Survival Strategy

The social/political wars around the world never end — they only change in inten­sity. A loss of civil­ity can be noticed in any era. The dis­trac­tions are almost infi­nite. Being aware but not over­whelmed is the key. Jesus warned that the world would have its apoc­a­lyp­tic moments. There will be “wars and rumors of war.” “You will always have the poor with you…” and many other such state­ments. Golden eras and utopias are illu­sory and short-lived at best.

Let’s face it: chaos is a con­stant. We can lose our­selves in the flood waters of social/political dis­or­der, or we can spend our time build­ing an inner spir­i­tual ark for all that truly mat­ters. The ten­sions are, have been, and for­ever will be there. There is no such thing as a final state until the world ends.

So, here is what I am doing about it today: I am focus­ing on my own jour­ney; the “news” I will take with a grain of salt (all things must pass); I will look for Divine guid­ance with­out falling into com­mon super­sti­tions; I will remind myself of Paul’s wis­dom that the strug­gle is about “the prin­ci­pal­i­ties and pow­ers of this dark age.” I am also going to remind myself of another one of Paul’s cen­tral themes: “with food and cloth­ing we are content.”

“Being in the world but not of the world” is quite a trick. To accom­plish this you will have to care enough not to care. Yes, there is injus­tice. True, there are inequities. No, you can­not solve them all. They are acknowl­edged and dis­missed. They were here when you were born and will be here when you are gone. Do not get lost in them. Do your part to solve what you can and go on.

Keep your head. Guard your heart. Take the ride. Sur­vive life’s test in style.