Flour Jar or Time Jar?

In the daily mass reading for June 10, 2008 [1 KINGS 17:7-16] Elijah had been hiding out in Wadi Cherith, just east of the Jordan. God had told Elijah if he went there, He would fix it so he would have a stream of water from which he could drink and ravens to feed him. So he went, but after a while God wanted Elijah to move on, maybe to test his faith a little, so He let the steam dry up…which made Elijah a little nervous.

As he pondered what to do, God said to him, ‘Elijah quit worrying…get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and hang out…I have instructed a woman there to provide for you’. So, off Elijah went full of faith and a bit of bewilderment. When he got into town, he was standing on the corner looking things over and he saw a woman gathering some sticks for fire wood. He went over to her and said…excuse me, I just got into town after a long hard trip and I am hungry and thirsty…how about fixing me something to eat and bring me a nice cold drink of water?

The woman sized him up and thought to herself…’fix you something to eat, are you nuts, I am having a tough time feeding myself?’ She replied, ‘my flour jar has hardly enough to fix a small cake for me and my son and my oil jug is about empty…I’m out here gathering this fire wood so I can fix my son and I our last portion, then we will perish and we sure don’t have enough to feed you too!’

Elijah said…’don’t sweat it…have no fear…go ahead and do what you were going to do, but first fix me a small biscuit and something to drink, and then take care of yourself and your son’. So, with obedience, she did as Elijah said. Low and behold when she dipped into her flower jar it was full! Then she heard something dripping and looked over at her oil jug and if was over flowing. The flour and oil never diminished and there was enough to feed her, her son and Elijah for a year.

Because the woman gave freely from her flour jar and used the last of her oil to fulfill His will, God rewarded her with much more than she gave.

As I reflected on this reading, suddenly the Holy Spirit opened my mind and I saw the flour jar as being my time jar and the oil jug as being my jug of humanity.

Then I started thinking …why did I become a Knight? Have you ever thought about that? Think about the person who asked you to join…do your remember the circumstances in your life that made you submit to joining? Have you ever considered that through the brother Knight who invited you to join, God was speaking to you; asking you…’will you go to your time jar and jug of humanity and use what I have given you to serve up biscuits of service for your fellow man?

So, why did I become a Knight? Did I just think…ok, I will join and give of my time, but not right now…I will do it later when I have more time. Right now I barely have enough time in my jar for me and my family and if I use it with the Knights, I will not have enough to play golf or go fishing or take a vacation. Is that how we should answer God?

Since becoming a Knight, have you ever gone to your time jar with “good intentions” and when you saw how little time you had you decided you would just keep it for yourself? Could it be you looked around and saw that others seemed to have much more time in their time jars, and were freely offering to use it?

Did you feel justified not using your time by thinking...I will let the others who seem to have more time use theirs and I can save mine, since they don’t seem to mind using theirs? God’s work will still get done and I will have still have time in my time jar for me...if anyone asks, I will just can say, I “intended to help” but I was too busy and I just didn’t have enough time.

But, what God may be hearing is…I am too selfish God. You know how little time I have and my time is too important to me to give up for this…as long as Your work is done, what difference does it make who does it?

It has been said of the Knights of Columbus...“They Shall Be Known By Their Deeds…” It does not say they will be known by their intentions!

Why am I a Knight? Did I think that being a Knight was just a social thing and would give me some sort of a warm fuzzy feeling and perhaps carry a status among my friends? Did I think being a Knight was about plumy hats shinny swords and red sashes. None of these assumptions were even close.

Being a Knight is about serving; being a Knight is having compassion for you fellowman; being a Knight is about going to your time jar and freely taking whatever portion is asked of you and preparing a biscuit of service for your brother knights and fellowman; being a Knight means having a “can do” attitude.

So, when you are asked to help with a project, think of it as if God is asking you to trust in Him and have faith that He will fill your time jar with an abundance of time more valuable than we ever imagined.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith and fill us with the courage to reach into our time jar and selflessly give our time for the service to our brothers and our fellow man and watch how God will let our jug of humanity overflow.

Brother Dan Smith...June 11, '08