However, I hesitated because I've already written about the necessity of faithfulness in the small things. I've already given my thoughts about how important the nitty gritty details are. This may be what I am thinking about right now, but I already wrote about it in July, so shouldn't I give my readers a break? Shouldn't I write about something new in order to prove how intelligent and witty I am?
It struck me as funny, though, this impulsive instinct to try to write on something new. I supposed it's a result of being on the internet constantly, where new material is continuously being produced on the websites I visit. However, as I began to think more about this phenomenon, it occurred to me that that wasn't what I wanted to do at all. I don't want to constantly be producing new ideas, since it's the new ideas that tend to get you in trouble. Rather, safety lies in the old ideas.
As a culture, we have a genuine obsession with the new, the different, and the unique. But what about enjoying the familiar? Why must something be left behind when it becomes familiar? Indeed, it is often the most familiar of things that have the most profound depths for us to explore. For instance, what could possibly be more familiar than sunrises and sunsets? These two things happen every single day, one at the beginning and one at the end. Yet, we often still remark about the appearance and disappearance of the sun. The beauty of such a natural phenomenon regularly takes our breath away. If anything, we gain more appreciation for sunrises and sunsets as time goes on because they become reminders for us that there is something beyond the daily turmoil of life. Their consistency becomes a thread that ties together so many times in our lives. The repetition becomes a foretaste of the eternal consistency of heaven.
New things certainly have a beauty all their own; the enjoyment of a new hobby, the excitement of a new relationship, or the mystery of a new life. But the old things deserve their enjoyment as well. So, I don't want to give you a constant stream of new topics, dear reader. No, be sure to expect that often you will find me talking about the active life, work, family life, community, and a number of other things. They'll be the same ol' things, but perhaps with a different light on them. They are the things worth talking about, the things worth revisiting. They are the things in life that matter the most and that make life worth living. Indeed, this is the main reason the Faith is fundamentally a relationship with Christ, it is something that should be consistently lived out over one's life time. Yes, there are deathbed conversions, but those are extraordinary and are not meant to be the ordinary way of living. Rather, we are called to consistently live out and think about the same truths over and over again through our lives.
Of course, there is a little bit of irony in this post as I did end up writing about a totally new topic, namely that we shouldn't always be writing about new topics. But it's an important point to make: rich topics deserve revisiting. We shouldn't be seeking after the new just to become popular. Don't take my word for it, though. Listen to the Pope. I'll leave you with his words from his address on the 45th World Communications Day:
"The task of witnessing to the Gospel in the digital era calls for everyone to be particularly attentive to the aspects of that message which can challenge some of the ways of thinking typical of the web. First of all, we must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its “popularity” or from the amount of attention it receives. We must make it known in its integrity, instead of seeking to make it acceptable or diluting it. It must become daily nourishment and not a fleeting attraction. The truth of the Gospel is not something to be consumed or used superficially; rather it is a gift that calls for a free response."
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