“What Is Within” by Melanie Rigney

“What Is Within” by Melanie Rigney

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Let your mercy come to me, O Lord. (Psalm 119:41a)

“Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” (Luke 11:40-41)

Piety

Lord, I cannot say it better than the psalmist: Let Your mercy come to me.

Study

It was a tarantula, the size of my hand, crawling down my bedroom blinds.

I woke up with a start, got out of bed on the side farther from the window, cautiously, and turned on the light. No skittering varmint. I went over to the blinds and with even more caution, rattled them a bit. Still nothing.

I left the light on and got back to sleep fairly quickly. But the next morning, I wondered what it was all about. Eventually, I decided it was about the inside of the cup. I’d been focusing on external activity, attempting to do what I told myself was for God and community but really had more than a bit to do with my ego and with comfort. I was a Pharisee. That realization made the path forward pretty clear.

Maybe you are wiser and a better person than I am. But I daresay there’s a bit of the Pharisee in all of us—going through the right motions, but not necessarily for the right reasons. We give the inside short shrift because we don’t think anyone will see it except us. We are wrong. Let the world laugh at our outside when it seems grimy and messy; keeping what’s inside clean will let us sleep well.

Action

Turn the light on your inner tarantula.

Image credit is 25106 from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/tarantula-spider-insect-grammostola-1198225/