On Wednesday I bought a new phone, I’m a creature of habit and so got a Samsung again, this time the A12 which cost £150 and that’s cheap for a phone nowadays!
Anyway last night I went about the dreaded job of changing phones and transferring data etc from one to the other.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought because of the “Smart Switch” app which after about an hour had pretty much everything transferred bar a few little things and the new phone was good to go!
In a way I was surprised and almost worried at how all my data could be transferred and how easy it was to login to my various accounts and on the other hand I was relieved as I didn’t necessarily have all my passwords.
As I began to pray I was inspired by the following idea:
“When we die is our old data simply migrated and upgraded to a newer model of ourselves?”
Well obviously the answer is no in the sense that God doesn’t migrate the data and throw away the old model, instead God upgrades the old model just like that American TV show “pimp my ride”
And of course this idea does make sense because when we think of the saints gone before us they are essentially the same people as they were on earth but now jazzed up and supernaturalised in heaven they can now do all sorts of new things that they couldn’t do before just like how my new phone has fingerprint recognition 😉
Yet this is also a scary thought because when we die there is no factory reset on our souls and all the data goes with us!
Just like we must be careful about how we use our phones and what data is on them must we be careful of how we use our souls too!
On the plus side, when we die all the good data goes with us too! All our good deeds and actions get ‘transferred’ just like the photos and videos on our phones.
And so you see, life is a gift and a responsibility at the same time which I’d why we must do our very best to use it wisely because there will be only one upgrade, one resurrection and after that we’ll be stuck with that for eternity.
Fortunately in his mercy God does allow us to press “factory reset” down here and to “erase search history”….
He does this through prayer and the sacraments, especially through the sacrament of reconciliation!
And so today, the last day of the year, why not have a look through the recycle bin of your life and see which memories and data still need erasing.
Who knows there may even be a demon or two stuck in the memories like a virus but as you bring them to Jesus even these little fellows will have to go too!
Afterwards just like an upgraded phone you’ll find that you have more memory, quicker processing times and more energy to enjoy the fun things in life and on that day when you get the final upgrade you’ll be ready for the eternal joys of heaven as you bring all the virtues of a life well lived on earth with you!
So any new years resolutions?!! Maybe not a new phone but why not a new start with Jesus?!
Michael