Reflection - Networks

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101020.cfm
Galatians 3:22-29
Luke 11:27-28

Most of these reflections begin with Scripture — first a passage, then sometimes narrowed to a context, verse or even just a word. This one has a stranger origin. It’s began with a few sentences from a detective novel. There, in the midst of the on-going storyline was this passage:

And there was the answer. Jorgensen and McBain represented the long reach of Larry Green, or more precisely, the Old general’s network in action. That was what happened when you put a hundred or so high achievers together in the Pentagon for their last tours of duty before retirement. They formed cliques and had lunch, and when they all retired and moved on to corporate and government afterlives, they kept in touch and did favors for one another.

Now when you stop and think about it, that’s something we all do. Just this past week my son was having trouble with a pre-hung door that he had recently installed in his home.

As he was telling me about it, I recalled that I had some friends who were familiar with home repair — probably including installing a door or two. I told him to wait til I could check to see if one or another of them had a solution.

This consulting activity is just an ordinary, common occurrence in the day to day affairs of life. We do it all the time. Most of us have done it in a variety of ways from our youth. It begins with friends and associates from high school, college, work and simple social gatherings. Some take pride in the depth and scope of their contacts. My wife sometimes used to check with a neighbor about raising our three boys since the neighbor was a bit older and had three boys of her own. When you stop and think about it, it’s amazing how often we use this simple practice to get by. The potential range of issues which may prompt us to engage in such dialogue is practically unlimited. From the personal to the pragmatic, from the rational to the emotional, from our home life to our business life — all will, sooner or later, offer multiple opportunities to consult with or ask favors from friends.

Now I’m telling you something you already know. Furthermore, you’re probably asking what’s this reflection all about? Or why is it worthwhile to go there?

The simplest answer is that the Spirit works in strange ways. That being said, let me return to the author’s storyline, the one where I first encountered this passage.

It was a quiet evening as most of our evenings are. My wife was reading or sleeping on the couch. I was comfortably laid back in my recliner, pursuing the adventures of one Jammer Davis, a detective who was regularly engaged in searching the why and where for of airplane crashes. He needed help with his investigation and two locals are abruptly on the scene. (Standard fare in detective/mystery/ adventure novels.) That’s when I came upon the passage noted above.

I had just finished the passage when the question took form in my mind: Why don’t we do that with God? Why don’t we consult with him more frequently on the daily affairs of life? Why don’t we seek his direction and guidance more often? Why do we keep him in reserve, as it were, for the more troublesome of our difficulties?

In the book of Wisdom we find the following:

“Send her [Wisdom] forth from the holy heavens,and from the throne of your glory send her,that she may be with me and toil, and that I may learn what is pleasing to you.

For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory.” (Wisdom 9:10-11)

Maybe we need to use the best of our networking opportunities as we go about the affairs of life.