Lenten Meditation: Taking Action

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard-boiled egg.”

~attributed to Maya Angelou

I received this quote on a slip of paper at a church retreat in North Carolina many years ago, and I still keep it at my office desk. It prompts me when I'm "just not feeling it". Anyone can agree to do something, but follow-through is the important thing.

A concrete example of follow-through is found in many sports: from golf to bowling, soccer, and even darts. If you are trying to send that ball or projectile to a target area and you "choke" on the follow-through, you simply won't make it. That is also true in other areas of our lives. We may hear ourselves telling friends, "Let's get together for lunch," or "Call me sometime."

Do we do the same with God? With our church family? "I really should set aside some quite time for devotions..." "I forgot to bring some canned goods for the basket today. Maybe next week…" "There's a volunteer opportunity. I should check my calendar…" All good intentions, but how often do we follow through? And we're much more capable of doing so than that hard-boiled egg.