commit 949209263950810a8cc8bb018eb83ad8ee4801eb
parent 852eebf5a064179e9b305f61212eab32ef0db4b8
Author: Luke Willis <lukejw@loquat.dev>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2025 22:47:41 -0400
Wrote post about not being a doomer
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+`((title . "Don't be a doomer, Christian!") (date . "2025-09-16"));`
+Been a hot minute since my last post. I've been busy with college and two jobs,
+so I haven't been doing as much computer stuff. I wanted to share something that
+I have been thinking about / realizing recently, which was clarified by some
+counsel I received from my Bishop (Bishop Gerasim, a wonderful and holy man I
+had the pleasure of meeting) that helped shed light on previous discussions with
+my own spiritual father.
+
+I am in no position to teach - I am simply doing my best to paraphrase the
+Bishop's words and reflect on them. Read these with many grains of salt. My hope
+is that this will direct you to contemplation, further reading and prayer.
+
+1. We shouldn't have this idea that there are two worlds which we must switch
+between - the good and light world of the Church, and the evil and dark world
+outside of the Church. We operate as Christians in both. In a way, I realized
+that that idea of black and white is sort of a gnostic thing.
+
+2. You should not see your parents or your home as enemy territory, even if they
+disagree with or even persecute your beliefs. Your duty as a Christian is to be
+the best son possible - the type of son your parents can be proud of (not in the
+sense of pride, but in the sense of gratitude). By following the commandments
+and being the most hardworking, helpful and loving son - in essence, following
+the commandments to the best of your ability - you give them no justification
+for opposing you and guide them closer to the truth by way of your virtue. Don't
+grumble about those who disagree with you or ruminate on how wrong they are.
+(I remember his grace saying to do this "even if they were five-point
+Calvanists", which made us all chuckle). Love them.
+
+3. Confidence is not the same thing as pride. You must learn confidence.
+Confidence is to be able to say, "I am going to try my best to do this; I have
+prayed for God's assistance in this, and I trust in His guidance." Do not be
+afraid to fail. You have, in fact, never done this before. The man before his
+wedding is nervous because he has, in fact, never had this exact wedding before.
+You are approaching the golden years of your life - it is the best time to try
+and fail, the best time to grow and learn. You do not even own your own washing
+machine - you use your parents'.
+
+4. Take your life day by day. God has a plan for you. You have no idea what He
+has planned for you in the long term. Do not kid yourself and think that you
+know what is going to happen. You may desire to be a monk now, and may find
+yourself married later. We live in strange times - who knows where God will lead
+you? Take your life one day at a time, and do your best to learn and pray.
+
+The Bishop said something along these lines. The last one is the way my
+spiritual father put it when I asked him a similar question to what prompted #3
+from the Bishop. My own reflections are mixed in.
+
+My auxilary takeway from many of these meditations is this:
+
+Don't be a doomer! The world has a ton of problems, but just because of that you
+shouldn't be anxious. You are a Christian. You are called to follow the
+commandments everywhere and to be the light of God everywhere. Do not despair or
+get tangled in the world's problems. Focus on the light of Christ and you will
+be guided through it all. Look at the world through the lens of God and His
+will. Do not be anxious over that which is beyond your control. Do not lose your
+head over how everything is bad and you need to find the perfect solution, or
+whatever.
+
+> '"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
+> what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life
+> more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air,
+> for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
+> feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can
+> add one cubit to his stature? "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider
+> the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I
+> say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
+> these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and
+> tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of
+> little faith? "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or
+> 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these
+> things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all
+> these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
+> these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
+> tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own
+> trouble.'
+>
+> Matthew 6:25-34 (NKJV)
+
+Perhaps this is elementary. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is. I am rather
+spiritually childish most of the time. I am working on this with God's grace.
+Whoever you are reading this, may God bless you and have mercy on you. And, may
+he guide you to greater truth.
+
+Christ is in our midst!
+
+Luke
