Moment to moment

 

When I read the Gospel for my reflection today, I remembered a joke that Mitch Hedburg used to tell: My parents told me that “practice makes perfect”.  Then a teacher told me “Nobody’s perfect.”  I quit practicing.   

Perfection is our calling, nothing less.  The danger in trying to shoot for something less is that you might actually attain it.  Then what?  In other words, if you settle only for being “pretty good” you might actually become “pretty good.”   But pretty good isn’t good enough according to Jesus.  He wants perfection!  This is a high calling. [Matthew 5:43-48]

Perfection can seem overwhelming and almost beyond reasonable expectations.  We may even get discouraged at the idea.  But if we understand what perfection really is, then we may not be intimidated by the thought at all.  In fact, we may find ourselves deeply desiring it and making it our new goal in life.

At first, perfection can seem like something only the great saints of old lived.  But for every saint we may read about in a book, there are thousands more that have never been recorded in history and many other future saints living today.  Imagine that.  When we get to Heaven, we’ll certainly be in awe of the great saints we know about.  But think about the countless others that we’ll be introduced to for the first time in Heaven.  These men and women strove for and found the path of true happiness.  They discovered they were meant for perfection.

Perfection means we’re striving to live each and every moment in the grace of God.  Just living here and now immersed in God’s grace.  We don’t yet have tomorrow, and yesterday is gone forever.  All we have is this single present moment.  And it’s this moment that we’re called to live perfectly. 

Certainly, each one of us can seek perfection for a moment.  We can surrender to God here and now and seek only His will in this moment.   We can pray, offer selfless charity, make an act of extraordinary kindness and the like.   And if we can do it in this present moment then what’s keeping us from doing it in the next moment?

Over time, the more we live each moment in God’s grace and strive to surrender each moment over to His will, we get stronger, and we get holier.  We slowly build habits that make each and every moment easier.  Over time, the habits we form make us who we are and draw us into perfection.