We were having company over after mass one Sunday, and it was my job on Saturday to make sure the outside of the house was prepped for receiving guests. The grass had been cut, but the mulch bed was ready for its monthly weeding. So I took my two oldest (7 and 5) out to weed with me while our youngest napped (2). Together, it took us about 45 minutes to get the job done, and I was proud that they worked consistently the entire time.
About 30 minutes in, I was giving them some tips on how to make sure they pulled the weed out by the root and how to shift the mulch around to see if any of the weed was left in the ground. It was at this point, my oldest said matter-of-factly, “Daddy, you like teaching us things.” This came after an earlier conversation in which I relayed to them that I was going to teach them both how to keep score at the MLB game we were attending later that evening.
I could not have been more proud! My children had grasped one of the things that I greatly valued in life: giving my children the knowledge that I have received so that they can grow in critical thinking and wisdom. My hope in doing this is not only to be a good dad, but to allow them to have the tools to live a good life. Handing on knowledge is one of the necessary responsibilities of being a parent, and in that moment, it felt good to hear that my eldest two understood and were receptive to learning from me.
As I reflected later on the conversation, it struck me that their statement is an excellent synopsis of our life’s purpose here on this Earth. We are called to learn how to be truly human by learning what God, our Father, is trying to teach us each day. This preps us for a life of eternity with Him. Many times we can get hung up on all the rules and regulations of religion (and attention to detail is essential in the spiritual life), but in the simplest terms, our focus on the spiritual life is being taught how to be like our heavenly Father.
So how do we learn this? Well, how do we learn from our parents? By spending time with them. Presence changes people – for good or ill. It is basic psychology that we become the average of the sum of the people with whom we spend the most time. God knows this, and He makes himself present to us constantly. He does this in His Church, in prayer, in the sacraments, in His Word, and in the poor. If we want to learn from God, we need to go where He is, and spend a significant amount of time with Him to learn how to be like Him.
Just being present with God is good, but if we want to be truly like God, we must be humbly present with Him. Simply put: We need to be receptive to Him, and willing to allow Him to change us. This begins with mentally acknowledging that we are not in control (God is), and we must functionally order our lives around this fact. Spending time with God with a prideful attitude can still be helpful. Our pride will be curbed, and we will not be as prone to committing major sins. But we will never come to the fullness of our intended purpose if we do not humbly approach God for significant amounts of time allowing Him to change us.
Humble time with God will foster trust, just like it does with our own parents. It will teach us that if we let Him, God will provide for us even when we do not understand how. We will also find that God will fulfill us beyond what we could imagine. There may be hardships and discipline that are necessary, but in the end, everything that God gives us will be worked out for our good.
So as we continue our journey in this life, we must evaluate our relationship with God. Is it a loving trust with our Father? If not, how can we spend more time with Him to foster this trust? Just like teaching my children how to weed, or to keep score at a baseball game, He may need to teach us some boring tasks. But boring tasks done with someone that we love makes the task that much sweeter. God wants to make our life sweet even in the mundane and teach us how to live a good life. We just have to make the time to be with Him.
