Divine Nature: The Truth About Us

Two things tend to get us in trouble: arrogance, and abandonment.  For guys, it tends to be the first.  For ladies, the latter.  But even for guys, our arrogance is only skin deep.  We put on a show when there's a crowd, but when nobody is around... we succumb to abandonment.  Self abandonment is perhaps the most frequently used psychological weapon in the devil's armory.

Mo-(tiva)-tion

When I was but a lad, Mamma Sweet used to encourage me to hurry up by using the phrase, "come on!  Motate!".

As it happens, "motate" is not a proper word.  It exists in the urban dictionary nowadays, but not in any classical one.  I always took the meaning of "motate" to be of the same root as "motion" or "move".  And that seemed to be the same thinking Mamma Sweet had in mind, because only motion would appease her encouragement.

I never moved out of my own will back then.  I was compelled to move.  I was going to be late for church, or we were going to miss meeting dad for lunch, or I wasn't eating my cereal fast enough to catch the bus, etc.  In my "motating", I was only going through the motions.

Why People are Neat

So I've been told recently by kid sister that one of the reasons I might actually marry some lovely girl is because I "see why people are neat".

"Seeing why people are neat" isn't listed on my resume.  And to be frank, I'm not sure I understood it when she told me that.  I probably don't now - but I've been pondering it over the past few days.

Here's what I've come up with:

Working at Night

Some of my favorite moments in my life are when I discover things about myself through passive pondering.  For example, I discovered one night that I like watching "feel good" movies late at night - because when I do, usually I'm the only roommate who lasts through them.  So when they're done, I can ponder the message of the movie without being disrupted.

Through reflection, I've identified another thing I like to do:  work at night.