Every Event Could Use More Polar Bears

Christmas! I am greatly troubled that I cannot listen to any of my dozen or so Christmas stations on Pandora. Apparently 99% of websites are not available outside the US... But I'm still getting my Christmas music. Usually the rule is to start Christmas after Thanksgiving, but I don't really have as much of a sense of Thanksgiving, so I started early this year. I love Christmas music. Not the stuff with the not-so-awesome theology, but the stuff that would technically be called "holiday music." There is not one other genre that can be this sappy and yet still be cool. Although it's a little strange to hear "folks dressed up like eskimos" while walking to the center in shortsleeves... Winter may be a little behind, but I haven't come up with any gift ideas so I'm okay with that.

Yesterday I was praying with a friend about an event we might hold in the next couple weeks. After I got back to the house, I was browsing a music forum that I frequent, and something caught my attention. It was a discussion on prayer and discernment. I just want to throw out a thought that I found interesting.

"Personally, I am more comfortable with dice than I am trusting my feelings. My feelings have a vested interest, and thus can convince me that my desires are God's, rather than the other way around."

I think if we solely rely on what we feel God is telling us, we are in great danger of making our feelings the god itself. But I don't think this is intentional. Prayer is definitely sometimes used as a manipulative tool, but that's not what I'm referring to. If I have even the slightest preference about any given situation, my thoughts on it will be skewed. It is extremely easy to become convinced that what I want is what God wants ("I'm a Christian, isn't that always the case?"). We have been trying to decide about this event for about a week, and I have had the mindset of "If we keep praying about it then we'll know." Which I think is true. But how? Can we decide that if everyone simply thinks it's right then God wants us to do it? I'm not sure this would always be wrong; I think that God often speaks to us through our feelings, but I also have no doubt that our thoughts cannot always be trusted. Therefore we need to look elsewhere. In the past year, the most undeniable confirmation from God has come through my parents. Their reaction to circumstances or ideas, their assistance with problems or tasks, and their overall support has been the best indicator of God's will for me. I think the believers surrounding us should always be near the top of our list when we need discernment. If someone knows you well, and they know Christ well, then they certainly should be involved in your life. Not that when you have a problem, you should ask every Christian you know, but this needs to have more weight than it usually does. Some people might argue that we are then simply relying on someone else's feelings, and are therefore no better off. But I think admitting the unreliability of your own thoughts as a sinful person is allowing yourself to be more open to whatever the truth may be.

Well I Didn't Vote for Ya

I talked to a friend very briefly about politics and society the other day, the second one of which I find much more the enjoyable than the first other. It was nice though, because we realized how much we need to change before we can affect other people. Specifically, to become intimate with others' lives, instead of scratching the surface and running away at any risk of a deeper relationship. Of course there are close friends, family, etc., but we rarely extent our care beyond that. I think the main reason isn't because we don't have time or don't want to be burdened by someone else, but rather that we just don't care. I sometimes find it very difficult to be concerned with whether or not the person sitting across from me in the cafe has had trouble at work this week. And maybe we aren't called to tune in to everyone's personal news channel, but I definitely think we need to do it more. Especially since we're going to pretend to do it anyway.