More than just lofty ideas


I had heard it said that one sign of intelligence is planning for the future, that is to say, looking beyond the immediate so as to make plans in how to achieve long term goals. Another sign of intelligence is delay of gratification, that is to say, the ability to hold off on what we want today, because perhaps there are more pressing matters at hand that ought to be taken care of first. This takes care of the all too often impulsiveness of human nature that acts on immediate wants, which are not in the best interest of the parties involved at the present moment.

It seems as though I have always been a dreamer, always imagining a lofty ideal. There’s nothing wrong with that of course. After all, if lofty ideals were of no use at all, then God would not have given us the capacity for such things. Even if you do not believe in God, then I would say, there would be no evolutionary benefit for lofty unattainable ideals. Philosophers would not have wasted their time thinking up principles for a just or perfect society. In any case, sometimes our ideas fall short. Reality sets in and we realize, we can’t always get what we want, or get it in the timeframe we had hoped for. Some of us are thus driven to despair, others to cynicism, others still to indifference. Who hasn’t responded in any of those ways? So, we become unhappy. We lose our peace. We lose our child-like simplicity. As our Lord taught us, the animals have no need to gather in barns as humans do. God takes care of them. How much more does he care for the crowning glory of his creation, man?

We get so caught up in the stresses and frustrations of our earthly concerns that we forget about the most important things. That is not to say that we should not care about paying our bills, or going to school. We should take care of what we need to take care of but we should do it all with the firm knowledge and understanding that God is always in charge. I still have no clue what the future holds for me, but I do know what he has placed before me in the present moment. And so, I go. I wasn’t sure what to write today. I had been so discouraged to write for the last few months. I had so many ideas, which I wrote down, but I had no motivation to sit down and write. As I sat at my desk, I looked up at a book I had read a year ago, and I asked for the Holy Ghost to show me a meaningful passage for me. So, I will close with the passage, which I did not read until I typed them below.

Laurence G.

How many young people, for example, hesitate to give their lives entirely to God because they do not have confidence that God is capable of making them completely happy. And they seek to assure their own happiness by themselves and they make themselves sad and unhappy in the process.

This is precisely the great victory of the Father of Lies, of the Accuser: succeeding in putting into the heart of a child of God distrust vis-a-vis his Father!

~Father Jacques Philippe, Searching for and Maintaining Peace, p. 27

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