Faith That the Universe Will Unfold

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As is common this time of year, I, like most of you, think about endings. Today, the countdowns to Christmas end, because it's here. Soon, the year will end. We think about good Christmases, good times, how much more fun and meaning it had for us as children and how much we miss that. Sometimes we also think about how we can be the ending to making the world a better place. While the secularists sing about it and people prattle their personal theories, while the pagans delight in the fact that it's actually "their" holiday, the principles of Christmas are still compatible with and enhancing to Christianity, and it is on those ends that Christmas and Christ bear the most weight. We have faith that because of Christ, because of God's love made manifest through His son's birth, sacrifice and death that things in the universe will all unfold as they ought. Our Faith binds us together in a vision for the future, teaches us to rely on a power higher than ourselves and explains certain facets of the plan so that we can measure whether we're still on track. What the world needs, and what the world gets each Christmas time, at least for a while, is a little more love, a little more faith, and a little more evidence that maybe things will work out alright in the end.

Christians ought to all share a faith in a better world. We're not living for or happy with the world as it is, and sometimes we get caught up in the notion that we must somehow make things better. The best thing is to be the best you that you can be and not worry too much about whether or not your particular paltry participation pivots the world to where it ought to be. Even my less religious friends, and theologians of other persuasions who channel method and rest on scientific measurement do this. They forget that faith is different from knowledge. Knowledge isn't the end; it is one path to enlightenment. The great logician of fiction, Spock, taught us that the universe will unfold as it should in this oft forgotten reference:
We have faith that the universe will unfold as it should. We do our part and rest on that, not because our best is amazing but because through Christ all things will be made right. Through God's plan and love, every mistake, every feeble effort is transformed into something perfect by the merits, grace, and mercy of God and His Christ. I still believe that God's will will be done, it will be done well, and it will be done on time. I still believe that what should be will be when the time is right.

Fidelity to our principles requires us to practice both virtues of serenity and submissiveness. This differs widely from pessimism or distance. It still invites and requires us to act, just teaches us to detach our emotions from a particular personal and present outcome. Emotion usually occurs when outcomes differ from expectations, and so perhaps that's why humans are so emotionally distraught, particularly around the holidays as we all realize this year wasn't quite what we hoped a year ago. I mean, even I reread some of my posts from a year hence, and I'm disappointed that this year was only quiet and not awesome like I hoped. Now, I'm glad that it was quiet, because the alternative is unpleasant, but I'm still disappointed. However, these last few months, I think I've latched onto the reason why it's no longer as traumatic what I lost in Summer 2013. Serenity and submissiveness to God's will usually come concomitant with age/maturity. Some older people never seem to acquire this, and some younger people already have. Eventually, as time marches on, as your perspective and understanding change, and as new things happen in your life, you discover things and people that just aren't that important anymore. You don't take time to worry about them because worrying about them never helped. If they are right, they will happen on their own. This doesn't mean you do nothing. You do what is right and let the consequence follow. Accept that you cannot force them, that you cannot change them, that they are also free to choose their own adventure just as you claim the right. Reaching this stage is difficult. One must give up one's desire, need, and efforts to control things around one and focus on controlling oneself. That's not reassuring, rewarding, or empowering, so we try to control other things, but all we can really change is ourselves. The serenity prayer makes reference to wisdom, which usually only comes with experience. Try not to be too hard on, critical of, or impatient with people around you who have yet to develop any degree of these traits. Those who insist on a "think system" or the power of positive thinking or attitude keep missing the mark because all of these ideas are built upon the notion that you can control things that you can only influence. They do not work because they ignore agency; they preach that you can force and tempt people to virtue, which simply is not so. It is a childish notion. Each of us grows at a different rate, and each of us experiences different things, including the same things different ways. Consequently, each person's ability to reach proper submissiveness to the will, timing, and mercy of the Almighty varies widely just as each of us vary widely in our penchants, personalities, and propensities. Perhaps for this reason, it is usually the more mature among us who consistently and efficiently reach a stage of serenity. Sure, we learn the serenity prayer as children, but we don't usually practice it very well until we have experience enough to recognize the wisdom of that utterance and act accordingly.

Trust that there is a plan. Any strategist tells you that the only thing you can be sure of when YOU plan is that something will not go according to plan. Ergo, you need many iterations, Plan B, plan C, all the way to Plan M if need be, because of contingencies and things you cannot expect because OTHER PEOPLE are agents to act for themselves and are people actuating their own plans. Just because your plan fails or because the things for which you plan fail to materialize doesn't mean that things will never work out for you. We look back at achievements in history and see how it happened, but rarely do we know about all the false starts, the dead ends, and the setbacks suffered before people arrived at the end for which they strove. We like to think we know the plan, that we can rush the plan and that we can force the plan, that we can force people, or the planet, or even the universe to bend to our will. We like to rush things because we don't know how much time we have, and we don't want to be very close when we die or the lifetime of an opportunity expires. However, history and literature are replete with warnings to the contrary. Avoid haste and rush, it leads to accidents, mistakes, and injury to the body and soul. You rush a miracle, and you get rotten miracles. If you try to force it, usually you get cut. This is why force doesn't really work, why you can't really control others. You might seem able to control their behaviors, or at least the ones you desire or see, but eventually people do rise up and rebel. It's not just the American revolution, but teenagers who rebel, Amish who go wilding, slaves who revolt, and every oppression is overturned. In tyranny lies only ultimately failure. Try not to rush it, to force it, and what is right will be when it's time. I know most people who prattle this have "arrived" at their Land of Promise. I have not. I still believe that God has a plan.

I like to think that one day, and hopefully soon, it will be God's great mercy and love to allow what I plan to materialize. I am also mature enough to recognize that I'm not the only player, the only perspective, and the only prospect. Sometimes, if I got what I wanted, it would deny other people their desires, and I do not desire to be selfish and deny others their own happiness. I know that sometimes other people decide not to play and that other people will cheat to win. I know that ultimately cheaters don't really win and that most of the time when you hurry you end up with something only half baked. In God's good time, He will provide what is best for me. I don't know what it is. I only know what I hope it is. Wherever you are, whenever it's right, you'll come out of nowhere and into my life. Yeah, I know what I would like, but I also know that there are other things I ought to like and other things that other people like. It doesn't make them wrong; it makes them different, and variety is often a good thing. How blase would the world be if we all liked the same things for the same reasons? Blech! Things do get better, they already have improved, maybe not in every facet or for you per se or with the speed and to the degree that you like, but they will. There will be a better world, or at the very least tomorrow there is a chance for you to make your world better. Only after you focus on what you can control can you reach true peace and happiness through serenity and submissiveness to God's will. You improve yourself, and that improves your prospects eventually, because it puts you in better places with better people and better prospects. Nothing is guaranteed but opportunity, but the opportunities come as you improve your own lot. Then, you trust that, even if you only know part of the plan that THERE IS A PLAN. You are part of something amazing. God sent His son to suffer, die, and rise again to life YOU up to a better world. I don't know what the plan is all the time, but I do get to know the parts of the plan that are mine to handle and actuate for right now. Sometimes, the plans change, but the objectives remain the same. The universe will unfold as it ought. When, how, for whom? I cannot say, but at Christmas, my hope is renewed that for me there is a better tomorrow, a Land of Promise, a Geautiful Birl, and satisfaction of soul as I hope for, remain true to, and work to do the best I can to be a positive force in what will ultimately happen with or without my help.  May God bless us, every one.  Merry Christmas.