This reflection was written by the College’s chaplain, Pastor Jim Slack, for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community. You will find reflections from previous weeks here.

We received a number of monthly magazines in the home where I grew up, including Readers’ Digest.  I enjoyed the short articles that covered a wide range of subjects.  At the end of most there was space for a quote, a joke, or a “life lesson.”  It’s surprising how many of these I can recall.

One was about a boy whose father asked “Let’s see what we can do about that large rock in the middle of the back yard.”  The boy raced to get a shovel from the shed and began to dig.  When it wouldn’t budge he tried swinging a pick-axe to accomplish his task.  And when that didn’t work he used the garden hose to loosen the clay at the base of the large stone.

When his father appeared to check on his son’s progress he asked “Have you tried everything?”  So the boy returned to the shed to look for more tools; an old car jack, a long pry bar, and a rope.  But none of these worked either.

Exhausted he sat down in the yard, dirty with mud and sweat.  Defeated.

Which is when his father showed up again.  “Are you sure you’ve tried everything?”  The boy’s silence revealed he had no more ideas.

Until the father finally added, “There’s still one more thing to try… You haven’t asked me to help you.”  And with that the two of them moved the rock, relocating it to a corner of a flower bed as a monument to teamwork.

There’s something wired into most of us that leads us to want to work alone.  Even as students, and when we become parish priest or pastors.  I recall a booklet from the Alban Institute which called these leaders “lone wolves,” and asked the pastors of my generation to adopt a new model of cooperative and collegial leadership.

I would like to continue challenging our impulse to go it alone.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit created a community of disciples.  Paul well describes the body’s inter-related parts.  At school our instructors, supervisors and peers can offer support and encouragement.  In ministry (or whatever else the future holds) it is good to ask colleagues for help.   Sometimes the hardest – and wisest – thing is asking.

Peace,
Chaplain Jim