COMFY COZY
Complacency is our common denominator. It doesn't need to be part of our learning curriculum. It comes without being asked and stays indefinitely. It suggests additional hardware and software to augment it's state of mind. Overstuffed chairs, soft socks, easy snacks, electronic stimulation, and the occasional stretch just to remind ourselves how cozy we really are. World events are at our fingertips. For the most part we are unshockable, trouble and tragedy are daily fare. We can stand hours of it without being involved. We have a false sense of security, built on earthly reassurances.
The danish philosopher Kierkegaard wrote a parable about a wild duck. Leaving my personal distaste for the author aside for a moment, the story of this duck is a wonderful illustration of how our soul declines from it's ideals and becomes satisfied with lower standards.
Our fabled duck is flying northward in the spring time with all his friends. During the flight he drops down into a quiet farm, where he enjoys some corn with the tame ducks. He stays for and hour, then for a day, then for a week and then for a month. Finally because he is so comfortable with easy pickings and the relative safety of the barnyard he stays all summer. And then one Autumn day when wild ducks begin their flight south, he hears his friends calling him out. His heart leaps with excitement, his passion is stirred and with a great effort and flapping of wings he rises over the barnyard to join with his former comrades. Alas, he cannot gain altitude. His comfy cozy lifestyle has left him heavier and less exercised, and he finally drops back into the yard. He comforts himself by saying that it is O.K. to live where he is. After all the food is great and plentiful and all the built in safety of the structure offers a sense of security. Of course, every spring his former friends are honking overhead, and his heart is stirred for a moment or two and then he settles back down. Finally after enough years, he isn't even bothered by their overhead pilgrimage.
This is a great illustration for how the human soul, can so easily abandon it's fine ideals and settle for low living. Just like our physical bodies, our souls atrophy, and are easily persuaded to stop striving for the goals marked out for us in the Epistles. Surrounded by constant distractions, coaxed into neutral by easy goals, we do the very thing that Paul warns us about. We stop listening to sound doctrine, instead to suit our own desires we gather around us a great number of teachers to say what our itching ears want to hear, and turn aside to myths. This is the foundation for not finishing well.
So, are you cozy and comfy? May it never be. Fight the good fight. Rest as you need it, but only for the purpose of gaining strength for the battle.
Complacency is our common denominator. It doesn't need to be part of our learning curriculum. It comes without being asked and stays indefinitely. It suggests additional hardware and software to augment it's state of mind. Overstuffed chairs, soft socks, easy snacks, electronic stimulation, and the occasional stretch just to remind ourselves how cozy we really are. World events are at our fingertips. For the most part we are unshockable, trouble and tragedy are daily fare. We can stand hours of it without being involved. We have a false sense of security, built on earthly reassurances.
The danish philosopher Kierkegaard wrote a parable about a wild duck. Leaving my personal distaste for the author aside for a moment, the story of this duck is a wonderful illustration of how our soul declines from it's ideals and becomes satisfied with lower standards.
Our fabled duck is flying northward in the spring time with all his friends. During the flight he drops down into a quiet farm, where he enjoys some corn with the tame ducks. He stays for and hour, then for a day, then for a week and then for a month. Finally because he is so comfortable with easy pickings and the relative safety of the barnyard he stays all summer. And then one Autumn day when wild ducks begin their flight south, he hears his friends calling him out. His heart leaps with excitement, his passion is stirred and with a great effort and flapping of wings he rises over the barnyard to join with his former comrades. Alas, he cannot gain altitude. His comfy cozy lifestyle has left him heavier and less exercised, and he finally drops back into the yard. He comforts himself by saying that it is O.K. to live where he is. After all the food is great and plentiful and all the built in safety of the structure offers a sense of security. Of course, every spring his former friends are honking overhead, and his heart is stirred for a moment or two and then he settles back down. Finally after enough years, he isn't even bothered by their overhead pilgrimage.
This is a great illustration for how the human soul, can so easily abandon it's fine ideals and settle for low living. Just like our physical bodies, our souls atrophy, and are easily persuaded to stop striving for the goals marked out for us in the Epistles. Surrounded by constant distractions, coaxed into neutral by easy goals, we do the very thing that Paul warns us about. We stop listening to sound doctrine, instead to suit our own desires we gather around us a great number of teachers to say what our itching ears want to hear, and turn aside to myths. This is the foundation for not finishing well.
So, are you cozy and comfy? May it never be. Fight the good fight. Rest as you need it, but only for the purpose of gaining strength for the battle.
posted by Terry L. Burr | 4:06 PM
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