Faith Venture

We had been on vacation to visit my wife’s two sisters in different parts of Florida. After a long week of travel and visiting, we stood in the queue for our flight from Orlando back home. Our plane arrived late from Denver pushing our departure time back 30 minutes or so.

The joys of traveling to Orlando (on business or vacation for older people) are the kids excited for the trip down and then tired and crabby for the trip home.

Beside us in queue was a father and two daughters aged about 4 and 6. They (probably all three) were tired. The girls were typically crabby and squabbling like tired siblings are want to be. One was lying on the floor. At another point, the second laid down.

An older man crowding behind them suddenly said, “Excuse me. Excuse me. That girl kicked my suitcase.”

Dad responded by reprimanding his daughter. I was proud of myself for not saying to that man, “You sound just like a 6-year-old yourself. Who cares if she bumped your suitcase?” But, I remained silent rather than provoke a greater outburst.

I did smile at the little girl and told her we’d be boarding before long, and we’d all get home.

It didn’t help as much as I would have liked, but it did calm things a bit.

Later that night before bed, I was reading from the latest translation of Rumi’s poetry:

Your laughter turns the world to paradise.

Rumi

That reminded me of some lines, less eloquent yet still meaningful, from the BeeGees:

Smile an everlasting smile
A smile can bring you near to me

BeeGees

Try a smile today. It works. Even when replying to something stupid you’ve seen on social media, smile as typing. Then delete. And smile at the thought of the entire farce.

Ryan Holiday wrote a couple of books and then found a lucrative niche writing about the Stoics. One of the leading Stoic writers of the first century was Seneca, whose thoughts so closely mirrored those of Paul that later Christian writers thought he was one of the flock. The Stoics (including Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictitus, and others) were favorite thinkers influencing the founding leaders of the American Revolution.

Holiday, writing in his Daily Stoic newsletter, points out that Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman leader Cato both kept to strict personal disciplines. They avoided the ease and comfort afforded to such prominent leaders in ancient Rome. However each held their brothers in great esteem even though they didn’t adhere to such discipline. Gandhi was another person who held to strict disciplines. Discussing his wife, though, he noted, “Kasturba takes tea in spite of the fact that she lives with me. She also takes coffee. I would even lovingly prepare it for her.”

I don’t want to be a critic, but an encourager. But I am an observer and am often disappointed. Vociferous Christians have turned off a majority of Americans through efforts to tell other people how they are wrong, or bad, or sinful. Their efforts to enforce their personal views through law further drive people away from the most important message of Jesus—that of love.

Let us encourage one another to “take care of the speck in our own eye rather than worrying about the log in others.” Developing some strong personal disciplines is not a bad idea, either.