The Road to Damascus.
Okay, it was actually the ride to work, but that sounded more dramatic. The following was transcribed verbatim from my voice recorder. This is the type of shit I think about while commuting.
Sometimes you discover little truths that, while though nothing is universal besides the laws of physics, nonetheless seem interesting enough to share.
First off, regarding prayer. Perhaps it sounds goofy, but I pray out loud on the way to work each day. It’s the usual litany of “problems” I deal with.
I watched the movie “Defending Your Life” by Albert Brooks this week, which is probably my favorite movie of all time.
I’ve said before that “Defending Your Life” is probably the best representation of what occurs in the afterlife. As time goes by, however, I realize that while that may not be true, the movie nonetheless gives the most sage advice I’ve ever heard regarding how to live one’s life: That the daily goal should be to overcome one’s fears.
The Bible says that with the right amount of faith one can literally move mountains. To me, this is one of the Bible’s (many) Catch-22’s. I don’t think anyone, even someone like Billy Graham, would have the necessary faith to command a mountain to move and expect it to happen.
A lot of people say “I prayed but didn’t get an answer,” but usually it’s more accurate to say “I didn’t get the answer I wanted.”
I find that when I pray I’m usually using God as a de facto therapist, telling him things I wouldn’t dare tell a mortal being. Most important, however, I’m asking for strength. Strength to pay attention at work despite not sleeping well. Strength to know how to prepare for a test in a subject I don’t understand. Strength to not strangle the myriad people who drive me insane on a daily basis with their endless personality quirks.
I’m really not asking God for anything more than I could find within myself. Does that mean God doesn’t exist or isn’t useful? No. But it makes me realize that all of us have within us what it takes to get through anything. There’s a verse in the Bible—I had it memorized once a long, long time ago—to the effect of “God won’t put anything on your plate that you can’t handle.” This means anything from not exploding at your spouse for leaving the toilet seat up to enduring bamboo shoots under your fingernails as a POW.
Another thing I’m realizing is the role of expectations in relationships. I consider myself a good husband, but mainly because I give my wife what I think she wants. Every day I get up early and offer to make her breakfast and I pack her a big lunch. This morning when I started packing her lunch, I discovered that most of the items I’d packed for her throughout the week wound up back in the fridge or cupboard. At first, my feelings were hurt. Then I realized that this was nothing she had requested; it was merely something I did because I thought she wanted it.
What constitutes a truly “good” spouse is giving your mate what makes them feel better, not what makes you feel better. And that’s really, really hard. It’s much easier to pack a lunch or clean house unexpectedly than to lend a sympathetic ear about the trials and travails of their day.
The only other thing I have to say is that today I discovered the pair of pants I was wearing had a hole in the pocket from the god-awful, bulky wallet I bought off the Target clearance shelf a few weeks ago. I hastily put on a pair of suit pants—very expensive pants by my standards, probably a hundred bucks—and discovered that they are brutally thin, offering no protection from the freezing cold wind. The $13 Kohl’s clearance rack pants are much better pants. This would probably serve as a wonderful metaphor for something, but I’ll leave that to you to figure out. It’s 8:30, and I need to get to work.
Sometimes you discover little truths that, while though nothing is universal besides the laws of physics, nonetheless seem interesting enough to share.
First off, regarding prayer. Perhaps it sounds goofy, but I pray out loud on the way to work each day. It’s the usual litany of “problems” I deal with.
I watched the movie “Defending Your Life” by Albert Brooks this week, which is probably my favorite movie of all time.
I’ve said before that “Defending Your Life” is probably the best representation of what occurs in the afterlife. As time goes by, however, I realize that while that may not be true, the movie nonetheless gives the most sage advice I’ve ever heard regarding how to live one’s life: That the daily goal should be to overcome one’s fears.
The Bible says that with the right amount of faith one can literally move mountains. To me, this is one of the Bible’s (many) Catch-22’s. I don’t think anyone, even someone like Billy Graham, would have the necessary faith to command a mountain to move and expect it to happen.
A lot of people say “I prayed but didn’t get an answer,” but usually it’s more accurate to say “I didn’t get the answer I wanted.”
I find that when I pray I’m usually using God as a de facto therapist, telling him things I wouldn’t dare tell a mortal being. Most important, however, I’m asking for strength. Strength to pay attention at work despite not sleeping well. Strength to know how to prepare for a test in a subject I don’t understand. Strength to not strangle the myriad people who drive me insane on a daily basis with their endless personality quirks.
I’m really not asking God for anything more than I could find within myself. Does that mean God doesn’t exist or isn’t useful? No. But it makes me realize that all of us have within us what it takes to get through anything. There’s a verse in the Bible—I had it memorized once a long, long time ago—to the effect of “God won’t put anything on your plate that you can’t handle.” This means anything from not exploding at your spouse for leaving the toilet seat up to enduring bamboo shoots under your fingernails as a POW.
Another thing I’m realizing is the role of expectations in relationships. I consider myself a good husband, but mainly because I give my wife what I think she wants. Every day I get up early and offer to make her breakfast and I pack her a big lunch. This morning when I started packing her lunch, I discovered that most of the items I’d packed for her throughout the week wound up back in the fridge or cupboard. At first, my feelings were hurt. Then I realized that this was nothing she had requested; it was merely something I did because I thought she wanted it.
What constitutes a truly “good” spouse is giving your mate what makes them feel better, not what makes you feel better. And that’s really, really hard. It’s much easier to pack a lunch or clean house unexpectedly than to lend a sympathetic ear about the trials and travails of their day.
The only other thing I have to say is that today I discovered the pair of pants I was wearing had a hole in the pocket from the god-awful, bulky wallet I bought off the Target clearance shelf a few weeks ago. I hastily put on a pair of suit pants—very expensive pants by my standards, probably a hundred bucks—and discovered that they are brutally thin, offering no protection from the freezing cold wind. The $13 Kohl’s clearance rack pants are much better pants. This would probably serve as a wonderful metaphor for something, but I’ll leave that to you to figure out. It’s 8:30, and I need to get to work.
posted by Admin Worm at 6:27 AM
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