ADVENT 3: Tuesday: Your Life Gets Better by Change

photo source: http://bit.ly/1DFxQ3D

We often personally and repeatedly resist change. It seems so much easier to stay just the way we are, and there is VERY little time in our lives to step out of the rut of our daily travels. It's easier just to keep our head down and do as we always have done 'cause it seems to be working for us...so far. But God can see far ahead in to the future and the Holy Spirit always urges us toward change. Wuhl, REAL change is often uncomfortable and involves effort and sacrifice. Real change forces us to "step up" especially because the Gospel insists that change is essential for everyone. We are urged to change our minds - literally, to “repent”- every day. In Greek the word for repent is μετάνοια - metanoia, which comes from meta, "denoting a position behind, after, or beyond, something of a higher or second-order", and the verb noeo, to perceive with the mind, to have understanding, to ponder (as Mary pondered in her heart). In this compound word, the two meanings of time and change are combined in reflection, but more importantly, after the fact, to ponder, to meditate on these things from a higher perspective, to truly observe our actions behind our mind, perhaps with God's loving eyes for us, and realise many of our repetitive actions, in the long run, may be poor choices, may even be destructive choices, but, in the present, may just not be The Best Choices. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we need to change the way we think- about ourselves, the purpose of our lives, other people, our purpose in their lives, and God's own self. We need to learn to shake ourselves in to thinking like God thinks, in a loving and caring way toward ourselves, and not the constant berating, defeatist attitudes we may often default to. Because how we think shapes the way we feel, and how we feel influences the way we act, and as followers of the Gospel of love and peace, our behavior needs to match our beliefs. “To live is to change,” wrote Cardinal Newman, “and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

- the skeleton of a reflection by R. Scott Hurd and the rest is me