Celebration

We have just completed our Pascha celebration, but really the celebration is just beginning.  For the next six weeks, the Antiochian Orthodox Church refrains from fasting.  My family, in turn, has chosen social, celebratory meals, which we will enjoy over the next several weeks.  This is simply something we have fabricated to make Pascha time special and memorable.  I'm sure there are many other possible manifestations of paschal celebration.  What do you do?  If nothing, I would urge you put together, something special to you and/or your family.
Pascha is, bar none, the most important day in all of history.

Pascha

Christ is risen!  It is, bar none, the most important day in history.  Christ has risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tomb, bestowing life!

The voices

The voices to which we have listened during our lives will be the same voices to which we listen in eternity.  This means that the call and pull of demonic influence will lead us into hell, just as they lead us into sin in the here and now.
One would think that the glory and beauty of eternal life would greatly outweigh the darkness of hell.  This will only be true in eternity if it is true now.  What we find appealing and enticing in this life, will be appealing in eternity.
Do we love God?

The world

We need to start really considering and taking seriously the idea of having the world but losing our souls.  The idea of loving God or mammon.  Living in a post Protestant America has made it very easy to be a moderate Christian.  Maybe moderate is too strong a word.

Killing in the name of...

I just finished reading a news article about how, at the current rates, Islam will out grow Christianity by 2070.  On the legitimacy of such predictions, I don't know, but what I do know is that many people have seriously wrong ideas about the role of religion in the history of war.
Many of the reader comments regarding this news article lay blame upon organized religion for many of the wars.  This mentality can be blamed on the Protestant worldview.  Protestantism began, in a practical sense with the great schism in 1054.  With the Protestant mindset came the idea that the individual can define Holy Scripture.  That very concept has been plaguing the world since.  And that very concept has led to innumerable wars, division and grief. 
The sad thing about all this (not that war and death is not sad) is that the modern American pretty much defines Christianity by the Protestant worldview.  And this has led to the need for the historic church to articulate itself as Christian but not Protestant.  IT is too bad that Christianity cannot simply be defined as one who practically follows Christ.
When people denigrate the Christian faith because of the hatred and violence that has been propagated by many in the name of Christ, they are making a massive logical error.  Claiming to be a Christian does not make one a Christian.  Much of what is done in the name of Christ is exactly contrary to what Jesus taught.
People that reject Christianity because of the errors or faults of those that claim to be Christian, are mistaken.  Read the Bible and see what the Orthodox church has to say about the Christian life and then decide what to think about Christianity.  Anything else is simply not honest.

Spending time

I've been pondering the spending of time, as of late.  Time, like money, is limited. It only makes sense to be aware of this fact and use the limited amount of time to our best advantage.  To make that decision, one must know what IS to one's advantage.
Sometimes I hear from my children that they are bored or that there is nothing to do and I have been wondering what is the best response.  I never had this trouble as a child/teen because I was a musician and spent a lot of time practicing.  But what really is the best way for a child to do spend their time? 
On one hand, I can see the wisdom of teaching a child to work hard.  But on the other hand, I want my children to enjoy their time at home and not see life a drudgery.  One thing that I am afraid of is allowing a child to make a "time use" decision on their own, when they don't have the wisdom to do so well. 
I have some ideas, but I really don't know what is the best answer.  Sports, music, hobbies, volunteer work, time with friends, and time with family are some options.  I suppose every family is different, but there are some obvious wrong answers to this question.  I'm thinking that tv and video games are not good choices. 
Any thoughts?

Nice?

This question has bothered me for quite some time and I'm not even sure if it's legitimate or reasonable, or even sane.  But after quite some time, I need to ask it.
"Why are people nice?"  We all know people like this.  They smile all the time.  They greet you warmly.  They always seem cheerful.  They never fail to say hello.  What is going on here?  Are they so friendly because they like to be that way?  Are they friendly because they have been taught to be so?  Are they friendly because they know they are supposed to be?  Do they do it because it makes THEM feel good?  Do they do so because it makes others feel good?
I suppose that the answer could be any of these or a combination of these or something else.  But, to me, it's a ponderous situation, especially since we are told that people tend to be self centered.  Maybe it's cynical to even ask the question or suspect ulterior motives but the question is still there.