(also titled “Causes of Crowns: The Truest Defense”)
Well, what could we say about the trials of life? This is touching. You are struggling with a certain person, or a certain situation, and you are ‘in the moment’, and since many times you feel that you did not pass the test, you lost your cool and said the wrong thing, or said the right thing in the wrong way, which has been just as damaging. You are with someone you love perhaps and you feel that you still cannot control the situation; You still can’t say the right thing, it’s all a bit useless.
This situation must resonate with everyone for sure. I think the run up to Christmas ironically is very demanding in this regard. It’s like everyone is under more pressure, a little more stressed and ready to pounce on any loose word they can find. It does not create a favorable environment for love to have its way. Again, an irony; Christmas is supposed to be about love and generosity, right?
How do we successfully negotiate trial time? How do we survive these trials and behave like the saints we must be so as not to upset people, especially loved ones? And more specifically, how do we get by with our sanity intact?
This is where my search for the truth has led me to some great wisdom quotes, some from rather unusual sources.
I love the movie Meet The Robinsons. The animation is not only top notch, but it also provides a great and prominent theological message of “never give up”. The main character, an orphan boy named Lewis, eventually becomes Cornelius Robinson; extraordinary inventory of the future. In order for Lewis to reach his destiny, he makes some wise decisions on his behalf: he takes some wise advice, particularly from his future wife, whom he meets as a grown woman in the future. However, more specifically, the theme of the film is summed up by the following Walt Disney quote shown at the end of the film.
“Around here, though, we don’t look back for long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” [Italics added]
-Walt Disney.
Lewis just learns that the only way to succeed in life is to never give up. The idea that makes Lewis successful is simply to keep going, to keep trying no matter how disappointed he gets. The key illustration of the film is his invention of the time machine that went through a thousand failed attempts, of which the Robinsons are proud, in retrospect.
Is there a lesson in this for us? No doubt. The concept of moving forward obviously implies such a character by going against the grain of our emotions; the tendency we have to give up when the going gets tough. Of course, the only thing worse than giving up is feeling like the loser while beating yourself up for it!
There has to be a better way.
I wonder if the trick in this thinking lies in curiosity, as stated in the Disney quote. Instead of giving in to defeat, curiosity is a much more powerful motivator; it gives weight to the fact that defeat is a strong negative motivator, because curiosity is a potentially compelling positive motivator; it can drive us anyway; there really is no limit.
There is a paradox in this truth here! If we can get past the problem or disappointment between us, and as Walt Disney says, “move on,” we can plant in ourselves hope not just for a better day, but for a miraculous day… a situation that only God could. tap. This has to be tested. We don’t get a chance to see this unless we try it. Now this is faith.
The Apostle Paul said similar things, inspiring things, in his letter to the Romans. He said: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In other words, if we are trying to do what is right and fair and just and are found for it, we will eventually succeed and be right for it. God, or if you will, the forces of nature and life, will eventually make it so. It is more appropriate to keep moving forward in doing the right thing, than to get carried away by our emotions.
The following quote from Chrysostom captures the essence of this. It’s very simple, faith:
However, those who are against us are so far from frustrating us at all, that even without their will they become for us the cause of crowns and procurers of innumerable blessings, insofar as the wisdom of God makes their plans ours. salvation and glory. Look how really no one is against us!
The real-life practicality of this advice is this: if you don’t give up on your efforts, always trying to find the right path, you will eventually succeed. Furthermore, the Christian faith (and perhaps others, I don’t want to be exclusive here) mandates that while we are willingly suffering in the midst of a situation, God is bringing these things out for us, and against the very people who might be trying to. to make our lives more difficult. If it were not a law of God’s nature, it would be magic.
The trick is perseverance during the period of suffering; a commitment to be steadfast in your love, no matter what, you don’t hit back, you keep going.
There is a mind trick involved here. There is a training lesson. First, assume the theory. No one can be against us if we live by the truth. We have forces in our favor that no one is capable of manipulating. The second thing we must do is really practice the matter of having faith and persisting, even to the point of suffering anguish and torment; if the matter is very important, it might be the only way.
Give it a try; you have nothing to lose by trying. You might even find the power of life in this, that no one can stand against us in the fight for the real truth. Not one.
It’s appropriate to end the Robinsons. The song Little Wonders by Rob Thomas, is the soundtrack to the film and captures the essence of the “what to do”: Keep moving forward.
Let go,
let it roll off your shoulder
Don’t you know the hardest part is over?
let it in,
let your clarity define you
In the end we’ll just remember how it feels
Let it slide
let your troubles stay behind
let it shine until you feel it around you
And I don’t care if I’m the one you have to turn to
we’ll manage
It’s the heart that really matters in the end
©2007 Steve Wickham
