Phil 1:1-11 / Lk 14:1-6
A young man was engaged to be married, but first he had to finish a year’s contract in Spain. He was gone only a few weeks when his fiancée began to worry whether he was being true to her. His reply was absolute, “I never even look at another woman! … Well, hardly ever,” he muttered under his breath.
She was not reassured, and a package arrived soon after: “I’m sending you the enclosed harmonica,” she wrote, “to help take your mind off all those girls.” The young man wrote back that he was practicing the harmonica diligently every night and was thinking only of her.
Eventually the year was over. He flew home and the girl was waiting at the airport. He ran to her with arms outstretched, but she held up her hand: “Just a minute, please. First, let me hear you play that harmonica.”
+ + +
“Their words are bold, but their deeds are few.” We hardly need to be reminded of that as the nation gears up for another seemingly endless election season! But before we hurl too many brickbats at our least favorite politicians, perhaps we should ask how we’re doing on the same count: making our deeds match our words. A truthful answer is probably mezzo-mezzo.
Why is it that we lapse so easily into cheap talk? First of all, because it’s not that easy to see the whole truth about ourselves. Just like the politicians we scorn, we like to believe our own press releases. And because of that we can be subjectively sincere and yet objectively hypocrites at the same time! It takes time and practice to learn how to look at ourselves with clear eyes. And it takes humility and a lot of trust in God to risk looking at ourselves thoroughly without hiding or running away.
And even when we see the truth about the mismatch between some of our words and deeds, we often face a further dilemma: What to do about it. It’s not always so clear! But we mustn’t hide in that cul de sac. God always has something to tell us, if we’ll take enough time to listen attentively.
Finally, when at last we’ve seen the vacuum behind some of our words, and have seen what we need to do to fill those holes, there’s still one more hurdle: Getting in gear and staying in gear till we’re truly done.
None of this is easy, not the self-recognition, not the discerning of a wise course of action, and certainly not the faithful follow-through. We can’t do it alone, and we can’t do it with leftover time.
So if we’re appalled at the self-deception we see in others and if we recognize that the same is a very real possibility for us too, we need a way out and we have a very simple one: Take time, a lot of it, in the presence of our Lord. He has lots to tell us, lots to show us, and best of all, He wants to help us get better. He wants that with all His very great heart.
So trust Him. Give Him some serious time. Listen to Him. And let Him help!
