Soren Kierkegaard wrote an essay titled "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing." The title represents a wonderful thought. It suggests that we are at our best when we are focused on a single, overriding goal.
In the movie "City Slickers," the ancient Curly sends the same message to Billy Crystal's character: "One thing." Everything else, says Curly, "don't mean nothin'."
In today's Gospel reading someone asks Jesus what "one thing" is most important. "What is the first commandment?" a man asks Jesus. ""The first is this," Jesus replies. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."
The notion of willing, or pursuing, one thing is very attractive to me. I mean, it would be a relief to have just one goal, one purpose. We get so distracted by the many commitments and responsibilities that accrue in our lives over the years. Most of us have jobs, schools, churches, parents, children, siblings, friends, organizations, homes and more to attend to. Each of these areas of our lives represents needs and obligations.
Is there "one thing" that guides us? Can we love God with all of our being and still manage the other commitments in our lives with fidelity? Are all the roles we play worthwhile if we somehow miss the presence of God in our lives?
To be pure means to be composed of one thing. Pure gold is 100 percent gold, for example. Today's Gospel reading suggests that we are most pure, most authentic, when our lives are focused on God. Purity is not a prize for a life well lived; it is an experience to be desired.
My heart, soul, mind and strength are so often pulled in multiple alternative directions. I desire God, but I also desire security, popularity, approval, and success. If we desire that pure experience of God we will by God's grace one day experience it.
"You are not far from the kingdom of God," Jesus tells the man. Perhaps like many of us, the man knows the right answer, but has yet to summon the courage to put it into practice. Perhaps "not far" is as close as any of us will get to the kingdom of God in this world, because it is so difficult to achieve purity of heart with so many distracting pleasures and priorities.
The good news is that we are called to just one thing, and it is something all of us can do. The bad news, I suppose, is that this one thing will cost us all that we have. God asks us for our complete dedication. We each have a life to dedicate to something. You don't need any special knowledge, training or pedigree to dedicate your life to God.
Most of us dedicate our lives to too many things, and often reach a point where we wonder why we feel overwhelmed and unsatisfied. We lose sight of what really matters. We may achieve and acquire many things that we love, but in the process we may lose the one thing that really matters. Bill Peatman writes from Napa. |