Not Carlito's Way

Carlito's Way is a 1993 crime-drama directed by Brian De Palma and stars Al Pacino as the titular character. It has been a number of years since I have seen the film, but from what I remember the plot is as follows: Carlito has recently been released from jail and swears not to fall back into his old criminal ways. He begins to run a night club with some old connections who promise the business will stay legit. Eventually, this proves to be detrimental for Carlito with his path to going clean. Ultimately, (without giving away any spoilers of course) Carlito is lured back into his old habits.


Today as I was sitting and God told me "my ways are higher than your ways". I said, "Yes God they are, but could you not say it so loudly, I'm trying to think". He then said to me, "My thoughts are higher than your thoughts". And it took me a bit to think about it. "Yes Lord they are, thank you for reminding me", I told him. How often do we forget this? Honestly, it seems I forget it all the time. God reminded me that I am just a temporal body, with an eternal spirit. My thoughts are temporal, but his thoughts that He teaches me are everlasting. We have to open ourselves to Him. We have the free will to make that choice whether to listen or not. And although, I was listening; I was not choosing to obey at first. But my ears were open so God was not going to stop talking to me.

God has been helping me realize his unseen plan. His ways and his thoughts go into a brilliant piece of work that brings so much fulfillment to our lives. More fulfillment than we can see because we are linear beings, meaning we only see in the here and now. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is able to reveal, not his plan per say, but that their is a plan and it is better than ours. God told me, "Yes you can follow your plan, but remember how temporary it is. Do you want temporary satisfaction, or eternal joy?" We are much like Carlito. We try and try to live a moral life, giving God some acknowledgement. But if we do not fully dwell in the shelter of the most high all the time, then we are highly, let me repeat, highly susceptible to the Enemy's traps. I don't want to give the Enemy to much credit here, because we give him power, so whatever trap is laid before us, we blindly walk towards it ourselves, no one makes us. So we must learn to look at our situation through the eyes of Jesus Christ. We must pray "yet not my will, but yours be done".

When Christ was about to be humiliated, tortured, and crucified do you think He was wanting to do God's will? No, the Scripture tells us he asked God to take what was before him away. God saw the glorious plan laid out before Christ. Not to say Christ did not know it, but in his humanity he was just like us...very unsure of the future. This example of Christ I am giving you is just one circumstance. The point I am trying to make is that whenever we call God's will into question it is because we are being tempted. Remember though, St. Anthony said, "Without temptation, no one can be saved". How we be rescued if we are not being tempted?

Thankfully, when our hearts are open God's Spirit comes to us to let us know He is with us, and the plan he has for us is far greater, than the plan of our own devising.

Let these words God has given me be applied to different situations in your life. God spoke to me about an individual situation, but the message He gave me is universal. I pray that we do not fall into the guise of Carlito, elevating ourselves to a life of trickery, where are we believe our personal will and plans will be enough to secure us. Instead of following our way brothers and sisters let us follow God's way and improve the present moment.