Enlightenment

6 Aug

“Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.”  ~ William Blake

My mother would grumble quite a bit when I was growing up.  What mother wouldn’t who had four very active boys?  One of the things that used to set her off was our lack of taking responsibility for our actions.  Whenever anything went wrong or we broke anything, “it was not me.”  Sometimes she would say that we must have gremlins in the house because things would get broken or set out of place but we were the four best boys in the universe and didn’t do it.  It must have been gremlins.  (Yes, I learned about sarcasm at a very early age.)

But the fact of the matter is that many people, if not most people, engage in playing the blame game so as not to be held responsible for their actions.  It always seems to be someone else’s fault.  I truly believe this displeases the Lord more than we can imagine.

Jesus was big on taking responsibility.  He called people out for not taking responsibility many times in the Gospel passages that we have come to know.  Hypocrites were at the top of his list quite often.  He would chastise them for not being honest with others or with themselves.  He challenged them to take responsibility for their actions particularly because they served as examples to others.  Jesus didn’t want any of His people being led astray.

We can lead others astray when we say the right thing but do the wrong thing.  When we abdicate responsibility for our actions, we place those who follow our example in jeopardy.  We also do harm to ourselves since we can become so confused denying reality that we lose our own way.

I learned at a young age that it was better to accept responsibility for my actions than blame it on the gremlins.  The consequences might have smarted a bit but I could, at least, feel better about myself.

FAITH ACTION:  Do the right thing today.  Take responsibility for your life.