BOOMERANGS AND GREED
by Tom Conant
The world we live in says, "Grab on, hold tightly, squeeze till get what you want." Jesus teaches a paradox: "You can never touch what you grab for, and you can’t keep what you think you’re holding. As soon as you think you have piled up the good life – made your mark – it will come crashing down like the Twin Towers on 9-11. Wanting to be served, we lose it all."
A well-known fact about a boomerang is, once thrown, it returns to the thrower. The least remembered fact is that the boomerang is intended to be a weapon and only returns if it misses the target. I can keep thinking I’m throwing myself at life with more effort, wisdom, money, more, more, more – and it will somehow change all in my favor. But instead I find everything I’ve thrown has missed the target of a better life and comes back slightly more used than when I threw it. The paradox is that, in keeping our lives, building our lives, and living our lives for ourselves, we waste all the life that is in us.
The world we live in says, "Grab on, hold tightly, squeeze till get what you want." Jesus teaches a paradox: "You can never touch what you grab for, and you can’t keep what you think you’re holding. As soon as you think you have piled up the good life – made your mark – it will come crashing down like the Twin Towers on 9-11. Wanting to be served, we lose it all."
A well-known fact about a boomerang is, once thrown, it returns to the thrower. The least remembered fact is that the boomerang is intended to be a weapon and only returns if it misses the target. I can keep thinking I’m throwing myself at life with more effort, wisdom, money, more, more, more – and it will somehow change all in my favor. But instead I find everything I’ve thrown has missed the target of a better life and comes back slightly more used than when I threw it. The paradox is that, in keeping our lives, building our lives, and living our lives for ourselves, we waste all the life that is in us.
Peace
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