I bet I know what you’re thinking, if you paid attention to the title of this post.  I bet you think it was a misprint.  “Your title for this post is strange, Down-to-Earth-Believer!  Don’t you mean to say, ‘Lacking What I Don’t Have’?  I mean, if you have it (whatever “it” is), then you don’t lack it.  And if you lack it, you obviously don’t have it.  Explain yourself and your title!”

Okay, I will explain myself.  But it gets ugly in a hurry.

My meditation today is based on the “3-Minute Retreat” from Loyola Publishing.  You can access the meditation for free at https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/what-do-you-lack-start-retreat/.  Here is the entire biblical story upon which the retreat is based:

“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’”

(Mark 10:17–31 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version

Now, whenever I encounter this story, I encounter myself.  And I don’t like to encounter myself.  No, I don’t.  This story asks me a question that I don’t like, because I already know the answer.  The question is this: What do I have that is really a liability and a lack?  And I like the answer even less than I like the question.

As part of today’s “3-Minute Retreat,” the retreat master/writer made the following comments:

“Initially in this story, the rich young man affirms his devotion to following the Ten Commandments. Jesus shows his love for the rich young man by challenging him to not just follow the Commandments but to become a disciple, allowing his love of God to be more important than anything in the world. We, too, are meant to keep the Ten Commandments. We are also called to conversion, turning our whole lives over to God by following the teachings of Jesus Christ and by serving others.”

Notice the equation of “conversion” with “turning our whole lives over to God.”  This begins with an initial decision and prayer to God, but this “conversion,” this “turning our whole lives over to God” is an ongoing process.  I believe that you have to begin somewhere, but if you stay where you begin, you haven’t really begun.  You’re just stuck.

Notice that, in the story about the rich young ruler, what he lacked was not what he did not have.  No!  It was what he did have that revealed his lack.  A good question for me to ask when I feel that I lack something, is this: “What do I have that is causing my lack?”  And at that point, with God’s help, I need to give that up.  I need to give it up to God, and give it to others, whenever possible.

I heard or read somewhere a story about an unexpected windfall that needed to be given up.  I’ve probably scrambled some of the details, but here it is, as best I can remember it:

It was during the Great Depression (the twentieth century one, not the current one that we may be going into).  A poor couple with a young daughter or two received an unexpected check in the mail.  It wasn’t all that big, but it certainly seemed so to them.  The daughter could hear her parents arguing about how to spend the money.  She was worried.  She had never heard her parents argue like this before.  Then she heard two things.  First, she heard silence.  And then, there was hearty laughter.  She was sent out to buy a lot of ice cream.  When she returned, all her neighbors were crowded into her parents’ small house, and every bowl her mom had was sitting out.  They spent the entire check on ice cream for the community.  And her mom and dad were happy again.

I wonder what windfall you and I have that we could turn into an ice cream social?  Let’s not let what we have be our lack!