A few years back while attending my son’s graduation ceremony we sat mid-level from the arena floor. A few seats down and to the right of us there was an older couple who I later learned were grandparents of a graduating senior. About ten rows further down was a lady who had tied a colorful bundle of helium filled balloons to the armrest of her chair. The balloons had celebratory slogans of “Congratulations Senior!”
My first thought upon seeing these colorful balloons was how it was such a thoughtful gesture by someone who cared for a young person about to graduate. I am sure that when the kid was given the balloons after the ceremony they would be joyful and think well of the giver. I thought to myself, … the idea would never have entered my mind to do the same for my son.
As the ceremony began the graduating seniors began their procession to the seats on the auditorium floor. It soon became obvious that the “thoughtful” gift of balloons were blocking the view of the people sitting in the levels above. By the time the procession ended and all the students reached their seats, the thoughtful gesture of the lady with the balloons had fully aggravated a host of parents and grandparents who could not see their kids because of the balloons.
This got me thinking, that a good and thoughtful gesture by one person is not automatically received as good by another. In other words, human good is not necessarily a universal good. It is relative and imperfect just as we are.
In Genesis it reads that after creation on the sixth day, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Creation and life is gift and that being created in the likeness and image of God can only be goodness.
And through Baptism we are gifted with the indwelling Holy Spirit and those spiritual gifts operating within us are permanent dispositions that make us docile to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The seven gifts of the Spirit is derived from Isaiah 11:1–3: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord.
I have knowingly experienced God’s good gifts, freely given. I have never doubted but at my worst, I have chosen to ignore. In this, I do not stand alone.
In 1996 I attended Cursillo 327 and sat at St. James’ table. It was a major milestone in my spiritual journey. One of many spiritual benefits has been a developed appreciation for the book of St James. Below is an excerpt;.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (James 1:5-7)
James describes the one who doubts as someone who constantly changes allegiances and cultivates the patina of faith, wrongly thinking mechanistic action to be the heart of faith. James calls us to be people of character, whose faith manifests itself in action commensurate with what God has called us to be. We are called to become authentically human. Accepting our frailty, our failures, and our need of God’s grace, care, and forgiveness. We are each called to be like Christ, who is also a God who forgives, for he understands our pain and our frailty. God knows and Loves us and that is absolutely good.
James invites us to ask God for Wisdom, especially during trials. This is to walk the middle course between irrational optimism and a worldly pessimism that betrays a lack of trust in God. Irrational optimism can be marked by a failure to understand oneself and one’s situation. Neither irrational optimism nor worldly pessimism takes seriously God or ourselves.
Are you in the habit of praying and opening yourself to God’s Wisdom and if you do, do you allow it to replace your own?
