¡Puf!

Armodoxy for Today: Phfffft

A 1960s movie, with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holiday had the title “Phffft” which had everyone turning the pages of their dictionaries, looking for a meaning in that pre-Google age. Phffft is an onomatopoeic interjection representing a sudden cessation, disappearance, or an ending to something. It’s meant to simulate the sound of something disappearing in a puff of smoke. Phffft: It’s gone!

Letting go, for many people, is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do. Letting go means an end has come to a relationship and continuing life when that relationship is no longer an option. We are emotional creatures and continuity, as the word relationship implies, gives us stability. Letting go threatens that stability and therefore is often mixed with painful feelings.

Curiosamente, terminamos nuestras oraciones con una declaración que proclama que hemos dejado ir. La palabra “Amén” es nuestra resignación ante el hecho de que hemos entregado nuestras preocupaciones a Dios. Amén es una afirmación de nuestra confianza, nuestra esperanza y nuestra fe en Dios. Terminamos cada oración diciendo: “Así sea” o “Que así sea”. Amén. Es la declaración definitiva de dejar ir. Renunciamos al control.

Letting go is essential, particularly in this age of information. Being bombarded day in and day out with news, it is easy to become distraught and lose hope. In fact, most of the news items we are given fill us with information and not much more. And so, it becomes exceedingly important, for us to admit that certain events and issues are beyond our immediate control. Turning to Armodoxy – you find that relinquishing access of those things you cannot control allows you to sort out your life and be more productive and spiritually alive. We end our prayers with the word “Amen” as an outword profession that we have turned over matters to God. Let it be. I have turned it over to God. Phffft! There go my worries. It’s not mine.

El teólogo protestante Reinhold Niebuhr escribió una breve oración que a menudo se utiliza en los programas de 12 pasos. Nos permite poner los problemas y eventos en contexto. Entrega a Dios lo que no podemos hacer y confiesa “Amén” o “que así sea”.

Therefore, join me in prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the thing I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Amén.