When You Shouldn't Try To Get Results
At work, most of us are judged on our performance. The clearest example of this is sales. Your boss wants to know how many sales you made; how big are the sales? If you don't make your quota, you may be fired. But even if you're not in sales, there are still certain standards your boss uses to judge your performance. And, at some point, "results" come into the equation when you're judged.
In fact, if you're involved in interviewing people for a job, I'm sure you've noticed the phrase "results-oriented" in resumes when you conduct job interviews. It's one of those thing you're expected to put in your resume along with phrases like "pro-active" and the like.
We Americans are particularly focused on "results." You get results, you get ahead - for the most part.
Now here's something to think about: your boss might care about results, but God doesn't. You'd think God would be just as concerned about results as your boss, but, really, He's not. I was just reading that, in your spiritual life, God sets greater value on the sincerity of your will than on the perfection of your works. And it made a lot of sense as I thought about it.
In fact, just think about what it would be like if God judged us on results. I mean, have you made a good confession lately? What did you find when you examined your conscience? A lot of bad results I suspect, if you were being honest with yourself.
I don't know about you, but I'm always coming up short in my spiritual life. Not a day goes by where I'm not dismayed and disappointed at of my spiritual "results" during that day. A simple example would be my getting to daily Mass chronically late - when I get there at all - and always having trouble concentrating on the Mass. My mind constantly wanders to whatever I've been working on that day, among other things. Sometimes I find myself almost "waking up" when it's time for Communion because I've been lost in thoughts that have nothing to do with Mass. Sometimes I even "miss" the Consecration. What was I thinking about that was so important while the priest was saying those momentous words at the Consecration?
And that's a mild example of my poor results. I'll spare you the gory details of all the other bad results I've gotten lately.
So it was really encouraging to read that God cares about the sincerity of my effort, rather than the specific results I get when I pray during the day and - on a good day - get to Mass, meditate for a few minutes, read Scripture, study Church teachings, do some spiritual reading, maybe even visit the Blessed Sacrament. He cares about my sincere intention to be charitable in my thoughts, words and actions more than all those times I acted abominably to my wife and children - never mind my neighbors and co-workers.
At work, I know that best efforts aren't always enough. I know that, in the end, if I don't produce results, I'm simply not going to be a valued employee. Or, in my case, as a business-owner, if I don't get results, my business won't produce the revenue I need to adequately produce enough income to meet my daily needs.
Thank you God for using a different standard for me in my spiritual life. I guess that's part of the idea of your being loving Father, a God of mercy. You know me well enough to know how imperfect, even incompetent I am at producing any results in my spiritual life. In fact, you know me well enough to know that even if I did produce what I thought were good results, my pride would probably swell up and I'd wind up being worse off than I am now.
Of course, there's that small matter of putting in a sincere effort. Well, I can work on that. It's the least I can do, right?
In fact, if you're involved in interviewing people for a job, I'm sure you've noticed the phrase "results-oriented" in resumes when you conduct job interviews. It's one of those thing you're expected to put in your resume along with phrases like "pro-active" and the like.
We Americans are particularly focused on "results." You get results, you get ahead - for the most part.
Now here's something to think about: your boss might care about results, but God doesn't. You'd think God would be just as concerned about results as your boss, but, really, He's not. I was just reading that, in your spiritual life, God sets greater value on the sincerity of your will than on the perfection of your works. And it made a lot of sense as I thought about it.
In fact, just think about what it would be like if God judged us on results. I mean, have you made a good confession lately? What did you find when you examined your conscience? A lot of bad results I suspect, if you were being honest with yourself.
I don't know about you, but I'm always coming up short in my spiritual life. Not a day goes by where I'm not dismayed and disappointed at of my spiritual "results" during that day. A simple example would be my getting to daily Mass chronically late - when I get there at all - and always having trouble concentrating on the Mass. My mind constantly wanders to whatever I've been working on that day, among other things. Sometimes I find myself almost "waking up" when it's time for Communion because I've been lost in thoughts that have nothing to do with Mass. Sometimes I even "miss" the Consecration. What was I thinking about that was so important while the priest was saying those momentous words at the Consecration?
And that's a mild example of my poor results. I'll spare you the gory details of all the other bad results I've gotten lately.
So it was really encouraging to read that God cares about the sincerity of my effort, rather than the specific results I get when I pray during the day and - on a good day - get to Mass, meditate for a few minutes, read Scripture, study Church teachings, do some spiritual reading, maybe even visit the Blessed Sacrament. He cares about my sincere intention to be charitable in my thoughts, words and actions more than all those times I acted abominably to my wife and children - never mind my neighbors and co-workers.
At work, I know that best efforts aren't always enough. I know that, in the end, if I don't produce results, I'm simply not going to be a valued employee. Or, in my case, as a business-owner, if I don't get results, my business won't produce the revenue I need to adequately produce enough income to meet my daily needs.
Thank you God for using a different standard for me in my spiritual life. I guess that's part of the idea of your being loving Father, a God of mercy. You know me well enough to know how imperfect, even incompetent I am at producing any results in my spiritual life. In fact, you know me well enough to know that even if I did produce what I thought were good results, my pride would probably swell up and I'd wind up being worse off than I am now.
Of course, there's that small matter of putting in a sincere effort. Well, I can work on that. It's the least I can do, right?
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