By Tom Reilly
As in years past, we flew the snowbird express to Destin for the month of February and into March. This year, I took some friends with me: Tom, Gus, and Frank. Tom (aka Thomas) is from Aquino; Gus (aka Augustine) is from Hippo; and Frank (aka Francis) is from Sales. I spent a week with each in deep conversations and reflections. Each offered some insights for me to consider as I creased the sand and watched the waves.
From Tom …
1. Humility is the requisite quality for learning and growth. How can we learn if we do not begin with the premise that we can learn? That admission is a declaration of humility, and from learning, growth happens.
2. “Faith stops not at words but at reality.” Tom calls for faith to be a lived reality, not mere words. Faith is ours to live.
3. Blessings are proof of God’s presence in our lives. Daily reflection on these blessings reminds me that God is ever-present in my world.
From Gus …
1. What matters most is not the ills man suffers but the mind that suffers them. How we process these ills determines our misery or joy.
2. “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” God may hand us a shovel but expects us to dig the hole, underscoring the importance of man’s response to God’s initiative.
3. “Every saint has a past; every sinner has a future.” Our past is not our potential and our future is pregnant with possibilities.
From Frank …
1. We must serve in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Often, we get locked in on wondering and wandering and miss what’s before us. If God puts us in a circumstance, He has something in mind for us to do.
2. Limit our attention to a handful of things. Too often we attempt so much that we fail to do good work in any of them because of the distractions of the many. We are better off to go an inch-wide and mile-deep than a mile-wide and inch-deep.
3. God sweetens the bitterness of our circumstances; it is up to us to look for the blessing nestled in the burden.
Along the way, Gus introduced me to another friend of his, Mark (aka Marcus from Rome). Cicero was a prolific writer. His book, How To Grow Old, caught my attention, and Amazon made sure that I would not leave Destin hungering for a copy.
From Mark …
1. While old age denies us of some of the activities of youth, there are certain activities that are suitable for older minds as the body weakens. The humility of declining strength opens us to embracing what is within our reach. Actually, what he said was: “It’s not by strength or speed or swiftness of body that great deeds are done, but by wisdom, character, and sober judgment.” And these qualities grow richer as time passes. If rashness is the fruit of youth, wisdom comes to fruition in old age.
2. Old people maintain a sound mind as long as they remain eager to learn and apply themselves. Exercising the mind has a paradoxical effect: The more energy we expend to exercise our wit, the more we discover.
3. Don’t let the old man in. Okay, he didn’t say that; Toby Keith did. But, what he did say was, “I would rather be old for a shorter time than to be old too soon.”
4. “Wretched indeed is the man who in the course of a long life has not learned that death is nothing to be feared. For death either completely destroys the human soul or takes it to a place where it can live forever.” Fast forward a couple of millennia, and Pascal borrowed this thought for his wager: There is no downside for believing in God; there is only a downside for not believing.
A week with each of these guys was a lot but not enough. I still have more questions than answers. For me, the splendor of God’s created world and the inspiration of great thinkers recharged me for another run around the sun.
