{"id":4016,"date":"2015-10-11T16:04:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T21:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?p=4016"},"modified":"2015-10-11T20:07:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T01:07:58","slug":"whats-the-one-thing-that-could-change-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/whats-the-one-thing-that-could-change-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s The One Thing That Could Change Everything?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Fork_in_the_road_at_Barlaughan_-_geograph.org.uk_-_499796\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Acknowledging his penchant for badly mangling the English language, the late Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously titled one of his books When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

While obviously meant to be humorous, on some level it may also\u00a0call to mind our (sometimes unconscious) desire to postpone major\u00a0decision making \u2013 perhaps\u00a0in a vain\u00a0attempt to try and have it all<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And while Robert Frost\u2019s perhaps most famous poem, The Road Not Taken<\/em><\/a>, is anything but humorous, we are given just a little insight into Frost\u2019s thinking about the power and the lasting impact of choice when we stumble upon this exact same spot \u2013 the spot, that is, where\u00a0two roads diverge<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
I took the one less traveled by,<\/div>\n
And that has made all the difference<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As I look back at some of the earliest decisions that I\u2019ve made, I could not have possibly foreseen how some \u2013 even some very trivial ones \u2013\u00a0would ultimately change and shape my\u00a0life.<\/p>\n

I think back, particularly, at the last minute decision\u00a0to send my resume to a big-time, powerful, New York City\u00a0law firm after scouring all too many local\u00a0resources for a job in upstate New York. That last-minute\u00a0decision somehow ensured that my resume\u00a0landed on the desk of a partner who had, some years earlier, graduated from my school.<\/p>\n

In short order, I got the job where I then met my future wife, moved back to New York, started our family, and, several years later, through my wife\u2019s direct connection, ended up at my current law firm \u2013 where I\u2019ve been for the past 22 years and counting<\/em>. And all that directly connected to one small, last-minute decision made during law school.<\/p>\n

Or just last year, stumbling across\u00a0Douglas<\/em><\/a>, a street person with a story so compelling that\u00a0I had no choice but to commit it to paper. Douglas\u2019 story soon landed me here, at Patheos, which has led directly to, among other things, a televised SiriusXM radio\u00a0interview<\/a> with His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan this past June.<\/p>\n

That still amazes\u00a0me to no end, for I had nothing but contempt for the Church for the 41 years prior to my 2013 reversion. But there I sat, just two years later,\u00a0publicly sharing my personal story with one of the Church\u2019s most prominent and influential leaders. I recognize that I\u2019m walking towards a\u00a0destination\u00a0that, in many respects, is still unfolding before me.<\/p>\n

This brings me to you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And to today\u2019s reading of the rich young man<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story familiar to most of us.<\/p>\n

The man \u2013 we refer to him as young<\/em> only because the text says that\u00a0he ran<\/em> to Christ \u2013 wanted to know what he needed still to do in order to inherit eternal life<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Christ answers him succinctly with what is the minimum that we are all<\/em> called to do:<\/p>\n

You know the commandments: You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The young man replies that I have kept all these since my youth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now here is where the road diverges for this young man, where he confronts\u00a0the fork\u00a0in the road on his own journey of unfolding faith:<\/p>\n

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, \u201cYou lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.<\/p>\n

When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Bishop Robert Barron today\u00a0mentioned in his broadcast about this passage, you might analogize the young man\u2019s story to his\u00a0having asked\u00a0his doctor two different things: what do I need to do, at a minimum, to stay healthy? (answer: don\u2019t smoke, get regular exercise), versus how do I condition myself to be able to run in a marathon? (answer: a highly regimented training program). The young man is, perhaps, healthy, but is he ready for the marathon to come? Very likely not.<\/p>\n

Now before I move on, let me make two brief, and\u00a0somewhat obvious, points about the text.<\/p>\n

First, this is not a call\u00a0to everyone<\/em> to sell everything<\/em>, and give all of the proceeds to the poor. Christ knew what was holding this particular young man back \u2013 or\u00a0perhaps more precisely,\u00a0what had taken hold of him: his love of money, an unhealthy attachment to his possessions. Christ zeroed in on the very thing from which this man<\/em> needed to detach so that he could grow, or run that marathon, unburdened by\u00a0earthly\u00a0stuff<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Each of us has something particular holding us back. It may be money, but could well be something else.<\/p>\n

Second, note Christ\u2019s emotional state just before He answered the man: Jesus, looking at him, loved him<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He understood the difficulty\u00a0for this man<\/em> of what he was about to propose; and He\u00a0likely already knew how the man would respond.<\/p>\n

And yet, He loved him anyway.<\/p>\n

Our celebrant posed exactly the right question today.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question with no universal answer. It\u2019s question personal to\u00a0each and every one of us.<\/p>\n

If you were that man, running up to and kneeling before Christ, standing at the very spot where the road before you clearly diverged, what do you suspect would be the one thing<\/strong><\/span> that He would ask you to\u00a0do, or to change, or to give up, or to be?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the one thing<\/em><\/strong><\/span> that could change everything in your life going forward?<\/p>\n

But you already know there\u2019s an even more critical question:<\/p>\n

How would you<\/em> respond? If today, you were to find yourself at that fork in the road, in which direction would you head?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something that\u00a0I\u2019ve felt compelled to think about today.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not yet certain of my answers.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acknowledging his penchant for badly mangling the English language, the late Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously titled one of his books When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! While obviously meant to be humorous, on some level it may also\u00a0call to mind our (sometimes unconscious) desire to postpone major\u00a0decision making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1976,"featured_media":4017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's The One Thing That Could Change Everything?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Acknowledging his penchant for badly mangling the English language, the late Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously titled one of his books When You Come to a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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