This article was written by Jenn based on her presentation at the Australian New Church Women’s Weekend in Nov 2024
I like to listen to a Christian radio station in Sydney, Australia, that plays great Christian songs as well as run-of-the-mill songs that have good messages. I am often inspired by songs that they air, one of which is ‘This Is Your Life’ by Switchfoot (you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9RcI_EueM).
This song has a message that really grabs me: “This is your life: are you who you want to be?” It’s basically saying, “Look at yourself, look at your life: you’ve only got one pass at it, there are no re-dos; are you happy with it? Is your life what you want it to be? Are you who you want to be?” Time is ticking, none of us is getting any younger; are we actually happy with who we are? Are we living meaningful lives, are we proud of what we do and think? Or are we just ‘fluffing along’, not feeling any purpose in what we do? To be fair, life is a roller coaster: we all have peaks and valleys, times of bounty and times of harvest; if we do feel like we’re just fluffing along, it may be ok, we don’t necessarily have to beat ourselves up over it, the next good thing might be right around the corner. Goodness knows, sometimes we need to have mercy on ourselves, to recognise that we’re in a valley, life is tough at the moment, we’re doing the best we can. We need to pick our battles – as with toddlers, as with our own lives.
….But if we’ve made a habit of just fluffing along, we might find that it’s time to make some changes happen.
I think, too, that we probably reach a certain point in our lives when we find that we can lead meaningful lives even if we aren’t having the best of luck, even during a dry spell. How do we get to that point? The Heavenly Doctrines are a treasure trove of answers for this kind of life thing. For a long, long time, I fluffed along (more or less) on the coat-tails of my historical faith, living according to what I learned and was passed down to me by my parents and taught to me in school. I can’t tell you what changed, but somewhere along the way I started reading the Writings for myself – I’d read parts of them in various religion classes at Bryn Athyn College, in early adulthood, so I was no stranger to their existence, but it had all sat pretty superficially in my mind. Whatever it was that changed my trajectory, changed it for the better. I wasn’t living an overtly sinful life, but I was more grumbly in my head, more self-righteous, more self-interested; I still have that in me, I’m not gonna lie, and those beasts bob beneath the surface, sometimes closer, sometimes deeper, but, on the whole, they’re deeper than shallower.
Never mind me, though: I want to help inspire you, as this song did for me. Maybe you’re totally happy with where you are and what kind of life you lead, and if that’s the case, that is totally awesome! Way to go!! (Praise be to God!)
If that isn’t you, though, if you feel like you’re fluffing along more than you’d like, or feel more grumbly or overtly more sinful than you know you ought to be, maybe there will be something here that will grab you and help nudge you along on your path.
There are a bunch of passages in the Writings that speak directly to how we can get to that place of leading meaningful lives all the time. I encourage you to read the whole passages mentioned below, but I’ll give you the crux of the messages:
- We need to examine ourselves and look for any desires to do evil things – revenge, lust, fraud, deceit – and remember that these temptations aren’t just about literally murdering, stealing, etc, but go deeper, e.g. killing someone’s spirit, stealing the praise or credit from someone else, or from the Lord, etc → “If.. desires for revenge, for committing fraud and theft, and for lying remain in your inner self (meaning your will and your thinking) and inwardly you love those desires (no matter what you say or do outwardly), then evil takes precedence over goodness, and goodness is less important to you than evil. In this case, no matter how much you speak as if you had understanding or act as if you had love, there is evil within you, and your words and actions just cover it up.” (True Christianity 568.2-4) (all emphases in all quoted passages are mine)
- To figure this stuff out, first we need to engage in self-examination: we need to take honest looks at ourselves, from time to time, and really be truthful with ourselves and figure out WHY we do what we do → “..If we do not search out evils in our thoughts and our will, we will be unable to repent, because afterward we will have the same thoughts and intentions as we had before; and intending evils is the same as doing them. This therefore is what self-examination entails.” (The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings 164)
- We need to identify what evils we’ve thought about and what we’ve actually done, and stop doing them → “How are we to repent? ..We are to examine ourselves, recognize and admit to our sins, pray to the Lord, and begin a new life.” (True Christianity 525-532, portions)
- We need to set aside time to examine ourselves, but only periodically, like before we take Holy Supper – because of how the Lord can help us with our battles especially when we eat the bread and drink the wine – because we might beat ourselves up too severely, or split hairs examining the minutiae of our thoughts & actions, if we do it too often. There are actually spirits in the other world who incite this kind of beating-ourselves-up → “There are spirits [whose] nature [it is] to stir up and slip into a person qualms of conscience.. in any matters where some doubt occurs regarding something they think ought to be done, and thus would be a sin [to leave undone].” (Spiritual Experiences 1240)
- This might feel like an insurmountable task, but the Lord assures us that we don’t have to be perfect to get into heaven! → “If we are motivated.. by love and charity, the seed that the Lord plants bears fruit and multiplies so rapidly that it becomes too abundant to count. While we are living in the body this does not apply, but in the next life it is true to an unbelievable degree.” (Secrets of Heaven 1941)
- ….So, then, we can ask ourselves, at what point is each of us happy with where we are? Are we happy to settle? Are we happy to be only good enough to just barely get into heaven? We mustn’t drive ourselves nuts trying to be perfect, but are we content to just get by? What it comes down to is our motivation, because that’s what the Lord looks at. Then I wonder, if, in our heart of hearts, we truly want the Lord’s will, shouldn’t we strive to do His will at every turn? I think that some would disagree; what do you think?
- In the end, we’re reminded that there are no coincidences; EVERYTHING is in Divine Providence! → “It should be recognized that Divine providence is.. present within the smallest details of all, and that people in the stream of providence are being carried along constantly towards happier things, whatever appearance the means may present.” (Secrets of Heaven 8478.4)
- Even if we’ve been fluffing along, it’s basically ok, because it’s all in Providence! I’m sharing this with you, here, today, in Divine Providence. You’ve read this article in Divine Providence. (…..And then there’s the whole discussion about Divine Providence vs Permission, and another about fate and predestination,…… but I’ll leave those for another day!) In the meantime, we’ve got to trust, and be thankful for the blessings along our individual journeys → “Those who trust in the Lord are constantly receiving good from Him; for whatever happens to them, whether it seems to be advantageous or not advantageous, is nevertheless good, for it serves as a means contributing to their eternal happiness.” (Secrets of Heaven 8480.2)
I closed the session with a couple more reflective, inspirational songs, which you can find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dULHpzPg3ro Tim McGraw, Better Than I Used to Be
https://youtu.be/xOgAmQvOUM0?feature=shared Chris Tomlin, Thank You Lord
Best wishes on your journey! 🙏🏻