Trying

I was listening to the Revisionist History podcast by Malcom Gladwell recently.  In Dr. Rock’s Taxonomy he tells of the story of Dr. John Rock, the physician who developed the birth control pill.  Rock was, throughout his life, a devout Catholic who attended mass every day.  When interviewed back in the 1970s he told the story of a woman who wrote to him to tell him that given his development of The Pill he “nauseated” her.  She admonished him and noted that he had to “meet his God and account for your work here on earth.”  His response in a letter back is classic:

“I am sorry I upset your stomach.  You may be very sure that I have gone through some inner pains myself over this problem that you are now concerned with.  As far as meeting my God, I have been taught and believe that He is with me here all the time.  As I have to meet Him every day, I really try to conform to what He tells me to do.  Perhaps I am a little hard of hearing at times, but I do my best.”

I so like that, and it occurs to me to be a valid aspiration for each day – “I really try to conform to what He tells me to do.  Perhaps I am a little hard of hearing at times, but I do my best.”