At the restaurant

I have sometimes looked at the Beatitudes as if it were the menu of a restaurant. I have considered all the different options that are being offered, such as being comforted, or inheriting the earth. Then, I have looked at the price of all these things, and wondered which would be the easiest for me to swing. I have almost dismissed some options because they are too expensive. For example, inheriting the kingdom of heaven sounds great, but I am not sure if I really have what it takes to be poor in spirit.

Time and time again, I scan the options and decide I want to see God. To do that, you have to have a clean heart, which sounds like a pretty tall order, and I am not completely sure what it means to have a “clean heart.” Still, I might barely be able to manage it after a lifetime of grace and determined work. I have placed my order repeatedly with God, as if God were the only waitress on duty at a packed restaurant with notoriously slow service.

Today I got an appetizer I did not order. It is just a little plastic basket with a few onion rings in it, but really, that is all I can handle right now. Today, I understood that I see God now in the sky, in the soil, the plants and animals and the people around me. It is something I do already, occasionally, and dimly, when my heart is translucent enough for the Light to enter it.

I am not going to change my order. I still want to see God, more frequently and more clearly – maybe all the time. I am going to keep sitting at my table, nibbling at these amazing onion rings, and watching the other people eat or wait for their food. I will know the condition of my heart by how much I’m able to see in the faces around me.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 3-10)