Checking In
What have you been putting off?
I have been putting off starting a diet. Actually, that isn't true. I start it, but I don't seem to be committed enough to make it through the week without snacking or overdoing it. Then I get angry with myself for failing to achieve my goal.
Do not delay to turn back to the Lord, and do not postpone it from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come upon you, and at the time of punishment you will perish.- Sirach 5:7
In today's reading from Sirach, the prophet is using a scare tactic to try to get us to heed the message that God wants us to be in a relationship with him.
Perhaps we get it, but we fail to build our daily schedule around that relationship, and stuff happens, pulling us away.
It's hard to do two things at once. We are much more linear in our thinking and doing than we pretend to be.
We like to think we can multi-task, but like most of our computers, all we do is slice up the time we have and shift our focus back and forth, making it look like we are doing two things at the same time. In effect, we are fooling ourselves.
That can be confusing and unproductive.
It is the old serving two masters problem, and we know how that ends, God takes the back seat.
So, what does it mean to put God first?
How do we do it, and why would we want to, if not to avoid serious repercussions?
I know people who claim to be in conversation with God all day long, everyday. They tell me it helps them to stay focused on the goals, and it gives them strength to do what they didn't think they could do.
If they didn't structure their days that way, they say, they would drift away and become stuck, unable to move forward, unable to find their way back.
That sounds a bit dramatic, I agree, but I think they have something there that I should pay attention to. I know what it is like to get lost in am endless spiral of unproductive tasks, getting further and further away from my goal.
If I stop when I begin to feel lost and take a moment to reorient myself, with a quick check-in with God, maybe I can avoid the wasted time of going in circles, accomplishing nothing, or losing ground, sliding backward.
The wrath of God Sirach talks about might make more sense as the wrath of man, the self-punishing actions we all take to convince ourselves that we are not worthy of success, not worthy of happiness, not worthy of God's love and grace.
Who needs God to beat us up when we can do it so well to ourselves?
So, what's the way out?
I think it is a simple check-in each day, throughout the day, whenever I feel compelled to drift. Now, if only I can figure out how to recognize those times, I will have it made.
All I can do is try.
Check back often and see how I'm doing.
More to come...
Image Copyright: zven0 / 123RF Stock Photo