Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: DISTANCE (10/08/20)
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TITLE: An inch short | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
10/12/20 -
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A yearning inside urged me to step outside the crowd and to leap across that final distance to sit at his feet. The sparkle in his eyes matched his laughter. Pure authenticity arose like bubbles in a breeze. My heart drew me to him like a pin to a magnet but my feet set anchored in cement.
The moms leaned in as eager as the children to hear. I’d had gifted teachers in my own learning but this was someone who brought life to life. Another girl held out a flower and I could swear he glanced my way and smiled before given attention to the beauty of that bit of creation. He was tender – maybe that was it – or gentle. A sense of peace seemed to suck away all the anxiety and fear one might have.
Teachers I knew surrounded themselves with guardians who filtered out the unworthy from their presence. Their time was limited. Busyness was their spiritual marker. Who was this man who functioned without hurry or urgency? My own father had always pushed me to go the distance, to demand perfection of myself, to exceed the limits of expectations. There never seemed time for rest.
My lips felt dry and I licked them – urging words to find their place on my tongue. A battle raged within. The distance between head and heart seemed eternal. He’s busy. Now’s not the time. Here’s not the place. I raised a gourd of water and wet my throat.
The motley gaggle of followers sharing his dust on the road hardly seemed worthy of him. My learning and wealth would put me in good stead with someone like this. All I needed was his blessing.
The little girl wriggled off his lap and he rose to go, patting the head of one little boy and giving a reassuring squeeze to the shoulder of another. Watching the little ones scramble into the open arms of their crouching mothers he nodded and stepped toward the road. I took my chance. Running to him, I fell on my knees and blurted out the question that had plagued me since I was young. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
He looked on me as tenderly as he had with the little ones. I bowed low until he touched my back. “Why do you call me good?” he asked. “No one is good – except God alone.”
I sat back on my haunches and looked into his face. He smiled. “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal…”. The list I had learned as a boy streamed by me. My father and teachers had drilled the decalogue into my brain.
It was my turn to smile. He was asking me if I had gone the distance in being good. “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” I said.
He nodded, smiled and placed his hand gently on my shoulder. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
My heart stiffened like concrete. My fists clenched by my side. What was he asking? This distance was farther than I was prepared to go. I was looking to gain something, not give something. I got to my feet and looked into his eyes. They were still tender, urging me to choose him.
The ragtag band of brothers closed in, waiting for my response. They had made the sacrifice. These poor, empty-handed wastrels had stepped out with little more than the clothes on their backs to choose a path that was far beyond anyone’s ability to finish. He hadn’t asked a thing of the children. How did he know my deepest fears? I had kept all the laws but coveting. I had come an inch from going the distance.
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“ The motley gaggle of followers sharing his dust on the road hardly seemed worthy of him. My learning and wealth would put me in good stead with someone like this. All I needed was his blessing.”
SHARING HIS DUST ON THE ROAD ...that really spoke to me personally this morning. A perfect picture of what following Him entails. Who would want to share dust? Oh, but it’s not just any dust!
Thank you for this and well done!
May you find joy and comfort in His Arms.
Hugs!