Life, Language & Love
Introduction
Every week I try to find something interesting to think through or ponder. I try to find ideas that will challenge my current thought patterns a force me to think about something from a new perspective. It’s so incredible to me how each of us will process a situation differently. This is often based on our own life experiences, and so we all look at the world from a different lens. Each of us looks through that lens with our own variety of cracks. Life teaches us all different lessons, and through those lessons, that lens changes.
This is a lesson I have had to learn in my own life. As someone who is often an absolutist, I can find it hard to see things from another person’s point of view. It is a lesson I am actively trying to embrace and to show kindness and grace to those who don’t see things from the same lens as I do. I have had to, in recent months, learn to be okay with people not seeing things as I do. I am learning to be okay with people not agreeing with me and sometimes even disliking me based on the things I do believe. I find I am someone who really wants others to like me, but as I get older and as I continue to seek wisdom and seek to learn, the simple lesson I am learning is that not everyone will like me, and not everyone will agree with me, and some may actively dislike me based on my personal convictions and beliefs.
The companion to this lesson for me has been to try and cultivate an attitude that is always willing to be corrected, and I pursue educating my beliefs and convictions, trying my best to understand why I believe what I believe. I don’t want to be someone else’s mockingbird repeating their beliefs while having no true personal convictions. I have watched man-on-the-street interviews where people are often asked to defend their beliefs or point of view, and all too often, you find they are flabbergasted, having no personal understanding of the slogans they are repeating. They become nothing more than a mockingbird repeating everything they hear.
What Did I Learn
The Church In Babylon
I finished this book last week, a second free book on Audible by Erin Lutzer, that I found and did ultimately enjoy. I was once again just reminded that the American church has become very weak and often remains silent in a culture that we are called to change. Growing up, I heard the stories of how my ancestors fled throughout Europe during the persecution of the church, and I am so proud to know that many of my ancestors chose to die rather than abandon their faith.
This was a book that gave me much to think about and consider. If I am unwilling to speak out and profess my faith in the Bible Belt, then how can I hope ever to be someone who would be willing to go so far as to die for what I believe? We often have a perverted definition of “love,” a definition that says that if it is going to hurt their feelings, then I shouldn’t say anything. Somehow believing that saying nothing is better than risking offending or hurting their feelings. I return to an excellent book I read a few months ago called “Strange New World” by Christian author Carl Truman. In this book, he points out how we have made a worship of “feelings.” We have somehow created an environment where subjective feelings trump reality. Rather than aligning our feelings with reality, we try to align reality with our feelings.
Why is everyone saying “like” and “um”
As someone who tries to be very precise with my language, I found this podcast very interesting. The idea of how language changes and evolves with time is very interesting to me. I am someone who definitely tries to avoid using excessive amounts of the word “like” within my vocabulary.
Recently a friend of mine preached on business and how it is often the word “busy” is an auto-response to someone when they ask how we are doing. I found myself trying to find more creative ways to respond when someone asks how I am doing as I was trying to avoid using the word “busy.” and so my current favorite way to tell someone I am “busy” is that I am currently “meaningfully occupied.” This little change in my language forced me to be more considerate of each word I say, but also to be more intentional with each word, to be more precise, and it has been a great mental exercise to force me to think a little more before I speak.
How to Navigate The Dangers Of Modern Dating
I have often written and talked with friends on the subject of dating and how I think modern dating is an absolutely miserable mess, a mess of our own making. I think the best take from this podcast was that today’s dating economy, it has become a very “adversarial” environment. Men and Women at large seem to approach each other with a great deal of distrust.
Many women don’t trust men and vice versa. I don’t have a succinct answer or solution to this concern, but I do see the fallout of this. Marriage rates are plummeting. Marriage is delayed until much later in life for many. There is a loud cultural message that says this is a good thing, but it does not seem that this is improving the happiness of the majority of people.
Happiness studies seem to suggest that we are fewer and fewer happy people year after year. There are more and more people who are permanently medicated on some form of antidepressant. I am not saying that the decline in marriage and relationships is the only reason for this, but I do think this is a major factor.
The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
The Bible says that it is not good that “Man” should be alone, and in this case, it is specifically referring to the “Male” as best as I can tell, but I do think this is applicable to both male and female. We are a creature created for relationships, and we, as a species, desire deep, meaningful connections with others. There is no more intimate connection than that of a well-married man and woman who are able to be united to one another in body and spirit.
Our culture has today so devalued the institution of marriage and of the physical union between husband and wife as designed by God, and that, more than anything, is why I believe there is such an epidemic of loneliness. Anytime we choose to step out of God’s design, we create a mess, and we have well and truly made a mess of modern dating/relationship formation. And I intend to ask the question of myself, how can I be part of the solution and not feed into the problem?
What Did I do
Currently developing a training curriculum for my new job
Staying very Meaningfully Occupied :D
42 Days without any Alcohol
Did not do great on my overall time on Youtube this week, but other than that did pretty good on my overall daily average screen time!
I hope you have all enjoyed joining once more! If you would consider sharing or liking this post if you enjoyed I would very much appreciate it! Thank you all, and may God bless you!
