So as I look at the week ahead and review my to do lists, what we will cook for dinner, what still needs to be done around the house, what appointments do I really not what to do, and what will occupy my time at work and at home, I look to this morning’s Gospel for direction.
And, as usual, Luke interrupts my thoughts with a challenge. We have all been the man in the story from this morning’s Gospel reading. He has a wonderful harvest and makes plans to build bigger barns. After all, he has more than he needs. But then something comes along and ruins those plans – or in his case, his own death gets in the way of the new barns he wanted to build.
In the story, the man is chastised not because he plans but because his plans do not include God. “Here is what I will do…I shall tear down…I shall build… I shall store…then I shall say to myself…” The I gets in the way of the WE.
He keeps his wealth instead of sharing it. He plans to take care of himself and forgets those in need around him. He looks out for number one and avoids eye contact with the man or woman standing next to him, those standing on the corner, those sitting across from him or suffering across the world. While the man or woman in need stands on a corner with a sign, this man changes lanes.
It’s a story to which we can all relate.
But, as the poet reminds us, “No man is an island…”
Put another way, Mother Teresa diagnosed the ills of the world correctly when she said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
So I go back over my schedule for the week. When is time for prayer? When will I make sure I am present to others? When will I go out of my way to share the harvest, limited though it may be at times, with others?
Planning is good.
Plans that include God are better.