well... my IKEA order, of course, was not done right ...but at least they called me and now it is okay, i hope...
did i mention that i had dropped my cordless phone in my DISH WATER. yep. and i took it out right away, much to my friend's concern. what was i supposed to do though? let it stay in the water? i would of had to drain the water sometime. this does make me wonder though at what one needs to do if they drop something totally plugged in the water. hmmmm.
well i am okay and my phone recovered too!
i guess this is rather the quote trivial day to day things - well - in my life anyway. i am someone who is talented enough to fall of buses and find it funny. (though it was not fun at the time).
i actually like the blogs that deal with the normal things of day to day life, but i am wondering...
the Church teaches us to avoid idle talk. i am wondering what this means.
i love calling my Mom and saying hi - but we usually talk about our day - is this idle talk?
well. i have so much to learn.
i have other questions too - such as:
1. what should our relationship to things within this world be? i bought clothes at Smart Set this week on sale - 75% off i think - but i did not NEED them. how does one discern what is right in regards to buying things?
or
2. i love my apartment, esp. as i am getting more of it set up (or so i am hoping). how much love of things and of earthly place is okay?
when the world is not to be our home and we are to think of our death and of eternity daily, what is good to do?
i read gilead, as i mentioned in an earlier post. i liked the book very much - was well written. but it is leaving me an unsure taste in my mouth, as it were. the book talks so much about loving life here on earth, and all the beauty of it; all while the character is preparing to die. he regrets having to leave such a earth, where he finds things so startlingly beautiful.
CS Lewis in his book screwtape letters suggests to get Christians to fall, to have them love the ordinary world and the ordinary details, to distract them from our final destination and from being a slave to God instead of a slave to this world.
so what does this mean? are we to take joy in things? the book of Ecclesiastes suggests this; some Psalms and Proverbs do as well, from what i can see.
but Christ also said follow me and to forsake all else.
would love any thoughts about this - what does it mean to be North American, a female, in the luxury of middle class, with laptop, cell phone and my own apartment - and trying to seek the kingdom of God before my own kingdom.
what does this mean? how are we to live? i think i need to read St. John Chrysostom and some others about this....
2 comments:
no idea. I struggle with these questions as well (OK, not the ones about being female and North American, but you know what I mean...)
Here's a weird personal experience though: I tried from childhood on to remain detached from earthly things -- idle talk, material possessions, and the sort of stuff you talk about in this post -- but I started noticing in my teens that there was not much joy in my life. Spiritual joy, the fruit of the Spirit kind of joy.
It wasn't until much later that I suspected a connection between the two. If I hold out for some moment of "pure contemplation" and allow myself to rejoice in that, and only that, viewing all other pleasures as guilty ones, then I should not wonder that I live a joyless life and even start resenting God.
Or, to put it differently: how can I trade all I have for the costliest pearl if I haven't allowed myself to amass anything? What do I have in my possession to bargain with?
I still have a long way to go on this journey. I'm not replying because I have an answer to your questions, but because I'm another person who doesn't have answers to these questions.
thank you marco. i read your comment this morning before work and really appreciate it.
i have been thinking this too - in the terms of the question:
what if i sought to receive all things with joy and to enjoy?
it is going to take me a long time to sort all of this out - today i am working on just being thankful.
on that note - thanks again muchly for your comment
Post a Comment