Topping off my coffee cup this morning before running out to the car, I smiled and shook my head. There was a time when we were competitive with each other, over everything, it seemed. Including the last drops of coffee in the pot. Who would get more in their second cup?
Today, as I poured, my first thought was that there was plenty there; that after he dropped me off at work, and came back home to work for the morning, he would have plenty of coffee to carry him through. And I was glad.
And we got here following the path of Another. Few roads are easy, and I've come to believe that a good part of the reason is related to highway hypnosis: that phenomenon whereby the driver is lulled into a dull state of less-than-high awareness of the road because of the rhythmic motion of wheels on the road. Looking back at everywhere I've been, I see that I've learned and grown far more from the bumpy bits than the straightaways.
My tendency was once to outwardly ignore what's bothering me, regardless of the cause (meaning myself of someone else), while inwardly stewing, steaming and percolating. There came a time when I finally needed to open myself to the power of goodness and mercy. I resisted, but when I was offered an invitation to just try, to make up my own mind whether I wanted to, or could, forgive, I found that the effort was far less than I had ever imagined.
St. Ignatius says, "Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created." (First Principle and Foundation) Mercy: forgiveness beyond that which we deserve, or believe we deserve. We were created to love. Love wins. Love never ends.
Coffee?
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