What Do We Owe?

Loyalty. Debt. Obligation. Caring. What other ways do we find ourselves owing something to someone or something? What creates the condition of owing? To whom or what do we owe it? And do they or the something other owe us?

Part of me doesn’t want the obligation to accrue. From the beginning of life do I owe something to someone or something? If so, how do I honor the obligation and repay it? And on what scale?

Of course we do – owe someone and something. Life itself is the gift; who and what made that possible is owed the credit and gratitude for making it happen.

My parents for bringing me into this world. God or some higher power made the world into which we have all come. To those we owe our thanks. How we give honor to them is another issue. Is this a lifelong debt we owe? An obligation that never ends?

How do we make this happen? What process or transaction fulfills the obligation?

This may be the crux of two things – family and theology. It is for me. Maybe not for you?

Life develops in stages – phases – over our lifetime. We encounter it in tiny steps. Sometimes we pay attention, other times we don’t. As time passes, though, we pay attention in bits and pieces. We develop conclusions about a few matters here and there. Over time a pattern develops. Of course others and institutions (schools and churches) try to form our ideas around some concepts.

Only much later in adulthood have I managed to structure my beliefs in a cohesive manner. Well, that may be too elegant a statement; cohesive is not a worthy label of my slapdash amalgam of thoughts!

How much of my thinking is actual theology with definition and discipline is in question. Belief is another term that needs serious thinking before claiming any final conclusions. Meanwhile the intellectual challenge remains and often revisited. No earthshaking conclusions made; none begging for it either.

And that’s OK with me. I owe a huge sense of gratitude for life itself. For whom and what and why, that’s an age-old query we each must manage. It matters little if we get far with the thinking, but it does matter that we consider it. We are not an island unto ourselves. We are in relation with much more. It is worth exploring these concepts.

We become more from such effort.

October 19, 2020