Investment

“You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all.” (Saint Thérèse of Lisieux).

The Narrow Gate (Debbie Clarke)

I have been thinking about my goals and plans.  I am a very good planner.  I like to set goals for myself and work towards them.  I work very hard on trying to make sure that the things that I envisage for my own life have a good chance of coming to fruition.  I have always operated like this.  Sometimes the goals are small – get out of bed on time and get to work on time.  Other times the goals are bigger – be patient for an entire day with my children so hat they will see an example of very good parenting.  And then there are the times where the goals are enormous – go on a big holiday this year, or become a Saint…

And I have been thinking about the way that I focus on the goals that I set, because every goal that I set requires some sort of investment on my behalf.  After all, it is one thing to say that I have a goal to get out of bed on time and quite another to put things in place to achieve that.  Even for that simple goal, I need to make sure that I have my alarm set to wake me up.  I need to make sure that my clothes are organised from the night before so that I am not delayed trying to get things ready after I get out of bed, and I even need to establish a routine with my children to ensure that they understand that they too need to wake up on time to help me to achieve my own goal.  And with larger goals the investment is even greater.  To go on a big expensive holiday, one must make sacrifices during the year to ensure that everything is in place so that I can afford to go, and then plans need to be made at work to ensure that I will have work to come back to after the break!

And I have been thinking about the amount of effort required to get myself ready for all my goals as  I have been thinking about the goal that Christ gave us today…

“Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?’” (Matthew 16:24-28).

It is fairly simple.  The world confuses me.  It tells me to focus on happiness.  Instead, Christ calls us to focus on JOY – for joy is the fruit of suffering and sacrifice.  And that means that if I wish to achieve the JOY of Salvation, then I need to make an investment today.  I need to put measures in place that will allow me to make steps forward towards my goal, even if those steps are boring or uncomfortable.  After all, as Saint Thérèse of Lisieux said, “You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all.”…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.