"You are so . . . Pure!"

"It's you, Katniss. Can't you see?" he says.
"What's me?" I say.
"Why they're all acting like this. Finnick with his sugar cubes and Chaff kissing you and that whole thing with Johanna stripping down. They're playing with you because you're so . . . you know."
"No, I don't," I say. And I really have no idea what he's talking about.
"It's like when you wouldn't look at me naked in the arena even though I was half dead. You're so . . . pure," he says finally.
"I am not!" I say.
"They're just teasing you."
"No, they're laughing at me, and so are you!"

This exchange between the famous characters Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen is from Catching Fire, the second installment of the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Our dad read this book aloud to us each night before bed. On the night when he came to this conversation, he stopped, put the book aside for a moment and looked at each of us four kids.

"Guys," he said, "there is absolutely nothing wrong with being pure. Even if people are laughing at you."

Only recently, since I started working as a waitress, have I begun to understand exactly what my dad was saying. Yesterday at work, two of my coworkers were having a rather bawdy conversation about their love lives. Upon my entering the area where they were talking, they began talking quieter and when they'd finished, one of them said, "I certainly hope you didn't hear any of that! Since I have gotten to know you, I just want to put earmuffs on you! You're just so pure!"
At first, I was irritated by her words. As her coworker, I did not want her or anyone else treating me differently! Then, I was reminded of my dad's words: It's ok to be pure. So I thanked her and told her I appreciated it, and then I walked away.

As Christians, I think to be known as pure is one of the biggest compliments that we can receive. Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." While we are still sinful creatures, deserving of death, we have a calling to purify ourselves. We are to be set apart and noticeably so. If people are mocking us for being pure, or seeming naive (even if you aren't as naive as they think), it means they have noticed something. They see us as different, and we should consider ourselves blessed if they choose to treat us as so!
One of the best ways we can be a testimony to Christ and bring people to Christ is by example. Striving to live purely, speak purely, and think purely will stand out. It may be a planted seed, the beginning of a person's own salvation.  

One final note: there is a difference between being "pure" and being "naive." Naiveté is the lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement. It is the idea of being blind to "worldly" things around us. Purity is freedom from contamination. It is being aware of the unclean things in this world, but not allowing them to change us, affect us, or define us.

Guys, it is ok to be pure.

-Andrea