WAIT
A
genie appeared to a man in meditation and said, “Ask of me whatever, oh
man, for I am great. To me your thousand years is just like a minute,
your millions just a penny.” The man had a clever idea and asked him,
“Will you give me a penny?” The genie replied, “Sure, but wait a
minute.”
Like
the smart aleck in our story, we can be masters of manipulation. We
moderns, who literally hold the world in the palms of our hands with our
notebooks, iPads and tablets, can change the course of history, both
communal and private, with a flick of a finger or a push of a button. We
moderns have also lost the art of waiting. Once, I was next in line to a
teenager who was withdrawing cash from an ATM machine. When she got her
cash she sighed in exasperation, “Gosh, I had to wait 10 seconds to
withdraw from this machine!” How I wish that girl was transported
several decades earlier, where you fill up forms, stand in line and wait
for a teller to process your transactions.
The
way of the Kingdom is different from the way we moderns understand the
world. Our world is a world of action, speed, productivity, control and
even manipulation. The way of the Kingdom is receptivity, time,
fruitfulness, docility and acceptance. This is the reason why Jesus used
the image of the sower as an image of the Kingdom. Ask any farmer and
he will tell you that if he approaches his crops the way a modern man
organizes his life, he will not harvest anything.
Before
God and His ways, the “do” mentality will not always work. Before God
and His ways, the Marian mentality is the key that unlocks and unleashes
God’s power and favor: “Be it done to me, according to Your word.” Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you approach the altar of God like you approach an ATM machine?
Lord,
help me to learn Your ways. May I be patient enough to wait and not
choose the short way out so that I may learn more in the process of
imitating Your ways. Amen.
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