What are you looking at?

What kind of things do you look at in a day?

A computer screen?
A newspaper article?
A Facebook account?
A book?
A TV screen?
A phone screen?
Another person's eyes?

It's amazing how many things a person can look at in a day! What is even more amazing is that which we often forget to look at--OURSELVES.

What do I mean?

We can so easily become infatuated with the world outside of us, the material things around us. But how often do we simply close our eyes? Simply close our eyes and find out what is going on within our own hearts? How much MORE FULFILLMENT would we find in the things around us if we knew how much they meant to us? If we knew why we desired them?

Today, I challenge each of us (myself included) to look within ourselves and encounter the God who created us, He who gives meaning not only to those things around us but to our own hearts and our own lives. 

Be not afraid to close your eyes in order to truly see.

Are you Siri-ous?

My mom is awesome and she got me an iPhone 4S. So I went ahead and I asked Siri (The new artificial intelligence engine) one of life's most important questions. "Siri, what is the meaning of life?"

She replied, "Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."

When we think about it, most of us would nod and say, "That's pretty good."

But I say, "Are you Siri-ous?"

If we were to ask this same question to a church authority he would give us this answer, "To know, love, and serve God so that we may be happy with him in this life and the life to come."

Though it would be nice to do all things Siri suggested, our salvation depends on our relationship with God. Perhaps a small challenge for today is to interact with God more than you interact with your cell phone.

Extra:
Some other responses Siri gives to the meaning of life:
"A movie."
"42."
"All evidence to date suggests its chocolate."
"I give up"
"I don't know, but I think there's an App for that."
"Life: The condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death."
"Life: a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings. I guess that includes me."
"I can't answer that now, but give me some time to write a very long play in which nothing happens."
"That's easy... it's a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of life or existence in general."
"To think about questions like this."