Day 131: Learning Self-Control

"Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.  See how great a forest a little fire kindles!"  James 3:5

We need to remind ourselves of this message as often as possible.  In fact, we should think this verse before we even begin to speak.

If you haven't figured out by now, James is probably my favorite book of the bible.  I find that this chapter is a great explanation about how our words affect our lives and the lives of those around us.  And what better time to talk about words than in the middle of this heated presidential race in the United States?

I truly enjoy this metaphor of the tongue as being something that starts a great fire.  It means that there is a lot to see just because of the tongue.  We can see the light, the glow, and the smoke; we can smell both the somewhat pleasant aroma of woods burning and we can smell the unpleasant odor of too much smoke; we can hear the crackling of wood, the popping, and the gusting wind of a blaze.  In the same way, our words project so much forward about us, many more than we might think.  What might be disturbing, though, is that our words will have this effect, whether we want it to or not.

I can think about how different body parts have become popular when thinking about fitness.  Men work on their chests and biceps.  Women work on their glutes and their legs.  Yet, to be truly fit, one must work on the entire body.  Needless to say, though, a man's arms and a woman's rear will be among the first things that people will notice.  They will be the signs that one actually works out.  Then, one can start to evaluate the rest of the body: nice shoulders, broad back, balanced legs to arms ratio, and such.

If this is inevitable, then there must be a simple solution.  There are many people who will start to work out just to improve those specific parts of their body.  I'll be the first to say that I started working out just to build up my arms.  I spent so much time just working them out (to no avail, in my stubborn ignorance).  However, that is what brought me into learning more about working out.  I found out about the little muscles that are very important to pay attention to in order to avoid injury.  I found out about core strength.  I learned about functional fitness.  I found many different exercises that I liked.  I'm sure that this is the same for many who currently try to maintain some level of fitness (I must concede that these days I merely try).

The same enthusiasm and encouragement happens when we learn to tame our tongues.  We can start to learn how to speak well.  Through much research and careful reading, we can pick up new words for our vocabulary.  We can learn much more about other people.  We can learn about the great words spoken by Jesus, our saints, and many other spiritual writers and speakers.  We can even learn great things from other fields when we take the time and put in the effort to improve our tongues.  And, once we start to tame our tongue, we can start to work on other aspects of our lives.  Maybe we'll find a prayer we really like and we'll improve our prayer life.  Maybe we'll find a preacher we like and join a new community.  Maybe we'll get into a habit of reading more.  Maybe we'll even get inspired to start helping others out in our communities.

We need to pay attention to how we live our lives.  We need to pay attention to what we are putting out into the world.  When we do, we will be able to improve ourselves in ways that will only bring us closer to God.

Day 103: Hear Him

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.  And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  Luke 9:34-35

I find the Transfiguration to be something very confusing.  The description we get in the Gospels doesn't seem to warrant so much to make an important feast day out of it in the church calendar.  Perhaps, when I compare it to the Passion, the Nativity, or the end times, this description pales in comparison.

However, every time I come back to reading about it, I feel that God speaks to me in a different way.  A detail that stuck out to me this time around was the passage I copied above.  The disciples whom Jesus had brought along for this event were filled with so many questions, as can be evidenced by Peter's suggestion to build tabernacles for the three men.  In addition to that, they were frightened.  Their teacher's face had just started glowing!

Despite all this uncertainty, though, they entered the cloud.  And, as they entered, they began to receive the gift of understanding.  Jesus is one with God.  In the same way, we should take this approach to our own lives.  We will encounter so many different things where we won't know all the answers.  However, when we take the leap forward, even with our doubts, our questions, our fears, we will get the answer.  God is wherever we are, but we need to receive God.  I find that the physical church building can be seen as a sort of parallel to the cloud.  Within the church's walls, we hear the voice of God in the form of song, prayer, and scripture.  We can also look at our own moments of deep meditation as entering the cloud - the cloud of our own souls.  Within our meditations, we can hear the voice of God.  Another parallel of the cloud is the bible.  When we open up the covers, we can start to receive the revelation of God.  And, each time that we receive the revelations, we understand the same message:  "Jesus is my beloved son.  Hear him!"

Day 047: Spiritual Wisdom

"Let no one deceive himself.  If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.  For it is written 'He catches the wise in their own craftiness'."                          1 Corinthians 3:18-19

How can this be?  Don't we want to have the best thinkers in the Church?

That's kind of my first reaction to this advice and to the quoted text.  We have enough trouble these days with people misleading masses of people because of their lack of discernment and knowledge and wisdom.  At the same time, some of the theologians that I respect the most, from ancient to modern times, were wise in both Scripture and philosophy.

However, the beginning of this advice gives the whole message away.  One can consider himself to be wise if he truly wants to.  Eventually, there will be someone out there who will believe him.  In the same way, it shows that there are so many wise people out there today who constantly take steps deeper and deeper into admitting their ignorance before God.  They allow themselves to become empty vessels, blank canvases, so that they may receive more and more revelations of God. 

Throughout the history of our spiritual tradition, God became known through revelations over time.  In the bible, we have many examples of people receiving the revelations, but we probably have just as many of people refusing them.  Of course, the stories of those who received the revelations end well, and those of those who refused the revelations end terribly.

How, then, do we make ourselves fools before God?  The first thing is to understand that we will never know more than the all-knowing and omnipresent God.  The next step is to let God take care of us.  We should start to listen to God for guidance in all of our questions.  Obviously, the only way we can accept a revelation is by opening our eyes.  As Job said, "But now, my eyes see you," when he received an astonishing revelation of God, so should we as we receive revelations from God each day.

We can open up our spiritual eyes by coming into communication with God.  When we read the bible, we can start to understand more about who God is.  When we pray, we have a conversation with God, where we can hear the answers to our questions.