In a Spirit of Uncomplaining Obedience
If instructions are given to anyone in the community which seem too burdensome, or even impossible, then the right thing is to accept the order in a spirit of uncomplaining obedience.
Six down and one to go…this is my last reflection for this retreat. And this is the one I thought would be easy. What tricksters my thoughts are!!! My first attempt came back with a note saying, “Contrived.” And it was…I thought I had something to say!
So here’s another try…looking for something real in my experience of working with Benedict’s quote. With the prodding of ‘contrived’ I realize that I substitute words. I take out the word impossible and substitute it with the word difficult…if instructions are too difficult. And the second substitution is taking out spirit of uncomplaining obedience and substituting it with spirit of heroic obedience.
Let’s take a look at the first substitution…difficult instead of impossible. In reflecting on my life I can see many times when this substitution proved useful. My first job was at a college in Maine. I grew up in Colorado. The trip east was in two stages one to my older brother’s in Mechanicsburg, PA. My parents wanted me to deliver a crate of fresh Rocky Ford Peaches. My sister and younger brother agreed to go with me, if I paid their air fare back, a deal I was willing to make. So with a crate of peaches and two snow tires lashed to the top of my VW we headed east. This was the easy part. The second half of the trip was from Mechanicsburg to Farmington, ME a nine or ten hour trip. I planned to do it in two days. I’d stop somewhere outside Boston, stay over-night and set out early the next morning. As I left the peaches and my brother and sister behind, the trip felt daunting…impossible.
I drove north, with my snow tires, heading for a new job in a new state where I knew no one. The trip, the new job everything seemed impossible. I was afraid and alone. All I knew to do was just keep driving. So the two day trip became one long drive. I tried listening to a Red Socks baseball game and finally found a Maine radio station. Little did I know, that at that time, Maine radio stations signed-off at 10:00 P.M. So the final leg of the trip, was driven in dark silence. And somewhere in this long drive full of fear, impossible fell away and I learned that I could manage difficult.
Now for the other substitution…taking out spirit of uncomplaining obedience and substituting it with spirit of heroic obedience. Two examples come to mind—Jesus and Shakyamuni Buddha. Who could be more heroic? Who am I to think I can do what they did? And yet, powerful as these two examples are, by making them I excuse myself. The point of practice is not to become anyone else. And I see that this substitution does not put me on a path of sincere practice.
Several years ago I read a reflection in Give Us This Day about John the Baptist. It was written by Karl Rahner. Here’s what it wrote:
May we have a willing acceptance of the small seemingly mundane task that this present moment puts before us. May we have a humble readiness to do the one small thing, even when we see the greater thing that is denied us.
For me, this quote let’s everything fall into place. I don’t need contrived thinking about the fairness of given instructions or their burdensomeness. What is required is to find within myself, the spirit of uncomplaining obedience and take the next step, all the while knowing that at the moment of taking the step I don’t know what the result will be and I take it anyway.
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