Two
Minds
“Sometimes
I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble.
They fight.” Johnny Cash
There's
nothing like being of two minds. Paul, in his letter to the Romans,
said it this way: “I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't
want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” (Ro. 7:19) Jesus
even made note of it when he said, “The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.” (Mt. 26:41) We are many-faceted jewels of contradiction.
Most of us have good intentions, but our good intentions don't count
for much if we never act on them.
What
happens most often is we fail to act in a timely manner, so the
course is decided by our inaction. That's the passive way of making
decisions. I'm speaking for myself, of course. You may be a very
decisive sort that get things done as soon as you see the need. If
so, my hat's off to you. I tend to let things linger. I'm talking
about the little things, things anyone could do—like calling a
friend. I have this scenario all the time: I'll have someone
persistently on my mind, as though they're standing in a corridor
waiting for a door to open. I'll think, I should call her, or send
him an email. They linger there, waiting, and I never get around to
calling—I never open the door. It's inexcusable if I am their
friend, and yet...
We
humans seem better able to take strong stands in impersonal
situations. We curse the government, condemn the tyrants, expound
about how things 'should be' and are not. But in the little, personal
things, those that actually require something of us, we aren't so
bold. I'd like to do that, but I'm too busy—and we are busy, busy
people. Sometimes we have time for everything but the doing of good.
At least, I do.
Two
minds that fight: the one who is “nice” and the one who “causes
all the trouble.” Which one will win today?
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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