Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Baby Steps

Guess what? Baxter has lost nearly 2 lbs! I could hardly believe the veterinarian when she announced his weight. Even she was amazed and admitted that it isn’t easy to get cats to reduce. I had not taken Baxter for his regular weigh-in for a while due to the winter weather, my schedule and general laziness on my part. I have kept him on the diet food with the portion size the vet recommended. At times, I thought he might be getting a little lighter, but then I would doubt myself, and think that it was the wish being father to the thought. It all happens so gradually that the effects go unnoticed for a long time. However, now I have evidence, verified by a professional, that the diet is working. Baxter is on the way to a new physique. Arnold Schwarzenegger, move over!

Our spiritual lives often mature in the same way slowly, gradually, without frequent notice. We have the standard practices that we follow. Regular prayer and worship, acts of charity, times of fasting, spiritual reading, maybe a retreat, all make up a regimen of our efforts to open ourselves more and more to God’s grace and its transforming power in our lives. But we usually don’t notice the results. How often do we secretly chide ourselves for being impatient and a little aggravated right after we have celebrated Sunday Eucharist? Who hasn’t wondered to themselves whether our prayer really makes a difference? Who hasn’t doubted whether our charity does any good or is it just giving into con artists using gullible people? All these questions may cause us to hesitate in our spiritual discipline at times and maybe even give up on the practices for a while. Our cynical side gets the best of us.

But then something happens. Maybe somebody thanks us for an act of kindness we didn’t realize we were doing. Maybe we find strength to deal with a family difficulty that we didn’t think we could handle. Maybe we go out of our way to help someone in need, thinking it’s no big deal. Maybe we had just the right words at the right time for someone distraught or depressed. How did these things happen? Where did we get what we did or said?

God is working in us. We most often don’t notice it, but grace is having its effects. It is changing our spiritual metabolism to operate differently with the people, problems and events we face each day. We digest these things not with the burning juices of our acid egos, but with the soothing balm of our spirits made generous through knowing God’s love for us and all. Divine power is changing us, but we don’t recognize it, just like the first disciples didn’t recognize the Risen Lord so often in their midst. But not to worry. The resurrection didn’t depend on the disciples’ reaction for it to happen. It relied upon them to witness to its truth and goodness in the way they handled life differently after encountering the Lord Jesus.

So, Baxter, keep up the good work. We believers, do the same. Neither of us may notice it, but we will walk more lightly through the trials of life and relish the joys more fully. The effects of grace often lack drama, but they never fail to make life better for us all.