How to Become a Dragon Warrior

Last night I went to adoration and picked up a book  called, "Searching for and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart." It was then that I came to the realization that drinking a large vanilla iced coffee from Mcdonalds, before going to adoration, is a very bad idea. Being completely wired with Coffee, makes it very difficult to focus. And so, I had begun to ask God to help me to pray because I was... wired. At first all I could think about was the fact that I got locked into my prayer closet with my girlfriend and had to break the door down, and kinda chuckled and wondered if God really did lock me in a closet to teach me some sort of lesson.. or if that was just my bad luck. Oh--and just in case anyone wanted to know:

Sorry, back to the main point.The first section I read made a really awesome analogy of the soul as being a lake and if it had ripples in it, then it could not reflect the sky. Our soul reflects God when it is at peace. This video came into my mind when I pictured it. 

At times we become like Shifu and simply let that worry run its course. Master Oogway has a great word of advice for us, "Your mind is like this water my friend, when it is agitated it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle the answer becomes clear."   What we don't realize is that  worry, doubt, and anxiety  takes away the solution to our problems , just like how the ripples blinded Shifu from the Dragon scroll. If we put an end to worry in our life, we could finally see the p eace and grace that naturally comes to us if we place trust and confidence in God. 

God has always desired for the inner peace and building up of our souls.

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)"

But, there is something about fear, worry, or doubt that  produces a ripple in our souls that takes away our ability to hear God.  It diverts our attention away from God who is the only one that can bring peace to our hearts. In Old Testament physical manifestations were often signs of spiritual realities. 1 Kings19:11-13 is a perfect example of what takes place in our souls when we doubt:

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  (1 Kings 19:11-13)

These physical anomalies resemble the effects of the worry that plague us when we doubt God. In our minds our thoughts become what Elijah witnessed physically. They become mountains being torn apart and shattered, winds fiercely blowing, earthquakes, and fires ripping away at our peace that comes from trust in God. It is with trust in God that we can see most clearly, this is how we, "let go" of all other things and progressively find the solution to our problem. And so... that's right! It's Star Wars time!

I noticed in prayer that night, that my worry, doubt, or anxiety about the future was not what God wanted for me. (Side note: Yes, yes, an OBVIOUS conclusion for the audience, whatever, the enemy in a film is always more obvious to the audience then the protagonist) But in addition to this I realized that these vices blocked God from entering my life more fully.

Here is why, speaking very generally whenever someone is not at peace--- be it from worry, doubt, or anxiety--- it is because they feel something is lacking in their lives. The underlying assumption then is that once you get whatever it is that you are lacking, you will have inner peace. However, if we think this way about anything besides God, then we are seeking it as an end. In that sense, we desire to fulfill ourselves, the lack of peace that God Himself is meant to fulfill. Thus once we fill whatever arbitrary need we seek, we will once again feel disturbed and out of place because we did not fullfil our need with what we were supposed to fill it with, which is God. We try to fit a square into a circular hole, even though we laugh at kids for doing it all the time! (or I suppose that might just be me and my cruel sense of humor.) 

The devil will always try and distract us from hearing God's voice. He uses many "mountains, fires, winds, and earthquakes" to get our attention away from God. He uses only methods that slip under our radar... but if they aren't under our radar, they don't work as well. And so, I would like to share with you three things that have gotten under my radar, and have driven me further from God (hopefully for the last time): Worry, doubt, and anxiety. Hah not so under the radar now are you!? Ka-bam! Can you handle that? I know you are problably still wondering... But how do I become a dragon warrior...And so... Let me spell it out, with these vices no longer under the radar we finally become Dragon Warriors by focusing on the virtue of trust in God.