"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
-C. S. Lewis
This quote has always been impactful to me. It was revealed to me at a young age by my dad who is an avid C. S. Lewis fan. This specific quote never fails to make me think about the lens I view the world under. It can be so easy to look at the world and take it at face value. Christianity allows us to do so much more than that. As the quote describes, when God is the basis for which you view the world, it becomes a sight to behold.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
He is Our Headlamp
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
Every essence of our being came from Christ; our form, our loves, our prayers. We needed Him to form us for His purpose, but we also need Him to see. God does not simply create us and leave us. We need Him to stay and guide us through life's dark caverns, some filled with jewels, some filled with pits. He is our headlamp that best conforms to our heads, because He knows every curve and hair upon us. Christianity is the light of Christ, and we need it to see and live the rest of our lives if we do not want to live in darkness.
This quote is special to me. Sometimes, I don't know where I'm going. I think I have it all figured out. But my problem is that sometimes I try to use my own headlamp in the caverns, and I find the batteries soon wear out and I am left just as before in the darkness and even more lost. God can provide the light we need to see our paths just ahead.
A headlamp will shine into the dark just before you, but not fill up the cavern. We need only to see what is just in front of us; not behind, and not too far ahead. Do not be concerned about the past or future, but rather what is right in front of us. We all know that the sun will rise in the morning until the day of Christ, and God being our sun will rise with us every morning too. Let both light your physical and spiritual way, for without the Sun, we can see nothing.
Every essence of our being came from Christ; our form, our loves, our prayers. We needed Him to form us for His purpose, but we also need Him to see. God does not simply create us and leave us. We need Him to stay and guide us through life's dark caverns, some filled with jewels, some filled with pits. He is our headlamp that best conforms to our heads, because He knows every curve and hair upon us. Christianity is the light of Christ, and we need it to see and live the rest of our lives if we do not want to live in darkness.
This quote is special to me. Sometimes, I don't know where I'm going. I think I have it all figured out. But my problem is that sometimes I try to use my own headlamp in the caverns, and I find the batteries soon wear out and I am left just as before in the darkness and even more lost. God can provide the light we need to see our paths just ahead.
A headlamp will shine into the dark just before you, but not fill up the cavern. We need only to see what is just in front of us; not behind, and not too far ahead. Do not be concerned about the past or future, but rather what is right in front of us. We all know that the sun will rise in the morning until the day of Christ, and God being our sun will rise with us every morning too. Let both light your physical and spiritual way, for without the Sun, we can see nothing.
Suffering
"The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not." The truth could never be stated more. It's obvious we cannot rid this world of suffering, but why are there some that don't, even bad people that don't suffer? There are many things a person can do and get away with simply because of who they are. Some of these people even run for president and almost win.
Subs for Joy
I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not
substitutes for joy.
I thought this quote was very interesting because it makes me consider C. S. Lewis's point and how the only true joy can come from God. I think that there is partial joy in this life but I think that it is only complete joy if it is completely devoid of selfishness, pride, and lust. As I sit writing this now I cannot think of one single thing that brings me joy without any selfish pleasure, pride, or adds some kind of longing to our lives. There might be one true exception to this, but I would not know and this would be parenthood. I do think parents can at times, receive true unselfish, prideless joy from their children.
I thought this quote was very interesting because it makes me consider C. S. Lewis's point and how the only true joy can come from God. I think that there is partial joy in this life but I think that it is only complete joy if it is completely devoid of selfishness, pride, and lust. As I sit writing this now I cannot think of one single thing that brings me joy without any selfish pleasure, pride, or adds some kind of longing to our lives. There might be one true exception to this, but I would not know and this would be parenthood. I do think parents can at times, receive true unselfish, prideless joy from their children.
Instamodel (late)
Huxley proposed the idea that the "ultimate revolution" is becoming gradually more real. Though I'm sure he did not envision people as slaves to their cell phones, this is what comes to my mind when I think of society influencing, or controlling, individuals. Social media is a mega-powerful influence and seems to control the minds of people much like hypnopedia in Huxley's "Brave New World." We scroll through Instagram and are constantly bombarded with thoughts ("this is what happiness looks like...", "Everyone wears that brand", "Wow, I'm getting a lot of likes. I'm finally someone worth noticing!") until they become our truth. I truly believe that whatever we fill our hearts and minds with, we will hold as our ultimate truth. It becomes the standard with which everything should be judged as right, wrong, good, bad. If our hearts and minds are filled with images of people fitter than us, lives more exciting than ours, and so on, our truth will be extremely distorted and will revolve around (yep...) social media. Not around what is actually true or what is happening in the real world right in front of us. Not that what we see online is always a lie, it just never gives us the full truth. We can not possibly understand the full story of someone's life by checking out their story on Snapchat. That's just not how it works!
Okay, so why are we so stuck on this social media thing? How can we grab our iPhone and not put it down for an entire hour? I think it's the convenience factor that draws us in and keeps us there. The idea that we can change our status, connect with people, discover ideas, and create things in the parameter of our own two hands is incredible. Why should we deal with the risks and worries of real life when we can so easily control our image on social media? We can so easily please ourselves at any time of day or night. I mean... Netflix. It's seriously too good to be true.
But what if it is too good to be true. Like I said, when this world of "likes" and memes becomes our central focus, it becomes our ultimate truth. I think that when it is our truth (or at least contributes to what we know as true) it becomes so much easier to believe what we see and hear on that forum. Thus, society (culture, the government, whomever) can convince us of pretty much whatever they want. We are being conditioned to believe things, such as that people won't like us if we post an ugly picture... And I'm not talking snapchat filter ugly. I mean like a picture of you on your worst day. The day you woke up with a huge pimple on your nose and felt like you couldn't look nice if a professional stylist were there to help you. We just don't post those. We were taught that that's not cool, not impressive, and not worth giving the time of day for. We want to post what puts our life in the most pleasant light. If there were a filter that could make all of pictures look perfect, we would most likely use it. It's just straight up easier (and safer) to make it seem like our lives are all put together because there seems to be some sort of formula for it. This is so similar to Huxley's world in Brave New World. Pleasant feelings and images and emotions are capitalized... Negativity is minimized at all costs. People become slaves to society and lose what makes them an individual. But it is so much easier for the Controllers to control their people when they are created according to a predictable standard. They are taught what to think and believe so that there is very little opportunity or need even for resistance or disagreement among anyone. But these people became simply models of people. Not actual people. Just like our profiles on social media are models of us, not, in a literal sense, us.
For the record, I'm not a snapchat user, so this may be more relevant to the 2013 version of you. And I'm talking primarily about the pictures, videos, etc. that we put out in the open for all of our [followers] to see.
Okay, so why are we so stuck on this social media thing? How can we grab our iPhone and not put it down for an entire hour? I think it's the convenience factor that draws us in and keeps us there. The idea that we can change our status, connect with people, discover ideas, and create things in the parameter of our own two hands is incredible. Why should we deal with the risks and worries of real life when we can so easily control our image on social media? We can so easily please ourselves at any time of day or night. I mean... Netflix. It's seriously too good to be true.
But what if it is too good to be true. Like I said, when this world of "likes" and memes becomes our central focus, it becomes our ultimate truth. I think that when it is our truth (or at least contributes to what we know as true) it becomes so much easier to believe what we see and hear on that forum. Thus, society (culture, the government, whomever) can convince us of pretty much whatever they want. We are being conditioned to believe things, such as that people won't like us if we post an ugly picture... And I'm not talking snapchat filter ugly. I mean like a picture of you on your worst day. The day you woke up with a huge pimple on your nose and felt like you couldn't look nice if a professional stylist were there to help you. We just don't post those. We were taught that that's not cool, not impressive, and not worth giving the time of day for. We want to post what puts our life in the most pleasant light. If there were a filter that could make all of pictures look perfect, we would most likely use it. It's just straight up easier (and safer) to make it seem like our lives are all put together because there seems to be some sort of formula for it. This is so similar to Huxley's world in Brave New World. Pleasant feelings and images and emotions are capitalized... Negativity is minimized at all costs. People become slaves to society and lose what makes them an individual. But it is so much easier for the Controllers to control their people when they are created according to a predictable standard. They are taught what to think and believe so that there is very little opportunity or need even for resistance or disagreement among anyone. But these people became simply models of people. Not actual people. Just like our profiles on social media are models of us, not, in a literal sense, us.
For the record, I'm not a snapchat user, so this may be more relevant to the 2013 version of you. And I'm talking primarily about the pictures, videos, etc. that we put out in the open for all of our [followers] to see.
It always takes courage to do the right thing!
Courage is not simply one of the virtues,
but the form of every virtue at the testing point. ~ C.S Lewis
Virtue is behavior showing high moral standards. A couple of examples of virtues are acceptance,honesty, caring, hope and so many others. As stated by C.S Lewis courage is not only one of the virtues but in order for you to fulfill each virtue, you need courage. It takes courage to be honest even if you know you are going to get into trouble. You have to choose to do the right thing or the wrong thing. Doing good, and pursuing Christ-like character, is not easy but worth it. What really counts is when you continue being merciful or generous even when it is risky, dangerous, and possibly to your own disadvantage. To be merciful, loving or generous for example, takes courage in the world we live in today because the world's standards are so much lower than God's standards for us. Here is a little of my story and how I had the courage with multiple virtues:
A few years ago I had hoped to have a family one day with both of my sisters living with me. Once I got separated from my youngest sister I lost that hope. My middle sister and I moved around together for a while, and the last house that we lived together wanted to adopt both of us. I had this feeling inside me saying that I want a family but this isn't them. I found the courage to be honest with my social worker and told her I didn't want to be adopted by this family. I eventually moved in with my family now, but at the time they were just another foster family. I found acceptance in not having both my siblings living with me, but that took a lot of courage to admit to myself. After about six months living with my family I told them that I wanted them to adopt me. I had the courage to tell them that knowing that I will never live with my sisters again. After moving around so much I eventually lost that hope of wanting to have a family with my two sisters, but my parents gave me my hope back. so, in this case the courage to be honest got me the family I have today.
but the form of every virtue at the testing point. ~ C.S Lewis
Virtue is behavior showing high moral standards. A couple of examples of virtues are acceptance,honesty, caring, hope and so many others. As stated by C.S Lewis courage is not only one of the virtues but in order for you to fulfill each virtue, you need courage. It takes courage to be honest even if you know you are going to get into trouble. You have to choose to do the right thing or the wrong thing. Doing good, and pursuing Christ-like character, is not easy but worth it. What really counts is when you continue being merciful or generous even when it is risky, dangerous, and possibly to your own disadvantage. To be merciful, loving or generous for example, takes courage in the world we live in today because the world's standards are so much lower than God's standards for us. Here is a little of my story and how I had the courage with multiple virtues:
A few years ago I had hoped to have a family one day with both of my sisters living with me. Once I got separated from my youngest sister I lost that hope. My middle sister and I moved around together for a while, and the last house that we lived together wanted to adopt both of us. I had this feeling inside me saying that I want a family but this isn't them. I found the courage to be honest with my social worker and told her I didn't want to be adopted by this family. I eventually moved in with my family now, but at the time they were just another foster family. I found acceptance in not having both my siblings living with me, but that took a lot of courage to admit to myself. After about six months living with my family I told them that I wanted them to adopt me. I had the courage to tell them that knowing that I will never live with my sisters again. After moving around so much I eventually lost that hope of wanting to have a family with my two sisters, but my parents gave me my hope back. so, in this case the courage to be honest got me the family I have today.
The Bird's Song is a LIGHT (late!)
I Will Try by Mary Oliver is a poem about holding on... Being patient when troubles come, and looking for beauty in the darkness. The symbol of beauty and determination in this poem is the red bird. The bird sings, and all the while the narrator feels pain. She listens and hopes for a new joy. Despite her lost love, she knows she will find this light... She knows that God uses the hard times to draw her into peace and rest. The bird's soft singing represents her hope. She begins to realize that this hope is stirring up something inside of her–a joy that she now possesses which makes her similar to the bird in that she is a source of light, beauty, and hope.
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