The end of the day...

There are a lot of things that travel trough our thoughts daily. Have you ever stopped and thought about what you're thinking about? Then stopped and thought about what you're thinking you're thinking about? That's called Phenomenology, but that's another topic for another day.

At the end of the day so many things have gone through your mind to influence what you're currently thinking about. Have you ever found yourself tired and frustrated at the end of the day? I don't mean worn out or sad because of real hardship, I don't mean the kind of frustrated that comes from confusion about what you're going through. Do you ever find yourself groaning and angry over nothing? Your heart is pounding and you're head aches and you want nothing to do with anybody and you don't know why.

Last year I vacationed to Hawaii with my family. We went to Maui and stayed at our time share in "The Sands Of Kahanna" on Kahanna beach, about a mile and a half or so from Kanopali beach. It was me my Mom, my step sister, my step dad, and my brother soaking up paradise. I had no reason not to feel the best that I could ever feel, but I didn't. I found myself feeling alone, frustrated, angry... Just wrong. Now why, on earth, would I have the Gaul to feel this way? Maybe it was lack of vision of "the big picture." It could have been because I forgot that most people will die without seeing what I was seeing. Maybe My mind was "sick," and darkness was diffusing itself so strongly through my mind that it didn't matter where I was. What was ironic was that I blamed my feelings on there being so much "sin" around me, as if the sin overcame the beauty, the good. It's as if there wasn't enough Jesus to go around.

So many times we wallow in our misery and feel that we're justified for it for some reason we made up. We set our minds on the darkness and by the end of the day we are exhausted from it. God calls us to "walk in the light." do you think that applies to our thoughts too? I'm not necessarily talking about the obviously dark things like animal sacrifice or pentagrams. I'm talking about the simple little things, our selfish endeavor fails or we're not satisfied with the company around us or we're annoyed that we brought upon ourselves what we assumed would be convenient compassion and we found out helping people isn't always easy, those are the things that wear us down where we just don't need to be worn. Let's face it, life is hard, why should we make it harder?

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things." Philippians 4:8

If you believe God moves in and through everything and "the darkness cannot over come...," if you believe like I do that "the Earth is God's and everything in it" then you believe that everything in it's atomic essence is good. You believe that at the core or root of everything that is around you is "true...Noble...Just...Pure...Lovely...Good...Of virtue...Praiseworthy."

I see so many times Christians fleeing and evading whole areas of life because of the distortion that has been done to it at times, sometimes more often than not. We run from movies, music, certain places, certain people even. And for what? Instead of running away let's run toward...Mix ourselvess into the world so that the good that already existss there can come out and shine brightly to the glory of God. We are those who affirm the good wherever it is because we know personally who made it, we celebrate it.

If we set our minds on the true...Noble...Just...Pure..Lovely...Virtuose...Praiseworthy. If we find "the divine in the daily," if we have eyes to see God in everything, to experience God in everything the end of the day might not be so hard.

In our Christian culture "devotional time" is defined as a set time to read our bible and "meet with God." What if devotional time was all the time? What if we met God everywhere because we know He's there anyway? Then, maybe then the end of the day wouldn't be so bad.

Comments

I don't think I believe that everything in its atomic essance is good, although that is a wonderful sentence. I do believe that as vessals of His light we can shine that Light into the darkness around us, but I also believe there has to be a limit.
In the world, not of it. Be not lovers of the world, nor friends of the world. Those are concepts we need to remember in the whole scheme of things.
wellis68 said…
Maryellen,
It's cool that you disagree with me, I sometimes wonder if everyoner is just humoring me by agreeing. When I say the "atomic essence" I mean it came from good in the first place. God is the creator and He didn't create evil (that in itself may be a whole nother discussion). Even sin comes from a beautiful capacity to choose good.

There are things that get distorted and perverted. Movies, for example, come from real beauty, a divine inclination to create and express. Are there movies we shouldn't watch? of course. We don't affirm what's dark and distorted but we do affirm the good that exsists in the darkness. so movies are a divine and mitraculouse thing but a movie, some movies are perversions of that beauty.

I hope that might clarify some things.
wellis68 said…
Flip,
I'm glad this post related with you. I find that getting away can be theraputic in alot of ways, for stress, for burdens. It's good for some things but like I said sometimes it doesn't matter where you are if you are consumed and overcome with pesemistic thoughts.

"whereever you go, there you are..." if you're the problem... you can't get away from it.

I'll pray that you can "get away," that you can find rest. I'm so glad to see how well you're doing, keep prayerfully engaging in life understanding that you're not alone.