Occupy Wall Street

To begin, I should comment that this post technically isn't about Occupy Wall Street.  However, Occupy Wall Street did inspire this post, and therefor the title isn't completely misleading.  Now, regarding Occupy Wall Street, I have to admit that I'm not as up to date on it as I could be.  I've looked into it a bit, and whenever it's talked about on the radio I listen closely, but I'm not incredibly knowledgeable about it.  From what I've seen, though, it seems to me that the root of the protest is people unhappy with how the wealthy keep getting wealthier and the poor continue to get poorer, as well as being angry about not being able to get a job.  Now, both of those claims are very interesting in their own right, and are things that Sandra and I have been discussing quite a bit lately.  We've come to some conclusions, but I'll save those for a later post (every time I come up with an idea to solve the economic crisis, Sandra points out why it won't work...)  One definitive conclusion I have come to, however, is that we live in a country of entitlement.  I've heard it said that you have to choose which garden you're going to tend in your life, that garden of what you have, or that garden of what you don't have (I think I really screwed this quote up, but hopefully the meaning of it is clear).  I think that in this country we do a lot of tending of the garden of what we don't have.  See, I spent 2 years of my life living in Peru and Bolivia.  While there, I gained a much greater appreciation for our country.  I gained an appreciation for having paved roads, for having clean drinking water, for having policemen you can trust, and other things.  Now, perhaps the people attending the occupy movements across the country have taken the time to count the blessings that they have from living in this country, but I really wonder if they've done that recently.  There are so many things we take for granted every day, and the problem with taking things for granted and not appreciating what you have is you develop a sense of entitlement, which seems to be where this country has gone.  We as a country seem to think that we deserve to have top of the line health care, a nice new car, a smartphone, etc.  The truth is, though, that we really don't "deserve" anything.  There is a scripture I really like which says, "And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you."  The speaker in this scripture goes on to comment that even the air we breathe is a gift from our Creator.  To think that we really have a "right" to anything is somewhat presumptuous.  Rather, we should wake up every day and just be grateful that we're even alive.  Indeed, in the Old Testament, in the Book of Job, it talks about "the morning stars [singing] together, and all the sons of God shout[ing] for joy."  The way I've head this particular scripture interpreted is that such was the case when we found out that we were going to have a chance to come to earth.
Now, I've done a lot of finger pointing thus far, but I will be the first to point out that I am just as guilty as those people sleeping in Zuccotti Park, and perhaps more so.  I honestly don't remember when the last time was that I really stopped and thought about all that I have.  Also, I want to mention that I'm also not suggesting that we should sit idly by when we are unhappy with political conditions or the state of the economy.  What I am saying is that before we start blaming others for things and such, let's remember just what amazing things we've been given, with one of the greatest being the chance to be here on earth, and an even greater gift, in my opinion, being the chance we have on this earth to return to live with our Heavenly Father, which is a gift that I believe was provided by Jesus Christ.

What OU's loss taught me about life

I never was really into watching football when I was younger.  I played football for many years, including through high school.  However, I never really had a team to follow and never had much of a desire to watch it.  But all that changed when we moved to Norman, Oklahoma.  Being in such an atmosphere as is found here makes it difficult not to get into Sooner football.  Consequently, we've been following the team fairly closely, and have gotten really into it.  All this made last night's loss to Texas Tech all the more heartbreaking.  As I was watching OU blow series after series, I felt sick to my stomach (literally), and Sandra just left the room, most likely to avoid doing something drastic like throwing the TV out the window.  As the loss began to look somewhat inevitable, I started thinking; I needed a way to make myself care less, so the loss didn't matter as much.  As I started thinking, I realized that the crux of the matter is the danger in putting my trust in fallible things.  I will explain below.

As I mentioned, I have devoted a good deal of myself to Sooner football this year (although, I might add, I have devoted FAR less than many).  I have devoted considerable time to watching the games, to discussing them with others, etc.  Part of the reason for this is that going to the pregame stuff and talking about the team and all that is fun.  However, another reason for this (and the reason that I felt sick last night and couldn't fall asleep for awhile afterwards) was that I've trusted in the team.  I've trusted that they'd win every game and add another National Championship to their collection.  However, when it looked more and more likely that they were going to lose, my trust was shattered. 

As I've thought about this, I have realized how dangerous it is to trust in things that can fail--which, unfortunately, are the things in which it's easiest to trust.  One example of this is trusting in a career. Right now I'm in grad school, and I trust that my study of the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology will provide my family with the things we need to have a comfortable life.  But if I put all my trust in that, what will I do if the markets change and the need for my job is phased out, or if I get hurt in some way that makes me unable to do the job (i.e. some kind of traumatic brain injury)?  Then where am I?  Or what if I've put a good proportion of my trust in some recreational pursuit.  For example, suppose that none of the aforementioned things happen and after I get my PhD I am able to get a good job. Then, suppose I decide that it'd be fun to buy a boat, or snowmobiles, or anything like that, and I put all my spare time and energy into those (since I'm trusting that they'll bring me joy).  And then supposing that I (or worse, someone in my family) gets hurt on them, then what?  All that trust I placed in them to bring me joy is gone. 

Now, having said all of this, a caveat is needed.  I don't see anything wrong with following a football team or pursuing recreational endeavors.  Indeed, there are many wonderful things that can come from both.  What I am saying is that last night I realized that if I'm not careful, my natural tendency will pull me towards trusting in fallible things.  It seems to me that human nature makes us want to put trust in things that will fail.  What isn't human nature, at least for me, is to put my trust in God.  It is a lot easier to trust in a football team that most of the sports commentators highly regard, and that hundreds of thousands of people around me glorify weekly than it is to put my trust in Someone who I can't see.  Having said that, there is a quote that comforts me regarding this subject that I read in a dictionary of biblical terms.  It says, "The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation. (emphasis added).  It is comforting to know that we can put all of our trust in Christ and never worry about Him letting us down.  However, some of these earthly things in which we can trust never will let us down.  For example, perhaps Alabama's fans will never have their trust in their team shattered this year.  And perhaps there are businessmen who devote every ounce of their energy to their career and never face financial ruin, and instead enjoy living the life of luxury.  However, I shudder to think of how I'd feel if I were that businessman, and after dying at a ripe old age I realized that while trusting in my career had brought me success for many years, that trust had left me with nothing for the eternity to follow.

But, perhaps there is no life after death.  Many don't think there is one.  Perhaps there is a life after death, but it doesn't matter how we live, we will be happy no matter what.  Many think that as well.  However, I believe that there is a life after death, and that this life is the time to prepare for that life after death, and I do not want to get to the other side and realize that what I had trusted really didn't hold up in the end. 

Now, having said all this, a substantial disclaimer is needed.  When I say that I should put my trust in the Lord I am in no way saying that if I just believe in Him and sit around reading my scriptures I will be fine.  That is contrary to everything I believe.  Rather, I need to live my life (i.e. continue pursuing my PhD, nurturing my relationship with my family through positive recreational activities, etc) and put everything I've got into doing those things.  However, my pursuit of a career should not be because I trust in money.  Rather, my pursuit of a career should be because the Lord expects us to provide for ourselves.  And as I work to do that, I can trust that He will help me.  Trusting in Him also means trusting that if I do what He asks me to do (i.e. keep the Sabbath day holy, go to church, make time for study of the scriptures), despite the fact that it may seem that there is not time to do those things in addition to my studies, that He will bless me and enable me to provide for my family.

To conclude, it would have been nice if OU had won last night.  However, in a way I'm glad they didn't, because I feel that their loss caused me to reflect on life and realize some valuable things.  Having said that, though, I really hope LSU and Alabama both accrue some losses in the weeks to come, and that OU wins at Bedlam (in addition to their other games) and still gets a shot at the National Championship.  Although, I don't think that's going to happen...