Several years ago, my family was stationed in Las Vegas. The Air Force Ball is in September and, having not been to one in years, my husband and I decided to go.
We bought our tickets, got all fancied up, and set off to the dinner and dance.
In my pride, I stupidly thought that since my husband was a newly minted Lt. Col, we would have dinner seats towards the front with the big wigs.
However, when we got there, our seats were at the furthest table from everything. We were tucked back in the corner. As we approached our table, it was already filled; only our two spots were vacant. The crazy thing was, was that it was filled with old retired military guys and their wives. My husband was the only active duty guy at the table.
As we sat down, I thought to myself, “How the heck did we get this table?”
But, as I sat there, I have to say, we had the primo spot. I was surrounded by couples with amazing stories. They weren’t trying to impress anyone with fake smiles and surface-level conversations. My husband and I were given a most excellent gift that night getting to sit amongst guys barely able to fit into their uniforms anymore, but who had shed all pretense.
They joked, argued, told fantastic stories, gave advice, and through it all, my husband and I just soaked it up. At one point, I looked around the room at the other tables. Everyone was stiff and proper. Then I looked at my table full of men and women who wanted nothing more than to just laugh, swap stories, and enjoy the evening.
I learned a great lesson that night, one that Jesus teaches about in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew. That lesson is:
Don’t go looking for places and seats of honor. Don’t think that authority and power are where it’s at. In my pride, I wanted to be up front at the dinner, which is wrong and selfish.
Instead, I was humbled, and placed in the very back with probably the coolest people in the room with the best stories.
When we go looking for honors and praise, Catholic Pilgrims, we only look to serve ourselves and life becomes a bit bland. When we, instead, are more interested in others, that’s when life becomes very full and fascinating.
Have a blessed Sunday.
