I truly believe that you didn't come across this article by chance. Maybe you clicked on the link as a distraction from doing the mountain high pile of laundry that has been on your to-do list for a whole week. So guilty of this. Or maybe you are in search for words of encouragement after having one of those days where you can name more things that went wrong than right.

Ultimately, there is a reason for everything. My goal in this article is to speak to those who don't see faith as an important part of life and that is fine by me! I am not here to force religion on you because that is my biggest pet peeve. I am here to give you the words, and it's up to you to continue reading and implement in your life.

Our first reaction as human beings is to blame. We are all guilty. When something doesn't go our way we immediately jump to blaming someone. Do you know someone who immediately points fingers? Like nothing is ever their fault? Or are you the biggest culprit? Have you blamed the car in front of you who stopped too quickly, which made you spill that $4 tall caramel macchiato that you spent twenty minutes convincing yourself it's perfectly acceptable to spend $4 on four whole sips of coffee? Was it their fault it wasn't secured in your cup holder? Can you admit while rushing to get to work, you forgot to make sure your freshly piping hot coffee was firmly in the cup holder? Those are the times we start to yell "God, why are you doing this to me? I went to church yesterday to serve you!"

And then we look at the car we are driving, the extra $4 we were able to use for coffee, the wallet in our back pocket that secures our earnings, and then we see a bicyclist next to us while it's pouring rain and they are pedaling fast to get where they are going.

Our perspective changes in an instant from attitude to gratitude. Sorry to say, but the blame game isn't going anywhere.

I think the reason we often turn from God is because we like to be in control. If we were in control of everything in our life then we wouldn't need to blame anyone. But blaming comes from our sinful nature.

We live in a world where the bible verses on our Instagram feed are more important than the prayers we pray. We use bible verses as a way of buffering temptations. Temptations, we all have 'em.

The best analogy I've come up with for religion + temptations is procrastination. As a college student, I often prioritize "Gilmore Girls" WAY higher than any type of homework. And guess what? I don't have an ounce of guilt when watching it because let's be honest, it's like watching every girl's dream life. But when I see I have 12 hours to write a lengthy research paper then I start to go back and think "Was watching "Gilmore Girls" really that important?" I think yes, but in reality, I am just digging a bigger hole for myself. If we look at our relationship with God, we know he is calling us to be a son or daughter of His holy kingdom. He has asked us to follow him even when things don't seem fair. But then our friends ask us to go out or you become very fond of that cute fraternity boy that has "bad news" written on his forehead. It feels so nice to be loved even though you can picture yourself eating Ben + Jerry's on your bedroom floor as the tears won't stop dripping from your eyes.

In the beginning, you knew it was wrong but you continued to follow your emotions rather than what you knew was right. Like our relationship with God, we know He is showing us the path to His holy kingdom. But we take side streets and they still bring us back to His path. He is constantly giving us chances to hold His hand, but often temptations from others get in the way. Think of temptations while reading through the rest of this article.

Let's get to it.

Here is one of my favorite bible verses.

|1 Corinthians 13: 1-3|

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but does not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Did you read that and think "um, origin please"? The bible starts to get confusing when you pull sections out of chapters. I want to break it down in a way that we can relate it to what our society is going through. disclaimer: politics are not included in this description

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love. I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Isn't "gong" such a funny word? I can't say it without thinking of a poor middle school band student who couldn't play any other instrument so the music teacher said: "Here is a gong". You will only play it twice during the song". basically, a testimony of my lack of musical ability. I didn't even try anything music related in school. I tried to save everyone's ear drums.

In 2017 terms, this is referring to that Instagram photo you posted yesterday. There is a chemical released in the brain when you get a "like" on social media aka dopamine. It makes you feel good, important, popular, but it also is addicting. And if we post a photo that doesn't get as much love as the previous, then we feel like a failure because our brain didn't release the same amount of dopamine. This part of the verse tells us that if we post that photo just to get "likes" then we aren't posting it for the right reasons. Anyone else think of "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" when you read "for the right reasons". With that, we should be looking to encourage with each outburst whether it is a verbal statement or a photo on your Instagram feed. If we are only participating in events where we get something in return then we are just setting ourselves up for failure.

|Check out this article by Christina Sharp titled God Deserves More Than Your Social Media Bio |

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but does not have love, I am nothing.

I feel this is the most religious portion of this verse. Before you scroll past it, let me try to explain it in "millennial lingo". Looking at religion, we believe the Lord gives us all the supplies to get through any and every situation. It is when the human brain takes over that we get ourselves into trouble. In 2017, our main goal is to "bite off more than we can chew". After asking someone how their day was, we are immediately slapped in the face with the list of items they accomplished. And if we didn't complete the same number or if not more items, then we feel like a failure. But who said success is equated to the number of hours worked in a week. What if success was determined by the hard work you put in rather than the fact you missed last week's family vacation because you were trying to prove to your boss you are qualified for the promotion?

If we have every door open but choose to look on the one door that isn't open then we are immediately disappointing ourselves. Instead of seeing that one door closed, what if we jotted down, on a paper, all the doors we have opened? All the talents we have that have resulted in the numerous doors around that are tugging us in every direction. How would you live differently?

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Dang. In this verse, it is saying that if we only give to others so that we can make ourselves look better than we are disobeying the real reason of giving. I think we can all recall being guilty of this at one time or another. Maybe you only went to that fundraiser just so you could post a photo on Instagram. Or you had to "check in" on Facebook just to show your friends how busy you were all weekend. Or maybe you had to post those photos of your new house, just to hide the fact that you have stressed all week thinking about how you were going to afford the dream house of yours. Social media has become our outlet to make us look better and feel better than we do. We only post a photo if we can hide the bad breakout that occurred last week as a result of two tests, a meeting with a professor, and forgetting about your mom's birthday. We could also relate this to relationships and the dreaded "L-bomb". When a brave soul expresses their love for someone they are consumed with a feeling. In that moment, they would drop everything to help their significant other. But what happens when your significant other comes home and says I lost my job? Would you support them while working an extra job on the weekend? What if they said, "my mom is sick and I need to go live with her for a month". Will you take care of the kids and keep up with the housework?" Would you say "nope, I can't do that"?

So here you are. At the end of the article thinking "how would my day be different if I had only read this earlier?"