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WE Are the Body
“In every society the constituent individuals are united, as are also the members of a body, to effect a common end; while the parts they severally play correspond to the functions of the bodily organs. They form a moral unity. This, of course, is true of the Church, but the Church has also a unity of a higher order; it is not merely a moral but a mystical body. This truth, that the Church is the mystical body of Christ, all its members being guided and directed by Christ the head, is set forth by St. Paul in various passages.” —Catholic Encyclopedia
God has called each of us to be a part of His church. To build it up and keep it alive. We aren’t the future of the Church, we are the Church. Right now. And as the Church, we are the body of Christ. Think about it, Christ came to earth and showed us how to act and how to live and love one another. Now that He is no longer physically on earth, the responsibility of sharing his love and building up His church falls to us, his disciples. He is not here in person, but He is embodied in each of us.
We become His arms, reaching out to those in need.
We become His hands, healing the sick and the brokenhearted.
We become His voice, teaching others of God’s love.
But if we are the body, why aren’t His feet going? Why is His love not showing them there is a way? What is holding us back and keeping us from living the way that God wants us to?
That’s what God calls us to do. To go out and teach our peers. To set an example for our friends at school and show them that Jesus is the way.
John 15:7-12 says “Christ is the center and source of life to whom all are united, and Who endows each one with gifts fitting him for his position in the body. These graces, through which each is equipped for his work, form it into an organized whole, whose parts are knit together as though by a system of ligaments and joints.” This means that God has given each of us our own talents so that we can go out and do what He has called us to do. We are all talented. Each and every one of us. Our talents are different, but they are what make us unique. They set us apart from the rest of the crowd. Thy give us each our own value and potential. And most importantly, they give us the ability to go out and do whatever God asks of us. But the thing is, as humans, we seem to be programmed to see the talents and beauty of everyone else, but blind to our own qualities.
God also calls us to help one another see our place in this body of Christ. We have to be here for each other in times of need and support one another. To help each other thrive spiritually and emotionally.
I mean, yeah, we can always choose to live in our own little world and not worry about the people around us, but what kind of life is that? Would you rather be looked at as the person that is always cold and self absorbed or someone that is always willing to go out of their way to make others happy?
The choice is always yours.
Winter Wonderland
The Girl Behind the Camera- 1 Year later
Hi! My name is Cassie, and I’m a self-taught sixteen year old with a passion for photography… But you already knew that. I love to write. A lot. Which is good, because I’ve been blogging about my life for the past fifty-two weeks.
RaNdoM FaCts AbOUt Me??
1.) I started teaching myself about photography in the fifth grade.
2.) Self portraits are extremely frustrating for me. I’d rather be behind the camera than in front of it.
3.) I love doing my part to serve others and to make the world a better place.
4.) I absolutely love anything that has to do with Disney.
5.) I’m in my school’s choir and I’ve gone to a studio to be recorded for an album, but I can’t sing 
6.) I love to read and write, but I hate to combine the two and annotate (who doesn’t?)
7.) I’m one of the cheesiest people you’ll ever meet. And I LOVE puns.
8.) I’m also quite sassy. That’s why I use so many emoticons when texting– if I don’t people will just think I’m really mean.. And, people actually call me “Sassy Cassie…” In public.
9.) I’ve become a bit of a girly girl throughout high school. (But that doesn’t stop me from running around the ranch when I get the chance)
10.) I’m usually pretty happy, unless I have to wake up early. I am not a morning person. At all.
11.) Some of my best memories come from the Teen ACTS Retreats that I have been on through church. If you ever have the opportunity to go on one, you should.
12.) I love to try to inspire other people.
13.) I do my best writing when it’s late.. My brain comes up with some pretty interesting points after 11:40 pm.
14.) I’d say that I’m a “farm girl,” but technically, it’s a ranch 
15.) Being able to fill in that I speak two languages on surveys makes me feel so cool.
15.) My friends mean the world to me. Without them I would most likely be just a little insane.
16.) I recently got accepted into my school’s National Honor Society Program 😀
17.) I absolutely love quotes.
18.) I practically live at my church
19.) I drive a mini-van
20.) I hate blood and guts, but I love crime shows
The Football Frenzy
So for my junior year of high school I decided to join the Yearbook staff as a photographer (surprise, surprise 😉 ). It’s no secret that I’ve been, shall we say- absent, from this lovely blog for a while now, so if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been hiding out for the past few months– your best bet is either school, church, or football games.
Taking on the role of yearbook photographer hasn’t been a complete picnic, and I only say that because I honestly thought it would be..
Picture this- a 16 year old girl who has been to two, maybe three football games thus far in her high school experience is suddenly given a press pass and told to go down to the sidelines and take pictures.
It was an interesting season.
I’ve never been a football person. When we were younger, my dad would take me and my brothers to the Bandera football games on Friday nights. He tried to explain to me what all was happening on the field multiple times, but I was always happier running around with the other kids under the stands or embarrassing my older brother, who was in high school at the time, in front of his friends… I just couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of the game (and, as long as we’re being honest here, I still can’t.)
For each home game I would go down to the sidelines with my press pass (because I’m cool like that) and pretend like I knew what was going on, when in reality I just found a good spot where the other photographers were swarming and stayed there even after they had run off to follow the action, always watching the ball and focusing on whatever player had it. For the rest of the game. My philosophy? Eeeh.. They’ll be back to this side of the field soon anyways.
Ok, so maybe I didn’t stay there for the entire game, but I sure wasn’t going to spend all of my time running back and forth when I was already trying to focus on staying out of the way of the coaches while trying not to get trampled by the players on the sidelines, as well as keep from getting hit with the ball, plus turning from the field to the players on the sideline to the cheerleaders to the band to the crowd and back. There’s a lot more to capturing the spirit of a SV football game than one might think..
If there is one thing that I learned this season, it definitely wouldn’t be about the logistics of football, but about the players themselves. I think that it’s so easy to assume that football is just some mindless sport that doesn’t require much dedication, (please don’t shun me yet!), but if I ever felt that way before my boys in blue sure proved me wrong.
I went down to those sidelines week after week and watched those boys play with passion and determination to succeed not only in winning the game, but in truly becoming a team. I watched them share their victories together all season long as they saw their hard work paying off, and I watched them share their only defeat in the playoffs. I watched them as they jumped around like madmen and congratulated one another after each win, and I saw that they were truly there for one another when they lost. But most importantly, they showed me that football is more than just a game. Football is believing. Football is total commitment. Football is mud, sweat, and determination. Football is a brotherhood, both on and off the field. Football is everyone coming together to support their team. The band, the cheerleaders, the dancers, the trainers, the color guard, the parents; every one of us jumping up and down with excitement in rain or shine. And in the end, the same painful look of defeat reflected in each of our faces, mixed with the knowledge that their loss didn’t make them any less than the champions that we all know they are.
So while this season may not have taught me anything about how football is played, it sure did give me a new respect for the spirit of the game.
If you would have told me a few months ago that I’d end up spending my Friday nights trying not to get trampled by 200 lb. football players and actually loving it, I’d have said you were crazy. But there’s just something about the way that the players look out for each other that can make it all worth it.
They make me look so short…
{photos courtesy of mi madre}
God’s Love
16 Quotes/Verses/Songs About God’s Love
1.) “It’s not about finding ways to avoid God’s judgment and feeling like a failure if you don’t do everything perfectly. It’s about fully experiencing God’s love and letting it perfect you. It’s not about being somebody you are not. It’s about becoming who you really are.”
–Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Woman
2.) “God is love. He didn’t need us. But he wanted us. And that is the most amazing thing.”
—Rick Warren
3.) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. –Romans 5:8
4.) When people hate you for no reason, remember that God loves you for no reason.
5.) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
6.) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8
7.) Love will hold us together. Make us a shelter to weather the storm.
8.) His love for you is deeper than the ocean.
9.) God’s love is unconditional, unlimited, and complete
10.) “To love another person is to see the face of God.” ~Victor Hugo (Les Miserables)
11.) “Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”
— Joni Eareckson Tada (The God I Love)
12.) “You are loved more than you’ll ever know by someone who died to know you.”
–Romans 5:8
13.) Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.” (One Thing Remains)
14.) My God loves everyone.
15.) God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.
16.) Be so busy loving God, loving others, and loving your life that you have no time for regret, worry, fear, or drama.
Woo Hoo!! There are more than five words in this post! 😉
Have a wonderful week!
Oh, Baby!
Last Saturday I was blessed with the opportunity of photographing Sweet Little Miss Madeleine with her absolutely wonderful parents. This was my first newborn session, and you have no idea how worried I was beforehand.. That being said, I think that now would be a good time to apologize to Joe and Casey for being so awkward.. (;
All three of them were such a pleasure to work with, even if Madeleine wasn’t in a sleeping mood! I absolutely loved being able to be there to see (and capture) all of the love that was so evident in this beautiful family, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that can see that these two are already wonderful parents.
*Click on any photo to see the full size*
I just love the forehead wrinkles (:
Her expression is so perfect.
Those eyes!
Have a wonderful week, all!!
Young Girl in the Mirror
Young girl in the mirror, who do you see?
A beautiful child shadowed by dreams,
Whose bright, shining face glows wild and free?
Or is her mind full of worry, her joy not what it seems?
Young girl in the mirror, do you believe?
Believe in the fate set for you and for me?
Will you let your worries take over, your mind be deceived?
What makes this girl in the mirror that you see?
Extravagant dreams, or dreams that are weak?
Does she know what she loves, what she needs?
Does she have strong faith in God, or faith for the meek?
I know this girl’s dreams, and she has seen my tears.
We are one and the same, together we have no fears.
Please keep in mind that I wrote this as a freshman two years ago. And in all honesty, I did a LOT of fixing it while up loading.. So please don’t judge too harshly 😉
Have a wooooonderful week, all!
Photoshop Magic
Last April my grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary, so I took some anniversary portraits for them (Of course 😉 ). When we got them printed out to show my grandma, she was upset with the background in my favorite photo, so I decided that instead of opening the file in photoshop and changing the background color, I’d just send them to virtual Paris.
Grandma wasn’t amused..
This week’s post is a bit short since it was supposed to be done two weeks ago… I’m still catching up 😉
If His Grace is an Ocean…
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how differently we view people once they’ve passed on. Back in Week 11 I talked about a distant friend committing suicide, and you guys have no idea how many times I’ve asked myself if my words could have made a difference. Maybe if I’d tried talking to him he wouldn’t have felt so alone. Maybe I could have reminded him how blessed and loved he was. But the thing is, what I thought about him can’t help him now, my words are of no positive use anymore. While they once had the potential to save a life, now they can only haunt me.
My point is, whether you think someone is kind, selfless, beautiful, handsome, loving, funny, amazing, wonderful, angelic, perfect, charming, faithful, dainty, elegant, thoughtful, cunning, fascinating, graceful, intelligent, honorable, talented, lively, lovely, or any other positive thing that there is, TELL THEM.
Don’t just sit there and think it to yourself. Let them know how you feel. Sometimes, you just have to randomly say “Katie, you’re adorable” during an ACTS retreat. (I know I did many, many times). Nine and a half times out of ten your words will mean more to them than you will ever know.
Why is this? Well, like I said in Week 25, we live with our qualities and characteristics everyday. At some point, they fade into the background and get pushed aside by all of our insecurities. Our peers are often the only ones that can see us as we truly are, and honestly, I don’t think that there’s anything more amazing or reassuring than having someone that you look up to tell you what they think about you.
We tend to assume that other people are confident, when more often than not their confidence is simply a mask that they wear. While we think that they’re swimming in the abundance of their blessings, they’re really drowning in a never-ending sea of their own insecurities.
What gets me, is that each and every one of us has the power to change the outlook of another person’s entire day, but instead of taking that risk we sit back and tell ourselves that they already know how we feel about them.
So my challenge to all of you wonderful people that are reading this post, is to throw aside your fears and step outside of your comfort zone to make someone else’s day just a little bit brighter. To make that ocean of insecurity that they’re trapped in become less and less overbearing, to where it just seems like a small puddle in comparison to the ocean of God’s grace.
HOW HE LOVES : DAVID CROWDER BAND He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realize just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me. And oh, how He loves us, oh, Oh, how He loves us, How He loves us all He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realise just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me. And oh, how He loves us, oh, Oh, how He loves us, How He loves us all Yeah, He loves us, Oh, how He loves us, Oh, how He loves us, Oh, how He loves. And we are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If his grace is an ocean, we're all sinking. And Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss, And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don't have time to maintain these regrets, When I think about the way... Yeah, He loves us, Oh, how He loves us... Oh, how He loves us... Oh, how He loves us.
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