A reflection for Saturday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time based on 1 Corinthians 4:6b-15.
“What do you possess that you have not received?” — 1 Corinthians 4:7
This question from St. Paul makes me think.
It is so easy to look at our lives and think about what we have accomplished. We work hard. We make sacrifices. We raise our children, care for our families, build a home, learn new things, overcome difficulties, and try to make good decisions. Sometimes, without even realizing it, we begin to think, I did this. I earned this. I made this happen.
But St. Paul asks us to look again: “What do you possess that you have not received?”
When I think about my life this way, everything begins to look different.
My family is a gift. My children are a gift. My marriage is a gift. My faith is a gift. Even the abilities I use every day—the strength to work, the patience to begin again, the wisdom gained through difficult experiences—are gifts that God has allowed to grow in me.
This does not mean that our effort is unimportant. God asks us to work, to persevere, and to use our talents well. But humility reminds us that even the ability to work and persevere comes from Him.
Comparison can make us forget this.
We look at another woman and see what she has: her home, her children, her talents, her confidence, her opportunities. We might feel that she has more than we do. Or sometimes we may look at our own lives and quietly feel proud because we think we have done better.
Both attitudes keep our eyes on ourselves.
Gratitude turns our eyes back to God.
Instead of asking, Why don’t I have what she has? I can ask, Lord, what have You already placed in my hands?
Instead of asking, Why am I not further ahead? I can ask, How can I be faithful with what You have given me today?
And instead of thinking, Look at everything I have accomplished, I can say, Thank You, Lord, for everything I have received.
There is something good about living this way.
I do not have to prove that my life is better than someone else’s. I do not have to measure my family against another family. I do not have to pretend that every good thing in my life came from my own strength.
I can simply receive.
Receive my family with gratitude. Receive my responsibilities with humility. Receive my joys without taking them for granted. Receive even the difficult seasons, trusting that God can use them to form me.
Perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons of humility: recognizing that our lives are not possessions we have created for ourselves. They are gifts entrusted to us.
Today, I want to remember St. Paul’s question: “What do you possess that you have not received?”
Everything good in my life has first passed through the hands of God.
Lord, help me to recognize Your gifts instead of comparing my life with others. Keep me humble when things are going well and trusting when life is difficult. Teach me to receive my family, my faith, my abilities, and my opportunities with gratitude, and help me use every gift for Your glory. Amen.
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