After the passing of Mother Teresa I heard it reported that
she had written letters to her “superiors” about feeling like she had been
abandoned or at least lost her connection with God. I’m not aware of the whole story of Mother
Teresa but evidently she had some pretty spiritual experiences early in her
life that actually set the stage for the remainder of her life. It was reported, however, that as life went
on she lost that connection and didn’t really have an answer why.
I point this out because in my last post I talked of a young
person who had lost faith in their beliefs and had decided that they had tried
enough and had given up… I don’t know this persons exact experience and it is
easy for me or anybody else to call the shots from the sidelines, but I can’t
help but think in Mother Teresa had done the same thing and has just given up
as this person did what would the affect have had on the world?
There is no doubt she would have made different decisions
and it is very possible she would not have made the great impact she had if she
had simply given up. The world is a much
better place for the services she—and anybody else that helps people like she
did—provided.
In todays world we are so concerned with the immediacy of
what’s happening that we forget that sometimes the only path is the path of
patience. In Mother Teresa’s case she
remained patient (at least mostly in private) for the remainder of her life.
The parallels with religion and nutrition are striking. We (and when I say we I am really talking
about I—at least the way I’ve been over the years) have a tendancy to look for
the simple quick fix. Anytime something
is going to take a “long time” we scoff at the idea and then run for the
pills. The problem is a long time
generally means anything longer than a few days to a few weeks! When we are so used to being able to jump on
an airplane and be somewhere in almost the whole world in about 1 day or so our
concept of time and patience is really skewed.
When I traveled I fell victim to this mentality and saw many
others who had as well. A flight delay
would be announced—I’m sorry… but the flight is going to be delayed by 20-30
minutes. OH! OH! OH! The moans and
screams coming from the crowd at times were almost too much to bear. Health is no different… go to the Doctor and
get a pill and you should start to feel better within a day and at most a month
or so (if you are getting on mood altering medications to help with something
like depression).
When I first started to look into holistic cures I would try
something for a few weeks to a month and then just stop! It wasn’t worth it! I don’t notice ANY difference and don’t think
it is worth my time to change. When I began
this blog at the beginning of the year I was certain that I would be better
within 30-60 days! I began to see the
results right away and then nothing—everything stopped! Into my 5th month now of extremely
healthy living and I am finally thinking that it may take a while to get the
total relief I’m seeking.
Now this is where “faith” comes in. I believe that eating this way helps people
and I’ve talked to many people who swear that they saw results in 30 to 60 days
and others who have said that it took as long as 6 months to 1 year… so I know
it works for some. The question I’m
asking now is will this work for me? I
don’t know the answer to that and I don’t know that I’ve found the solution
that will work with a 100% guarantee, but I do believe I’m on my way… I’ve just
had to make a choice.
This choice is similar to the choice the person who lost
faith as well as Mother Teresa was faced with.
In both those cases the choice was to continue believing and “lie” to
yourself or stop believing and head down a completely different road… Mother
Teresa Chose one path and the other person chose a different one, so who do I
follow? In both cases they were looking
for peace but both chose to go after their own peace in their own way.
In the New Testament the Book of Luke talks about 2
disciples who were traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus and the resurrected
Christ appeared and walked with them, although they didn’t know who he
was. Christ heard them talking about him
and asked what they were talking about to which they asked if he was a stranger
to the land and didn’t know about what had happened (the Crucifixion). They told him they were sad because Jesus
died when they had trusted that he would be the redeemer of Israel.
Christ chastised them a little but they still didn’t know
who he was but they had come to a fork in the road and Christ was ready to
travel on… In a naïve wisdom they asked him to “Abide with us: for it is toward
evening, and the day is far spent.” Christ
followed them and visited and ate with them and then blessed and brake
bread. Their eyes were opened at that
moment and then he was gone…
This story was a great turning point for me on my journey of
health. Once they (the disciples) realized
who he was they talked about how they should have known it was him while they
were traveling. Little did they know in
the moment of sorrow that they actually were traveling with he whom they
sought… but all they could do was complain.
However; they did ask him to tarry with them, a choice that changed
their whole attitude. Had they not asked
him to tarry they likely would have traveled on not knowing how close they
really were to what they sought…
Do I choose to continue down a path that I’ve believed will
bring me the health I’ve been searching for (ask the Savior to abide with me)
or do I choose a different path and give up on my health quest and go a
different direction? I’ve concluded that
if I give up now it is likely that I would be back on this path at some point
in my life because it is where I seem to be drawn lately. But if I stick to the path then I believe I
will make it to a point where I can look back and realize that the healing I’ve
been hoping for the whole time is there… it’s just taking a little longer than
anticipated.
I wonder if the person in the blog who claimed to have lost
faith just never had it to begin with?
Did they fall victim to the time frame that “forever” was 1 month or 2
months? Isn’t having faith believing in
something you can’t prove is there but believe is there? I believe I will see the benefits I’m hoping
for now I need to give it time to prove it.
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