Tenacity

I would like to share with you an e-mail received from my confrere and as well cousin. “Shake it off and step u” is a modern- day parable which will help us understand today’s Gospel about discipleship and resoluteness in following the Lord (Lk: 9:51-62)
The parable is about an old mule that fell into a deep, dry well. It was impossible to lift up, so the farmer decided to bury it right there and then. Calling on his neighbors, they started filling up the well with soil and dirt. At first, the mule became hysterical, but soon, it discovered that each time they would throw a shovel full of dirt on its back, he could shake it off and step up. Exhausted and dirty, the mule finally stepped over the top of the well and walked through the crowd, because he knew how to shake it off and step up.
- End of parable-
The article continues with reflection that we too should learn to shake off the things that could bury us. Too often, we hold on to what has happened to us for a week, a month and even years! Failures, hurts, bitterness, anger, resentments and disappointments will eat us up if we continue to chew them over and over. To get going with life, we must learn to shake off the entire dirt that fall on our backs and emerge stronger than ever. Anyone who wishes to follow Christ must learn to let go the past, live in the present, and let God take care of the future. Nothing and no one should keep us from our resolve to follow Him. As Jesus was resolutely determined to go to the Jerusalem, we who want to follow Him must also stay focused on Him and Him alone. We must not be burdened by the past. We must accept it all with God’s mercy and forgiveness. Neither must we be paralyzed by concerns about the future, for surely, God will take care of us. Trust, live fully the present in love, and leave the past and the future in God’s hands.
“The evil one is an expert in covert operations and distractions,” she said.
He knows the human heart and its weakness when it comes to attachments to material possessions, relationships, and personal concerns.
What is it that is keeping you from following God? Is it your possessions and desire for earthly comforts? Is it your problems or your guilt, or your sickness that is keeping you so preoccupied with yourself so much that you forget that God is in control?
“Old and often stupid mules as we are, we often fall on these wells of the evil one. The remedy ?
Focus on the Lord, shake it off and step up, emerge stronger and get going !,” she concluded.
It is my fervent prayer that as country and as a people, we will learn to shake of all the dirt thrown at us and get going. We are being left behind because we are allowing our problems to get the better part of us. We must show the world and ourselves the resilient and resolute stuff we Filipinos are made of.