Fr. Dale Matson
As we mature, we
hopefully gain a sense of mastery and self-efficacy. From a developmental standpoint,
we grow in many domains including intellectual, physical, emotional and
spiritual. There are certain necessary developmental end points such as limits
on physical growth. As fluid intelligence diminishes, we compensate with
acquired knowledge. Spiritually, we develop our entire lives. The Christian
lives in the present with eyes looking toward the future. The three theological
virtues of faith, hope and love do
not look back. They do not dwell in the past.
My sadness and pain is
for those I know who have become mired down and live in the past. They have
established a developmental beachhead or benchmark by which they orient their
lives. Often it is a mishap or a perceived injustice. They have not learned to
view the experience through God’s eyes. They have circled the wagons and ended
their development. They have chosen a life of victimhood. They are bitter and
angry. They are hyper reflective and increasingly isolated. They have chosen
the path of death. It is death on the installment plan but it is surely death.
This is a no risk, no gain, dried up, and stuck existence. Sentences begin
with, “I suppose I should but….” The point of orientation for their lives is in
the past. The gravitational pull toward the past is a seemingly irresistible
force. Like many Israelites, they have returned to the captivity of the past in
Egypt. They are no longer pilgrims.
What is the remedy for
such a wretched life headed toward death? St. Paul often used the race as a
metaphor for life. Each race however requires training, self-discipline, and incremental stages of progress. Training
is “goal specific”. Muscle development is task specific. You cannot swim a mile
by running a marathon and you cannot run a marathon without incrementally
increasing a long run. Training for a
goal is future oriented. It pulls us forward. This is not just true in the
physical domain. It is also true in the other domains of life as well.
Completing an interrupted college degree can be a new point, a benchmark for the
future. Goals are our pillar of cloud by
day and our pillar of fire by night.
Have you or someone you
knew lost a great deal of weight and are no longer obese? This is how God
intended us to be. He gave us a heart, lungs, organs and bones for our skeletal
frame. As a backpacker, I know what an obese person is carrying in extra
weight. Our joints simply break down sooner with the enormous weight. Having a
goal of weight loss can set a waypoint in our future which will become a new
benchmark. It will become a new point of orientation. It will make us forward
looking but this too must be an incremental goal.
God understands incremental
preparation for the future. Yes, David faced Goliath but before that he had
killed both a lion and a bear. There are
few goals beyond the ordinary person who applies disciplined training. It
is the realization and desire to employ the talents given us by God. It is a
decision to leave the past hurts behind and to continue the pilgrimage. Rivers
of living water are to come from the belly of the Christian. We are streams not
stagnant ponds with no inlet and no outlet. God calls us forward and it is a
call to life not death. Find a realistic, measureable goal and work incrementally
toward it. It is a way out of the misery of the past and a way toward the Kingdom.
“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.” (Deuteronomy
30:15). Each day the choice is ours. Now is the acceptable time.
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