(also titled “Causes of Crowns: The Truest Defense”)

Well, what could we say about the tests of life? This is touching. You’re struggling with a certain person, or a certain situation, and you’re ‘in the moment’, and how many times you feel like you failed the test, lost your cool and said the wrong thing, or said the right thing in the wrong way, which has It was just as damaging. You are with someone you love perhaps and you feel that you still cannot control the situation; you still can’t say the right thing, it’s all a bit useless.

This situation must surely resonate with everyone. I think the run up to Christmas, ironically, is very demanding in this regard. It’s like everyone is under more pressure, a little more stressed, and ready to pounce on any loose words they can find. It does not create a favorable environment for love to have its way. Again, an irony; Christmas is supposed to be about love and generosity, isn’t it?

How do we successfully negotiate trial time? How do we survive these trials and behave like the saints we should be so as not to upset people, especially loved ones? And, more specifically, how do we get by with our sanity intact?

This is where my search for truth has led me to some quotes of great wisdom, some from quite unusual sources.

I love the movie Meet The Robinsons. The animation is not only top notch, it also provides a great and standout theological message of “never give up.” The main character, an orphaned boy named Lewis, eventually becomes Cornelius Robinson; extraordinary inventory of the future. For Lewis to achieve his destiny, he makes some wise decisions on his behalf: he takes some wise advice, particularly from his future wife, whom he meets as a grown woman in the future. More specifically, however, the theme of the film is summed up in the following quote from Walt Disney shown at the end of the film.

“Here, though, we don’t look back for long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps taking us down new paths.” [Italics added]

– Walt Disney.

Lewis simply learns that the only way to be successful in life is to never give up. The idea that makes Lewis successful is simply to keep going, to keep trying no matter how disappointed he is. The key illustration of the film is his invention of the time machine that went through a thousand failed attempts, of which the Robinsons are proud, in hindsight.

Is there a lesson in this for us? No doubt. The concept of moving forward obviously implies such character by going against the grain of our emotions; the tendency we have to give up when the going gets tough. Of course, the only thing worse than giving up is the feeling of being the loser while punishing yourself for it!

There has to be a better way.

I wonder if the trick in this thinking lies in curiosity, as indicated in the Disney quote. Instead of giving in to defeat, curiosity is a much more powerful motivator; it gives weight to the fact that defeat is a strong negative motivator, because curiosity is a potentially compelling positive motivator; it can propel us anyway; there really is no limit.

There is a paradox in this truth here! If we manage to overcome the problem or disappointment between us, and as Walt Disney says: “Move forward”, we can plant in ourselves the hope not only of a better day, but of a miraculous day… a situation that only God could play. This has to be tested. We don’t get a chance to see this unless we try it. Now this is faith.

The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans similar things, inspiring things. He said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In other words, if we are trying to do what is right, fair and equitable and we are caught for it, we will eventually succeed and be right for it. God, or if you will, the forces of nature and life, will eventually make it so. It is more appropriate to keep moving forward in doing the right thing than to get carried away by our emotions.

The following quote from Chrysostom captures the essence of this. It is very simple, faith:

Those who are against us, however, are so far from frustrating us at all, that even without their will they become for us the cause of crowns and procurers of innumerable blessings, since the wisdom of God turns their plans into our salvation and glory. . See how nobody is really against us!

The real-life practicality of this advice is this: if you don’t give up on your efforts, always trying to find the right path, you will eventually succeed. Furthermore, the Christian faith (and perhaps others, I don’t want to be exclusive here) ordains that as we willingly suffer in the midst of a situation, God is bringing these things out for us, and against the very people who might be trying. to make our lives more difficult. If it wasn’t a law of God’s nature, it would be magic.

The trick is perseverance during the period of suffering; a commitment to be firm in your love, that whatever happens, you don’t hit back, you move on.

There is a mind trick involved here. There is a training lesson. First, assume the theory. Nobody can be against us if we live by the truth. We have forces in our favor that no one is able to manipulate. The second thing we must do is really practice the matter of having faith and persisting, even to the point of suffering anguish and torment; if the matter is very important, it might be the only way.

Give it a try; You have nothing to lose by trying. You might even find the power of life in this, that no one can stand against us in the fight for the real truth. Not one.

It’s appropriate to end the Robinsons. Rob Thomas’ song Little Wonders is the soundtrack to the film and captures the essence of the “what to do”: Keep moving forward.

Let it go,

let it roll off your shoulder

Don’t you know the hardest part is over?

let it in,

let your clarity define you

In the end we’ll just remember how it feels

Let it slide

let your problems stay behind

let it shine until you feel it all around you

And I don’t care if I’m the one you have to turn to

we’ll manage

it’s the heart that really matters in the end

© 2007 Steve Wickham