YES, I CAN

Years ago I read a story about a small rural parish in Iowa that was in debt and how it got out of debt. The local grain elevator operator was the church treasurer. When the crops came in and were sold, the operator took 10% off the top of the proceeds from the sale and gave that money to the church unbeknownst to the farmers whose grain he sold and who were church members.

The results: the church’s indebtedness of $228,000 was paid off, the minister’s salary was increased by 8%, the parishes cooperative program gifts (our diocesan askings) was paid 200%. Further, there were no outstanding bills and there was balance of $11,252 in the bank. And the farmers did not miss the money. (As an aside, my take is that they were obviously very good and very wealthy farmers!)

Okay: the treasurer had no right doing that. I agree. How the issue was resolved on the home front between the treasurer and the farmers is unknown to me. But that is not the point here. Nor is the issue about tithing even if the point of the story is that those farmers discovered that they could tithe when previously they believed they could not. The realization that we can do something that we previously believed we could not do is what is the point at hand.

Yet, it does not matter if we realize we can do something. What matters is what we choose to do knowing that we can do what we are asked to do. There are multiple things we can do in life but we simply choose not to do them. We can quit smoking if we so choose. We can go on a diet or stay in shape if we so choose. We can cook a meal or iron a short or mow the lawn if we so choose. We make choices each and every day, multiple choices, choices to do or not to do that which we can do if we so choose.

How we respond to the choices that are presented to us is up to us. When we choose not to do that which we know we can and should do, we will always find an excuse that we hope will get us off the hook with the one or many who need our help. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on our mindset), doing so will not, in fact, get us off the hook with ourselves.

Why? Because we know better. We may fool others but we cannot fool ourselves, try as we might. And we do try, do we not? Then we have to live with ourselves, with the guilt we have imposed on ourselves because of our laziness or hardheadedness or whatever it is in us that tries to justify our selfishness.

As a matter of fact, everything we choose to do we can choose not to do. We can even choose not to pay taxes. We have that free will. The only thing we cannot choose to do is avoid death. Between now and then, the choice is ours: “Yes, I can” or “No, I won’t” How will we respond?