Right and Left

So, here's another thought for the day inspired by Quinn. She has, at 12 weeks old, very recently discovered her hands. All toys or other objects she might seem to be "playing with" are, for the most part, pawns in the epic struggle to get her hands into her mouth. As I was trying to rock her to sleep tonight, she seemed to be holding her pacifier in her mouth with her left fist (it was really cute), but then her right hand came flailing forward in such a way that it knocked the pacifier out of her mouth. Quite literally, her right hand did not know what her left hand was doing.

Since I'm a pastor (and a nerd when it comes to all things Biblical), of course this turned my thoughts to the passage from the gospel of Matthew, when Jesus is giving instructions on the proper attitude for religious practice. "When you give alms," he says, "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

Such low-profile doing of good seems to be really rare. The people who just do good stuff, and never bring attention to it are special. I've known some people like that, mostly in congregations I've been part of. Most of us want credit for our good deeds or kindnesses, or charitable giving. It's a real challenge, that requires humility on our part (again, not something that's valued highly in our culture), to keep our good deeds secret.

It's also funny to me that I've probably heard the phrase "the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing" used most often to describe dysfunction within an organization or group.