A New Point Of Reference
I had an interesting conversation with Maria Elena who is on staff with Compassion Bolivia, an organization providing meals, education, training for some 50,000 Bolivian children and youth who otherwise receive very little help from anyone. She was thanking a group of volunteers who had come from Sackville, New Brunswick to help in the services to the younger children. She addressed the question of the value of their effort in the great scheme of things. Wouldn’t it be more useful to simply send a money draft to Compassion? Her immediate response was ’No! It is far better that you come and be with the children!’
As we chatted she explained her reason for her dogmatic assertion: ’Your presence helps to give the children a new point of reference. They live in a world of few opportunities. They simply follow in the paths they see before them—shining shoes, selling trinkets or food, working in the fields or the mines. When you come you present the children with a new point of reference. Your words, letters, and encouragement help them to look beyond their limitations and see new possibilities.’
A powerful insight! How we all need ‘points of reference’ that lead us into greater visions—to dream of expansive opportunities. The Bolivian children need these ‘points of references’ but so do we who often live with truncated goals and diminishing aspirations.
So two questions for you: (1) What are your points of reference? What leads you ‘farther up and farther in’ as voiced by C.S.Lewis? (2) Are you a ‘point of reference’ for someone else? Maybe your words, expression of love or guidance make the difference and help someone to see new possibilities and dream greater dreams?
I thanked Maria Elena for her comments and for her encouragement (it’s a long way to Cochabamba if a cheque is actually better!). Points of reference? Sign posts on the way that lead us into fecundity and joy. We all need them! Wherever we are! Whatever country we call home!
Going For Gold
C. S. Lewis suggests we too often settle for impoverishment when we consider our spiritual aspirations:
“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased” (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory).
If we took Jesus’s words seriously concerning our hope, we would all be going for gold in our kingdom pursuits, even as our Olympic athletes strive for their own gold in bobsledding, ice hockey or figure skating.
St. Paul likes to use the athletic metaphor as an encouragement for seeking spiritual excellence. He says, ”Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called…” (I Tim 6:12). And he sums up his own life in these words, ”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Tim 4:7).
Why settle for merely a pass in the crucial dimension of our spiritual formation! Why limit our world to a sandbox when the great strand is available to explore? Going for gold pays the best dividend! It brings the greatest satisfaction now and enables us to break through the death barrier to reach and enjoy the distant celestial shore.
So let’s get sweaty! Your spiritual weights await!
