awesome but I think we all  miss the days where we had no responsibilities. When we're little kids we don't have any responsibilities, we don't have high expectations from anybody nor ourselves, we haven't been exposed to the struggles this earth holds for us. So in the wake of some ridiculous drama/ stress at my dance competition this past weekend, it was great to be able to hang out with a four year old girl to take my mind off of all of the worldly troubles. 

This particular four year old is one of the dance teacher's daughters, Tatum. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of kids but I cannot get enough of Tatum. She's got an infectious spirit, one of those laughs that instantly makes you happy. At the beginning of the weekend I was deemed her friend and by the last day, she told me that she loves me. Aside from funny selfies and vines, the most important thing I got from my weekend with Tatum is a reminder on how we're all made in God's image. Four year olds don't have tunnel vision like we teens do, if you come talk to to Tatum, she declares you  her friend. She's accepting, we all should be too. The second thing I learned is that we all need to laugh more. Olivia and I rode back to the hotel with Miss Jessica (Tatum's mom) on Saturday night, Tatum in tow. Most fun car ride of my life. Tatum would say something random then start cracking up, causing us all to do the same. She told us all about her fish named Bunny and her three brothers (Barrett, Landon and Daddy. Landon is her favorite.) Eventually she ran out of real words and started making up her own which was even funnier. When we got back to the hotel and had to split up in the elevator, Tatum was devastated. 

As I said, the weekend was full of ridiculous drama and stress, which all dance competitions are, but hanging around with my favorite four year old took my mind off of all of that stuff and definitely made it a trip to remember. 

So, that was my short, sweet and happy post to make up for my previous one. I hope you have a great day/night. Here are some pictures and vines taken with Tatum this weekend, enjoy...

Stretching with the big girls!

Selfiie ft. Olivia 

Sisters???

She did not enjoy being onstage for the award ceremony...

Dancin' 

breakfast "it's too early to be awake!"

pic ft. her new pink elephant

And of course, here're the vine that the title of this post came from...

https://vine.co/v/MiD9O9iEe0j

"He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

Matthew 18:2-6

In His Name, 

Meredith 

questions, comments or prayer requests? Feel free to email me: meredithmunro@icloud.com 

**PRAYER REQUESTS** 

Tatum and all of the other little kids with such pure hearts, that they stay pure. 

New EMHCs (Including me) 

The Giver

Hey friends, if you came here looking for a happy post about how great everything is going you might want to turn around (please don't) because that's not what is in store for you today. These past couple of weeks have been rough - full of highs and lows and lots of emotions. I just realized that I haven't posted an actual blog post since last month oops. I have a lot of drafts but they are either a) finished and no longer completely relevant or b) stories that haven't been completed yet. So even though I've been writing, I haven't been posting and if you enjoy my blog, I apologize for that. Anywayyyy....

In middle school we read The Giver by Lois Lowry. If you say you enjoyed that book, you are lying. I always try to find the best in everything, but I really struggled with that one. However, if you have never read The Giver, which I doubt anybody hasn't, all you really need to know for now is that it's set in a dystopian society (wow so original) and this kid gets picked to be "the Giver", which is the person that basically takes on all of the physical emotional pain of everybody in the whole society. The book made it seem like being the Giver would be pretty terrible, eventually causing the main character to run away from society altogether. But right now, I would kill to be able to feel other people's pain, because until we can do that we'll never be able to truly understand their struggles. I like haveing a lot on my plate (metaphorically) most of the time. I try not to put myself into situations where I can help and choose not to. This brings me a lot of internal conflict because there's a fine line between "your problem/ responsibility" & "not your problem/ responsibility". Few things make me more frustrated than when I can't help somebody I really want to. We all have that friend who we've know since birth, and even if you maybe aren't as close to them now as you've been in the past, you'd still drop anything to go to their aid. Things were getting better, we talked things out and then I found out I was lied to and I just don't know what to think. To attempt to accurately describe how I feel: picture this- you're working on a video project for school and iMovie/Final Cut/ Premier Pro is working well, which is weird because it is always janky. You feel that you are making a lot of progress and this project is going to turn out to be spectacular. Then your computer shuts down unexpectedly. It's okay though because your project saved automatically right? Nope. You log back on and all of your progress has been lost and now you have to start at square one. Except now not only are you exasperated because your project got deleted, but you're running out of time and have to slap something together really quickly. You're less focused on getting a good result and more focused on just finishing the project. We've all been, there. It's where I am right now, except I'm not dealing with a computer. There's the side of me that wants to give up, I'm done being sympathetic and since I never know what to believe, I can't really be empathetic. But then there's the loyal side, knowing it isn't my responsibility, but still wanting to fix her problems. I'm torn, I really am and at this moment I can't tell y'all what I'm going to do about it because I honestly have no idea. But what I do know is that even though I may not be able to help, God can and if we ask for His guidance, we're going to get it. It won't come in words most likely. You've got to keep both of your eyes and ears open for a sign and you've got to be patient. One of my favorite bible verses, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says, "For this momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen at eternal" When you're unsure of something, it helps to try to look at the big picture. However a lot of the time God is the only one who can actually see the big picture. We need to trust His plan and take whatever he puts in our path with gratitude, knowing that out struggles are only making us stronger. 

fun stuff. 

These past couple of weeks have been a bit too emotional for me to handle, truth be told. See, I'm a big believer in the fact that nothing is really a big deal in the grand scheme of things because God is bigger than everything around us. He has a plan and if something happens it's because God intended for it to. However in the past two weeks I have gone through a lot from officially deciding not to do Lariettes again to this whole friend debacle I talked about about. On top of that I gave up sweets & junk food (so my entire diet) for lent and have a hard time replacing the stuff I gave up with healthy stuff, instead I just don't eat that much (oops). So if you'd pray for me, that'd be greatly appreciated. Oh and also my friend, who I will not name, Jesus knows who you're talking about. 

I wouldn't dare leave a post on a negative note because that's just not my style. So here are some awesome things that have happened...

• There's a new girl in my grade and she seems super cool, I mean we have the same watch so basically we were made to be best friends. Some of my friends wanted to meet her yesterday at lunch so I took them to say hi and later she told me it made her day, which made mine. 
• My mom's birthday was yesterday and she spent a couple hours of it listening to me cry over dance stuff. She rocks if you don't talk to your mom, you really should. Moms are awesome. 
• I went to my dance teacher's wedding and OMG it was beautiful! Here's the video of their first dance to Mirrors by JT, go watch it: https://vimeo.com/90272683
• As I mentioned, I am not continuing with Lariettes and this week is tryout week. I thought I'd be kind of sad but I'm not at all, which can only mean God has some great stuff in store for me instead of drill team. When people tell me they miss me or it's weird without me it feels good in the sense that I have made enough of an impact on them for them to notice my absence. 
• Sarah is great and she can sense when I'm strugglin', so I talked to her and I feel much better. Go friends! 

Okay y'all if you have gotten this far, thanks for sticking out my less than cheery post. Have a beautiful day :) 

In His Name, 
Meredith 

questions, comments or prayer requests? Feel free to email me: meredithmunro@icloud.com 

**PRAYER REQUESTS** 
My dance company as we travel and compete in Houston this weekend & all of the girls trying out for Lariettes/ Silver Stars tonight! 

Some relevant songs: Make Me Whole by Ayleron & Worn by Tenth Avenue North