Quid est hoc ad aeternitatem?

It is a difficult thing to live in humility. What an obvious statement to make, I know. Yet, I am ever confronted with the reality that it is one thing to believe, by the light of faith, that greatness consists in being weak and it is quite another thing to actually be weak and be grateful for it. I know, because my daily life often seems meaningless and insignificant, and more often than I care to admit, the reality troubles me. The tangible results of each long and exhausting day are few...too few to be pleased and proud.

In her book, The Privilege of being a Woman, Alice von Hildebrand notes that,

"Our first parents' minds were darkened by sin, their wills were weakened, their judgment became distorted. The hierarchy of values being upset, male accomplishments became overvalued. Physical strength became glorified and weakness was looked down upon as a proof of inferiority...Hand in hand with the overestimation of strength and virility goes an overestimation of accomplishments... [and] we tend to overrate creativity."

What are the goals we set before ourselves? Being inundated with the secular media's understanding of greatness, it is nearly impossible to be satisfied with a life of mediocrity. We are constantly told that we should want to be known, we should want to be admired, we should want to be wealthy. Regular self-made success stories. Clearly not everyone can be beautiful, rich, and famous, and most of us have the sense to realize it. But the temptation persists for average folk like us, only on a smaller scale: "My full social calendar means I'm popular", "Having many readers on my blog means I'm smart and influential", "A nice car, a big house, excessive numbers of gadgets means I'm successful." All of this is rubbish, right? Quality, not quantity. Yet, if we look closely, we'll find these thoughts still creeping onto the edges of our minds.

It isn't that we shouldn't value temporal accomplishments at all, but they should simply be kept in their proper place. If true greatness exists, it has very little to do with those goods that the world so clearly admires - strength, physical beauty, intelligence, financial success, popularity, artistic style, eloquence, etc. Alice von Hildebrand suggests that rather than asking "Is he or she accomplished? Is he creative?" the question should always be, "What has he or she accomplished? What has been created? Does it reflect truth and beauty and thus give glory to God?" Ultimately, "What is the value of that accomplishment in light of eternity?"

In the light of eternity, our concerns should be, "Do my friends challenge me to stretch beyond my natural inclinations? Are my readers (few though they may be) changed for the better by my writing, and do they improve me, in turn? And even more importantly: Is my marriage healthy and stable? Are my children happy and steadily growing in maturity? Do I have peace of mind and soul? Am I fulfilling God's will for my life, God's will for today?"

This brings to mind Peter's recent post on manliness and the loss of it within our modern society. Of what, precisely, does "manliness" or "femininity" consist? Who are the living models of virtue that Christian men and women should admire, and why? Are all the truly Christian heroes and heroines only beheld by peering through lenses into the past or tucked into the pages of someone's imagination? Can these rare gems of character still be found in our midst, in our neighborhoods and churches, in our very families? Or, because true greatness is made perfect in weakness and obscurity, will these heroes never be recognized until we see by the light of eternity?