I very much appreciate reading and thinking for some kind of
project and run across an interesting idea for one of these inspirational
pieces. That happened last night. I am reading some material for a presentation
I have to make in the near future. Some
of the material I need to read is from the literature of the monks. I enjoy reading some of that.
I was reading one of my favorite contemporary monastic
writers, Sister Joan Chittister. I have
not met Sr. Joan, but I feel like I know her.
She is a fairly famous Benedictine nun from the Benedictine monastery in
Erie, PA. I have been to that monastery
and know a couple of the Benedictine nuns.
They are full of stories about Sr. Joan.
She is a prophetic figure within Catholic circles. She is a tireless worker for social justice
issues. She is a product of the 1960s
and those kinds of folks are dear to my heart.
She has a book penned in the 1990s that I like and which
still speaks powerfully to me. The book
is entitled, Wisdom Distilled from the
Daily. It focuses on the important
wisdom and practices that she distills from the Rule of St. Benedict. As a Benedictine, this is the guidebook, so
to speak, for her life. I also am a
follower of St. Benedict, so it also informs my own life---but not to the
degree it would for a monk or a nun.
I had some rather specific things I was looking forward to as
I read through her book. Actually, I had
read her book earlier in my life. I had
used it in a group I led. So this time,
my reading was pointed and quick. I was
looking for specific things around two or three particular themes. So I would not even call my approach broad
and open. It was narrow and
focused. I am surprised that it
happened…but it did.
At one point, my eyes ran across a sentence and my mind was
captivated. It was as if I had found a
glitter of gold in the midst of the mud.
Perhaps it was because my life needed this kind of advice that my eyes
were captivated by a single sentence.
The sentence was simple, but profound. Sr. Joan says, “It is time to realize
that it is not what happens to me in life that counts, it is what I do with
what happens to me that is the measure of my happiness.” I wanted to take a few minutes and let that
thought sink into my brain and into my soul.
It felt important, but I needed to take the time to figure out why it
was important. And then more
importantly, I needed to begin to figure out what I could do about it. So I began to unpack the sentence.
Perhaps it was the beginning of the sentence
that arrested me. The nun says that it
is time to realize… That always provokes
my attention. To say that it is time to
realize means I have not been realizing!
It is time to realize that it is not what happens to me in life that
counts. I think this must be vintage
Joan Chittister. It is so
anti-American. What happens to me in
life does not count! How could that be? If you are like I am, you assume that what
happens to you in life counts. We are
important. What happens to us is
important. Of course, it counts! It could be great; it could be awful. But it counts! I am sure there is a nun somewhere smiling at
our dismay that what happens to us in life does not count.
The second half of the sentence is Benedictine
wisdom from a Benedictine sister. In
effect, she is going to tell us what counts.
It is what I do with what happens to me that is the measure of my
happiness. That what struck me as
profound. Sr. Joan is making an
important, but subtle, distinction. The
distinction is between what happens to us and what we do with what happens to
us. I understand the distinction and it
makes sense.
It fascinates me that she talks about “the
measure of my happiness.” Probably many
of us feel like what happens to us in life is the measure of our
happiness. If good things happen, we are
happy. If bad things happen, ugh---no
happiness. What this means, however, is
that we are slaves of whatever happens to us in life. We have no freedom; we are victims of our
circumstances---good or bad.
No doubt, this does describe the lives of too
many people. We live through our time,
vulnerable to being delivered or dashed by our destiny. But Sr. Joan and, I’m sure, St. Benedict says
it does not have to be this way. In
fact, the measure of our happiness is figuring out what to do with what happens
to me in life. Here we always have a
choice. In this perspective we are
always free. We are free to respond and
to garner some happiness.
Even if seemingly bad things happen to us in
life, we are not condemned to unhappiness.
We have a choice. What we do with
these seemingly bad things is a choice we make.
Perhaps it is possible to find a measure of happiness even in the midst
of some bad things. I am sure Sr. Joan
says, “of course.” I think this may be a
secret of all the spiritual giants.
We are not slaves to what happens. We are free to choose what to do with what
happens to us in life. We may not be
masters of our own destinies, but we do have the power to affect the measure of
our happiness. Glory be!
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