Attending a 6th grade awards ceremony recently, my wife and I had more than our share of proud moments as the fruits of Emily’s hard work paid off in some awards of recognition for outstanding grades and as well as achievement in other endeavors. Additionally, she shared an award for Outstanding 6th Grade Student with one other girl and two boys from her class. It was indeed a proud moment for the parents as well as for the children but as proud as we were, these awards were not what struck me so profoundly. I share all this not to brag but to (hopefully) make a point.
There is a classmate named Ben who is confined to a wheelchair, suffering from NBIA (Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation) which affects the nervous system. I don’t pretend to understand the intricacies of this disorder, and I’m even less sure that it matters much. What I do know is that the entire 6th grade class was recognized for having raised over $500 in a “Pennies for Ben” drive to benefit continued research on this dreaded disorder. To be perfectly honest, I was so choked up with emotion that it was hard to hear anything else going on because what touched me most was not so much the pity I felt for Ben (though there was plenty of that) but rather, the pride and the sense of hope for tomorrow that I felt for the rest of the class.
They wheeled young Ben up to the stage as the check was presented to his family. My weakness is seeing young children in such conditions that they cannot enjoy the childhood most of us are so familiar with, the childhood we adults sometimes long for a return to, those days of innocence and wonderment when the most important decisions we had to make was whether to play with friend A or friend B or whether to ride bikes or walk to the swimming pool. Ben will never know such a life as this. In fact, I’m not even sure of his level of cognizance though I would imagine that he is at least aware of his surroundings. He just cannot physically respond to them.
Children never cease to amaze me in that I not-so-fondly recall how cruel they can sometimes be. Yet in the glow of achievement, these children seemed to remember a classmate who will never reach their level of achievement and may never know of such carefree moments and memories the likes of which we adults tend to draw back to when life threatens to overwhelm us. These precious children remembered even as they struggled through the school year that there is a classmate who needs a little help, and they did what they could to offer assistance to a friend in need.
I guess the reason such images provoke these emotions in me is that in my own personal and professional ambitions, I oftentimes forget how truly blessed I am, being more concerned about what I lack rather than what I already have. Worse, I forget and am too soon reminded that I am blessed not because I’m lucky or loved or favored, at least not necessarily or exclusively so. I am blessed, as so many of us are blessed, because those like Ben or the blessed children caught up in the genocide at Darfur and other parts of the world have needs that far exceed even our wildest and most vivid imaginations. We are so richly blessed not just so we can enjoy our lives or certain advantages but because someone else knows nothing but misery and pain. We are given much because much is expected of us (Luke 12:48).
Even beyond this knowledge and sometimes overwhelming sense of guilt, I forget to see that the Lord God is perfected and at His very best in the life of young Ben and so many other children who are surrounded by we who enjoy abundant blessings and forget that the meaningless drivel of our doctrinal disputes matter not at all to these innocent and – I believe - most favored of our Holy Father. These are the ones who are wounded by life’s daily grind, haunted by needs we cannot imagine nor appreciate. These children are ignored or forgotten altogether, sort of how the Lord must feel as we get too busy to pay attention to the things that really matter.
Here’s the thing about all this, though. The Bible teaches us to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), calling us – in fact, CHALLENGING us – to share in the suffering of those who need so desperately because if we are enjoying a life of abundance, we are absent the suffering that “produces endurance”. And if we are absent the endurance, then we are absent the character that endurance produces. And if we are absent the character, we will lack the one thing that gives us reason to endure: HOPE (Romans 5:1-5). And if we lack hope, then Paul may be suggesting to the Romans an absence of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the giver of the life and hope every living person so desperately needs.
The funny thing about endurance is that far too many of us who live within this “instant gratification” society are seriously lacking. Instant Gratification is perhaps the single greatest enemy of the innocence into which we are born because it then when we cross the rather narrow divide between innocence and self-centeredness. Instant Gratification demands of us a knowledge and an appreciation for this world and everything material that it has to offer so much so that our greatest pursuit in life is “MORE”. And if we happen to think about it, Ben and the children of Darfur might get whatever we have left over – that is, once we have acquired all that we think we need or want.
Character, at least the kind of character Paul writes about, is that nature of humanity which understands that our capacity for “more” is in focusing on those who do not have as well as helping those who have yet to “cross over” from innocence to a state of self-indulgence when we fall into the trappings of “zero down” and “easy financing”, lacking as we do the discipline required to be patient and the character to work toward more noble goals.
It is not about manual labor or physical endurance, however. It is about having a state of mind that understands the virtues of patience (faith) and hard work. It is about understanding that the world does not revolve around us and our own particular needs especially when our needs are fulfilled at least tenfold. It is about understanding the nature of the character St Paul is trying to impart to the Romans and to the Galatians. It is about knowing that a little hard work and its requisite suffering – translated “allowing” - is necessary to attain that level of character Paul writes about because the challenges to be faced will indeed seem insurmountable to those who lack the strength of character – and the faith of innocence - to endure.
Absent the sort of character to which St Paul alludes, it will be virtually impossible for us today to hear the Spirit of Truth. Jesus told His disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” John 16:12
I wonder if we can bear them today. Innocence makes many observations that we fail to notice because we have become far too world-wise for our own good and for the good of others who desperately need us to hear the voice of the Spirit of Truth to offer to them the hope that comes only from the Lord, the same Hope you and I once had and can have again.
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