SUCCESS IS A PROCESS
It
is common knowledge that Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the
most prolific inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries. To his name is
credited more than 1,000 patented inventions, the most famous of which
is the electric light bulb. A story goes that when Thomas Alva Edison
presented to the public his newest invention called the light bulb, a
reporter asked him, “ How do you feel that you failed a thousand times
before you perfected the light bulb?” Edison responded, “I did not fail.
It’s just that the invention of the light bulb is a one-thousand-step
process.”
What is not common knowledge is that Thomas Edison did not invent
things swiftly. When he wanted to discover something, he’d begin by
reading up everything that had been done along that line in the past.
He’d gather data from many thousands of experiments as a starting point,
and then he’d make thousands more. Edison was committed to his vision.
Now listen to what Matthew says about God and His commitment to His
vision of salvation: “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from
Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and
fourteen from the exile to the Messiah” (v. 17). Don’t read today’s
Gospel as simply a list of meaningless names. It took God three sets of
14 generations to carry out His plan of salvation. The long period of
time is not about God’s failure. It is about God’s patience with frail
humanity — God patiently redoing
what man undoes with his stupidity,
offering again and again His vision of salvation. That is commitment to
vision. But more than that, God was committed to the process that will
realize His vision.
The genealogy reminds us that salvation is not an event but a process.
And success is determined not so much by commitment to a vision as to a
process. The problem is, most of us are committed to a vision but hardly
to the process. Whether it be in everyday life or in the spiritual
life, it is our commitment to the process that will carry us through. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION
QUESTIONS: Do you want to test your commitment to a process? How about
completing the nine-day Simbang Gabi this Christmas season?
Grant me patience and perseverance, Lord, in attaining Your vision for me. Help me not to give up when the road seems rough.
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