More Unseriousness

On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope.

via Audiences experience Avatar blues – CNN.com.

So, now people are depressed and suicidal because the beauty and wonder of Pandora is not real.  What’s next, being upset because you’ll never spin webs like Spiderman?

Seriously, though, this underlines the fact that we are not built for this world.  We were created for more, for something far greater.  And we will find something to try and fill that void.  For these folks, an impossible fantasy is their void-filler.  Others turn to utopian ideals, and other, more pragmatic folks, turn to sensual pleasure.  But whatever your kick, you will look for something else, something greater.

Perhaps this is because we are fallen creatures.  Within us is an innate realization that we were made for more than this fallen world.  But we don’t want to accept the simplest conclusion:  we were made for God.  You see, if I accept this conclusion it means I am no longer master of my domain.  It means I am servant, creature and beholden to the God who made me.  It means He calls the shots, not I.  It means I must live according to His plan.

For many this is simply unthinkable, and so they reject the concept of God.  They turn, then, to the Creation and fellow creatures to try and find what they are looking for.  For me, I turn to God.  I figure if I was created by Him and for Him, then I can never realize the fulness of all that I was created for apart from Him.  Thus, satisfaction, peace, joy and all those desires of my heart can only be finally and fully found in Him.

So, why would I trade lesser pleasures in the Creation when I am offered the superior pleasures from the Creator?

“my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord,” Jeremiah 31:14 (ESV)

A Very Merry Christmas

A benefit to parents living in Orlando is regular trips to Disney World.  So, after spending Thanksgiving in Orlando, my wife and I carted our three children off to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom.  With much anticipation our brood nearly came undone as we crossed the Seven-Seas Lagoon on a Ferry bound for fun and frivolity.

My wife had planned this evening for months.  She was as tightly wound as any of the children, and her head overflowed with great expectations of wonderful family memories.  Then an interesting thing occurred.  To a person, we were disappointed.  The event completely failed to live up to our hopes and dreams.  As we left the park, some hours later, we left feeling like we’d been robbed.

What a wonderful illustration to prepare us for Christmas.

Each one of us longs for joy, peace, hope and satisfaction.  We desire to be filled up and completed, so that we long for nothing.  And we try to find those qualities in so many places.  Gifts, food, family, celebration and fond memories are just some ways we seek to satisfy our souls at Christmas.  Yet, in each case we are left wanting.  Every celebration ends, every gift wears out and even memories fade.  We are left still needing something that can satisfy, someone who can delivery joy, peace and hope.

At Christmas we celebrate the only One who can deliver.  In Christ all the promises of God are answered.  In Christ we are satisfied.  As I left Orlando, I made it my prayer that I would seek my satisfaction only in Christ, and that I might find it there.  This advent, may Christ be your satisfaction too.