Plantinga

When we were in class on Friday, we were asked to find two or three important things. One thing I found was "Things we long for, we cannot have". Since I am in economics, I immediately thought of the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want". In economics we call it the Jager Complex. We want so much, and are rarely ever pleased with what we have. On page 5, Lewis says we are far too easily pleased with worldly things, and we should take advantage of the infinite joy that the Lord offers us. That has really stuck with me through the past few days. I have been having some struggles lately and I guess I would like to focus on what Lewis said. That has stuck with me, and I would consider it an important point to me personally. The second thing that was important to me was the section on "Longing is an Ingredient of Hope". Longing is extensive hope. At first, I would have described longing as a deep wanting and hope as not as deep of a longing, with more of a chance to happen. I am not sure that is a correct definition but that is what I first thought of when I read this section. Hope is healthy. We are supposed to hope for things and be grateful when they happen. There is a lot I hope for in life, and that begins with a longing. The final main point that I found was "As Christians we should hope for Shalom". We need to hope for peace. Peace with ourselves, peace with God, peace in the world. In my notes I wrote "It is not provincial to hope only for ourselves." I don't remember if that was a quote from someone in class, or if it is in the book, but I agree with it. If we think only about ourselves, we forget how important community and friendship is. For me, I couldn't live without my friends. Things that are important to them, I hope they get. And I know they do the same for me.