IT’S INDEED laudable that in whatever we do, we try to give it our best shot. We should just remember that our best will never be enough insofar as pleasing God and everybody else is concerned. Our best can always be made better.
This should not surprise us, much less, cause us to worry. But we should acknowledge it so that we avoid getting self-satisfied with what we have done and then fall into self-complacency. That’s when we stop growing and improving as a human person and as a child of God.
We have to remember that we are meant for the infinite, for the spiritual and the supernatural. That’s a goal that we can never fully reach in our life here on earth. But we are meant to keep on trying.
What can keep us going in this regard is certainly not our own effort alone, much less our desire and ambition for fame, power or wealth. It’s not pride or some form of obsessions. These have a short prescription period. A ceiling is always set above them. In time, we will realize that everything we have done was just “vanity of vanities.”
It is God’s grace that does the trick. It’s when we correspond sincerely to God’s love for us that we get a self-perpetuating energy to do our best in any given moment. It’s when we can manage to do the impossible.
It’s a correspondence that definitely requires a lot of humility because we all have the inclination to be proud of our accomplishments that would kill any desire to do better. It’s also a correspondence that is always respectful of our human condition, given our strengths and weaknesses, our assets and limitations.
It is devoid of what is called as bitter zeal. In fact, there is a certain sweetness to it in spite of the amount of effort and sacrifices involved. A sense of joy and peace will always be felt. It also knows how to pass unnoticed, avoiding attracting unnecessary attention from others.
It is important that this attitude be instilled actively in all of us, since it is what is proper to us as persons and children of God. At the moment, what we can readily see around is naked pursuit for power, fame, wealth, etc., all for the sake of human glory.
And once the supposed goal is reached, then a lot of flaunting, gloating and all other forms of self-glorification can be observed, blind to the fact that such behavior actually demeans our human dignity.
We need to help each other to do and give our best in whatever task we have out of sheer love for God and neighbor. The appropriate training should be established in homes, schools and everywhere. The proper climate and environment should be created for this purpose.
Everyone has to be reminded that everything that we do should always be for the glory of God. To be sure, this attitude would not take away the autonomy we enjoy in expressing different and even conflicting views and opinions on certain issues. It will not lead us to have a rigidly uniform way of life. It, in fact, can foster plurality and diversity.
But with it, our differences and conflicts would always be tackled with due respect for everyone. With it, the plurality and diversity of our conditions cease to be a divisive agent. Rather they become enriching elements that can benefit everyone in his own way.
We should all strive to do better than our previous best mark or record. This is always possible because in the first place the field to do better is limitless, and God’s grace is always available. It would just depend on us to take the challenge of God who wants us to be his “image and likeness,” no less.
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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise, Talamban, Cebu City (roycimagala@gmail.com/PN)
