Wash Your Window, Mister?

I read a meditation on how “God’s Infinite Goodness is Diffusive” (Divine Intimacy #233).  Its characteristic is to communicate itself to others.  Goodness just flows out of God, because of who He is.

And I thought of my own attempts at goodness.

I want to start out saying how, of course, my attempts at goodness are usually selfish --- I do good primarily to get good back.  And then, I want to go on from there to describe how I TRY TO make some unselfish efforts at love; I really do try.  Only, in that first paragraph definition of God’s goodness, goodness is what He IS, not what He tries to do.  God’s goodness is naturally diffusive, and if I want to be honest and not make excuses for my behavior, I have to admit that at its core my goodness is selfish --- it doesn’t so much naturally flow out of me as instead it naturally first seeks a way for goodness to come back, for me.

“Wash your window, mister?” says the guy at the stoplight.  We see him for what he seems: someone who offers to do something that doesn’t need to be done --- indeed, that we don’t WANT done --- but he offers to do it for a reason: he wants money.  We resent people we see like that; we try to avoid them.

But that is us, were we to look in the mirror.  We do goodness to get something we want in return.

Going back to that excuse I made for my own good actions, “I’m trying to do good,” certainly many of my neighbors take my efforts at face value --- “Oh, isn’t he a kind man; look how he donates to the poor; see the time he gives to charity.”  They want to see good in their neighbor, and accept my weak efforts, and even offer some goodness back --- which I crave.

But what about God.  What does He see in my efforts?

What happens when we “offer to clean His windshield?”  We know its not dirty, and HE knows its not dirty.  He knows why we go to church, or give some of our excess to the poor, or cherish the “social event” of working with friends to help those in need.  The guy who comes up to us at the stoplight may indeed be poor and needy, despite our assumptions otherwise, but God sees our hearts.

He who naturally diffuses goodness sees our heart, as we “display” goodness.  It comes naturally from Him.  It doesn’t come naturally from us.  We have to work at it.  We have to will to love our neighbor with a love which expects nothing in return.

It.  Is.  Work.

We can never BE God, but Jesus came to show us how to love as God wishes man to love.  How much do we work to imitate Him?

We can’t let it become a habit:  spray, squeegee, and hold out our hand.  If that’s how we offer goodness to God, expecting something in return, then don’t be surprised that He drives off, never rolling down the window to say even a single word to us. 

And we wonder why He doesn’t answer our prayers.