No Examination, No virtue
How have I loved today?
Imagine if this question was the last thing you pondered each and every day. Personally, I am so far from that. My day usually ends with turning the lights off and hopping on my phone or totally ignoring the last 16 hours that I spent awake by going straight to sleep. Yet, I also know how detrimental that must be to my pursuit of virtue.
We aren’t as virtuous as we hope to be. The fact that we fail, however, isn’t the problem.
The real problem is how we choose to respond to our shortcomings: We try to run from them, numb ourselves to them, escape the crushing weight of their reality. In a culture that constantly feeds us the pressure to meet its ideal of perfection, we often choose to simply ignore. We busy ourselves. We live in a hectic and loud world. We drown ourselves in noise and distraction. The real problem is we aren’t taking a close enough look at ourselves.
In a culture that preaches we must love all people, how many of us actually are serious about attaining the virtue necessary to love all people? I know most days I’m not. But I want to be. And, in order to actually do this, I have to examine myself. I have to take a look at my day and ask those critical questions: How have I loved? How have I failed to love?
“The perfectionist in me cringes at my failures, my lack of love.”
Whether it’s reliving an experience we had years ago, or simply examining the last day, taking a look at the things we’ve done can be scary. How have I lived? : That’s a scary question, because if you’re anything like me, you probably won’t like the answer. The perfectionist in me cringes at my failures, my lack of love. Yet, we don’t examine ourselves in order to loathe in our failures. We examine because virtue demands awareness. Virtue demands practice. Loving as we ought demands that we be intentional with how we live everyday.
Start with 5 minutes. Instead of picking up your phone before bed tonight, sit up (warning: laying down in your bed is not conducive to remaining awake for this) and examine your day– not only the ways you need to grow, but ESPECIALLY the ways you’ve succeeded. Thank God for all that happened and make it your mission for tomorrow to learn from today and choose virtue.
From getting in shape, to getting good grades, to forming long lasting relationships with others, the worthwhile things in life universally require intentionality and sacrifice. The same is to be said of growing in virtue. If we really want to see ourselves begin to grow in such Godliness, a daily examination is the right place to start. How have you loved today?
