Living By Memes and Clever Sayings
“However often you deny the truth, it goes on existing.” George Orwell
So there you have that, and:
“Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of your life.”
Every day there are a number of these sayings that appear on my feed, and many of them are at least clever and some of them are a bit more. I agree with most of the gist of the words, but not all the sentiments with all of them. Here are a few things we see taught today. There is some truth or value to all of these:
“Listen to your heart”
“Be true to yourself”
“trust your gut”
“Feel good about who you are”
“Happiness is what matters”
“just be a good person”
But they are only so good and go only so far. For instance, happiness matters, but isn’t all that matters. Feeling good about who you are… well, that only goes so far if you are truly doing what’s good and right, and being a good person.
There is the flip that says, “If you don’t like the path before you, or the way you’ve come, get off of that path. Do something different—make things better.”
Alternative universe, anyone? On occasion, people ask me, or sometimes they just assume, that I believe certain things. In my family, I’ve been attributed views that I may or may not believe, and it’s assumed that it bothers me if others don’t ascribe to those views.
I do not like swearing or immodesty. That is true and it won’t take much of either to get my ire up. Two years ago I was getting my hair washed and was asked by the stylist what I would think if she got her hair dyed blue—or some such color.
I didn’t have an explosive reaction. I have seven children and you know how that can work out. However, my reaction must have not been what she anticipated. She was probably looking for a shock value and didn’t get it here.
“And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23 (ASV)
In my early years, I began with the conundrum of what does God want me to be? That has been my focus. There are many aspects and I didn’t concentrate on only one thing. I asked myself, “If God were designing a woman, what would he want her to reflect? To look and act like? If God were designing a home, a parent, and so forth. How and what would that look like?”
I’m saddened when I see fellow Christians making excuses as to why they are exempt from following God’s plan, some clear-cut scriptures. I understand that the term “fellow Christians” doesn’t include those who don’t follow God’s plan of salvation. They haven’t made the first steps. Yet, in a sense, being obedient to the first steps in the plan of salvation although very necessary, if one is not following God’s plan for the rest of your life (and trying to excuse yourself for it) is that not similar to not following the initial plan of salvation?
And when I share that I’m saddened by the lack of follow through with so many people I wonder what God’s view will be. Some have taken secret delight that they assumed their actions caused me anger.
Oddly enough, just as the question on the blue hair didn’t throw a wrench in my work, other people making bad decisions might make me sad, but I’m not attempting to control someone else.
They aren’t going against me (I’m not God), but they are thumbing their nose at their creator. We all are asking for mercy and grace in this realm. The Apostle Paul likens this world and the Christian life to that of running a race—doing our best, throwing off any interference or weight while running that race.
But we all have blue hair sometimes. Perhaps not literally, but sometimes instead of a race, it’s more like a mud fight. We’re doing the best we can, but like wrestling in the mud, things get messy, or downright ugly. And it’s hard to sort things out.
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12
Not that I believe we can ‘work our own salvation out,’ in the sense that some people believe. I do believe we must live our own lives, the best we can, and we are all governed by the same scriptures. And that in the last day will judge us, not our feelings, or our wants and wishes.
Listening to a clip from an interview with Caitlin Jenner, he describes how it was such a difficult decision and he had such a discussion with his pastor and so forth. How he’s tried hard and had good intentions and in the end he just hopes that when he gets to the pearly gates he’s told to come on in…
However, as the person who was commenting on the clip summed it up, “Good intentions won’t save us.
Ecclesiastes 11:8 “Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 9) Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
10) Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.”
