Unhesitating Obedience

The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience...RB 5:1

Unhesitating obedience...anyone who knows me even slightly can see where I might have a problem with unhesitating obedience.

The obedience part is actually not the part that makes me think twice. I usually do get around to doing what I am asked to consider and do them cheerfully for the most part. It's just that I sometimes want to do things on my timeframe, ie not immediately. I will often have a question or two to ask about, some new angle to propose or even just want time to consider things in prayer. This happens mostly for some of the larger things in life.

Unhesitating sounds too robotic to me...like my Prioress commands and I follow through. That doesn't even seem realistic to me. I see obedience much more as a dialogue where there is an opportunity to seek more information and to offer some input. There is a relationship between the Prioress and the community member in my mind.

Maybe I am still too much a product of the generation I grew up within.

I continue to pray for a deeper understanding of obedience and the dynamics of it in my life. May God continue teaching me daily in the school of his service.

Sr. Catherine, OSB