Tag Archives: Montana

Ep91 Encore: Commitments, Happiness, Love and Having Kids

April 15, 2023UncategorizedAspirations, Butch Otter, Canada, Catholic, Christ, Commitment, Feelings, God, Hannah Arendt, Happiness, Howard Stern, Lauren Miller, Montana, Religion, sacrifice, Seth Rogen, Shackleton Expedition, The Biblewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:31 — 27.0MB)

Reacting to why actor Seth Rogen says he and his wife don’t want kids, Father Len explains the relationship between making commitments, happiness, love, and having kids.

Support Wrestling with God Productions here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

“It’s not an easy haul having kids. You can’t be narcissistic. You have to give yourself over to parenting. Kids have got to be the priority.” – Howard Stern
God asks of us that our lives be life-giving.
Living life for yourself, free from commitments, is an immature definition of happiness.
Commitments lead to greater happiness. Lack of commitments lead to greater unhappiness.
You’ll never find yourself through your feelings and aspirations. What defines you is your commitments.
“Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocations.”-Hannah Arendt
Being unable to settle on something means not being settled ever.
People willing to commit to marriage and having children almost always test out happier than those who don’t.
The world tells us self-fulfillment comes from being free of commitments. Truth says fulfillment comes after commitments.
People who avoid commitments and constantly pursue pleasure in pursuit of an easy life tend to end up bitter and unhappy.
Christ challenges us to not to choose the easy way, to make a sacrifice and give ourselves away.
Life is not supposed to be easy, but rather a great adventure.
Pursuing pleasure as happiness always ends up in unhappiness.
Each year since 1972, there has been a gradual decline in people’s overall happiness in the United States. This despite the average person spending 22% more on eating out and entertainment, living in homes that have doubled in size, having huge screen TVs, access to the Internet, and social media.
The moral question is not whether you should or should not have kids. The moral question is why you would not want to have children.
Religion challenges us to look at everything in life and decide what kind of life we want to have.
Once you fall in love, you can’t help but want to give yourself away. That’s what real love feels like.
God’s perpetual command is to make an offering of our lives, to give ourselves away.
Those who don’t know the power of commitment are yet to know what love is.
God is a trickster who tricks people into falling in love and willing to sacrifice everything for those they love.

We welcome your questions and comments:

Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738

Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions

Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/

Ep68 Commitments, Happiness, Love and Having Kids

August 30, 2021UncategorizedAspirations, Butch Otter, Canada, Catholic, Christ, Commitment, Feelings, God, Hannah Arendt, Happiness, Howard Stern, Lauren Miller, Montana, Religion, sacrifice, Seth Rogen, Shackleton Expedition, The Biblewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:22 — 26.0MB)

Reacting to why actor Seth Rogen says he and his wife don’t want kids, Father Len explains the relationship between making commitments, happiness, love, and having kids.

Support Wrestling with God Productions here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

“It’s not an easy haul having kids. You can’t be narcissistic. You have to give yourself over to parenting. Kids have got to be the priority.” – Howard Stern
God asks of us that our lives be life-giving.
Living life for yourself, free from commitments, is an immature definition of happiness.
Commitments lead to greater happiness. Lack of commitments lead to greater unhappiness.
You’ll never find yourself through your feelings and aspirations. What defines you is your commitments.
“Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocations.”-Hannah Arendt
Being unable to settle on something means not being settled ever.
People willing to commit to marriage and having children almost always test out happier than those who don’t.
The world tells us self-fulfillment comes from being free of commitments. Truth says fulfillment comes after commitments.
People who avoid commitments and constantly pursue pleasure in pursuit of an easy life tend to end up bitter and unhappy.
Christ challenges us to not to choose the easy way, to make a sacrifice and give ourselves away.
Life is not supposed to be easy, but rather a great adventure.
Pursuing pleasure as happiness always ends up in unhappiness.
Each year since 1972, there has been a gradual decline in people’s overall happiness in the United States. This despite the average person spending 22% more on eating out and entertainment, living in homes that have doubled in size, having huge screen TVs, access to the Internet, and social media.
The moral question is not whether you should or should not have kids. The moral question is why you would not want to have children.
Religion challenges us to look at everything in life and decide what kind of life we want to have.
Once you fall in love, you can’t help but want to give yourself away. That’s what real love feels like.
God’s perpetual command is to make an offering of our lives, to give ourselves away.
Those who don’t know the power of commitment are yet to know what love is.
God is a trickster who tricks people into falling in love and willing to sacrifice everything for those they love.

We welcome your questions and comments:

Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738

Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions

Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/

Ep45 Bible Symbols Revealed and Explained-Part 1 Water

January 14, 2021UncategorizedBible Symbols, Book of Exodus, Book of Ezekiel, Catholic Church, Christ, Consciousness, Garden of Eden, God, Holy Water, Israel, Jews, Liminal Change, Montana, Moses, Red Sea, River Jordanwrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:43 — 14.4MB)

Father Len reveals what water symbolizes and why it shows up so often in the Bible.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

The Bible contains many symbols that God repeats over and over again.
The symbols help us understand what it means to be a human being.
Many symbols in the Bible end up becoming part of the way Christians worship.
In the Bible, water always symbolizes change, a change in consciousness as we are becoming who we’re meant to be.
There’s always some sort of death associated with each change as we give up something of our old selves in the process.
Father Len explains what Catholic Christian worship rituals involving water symbolize.

Ep33 The Relationship between Grit and Success

October 23, 2020UncategorizedAdm. James Stockdale, Angela Duckworth, Catholic Church, COVID-19, Finland, Fortitude, God, Grit, Holy Spirit, John Lewis, John McCain, Montana, Pandemic, Perseverance, Religion, Scott Barry Kaufman, Timothy Eganwrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:27 — 19.6MB)

Father Len explores how grit helps us get through difficult times and succeed in life.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Father Len explains why he is grateful for the COVID 19 pandemic.
Father Len explains how the pandemic helps reveal the existence of God and why God allows suffering in the world.
Father Len introduces the spiritual virtue of grit and illustrates how and why it helps us mature as human beings and succeed in life.
Father Len explains the dangers of living life as a “perfect fragile.”
Father Len explodes the myth of “talent” as the primary predictor of success in life.
Grit in the religious world is fortitude. It’s one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Grit is learned and earned through sacrifice, pain, and a little bit of suffering.
“Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth
Life is sacrifice.
Father Len offers concrete ways to increase grit and determination.
Father Len shares the moving story of Adm. James Stockdale and how grit helped him and his fellow prisoners survive years in a Vietnam War concentration camp.
“The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero” by Timothy Egan
“Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined” by Scott Barry Kaufman

Ep25 Tour of Hell

August 28, 2020UncategorizedBook of Corinthians, Book of Malachi, Book of Revelation, Catholic Church, CS Lewis, God, Gospel of Matthew, Heaven, Hell, Jesus, Love, Montana, Purgatory, Rich Man and Lazarus, St Paul, The Bible, Universalismwrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:27 — 23.3MB)

Father Len takes us on a tour of hell exploring its origin and history providing glimpses of heaven along the way.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Hell can be hot and cold.
Hell is complete separation from God.
Heaven is complete union with God.
God is the source of life, love, community, justice, and compassion.
Hell is being separated from life, love, and community.
God offers life and love to all people as a free gift, but that doesn’t mean all people accept the gift.
Hell is often associated with fire, but in the Bible it is also depicted as a cold and lonely place.
The image of fire is also connected to heaven in the Bible.
Could it be that the fire of heaven and hell is the same, the fire of God’s love?
Life is a matter of preparing to live in the fire of God’s love or forever rejecting it.
If you live your life with hatred and selfishness, maybe pure love is something that you can’t stand.
People can create their own hell right here on earth. It’s not just an imaginary place where we might end up.
You separate yourself from God when you fail to live a life of love.
God wants everybody united in heaven, but that doesn’t mean everybody will be in heaven.
“The gates of hell are locked from the inside” – CS Lewis
Hell is something we create by our own choices, not something created by God.
God permits those who reject community, justice, compassion, and love, which is God, to live in the hell they create.
The images of heaven and hell help point our lives in the right direction.
Hell is a choice of selfishness and cruelty over love.
The gates of heaven are always open for those who love.