February 20, 2009
Taking the Time to Make a Difference
Safety, security, productivity and other promises
BY PAUL R. LEINGANG
I don’t know what you received in your mailbox lately, but I have three catalogs full of interesting stuff.
One catalog urges me to upgrade my accessories. You might think that could be fashion advice for the poorly dressed, but it was from a computer company promising to help me increase my productivity with “stable, secure and productive” items that are “powerful, versatile and easy.”
I wish that could be me.
I also received a media electronics “problem solver” catalog. It contains audio cables and adapters, 3-Chip video cameras, lighting and various kinds of equipment cases, and some pages devoted to “new solutions.”
I wish there were some new solutions for some of the problems in my life, maybe even an adapter of some kind that would help me make a good connection with some of the more critical components of daily life.
The third one — and the one that was the most fun — was from a company that puts together the items that monasteries and religious communities have for sale. This one contains a mixture of promises including some beyond such basic human needs of stability and security.
Along with “Trappist Brandy Fruitcake” and “Mystic Monk” coffee, for example, the catalog contained a book from St. Bede Abbey entitled “Bake and Be Blessed.”
The author “offers reflections, stories and (of course) recipes which show how one simple activity – baking bread – can teach us to grow spiritually and live more meaningfully.”
There’s a book from an abbey in England on “Finding Happiness: Monastic Steps for a Fulfilling Life.”
The catalog offers Monastery “Pray-lines” (not pralines) made with Texas Pecans, a prayer shawl that could be your “surrogate hug” when you can’t be there for someone in her time of need, Music from the Time of Jesus, chocolates from an ancient recipe known to only two monks at a time, Easter eggs from Ukraine, and a book on how to “Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them.”
As a computer user, frustrated at times with frozen screens and printing deadlines, I really want the best of several worlds – I want my equipment to be stable and secure, and I want to increase my productivity.
I want to be able to put my trust in technology, hoping I will find what I need to solve my problems.
And as a person of faith, I do want to be blessed and fulfilled and to grow spiritually – and my curiosity is whetted by recipes known only to two monks at a time, and my taste buds are tingling over Belgian brews available to amateurs and professionals alike.
So many promises, so little money, so little time!
* * *
What did you get in your mailbox today?
Did you get a golfing magazine? Or a travel brochure? Or a letter from a mission school in Haiti that offers you a way to help some children? Did you get another credit card offer? Or a “pre-approved” loan?
What are the promises that were made to you today? Did you buy one?
* * *
Here’s a good one.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
And an even better one.
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
* * *
Take the time to reflect on the promises that appeal most to you. What do the catalogs you receive tell you about yourself? Are you the person the sender thinks you are?
Keep a promise you have made to a child or a friend or to a business associate. Or to yourself.
Keep a promise and make a difference.
Comments are welcome at office@cfm.org or the Christian Family Movement, P.O. Box 925, Evansvsille, IN 47706-0925