This Chaplain’s Chapbook entry is only tangentially about Thanksgiving. Because at least in a university setting, the Thanksgiving holiday is only a brief respite before more work sets in. There is the mad dash to the end of the semester to think about. The students study, and the professors grade, and the Chaplains support them all. So before the academic starting gun goes off on Monday, let’s think about our motivation in all this.
Motivation, or intention, is a theme in all spiritual literature. Why are we doing things? Are our reasons good reasons? Or are they a mix? For most of us it is a mix. A student wants to get an A in chemistry in order to (1) impress her parents (2) be a good doctor someday (3) show up her roommate, who received a better grade than her last semester and (4) get into a top-rated medical school and (5) do something pleasing for God. And the professors grade and return student work in order to (1) get tenure (2) offer up their exercise in patience to Almighty God
(3) fulfill professional standards (4) not grade as slowly as their undergrad chemistry professor and (5) do their duty to Brown.
I deliberately scrambled the order, and perhaps there are some items on that list that don’t figure into your own personal list. But it is useful to compose such a list. Because if we’re not aware of what habitually motivates our actions, we are going to end up confused, overworked, and discontent. And this sounds like the lives of many people at present. There is the present joy of getting together at Thanksgiving and the future joy of getting together over the Christmas holidays, but we are bogged down mentally, even while externally enjoying ourselves.
So take a few minutes, today, tomorrow, or at least before Monday and get out a pen and paper. Sit down, think, and write out why you do what you normally do in your daily life. And see if it makes sense to you. See if it aligns with your real and stated priorities. And as the Catholic Chaplain, I’ll come out and say that doing things to please God primarily is the safest bet. Offering our actions to him is much safer than doing them to please family and friends. Even the best of human beings cannot fully understand us and appreciate our efforts. And doing things for Him is far wiser than to do that same thing to acquire money, power, social status, or a bolstered ego.
But God is merciful, and among our mixed motives He sees the good, and he helps us to increase that good. Let’s permit Him to sort through our motives, to purify them, and maybe even to elevate them.
