When I was growing up, I don’t remember exactly, but I guess
it was somewhere towards the end of the school days and initial days of college
that I came across the ‘F’ word. This word used to be such a taboo during those
days. The moment it was said in public, it would raise eyebrows, followed with
immediate judgments (silent ones) being passed on the person who dared to utter
the word. Then, soon, this word became
the new in-thing, and everyone using this was considered ‘cool’. So lots of
‘dudes’ and a few ‘dudettes’ would throw around the word here and there, now
and then. Well, now, I don’t think I need to tell you guys, but the ‘F’ word
might just be the most commonly used word around, right from kids to the
oldies, being used in all situations, to convey all emotions!
These days, I guess we have found a substitute to the ‘F’
word. You say this word in public and it would definitely raise some eyebrows,
you would definitely be judged, you would definitely be considered weird. And
that ‘F’ word is fidelity or faithfulness. In these times of quick fixes and
fast food, of immediate gratification, of numerous substitutes, of convenience,
of a notion of living a no-struggle life, of extreme individualism, the virtue
of fidelity is slowly becoming a taboo. I’m sure that there is a lot of
goodness around, but at the same time I see and experience a society where a
young teenager is applauded if he has multiple girlfriends, where ‘no strings
attached’ relationships is a fad, where sex is considered just a means of deriving
pleasure, where the first solution advised to a married couple going through a
difficult phase is divorce, where a
mother is so casually advised to abort the child growing safely within her,
where having kids is looked upon as adding excess baggage, where taking care of
elderly parents is considered a burden, where our interactions are mostly
give-and-take. Many a times our personal preferences, comfort and aspirations,
make us forget that we are called to a life of fidelity even if it means we
should compromise on certain aspects.
This short animation video, spoke so loudly to me about
fidelity.
The stork and the cloud were working together as a team. The
cloud was definitely different from all the others, because of which the stork
had to suffer. He saw better experiences elsewhere and could have so easily
left its cloud and gone to another one to have a more comfortable life. But he
chose fidelity over convenience or comfort. He knew that they were meant to be
together and that brought him joy to overcome all the suffering that he was
going through and would go through in the future. All the problems or issues
with the cloud seemed to fade away in front of the stork’s faithfulness.
This short video was an eye-opener for me. Many a times,
it’s so easy for us to find faults in the other – who might be our
spouse, our partner, our parent, our child, our friend, our colleagues, even
our ministry, our team, our calling. And these faults become so big and so seemingly
insurmountable, that we let it go. Our comfort, our choices and our convenience
becomes more important than faithfulness to that relationship, than fidelity to
our calling. But is that how we are supposed to be? Once again I look up to
God.
In God, I see true meaning of faithfulness. The Bible says,
“.. the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever” (Psalm 117:2) All throughout
the Bible we would see God’s faithfulness to his people, who were at times
sinful, at time rebellious, at time blasphemous, at time unbelieving, at times
even His enemies. But He remained faithful to them, no matter what! “If we are
faithless, He remains faithful.” (2 Timothy 2:13) It’s high time we reciprocated!
Not just to Him but to our families, our friends, our colleagues, our
ministries, our commitments, our responsibilities, our calling!
The bible challenges us to
be holy as He is Holy (1 Peter 1:15), to be perfect as He is perfect (Matthew
5:48), to be merciful as He is merciful (Luke 6:36). May I dare to add: be faithful just as our Heavenly Father is faithful!
God Bless!
