Still drawing a blank! I’ll go move my clothes from the washer to the dryer and maybe something will come up as I walk down the hall and back.
Well, after 4 minutes watching the clothes spin around in the washer, maybe an insight did come!!! Jonah’s reluctance to preach to the Ninevites is probably paralleled by my reluctance to do my laundry! Yet doing the laundry is certainly part of God’s call to me.
I’ve always been amazed at the alacrity with which the disciples answered the call. Jesus appeared, he called, and they immediately left everything. There’s no record of any hemming or hawing or asking if they can do this or that first. They just up and go. There must have been something tremendously compelling about the person of Jesus.
Oftentimes in the course of a week, I am asked to do this or that or the other thing. Sometimes I respond with alacrity – and the swiftness of the response depends on several factors. Do I like the person asking? (this is the biggie, I think). Do I like what I’m being asked to do? Is it more interesting than what I’m presently doing? How much energy and time is required? Will I miss out on anything if I say “Yes” to what is being asked? Can I do what is being asked?
Sometimes, the focus is on the daily routine – for example, doing laundry. Or it could be something at work … or with the family. One goes through the same process as above.
This thinking process might take seconds, or days. How much easier it would be if I could get that “I” out of the equation, and focus instead on the other person, or the need. But no … in so many ways, the first thoughts that always spring to mind when asked to do something are selfish and self-centered. The need of the person, the organization, or the household is irrelevant.
Do this often enough and eventually one’s life becomes “all about me.” What a waste of a life!
Love deeply, pray faithfully, laugh often!
Fr. Herb, C.S.C.
