“Trouble Teacher” Blog #107
What about today, is it really special?
Where can I go to get the specific teaching I need quick?
Why is it so important for me to find THIS teacher now?
Most Americans are pretty aware of cerebrating February 14th as Valentine’s Day. In so
many different lives, people are expressing their feelings of “love” in the only way they
know best. There are presents, and candy and cards to give. It’s so important to feel and
want and be loved. That is what life is all about. Yet this February 14th is so much bigger
and so much more important and definitely more “life changing” than Valentines Day.
Today is Ash Wednesday. This is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian Church.
People attend services of Penitence across the nation and around the world. They go to
church, and during the service, ashes are marked on ones forehead in the sign of a cross.
Thus begins a time for 40 days, until Lent ends, when a person decides to acknowledge
Lent with or without doing penitence.
“Penitence”. The action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong;
repentance.” Wow. I wonder if there are many of us that wake up in the morning with
this thought, “I feel sorrow and regret for how I acted, or treated, or spoke to someone”.
The busy-ness of our daily life somehow puts this thought on a back burner. Still, it’s
important for me to find out who the most important teacher of my life is now? Although
we are all teachers to one another at some point, the number one teacher who gets me
through all my pain and trouble is only one man. What in the world sets him apart by me
stating this? Discipline. Jesus Christ went into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights and
fasted. He did not eat food. Why did he do this? The main reason is because he knew
what was ahead of him and he wanted to be prepared! HE NEEDED DISCIPLINE.
How do I prepare myself for taking on each and every day? Discipline is a key ingredient
to teaching myself to bring balance to my life. Many people may think about “Fasting” …….
Think about fasting….. but never do it. Fasting is a start to disciplining my life and searching
internally for the teacher who is waiting. HE is paramount to showing me the things that
are important to focus on and what to discard and leave behind. I can see that when I
begin to become aware of the importance of “being in the world and NOT of the world”,
I begin.
So, I believe that along with Discipline, I must have humility. I must learn to humble myself.
What exactly is humility? HUMILITY. A MODEST OR LOW VIEW OF ONE’S OWN IMPORTANCE;
HUMBLENESS.
There is a fascinating priest named Father Walter Ciszek. He was raised by Polish parents
in Pennsylvania and actually shocked his parents because he went from being a “very
bad gang member” into wanting to become a priest and volunteering to go as a Jesuit
Priest missionary to Russia. After being there one year, he led an extraordinary life of
suffering all because he believed he needed to have “radical surrender” and that all
human beings are weak and need God. He never stopped preaching to all the people
around him. Under false pretenses, he was convicted and sent to the darkest of Russian
prisons, for five years of solitary confinement. He never stopped praying. When this time
was up, he was then sent to Siberia for fifteen more years! This was in hopes the Russians
could break Father Ciszek, but they never did. He had a force of spiritual steel around him.
Nothing could break him. Father Ciszek believed there must be “radical surrender to God”.
He believed all human beings are weak and all human beings need God. He finally was
released in 1955 and wrote a book:
“To Russia with Love” Father Walter Ciszek (a few excerpts from his book)
“If you are in a situation or a difficulty, you can make a U-turn, instead of putting the blame
on something outside or on someone else; look within yourself to see how you have
contributed to the problem, and then find a way to restore peace to the situation…”
“You see, only the humble man or woman can teach Christ, can give him and his love to
others, because a proud man or woman just can’t really have Christ. The proud person is
so filled with himself, that there is no room for Christ……”
“Am I willing to look inside myself for the trouble teacher?”
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