Meditations on God

Who Gets The Credit

Our ego is like a built in pressure relief valve for when we start to think of ourselves as being more spiritual, moral, or virtuous than others.

Just as we begin to think we are doing great, that we are really making progress, our ego rears its ugly head and shatters our illusions of righteousness.

Perhaps this is God’s little inside joke to keep us humble and to keep us working toward perfection.

It is nearly impossible for us, it seems, to enjoy the fruits of our personal, relational, and spiritual growth without pridefully taking some of the credit for our progress.

Our pride is what trips us up.

We feel as though we are doing well, like we have transcended some of our grosser shortcomings, and that we are finally becoming the spiritual beings we aspire to become and then, inevitably, with pride fueling it, our ego begins to take charge and ruins the whole thing.

We say or do something we wish we hadn’t and suddenly find ourselves questioning if we have made any progress at all.

This is part of the process, however.

We have to die these little ego-driven deaths in order to be reborn of the spirit over and over again.

It must be this way so that we know who truly deserves the credit for whatever degree of spirituality, morality, or virtue we may manifest in our lives.

We are not the source of our goodness and we need to be reminded of this from time to time so that we can turn our minds and hearts back to who is.

May 20, 2021

ego, humility, pride, spirituality

A Reliable Source

If our identity, security, and comfort is reliant upon anything apart from the infinite love of an infinite God, however God may manifest in our individual lives and experiences, we will be easily shaken by unexpected changes to our circumstances.

Our foundation, if it is built upon superficial ideas, attitudes, or beliefs, will not hold us up when things become too difficult, uncertain, or confusing.

We will lose our bearing during hard times and we will struggle to find meaning when things seem to go wrong for us or around us.

In an ever changing and increasingly chaotic world, if who we are is rooted in some expectation for external consistency, we are going to be disappointed and we are going to be frustrated.

Now, more than ever, we need something constant and reliable in our lives.

Now, more than ever, we need to know who we are, where we stand, what we can count on.

We need to know that we are safe and protected, and that, no matter what happens to us or around us, we have always been, are always being, and will always be loved.

Now, more than ever, we need to be with God and for God to be with us in our hearts, minds, and relationships, for it is only in this internal union that we will find our true identity, security, and comfort.

May 19, 2021

comfort, god, identity, reliability, security

Our Opportunities

There is not much use in being mad at people for doing things we would have done ourselves if we had the opportunity.

This type of jealousy is really just misplaced regret.

We are far better off making the most of the opportunities we have been given.

If we start where we are, embracing the situations and circumstances of our lives, instead of watching where other people have gone or are going, we may notice that we have a lot more options than we tend to perceive.

And, best of all, they are our options.

These options are real for us and are full of possibility, perhaps not the possibility we would prefer to have in front of us, but possibility nonetheless.

Within these very real opportunities lie the key to our freedom and contentment.

We may need to be creative with how we perceive and work within the limitations of our lives, but no one ever said things would come easily for us.

By working with what is, instead of pining over what others have that we do not, we give ourselves a realistic degree of hope and, perhaps more importantly, personal empowerment over the things we can actually change to our benefit and the benefit of the lives of those around us.

May 18, 2021

jealousy, opportunity

The Flaws Of Others

When we find ourselves criticizing others, whether publicly or in the privacy of our own thoughts, we should stop to consider where we have been guilty of the same attitudes and behaviors that we find so objectionable.

It is highly likely, with some rare exceptions, that, at one point or another, perhaps even currently, we have believed, said, or done either the exact same thing or something similar to that which we are currently displeased in someone else.

This does not mean that we are wrong for disliking some objectionable attitude or behavior.

It simply means that we need to be careful not to spend too much of our time, energy, and attention being upset about something that we, ourselves, have thought, said, or done.

This simple reflective exercise will not only save us a lot of unnecessary misery and discomfort, but it will also help us to develop empathy for the other people in our lives.

We are all extremely flawed creatures who are susceptible to all manner of error, mistake, and poor decision.

More often than not, our imperfections are not the result of malicious intent.

They are simply manifestations of our innate and incurable imperfection.

A little understanding and self reflection, we will find, go a long way toward making peace with ourselves and the world around us once we get past our pride.

To be resentful, after all, is to lack the humility necessary for contentment in our hearts, minds, and relationships.

May 17, 2021

contentment, flaws, humility, imperfection, peace, pride, resentment

A Way Out Of Risk

If we never fully commit to our efforts, we can provide ourselves an out through which to excuse ourselves for our failures.

We tell ourselves that it does not matter that we failed because we were not really trying anyway.

Unfortunately, this path of non-commitment is also the path of mediocrity.

We cannot achieve anything worthwhile without commitment.

But, with commitment comes risk.

If we commit to what we are doing and it does not work out, we risk having wasted our time, energy, and attention.

We also risk embarrassment, humiliation, and failure.

The truth is, however, that not fully committing to anything is also a waste of our time, energy, and attention.

And, not committing to anything can cause us embarrassment, humiliation, and failure.

The difference is that, with commitment, we get to choose that which we may fail at.

Lack of commitment leads to failure by abdication.

It is better to regret choosing incorrectly that which we are committed to than to regret not having chosen at all.

In the end, there is no risk-free way out of responsibility, so it is better to choose our fate than to merely accept it apathetically.

May 16, 2021

choice, commitment, failure, responsibility, risk

Who Gets The Credit

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A Reliable Source

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Our Opportunities

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The Flaws Of Others

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A Way Out Of Risk

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