Daily, we are confronted with choices. Often those we make bring pain and suffering. Upon ourselves; upon our family and friends, too.
The world and its systems will always promise quick results. We seek our gratification now. Our culture is consumed by status, by wealth. We want to get rich quickly and fall into temptations and trap ourselves in foolish and harmful desires that quicken us on the path to ruin and destruction.
The media bombards us with adverts that promise immediate solutions to our problems. Often, we are tempted to opt for these quick solutions in order to gratify our immediate needs. Unfortunately, we may end up finding out that we have been driven into further problems than before.
This is the first installation of Soul to Soul, a column that will speak to your soul. It is for character building as well as for decision making. It reminds us that, as human beings, we are not products of some afterthought but rather a sublime addition to God’s marvelous creation of all things animate and inanimate.
Human beings are accustomed to believe that they are wise enough to take the affairs of their lives into their hands; however the type of mindset that excludes God’s involvement in one’s life is problematic since it tends to bring frustrations and failure.
Young people tend to rely on their intelligence and their meager experience, forgetting that they still need their parents to guide and teach them to be responsible. There is lack of parental respect and parental respect is not limited to one’s biological parents only. The command to obey our parents embraces all individuals older than us.
We live in a generation dominated by the desire to be at the top at the expense of principles. Unfortunately, this notion predisposes individuals to sacrifice their moral principles and they end up becoming victims of moral hurricanes.
It is so easy for us to get away with undesirable behavior and assume that nothing will ever happen. But that day of an unexpected reaping might take place when we least expect it.
The main issue is that our hearts are so evil; we cannot change them with our own powers. Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human efforts ÔÇô all these have their proper sphere but they are powerless.
They may produce an outward correctness of behavior but they cannot change the heart. Your heart can only be changed by God, if you are willing.
In this sin-sick world, injustice seems to dominate our lives and it is always painful to watch someone unjustly treated. It becomes much more painful when we are the ones at the receiving end of such treatment.
Ours is a world of hatred, of anger and bitterness, of holding grudges. How often have you heard someone say, “I just can’t find it in me to forgive this person.” That is very true; you cannot find it in yourself because it is not there. Forgiveness cannot be manufactured within our minds; it is a virtue that is acquired from God.
Our society doesn’t have love. We are all aware that the opposite of love is hate or indifference, meaning unresponsiveness,
apathy, lack of sympathy, lack of interest, lack of concern or coldness. We really need more people who show love than those who speak love while doing nothing to show or practice it.
Ours also is a world where we almost breathe sex; we do not give thoughts to our steps because of some fleshly, out of control excursion and everything we think or talk about seems to have sex and money attached to it, leading us into ditches.
All told, we should be well-defined by our total devotion to the life of prayer because without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and deviating from the right path.
Soul to Soul will speak to you about things you might want to consider, those things you might want to take to heart and keep handy. This column will cover things like Industriousness and Selfishness, Self-Control, Patience and Tolerance, Health consciousness, Integrity and Dignity, Yearning for Justice, just to mentioned a few.
