A New Year’s Meditation

For parish council members, lunch teams, ministry leaders, choir members, and all attending our annual meetings

I went through several fruitless years in a state called “viewing with alarm for the good of the group”. I thought it was up to me to be always “correcting conditions”. Seldom had anybody been able to tell me what I ought to do, and nobody had ever succeeded in effectively telling me what I must do. I had to learn the hard way out of my own experience.

When setting out to “check” others, I found myself often motivated by fear of what they were doing, self-righteousness, and even downright intolerance. Consequently, I seldom succeeded in correcting anything. I just raised barriers of resentment that cut off any suggestion, example, understanding or love. —Bill W.