A spiritual “3G network”

Happy new year!  A new year.  A new semester.  Resolutions (to break).  Time for a game plan for 2010.  I suggest the spiritual 3G network.

I imagine that the vast majority of readers are aware of the communication 3G network.  It advertises on having a ba-gillian processes available through your cellular phone that gives you lots of connections and options for working wherever you are.  The upside of this device is the power of connection dealing with your life’s affairs.  The downside is that this connectedness leashes us to work much too easily, and it can distract us from the immediacy of where I am and with whom I am.

This year, let’s get 3G spiritual networking.  It consists of these attributes: giftedness, gratefulness, and generosity.  These “Gs” are in serial order of happening, so let’s walk through them one at a time.

Giftedness.  The majority of parish members here have a sense of giftedness: no one gets into college or teaches without talent.  And the purpose of gifts is to serve others and the common good.  Try it once…and I’ll be hooked!  In order to access my gift I must be spiritually disciplined (prepared).  This year is a marvelous opportunity to expand my life through my God-given giftedness.

Gratefulness.  Naming my gifts can be a proud moment…it can also be an embarrassing moment.  In fact, I may be afraid of being proud…in the wrong way.  Well, the ‘right way’ to be proud is to be grateful.  Gratitude flows from acknowledging that I have gifts, not of my choosing or doing, but of God’s goodness toward me.  God’s goodness and love of me is unexplainable!  But it is a fact.  My response is what counts: use the gift with gratitude!  In addition, I ought to be aware that others have gifts, many of them different from mine.  Together we create the possibility of an incredible community, an incredible society, a changed world.  Yes, things can go in the ‘other direction,’ but that is an arrogant choice.  2010 can be the year of gratitude.

Finally, generosity.   The word that describes the experience of a gift is “ease.”  The gifted musicians makes it look so easy; the gifted counselor hears what others miss and responds with an innate empathy that draws others toward her.  None of this is easy, it is the profound effect of a gift.  What comes ‘easy’ to me?  Do I find putting this gift to service a joy?  All of this exceeds the realm of self-recognition or pride.  A new world is at stake!  Further, the generous giver becomes aware that one cannot control the outcomes of the gift; that’s God’s department.  But with generosity comes the hope of a renewed world.

So whether it is career or vocation, gift is involved.  Gratitude and generosity will amplify a gift beyond its natural bounds, because the Divine is given the space in which to act.  May 2010 be our year to glorify the Lord who has favored each one of us.  Become aware of the spiritual 3G network!