Sacred Connections: I Am Not a Robot
"I am not a robot". I felt quite confident in that, but I kept failing the test. Earlier this week I was trying to complete my on-line registration for our virtual Diocesan Convention coming up this weekend. I had filled in all of the required fields and all that was left was for me to prove “I am not a Robot” by deciphering the visual images in a grid of photos. First, I was asked to identify which photos have bicycles. Failing that, could I identify which have chimneys? Nope, next one was which photos have stairs? And on it went. I was attempting to do this on my cell phone in a somewhat dimly lit waiting room, and I kept failing the test. I may not be a robot, but neither was I more skilled than one on this frustrating exercise. Back home on my computer I was finally able to give sufficient proof of human life.
Then, the day after the election, I kind of tried to channel being a robot. Just do the next thing in front of me. Just take the next step. After so much anticipation of an election being over and a sense of direction being set, it was quite challenging to accept that nothing was yet over or set, in fact, things seemed to be even more perplexing, not less.
But in the midst of this longing for a clear course ahead, there was also a moment of greater clarity that my calling, our calling doesn’t change regardless of election outcomes, pandemics, injustice, economic uncertainty – we are simply called to love. To love God and our neighbor as ourselves. We may have more hope or feel greater support, alignment or comfort based on who holds office, but our deepest call doesn’t change at all.
I’m reminded of the work of Stephen Covey and his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. A couple decades ago during my corporate career, Covey’s teachings were shared in a human resources course offering, and I appreciated it so much I became an in-house trainer myself. The relevant content that has kept arising for me this week was about discerning between our circles of concern and our circles of influence. Our circles of concern might be filled with a mixture of global, national, local, family and personal issues – none of us would probably have any difficulty filling that circle to the brim. Our circles of influence are within that larger circle, but they are the things where we can take positive action, and as we take that action, our circles of influence may actually enlarge.
If we put all of our energy into our circles of concern, we may feel overwhelmed, reactive, judging, focused on what others are doing and feeling little control of anything. If we put our energy into our circles of influence, we can be a positive force especially at a time of such great need.
This in no way denies all of the concerns we are likely holding these days, and all of the feelings that are right there as well. But rather than be overcome by these concerns or seek to be robots going through a well-constructed program, we can lean into our humanity, our faith and exercise the influence we have right now. For us, that is choosing to love God, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Despite this present sea of unknowing, we can choose to keep using our gifts and our energy in daily acts of kindness, in ways that share Christ’s love.
