This particular song consists of one character singing "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," over and over, quelling a tumult of disagreements, and slowly being joined by the rest of the cast as one person after another realizes the chaos resulting from their argument.
Partly because it's only one repeating line, it has been stuck in my head ever since. This afternoon, while I was enjoying my daily glut of video games, a thought struck me. What part of this is helping to prepare the way of the Lord?
I tried to push the thought away. It's ridiculous, after all. Why should I have to stop what I'm doing, just because song lyrics happen to get stuck in my head. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, not worth paying attention to. Except that I know it's not.
As I've mentioned before, I sort of have a problem with video games. This time, my problem is compounded by the fact that I just got a smartphone. Suddenly, there are all these highly accessible games, and I can play them as much as I want.
But if I know I have a problem, once I realize that I'm playing too much...again, I should just get off, right? Hypothetically, yes. But I find that I am somewhat good at justifying things, or else delaying until I get swept up in the game, and then I forget to get off. My mental conversation this afternoon went something like this:
What part of this is helping to prepare the way of the Lord?
Well, um, I guess it's not really, but...
And what do you think you should do about that?
Well, I guess I should get off, but I'm in the middle of a level. I'll get off when I'm done.
No you won't, and we both know it.
This time I will. Just let me finish.
No.
Too late. I'm done. :P Just one more level. I'll get off after that, I promise.
..... Are you going to do the right thing here, or are you going to keep deliberately coming up with excuses to do the wrong thing? Not morally ambivalent, mind you, wrong.
I hate it when the issue gets forced like that. I did end up making myself turn it off without the second level, but only really because I pointed it out to myself in such glaring terms. Which I suppose may mean that I need to point that out more often.
There's really nothing wrong with video games. It's the fact that I have other things that I really should be doing instead, and that I spend so much time playing them, that is the problem.
And it's not just video games, either. For other people, other things are just as much of a problem as video games can be for me. The human heart is incredibly quick to latch onto things.
Which brings me to my point: what is it that we are holding on to? I think there is something for everyone, something that is hindering us from "preparing the way of the Lord" in our own hearts. What is it, and are we ready to give it up to get Him?