Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Do You Know A Holy Man?

Do you know a holy man? Of all the men in your acquaintance, are there any you would describe as holy?

Here is an incomplete picture of what a holy man is like:

He cannot lie. He does not exaggerate or deceive. He will not shade the truth to gain an advantage, or make himself look good, or make you feel good.

He welcomes you with grace and good cheer.

He takes care to remain in control of himself at all times. You have never seen him drunk or high.

He does good things, but you never hear about it from him. All reports of his good deeds come from others.

He will act heroically as the occasion calls for it. He will run into a burning building or dive into icy water to save a victim. If a crazy man with a gun appears, he will try to disarm him, or if he can't, he will step in front of you to take the bullet himself.

You never even knew he had a doctorate. Or that he won a medal of valor in the military. Or set the sales record for his company. Or played in the NBA. Or wrote a best-selling book. Or was elected to state-wide office. He celebrates all your achievements but remains discreetly quiet about his own.

He is chaste: celibate if single, faithful to his wife if married. If he had to work all day every day alone with your lovely wife, sister or daughter, there would be no danger of him trying to seduce, flirt with, leer at or mistreat her. If, as a single man, he courts a woman, he does so honorably. He would never exploit a woman for the sake of sexual pleasure, but would only take her to himself physically as part of a life-long, exclusive covenant. He protects all women from himself.

He drives safely and with courtesy toward other drivers.

He won't let you bully anyone. He will intervene as softly as possible and as strongly as necessary to stop you.

If he once said, "Till death do us part", he meant it. He cannot abandon a spouse, even if she becomes difficult, contemptuous, lazy, or "doesn't take care of herself". If she develops Alzheimer's, he cares for her as best he can until she dies.

He does not indulge in needless luxuries. If he is poor, he does without instead of racking up debt. If he is rich, he gives it away.

He is very hard to offend. If you poke fun at him he will laugh at himself. If you accidentally insult him he doesn't even notice. If you deliberately insult him he is quick to forget it. He does not regale you with stories of how he was wronged.

He lets you talk too.

He refrains from promising what he cannot deliver. What he has promised, he does, even though circumstances have rendered it inconvenient for him.

He assigns to your actions the best motives that wisdom, prudence and honesty allow.

He is not vain. The idea of getting Botox injections makes him laugh out loud.

He treats people as equals. Weak people gravitate toward him, because they know he will not look down on them or ignore them.

He will read this and say, "I am not that man. But I wish I were."

No comments:

Post a Comment