Who doesn't want the internal peace and power of Mr. Miagi? I strive for that self-control and internal power that the martial arts seem to convey. I want to be in a state of contentment and the ability to choose how to react if at all. I think this is what I love about the movie "The Karate Kid"! The sense of justice, the inner peace and self-control, and the power to choose to react and how...and they make it look so easy!
Actually, I want the love, wisdom and joy that Mother Angelica displays on EWTN as well---that mix of the two--is that possible? Isn't that what we hope for in our transformation through the Holy Spirit? Why is it so hard to achieve? We read the Scriptures, pray, spend time in meditation and devotion, and feel we have attained some sense of balance and peace in our soul...only to get up and walk outside into the real world and BOOM!! Ugh! The world and its crap smacks us down so fast and we wonder how come we cannot seem to maintain the spiritual joy and peace and self-control!
The brothers and sisters religious detach from the world. We as parents, spouses, siblings and employees can hardly detach in the way they do. We have no time for one thing! The obligations beckon and insist on so much time! Society is so very mobile and integrated into technology that we have become saturated with its connectivity...addicts if you will...
I have been seriously trying to get myself weaned off of too much computer stuff. It's hard when family and friends are all on facebook and you miss them. The emails that used to be flooding our inboxes with jokes, rumors, lies and funnies...are all gone! For Pete's sake, nobody wants to write a letter? I sat down to write a few that I promised I would....and for a tad bit...my handwriting was atrocious because of lack of use! I didn't realize how much the keyboard had stolen from my hands! I bet you don't either! It's actually funny to hear people say..."I am not much of a letter writer"....what they are saying is...I don't know what to write about and I don't want to work that hard...its so much easier to text and share and post! Then there's the folks who are scared to death to give you their mailing address like you are the bogeyman! Are we becoming that scared of each other or so disconnected that anything closer than "share" is uncomfortable?
I am reading more books, listening to more music, talking to my teens more, working on those projects that I had not finished, and feeling a little more freer each day! If ever I felt like a stranger or foreigner before on this planet....I really do now! Yet, I want to allow the Holy Spirit to grow stronger in me, so that I can have peace, self-control,wisdom, joy, power, love, faith, perseverance, endurance and humility. It is only through Christ I can truly develop these things! All the wax on and wax off will get me a nice clean car...but the peace and self-control only lasts until I drive through a mud puddle or a bird poops on it!
Do I want internet mentors like Lady Gaggy and Wiley Miley or Mother Angelica and John Michael Talbot? What kind of music soothes my spirit? Do the books I read cause me to think? Are the tv shows and movies making me laugh, imagine and wholesome or are they causing me to become calloused to sin and accepting things that once were taboo? Am I being influenced to change what I believe? Do I feel depressed and like nothing good is in the world? Does the spirit of unhappiness or lust fill my marriage? Sometimes a simpler life with detachment can be lonely...but it can also be more rich and productive both physically and spiritually...and both Mother Angelica and Brother JMT know this!
In our sermon yesterday, one of the points that Pastor made was "be careful little eyes what you see, ears what you hear, hands what you do, and feet where you go".
ReplyDeleteWhat you 'put into' your body makes a BIG difference.
I do still Face Book. But that is not the only thing that I do in my day! It breaks my heart also that it is just about the only way people want to connect. We are losing physical and emotional contact with one another. That is just exactly what satan wants. Makes it easier for him to lure people to him when you have no true support, togetherness, caring, and encouragement for each other.