If by force

Photo by Egor Kamelev from Pexels

Today’s Gospel is an interesting reading. Truthfully, I had to refer to someone that I enjoy reading to understand the context. I recommend looking at Word on Fire, by Bishop Barron who says that violent refers to those that are spiritually heroic, they resist their own tendencies and seek discipline. I dug a bit further and looked up violent: using or involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something; very strong, powerful; vivid.

Fascinating.

This morning I was thinking, today, I will not want to write my blog; today, I will not want to eat on protocol (I’ll speak more about this shortly); today, I will not want to do something I have planned ahead of time.

The violent are taking it by force.

I have this natural tendency to not want to do something I set out to do, especially if it is routine, boring, not exciting, or ordinary. Today, my bed looked so exciting as I make my way around a cold, dark morning. At times perhaps to have a big goal is to violently take these human tendencies by force.

There are times where I am on fire, I create amazing content, I lead a fabulous meeting, I am faced with a dozen donuts and I have no desire for one. There are also days where like today, I want to settle for comfort, I don’t want to follow my commitments. How do I show up? Well, this is the work, I made a commitment to myself. How much do I want it? Do I seek discipline? Do I have my own back?