Part 3, Chapter 9
It is so frustrating, I hate when it happens. There I am trying to watch a movie I have received from Netflix and it starts to skip, or it ceases to play. I would just get upset and take it out. Than I would put it back in again and it doesn’t fix the issue. Sometimes I would repeat this over and over again, and getting more and more upset. This sure didn’t fix the issue. See the DVD had small scratches on it and some fingerprints that were making it skip. And my simple solution wasn’t working. What the DVD needed was some tender loving care. Instead I kept doing the same thing, over and over, and over again and expecting a different result. The result was that I was just getting more upset and I wasn’t able to watch the movie. I was so very agitated and had some choice words to say.
What seemed to fix the issue was taking it out and put some liquid soap on it and gently washing it; then gently drying it with a cloth. When doing this it allowed the DVD to play and stopped the skipping and I was much more at peace. It didn’t take long, but it allowed me to be at peace. And in the end, it allowed me to be calm and I could see the end of the movie much, much sooner.
This same principle can be applied to our spiritual lives. So often in our spiritual lives we are so, so hard on ourselves. We can beat ourselves up for small faults. When there is a glaring fault that we have. And even a glaring fault should be dealt with very, very gently. Rather, “What we want is a quiet, steady, firm displeasure at our own faults” (Introduction to Devout Life, 93). Notice the world quiet. We need to be gentle to ourselves, and treat ourselves this same way. “One important direction in which to exercise gentleness, is with respect to ourselves, never growing irritated with one’s self or one’s imperfections” (Introduction to Devout Life, 93). St. Francis De Sales gives his best advice when he says, “What we want is a quiet, steady, firm displeasure at our own faults” (Introduction to Devout Life, 93). What else can I say, be patient with our faults and be gentle; God will help us to live the devout life.