Before You Get Up

When I signed the contract with my TV cable company, it was very easy to click the button “pay." But now that I want to cancel, I have the hardest time finding the correct page.

Don’t we work with others that same way ourselves? We think of them during the time we have to spend on a particular task, but not much after. At the office we work on important projects and are SOOOO friendly with everybody. But if we quit, we do not have contact with anybody there any more. We drop the project in the lap of whoever comes next.

There is a “use it and throw it away” mentality at play.

The same quick-to-forget mode shows in the objects we buy. We buy the “big, fancy” house. Before we buy it, the salesman behaves like our best friend. But after the purchase, he is nowhere to be found and repairmen become rare. In the mental horizon, there is no “after”.

The “before” is not taken seriously either. Young people want a job bringing them money -- now. So instead of studying for a few years and having a real career later, they rush to take the first 'ok' job for an 18 year old. Chances are they will stay at that salary level for the rest of their life. They do not want the pain of studying “before” they go into the marketplace.


SOCIAL BUTTERFLIES

This absence of care for a “before” and an “after”  happens with food too. Most people who do not eat well are also those who do not plan what they are going to eat. They take no time to shop for the items which would allow them to prepare what is right to eat. As a result, they eat whatever they find when hunger strikes.

This carries through, as well, when it comes to religion. We rush to church, when we have an hour to spare. We leave the church early to avoid a clogged parking lot exit. At Mass we only get a “during”, and that “during” has to be entertaining: upbeat music and an amusing homily.

But do we have a heart to heart conversation with the Creator? Are we preparing for the long term which is the eternal world? With this approach, we should not be surprised that we have so little inner life.


HIGH QUALITY ALWAYS

With this lack of attention to a “before” and an “after”, we get a poor “now”.

We turn around and see that our children are not able to concentrate. But where could they learn to focus if they never see an example of a “before” and an “after” giving intensity to the present? We end up with a multitude of floating moments ... always looking for something new.

Without a proper “before” and proper “after’ there are but shallow “nows” and we get no satisfaction.

Nevertheless we wish things were different. We wish for products that last, services that are faithful, Masses with sacredness. Our hearts and desires are meant for the real, the deeper, the lasting. If we could just shape up and take seriously the “before” and the “after”....