Living in the Way:

Practice, Practice, Practice Practice

Katherine Albin, M.A., L.P.C.C.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:8-9

I love these words from Paul. These are truly wonderful instructions for living. As I write this, I reflect upon the mid-high Sunday School lesson we had on this particular Sunday. We looked at how easily this world’s values can influence us: at school, at work, on television, the internet, music. While we are blessed in this present age to have such ready access to information and entertainment, there is a cost. We get too much: images and messages that also tell us what we should have, look like, be like, and think. These days it is so easy to be dissatisfied with one’s appearance, status, possessions, relationships; we can’t help but evaluate ourselves against all those images and messages that surround and infiltrate our very being.

And this can happen almost by accident. We turn on the television to watch a show or movie. Unless we’ve recorded it, we will be hit up by various commercials. Although I admit commercials are generally more entertaining than they used to be, they’re not usually what we’re tuning in for (exception: those famous Super Bowl commercials perhaps!). Yet commercials, we must admit, do influence us. And we must also admit that some of those shows and movies also influence us. Sometimes, though, they simply help us focus on something more interesting and desirable, for a while, than our own lives.

This in particular may not be so bad. We all need diversion from our routines and even our pain. But the problem emerges when all the images and messages that we constantly receive influence what we accept as normal, right, and true. Even the news media can be an instigator, often delivering only bias and sensationalism. What we come to accept can happen very gradually. In our mid-high Sunday School class, for example, we discussed how “normal” it has become for movies, shows, and music to have profanity, sexual explicitness, and violence. Of course, the teachers have more of a perspective on this: we can compare what things were like when we were sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders. As teachers, we do not want these young people to think that everything they see and hear these days is okay!

But we all need perspective, young and not-so-young alike. We need to have something worthy to compare with today’s images and messages. That is why I believe that having a forum to grow our faith is so very important. Though faith is a gift from God, it doesn’t grow naturally on its own. We must find a way to tend and practice it. As one of my Christian heroes, C. S. Lewis, writes:

… [M]ake sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious teachings and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And, as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away? (The Business of Heaven, Daily Readings (1984), from The Inspirational Writings of C. S. Lewis (First Inspirational Press Edition, 1994, p. 337)

I know that sometimes even being part of a church community, with its abundance of activity and makeup of fallible human beings, is not always a picnic. But I believe if we just keep showing up at practice in God’s place, the images and messages we receive here will far outweigh anything this world has to offer. It’s amazing how much better the view is!

Dear Father, thank you for the peace that comes only from focusing where You shine Your light.