The Inconvenient Truth

Dear Malady (and Purl, I hope!) -

I just finished the final chapter of Book 2, "The Practical Conclusion." There is a passage in that chapter that I think parallels the thoughts you had in your last post:

"A Christian is not a (person) who never goes wrong, but a (person) who is enabled to repent and pick (herself) up and begin over again after each stumble..."

Your last post was an insightful interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:11. For a waffling Christian like me, your message is a call to authentic adulthood. You discuss the "inconvenience" of faith and you're right, it can be distressingly inconvenient. Becoming a person of faith means making a conscious choice to become a "real" adult.

Becoming a "real" adult means deciding to not act on any whim, desire, or emotion that strikes you. Now that I've reached the ripe old age of 40, it's hard for me to imagine simply indulging my emotions and doing whatever I want. There was a time when I wouldn't have believed my saying so. That doesn't mean I don't feel the impulses to do whatever I want (believe me, I do), but I sometimes experience a kind of growth that leads to greater happiness if I abstain.

It depends on the situation, but I discover more often as I get older that when I just mindlessly charge ahead, I find nothing but emptiness on the other side. Being reckless doesn't do anything to help me find the truth about myself or my life. It's beyond just believing - I actually FEEL that finding some kind of truth about my life is what will lead to happiness for me. My sense is that your faith in God does the same for you. It's what I perceive when you say "I have to exercise my faith to get healthy and strong."

With that said, I think there times we have to indulge our whims and emotions to get to a new place in our lives. These are the situations that make life so bewildering to me; why can't I just pick the right thing to do? But our emotions give us our humanity and, as annoying and destructive as they can be, I have to say I'm really glad I "feel" all the things I do. Emotions are what make me alive!

Your discussion of our being "God's children" reminded me that He knows we're going to slip up sometimes and that's OK. Lewis, too, says that's part of being Christian - that we can "pick ourselves up after each stumble." Thank God (literally) for that.

-Gary