In your spiritual life, do you have the resolve to keep yourself aligned with God’s will? Are your eyes focused on the Great Prize? - Daily Reflections October 1,2014

RESOLUTION AND FOCUS

 

I have no experience in plowing. Although my father was an accountant by profession and a farmer by avocation, my little experience with planting and tending coffee trees did not include plowing.

       But I do know a thing or two about the power of resolve and having a distinct, clearly defined goal. And I got that from my father, who, at age 11, with his mind focused on the future, was already planting coffee trees with his one and only brother who died before reaching the age of 10. With their father having gone blind after an accident, the two boys learned very early on to work with resolve and to focus their eyes on their long-term goals.

       I was told that plowing demands resolve and focus. It is back-breaking work for the carabao and the tiller. The plower needs to keep his eyes riveted ahead of him, lest the furrows get out of line and the rows of seedlings appear jagged. Farmers, too, have a keen eye for beauty and order.

       Being a son of a farmer and with years of formation work behind me, I have learned some very important lessons in life. The first is that there are no instant harvests. Plowing and sowing are both far removed from the reaping, and without a lot of blood, sweat and tears, all the foregoing do not guarantee bounty. The second seems pretty obvious: fertilizers alone, without foresight, do not make an abundant harvest.

       As an educator over the past 35 years, I have realized that the same principles operate in life. Those who put their hand to the figurative plow, but keep on looking back — and keep on nursing regrets and entertaining a lot of “what-ifs” — do not get very far. They simply don’t have what it takes: resolution and focus.

       The Year of Faith that we celebrated last year taught us as much — that a Christian life of faith demands both resolve and focus. No ifs and buts, and no excuses, please. Just put your hand on the plow and keep your eyes on the goal up ahead — the Kingdom of God, no less! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: In your spiritual life, do you have the resolve to keep yourself aligned with God’s will? Are your eyes focused on the Great Prize?

 

My God, train my sight to focus only on You and not on the things and persons that would take me away from Your circle of love.