Oct 28, 2021 |
The Gift and Work that Follows
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Gift and Work that Follows
To be as clear as possible, I am not complaining at all. How else could it be? What gift does not require work? If someone gives you a wonderful book, you have to actually read it. Children are a gift. And also more work than is conceivable. Come to think of it, every relationship that is truly meaningful and transformative is a great gift and requires work on your part if you’re to really appreciate it.
There is something deep within us, some unspoken default setting, that seeks neat and tidy solutions. We like to check boxes, measure progress, eliminate problems. It’s as if we think we can cross something off the list and not look back. Replace the dead tree and call it a day. We crave this on a spiritual level. We think that, with God’s help, we should just be able to get past some fault of ours, and never worry about it again. On a practical level, this has worked for us approximately zero times – but we keep believing that’s how God works.
