by Brandon Jubar

Beware the Opposites

This is going to be short.

Of course, the last time I started an email with that phrase, I cranked out about a hundred lines of text. It's as though, in trying to be brief, exactly the opposite occurs. I try to keep it short and sweet, but end up babbling on incessantly.

How often does that seem to happen in our daily lives, though? We try to do such-and-such, and the opposite occurs. We try to be nice to someone, but they get offended. We try to help out, but end up causing more work. We try to pray, but end up daydreaming. We... whoa... where'd that last one come from?

Hmmm. Prayer. Now you may be wondering why I would say that daydreaming is the opposite of prayer. (But even if you aren't, I'm going to tell you anyway. :-)

You see prayer is about communicating with God. It is a way for us to open ourselves -- body, mind, and soul -- to our Savior. And in so doing, we hope to become closer to Christ.

Daydreaming, on the other hand, is not communicating with anyone other than oneself. It is a way to block out the world, hide from reality, and close one's mind. Daydreaming does not tend to bring one closer to anyone... not even the Lord.

That being said, daydreaming in moderation is fine. Depending upon what you are daydreaming about, you may find yourself generating wonderful, creative ideas with which to solve a few of life's problems.

Just be careful that the opposite doesn't occur. And if you think you may be spending too much time daydreaming, then force yourself to do the reverse. Stop. Refocus. And pray.

I told you it would be short! ;-)

Peace,
~Brandon

Sound off! Tell me what you think!
bjubar@ParishWebmaster.com

Copyright 2002 by Brandon Jubar
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