Remember those horseshoe-shaped magnets? When you run the magnet over the sand, it would pick up iron filings. It was dripping with “abundance.” I could shape a non-magnetic metal, like nickel into a horseshoe, and paint it to look like a magnet, but no filings would stick. To this knock-off magnet, the world appears “lacking.” The treasures remain buried in the sand. Can’t attract anything? That’s because the knock-off repels.

Jesus said something often viewed as cruel, “For whoever has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” Magnetic properties in a human are known as magnanimity. Magnanimous comes from two roots, magnus meaning great, and animus meaning soul. I’m referring to the magnetic, intrinsic qualities of people who seem to have “everything.” Not necessarily materialistically, but they don’t thirst. They are comfortable, inviting, open.

Today’s anthem is a great illustration of this principle. Howells incorporates this Psalm text with haunting, “hungry” music. It’s a plea, which is what “spiritual hunger” is. Our ego’s itch for stuff, but our spirits yearn. But we can’t make magnets out of nickel. But that’s what we do when we throw money at the poor, or we look “out there” for our help.

Haven’t you heard of lottery winners who end up broke? Or those home makeover show participants who can’t afford to keep up their new digs, pay the property taxes, the electric bills, or afford the pool maintenance? No matter how hard I try to make you appear rich, impoverishment is not curable with a bandage. “When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?” Aren’t we longing to be worry-free? Satiated? Fulfilled? These are inner truths, inherent, attractive qualities. Malnourishment is a perception that we are lacking, God is “busy,” or just plain missing. The secret, which is not well-kept, is within.  

Look like a magnet, and nothing sticks. It’s like Joe Btfsplk, a character in the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner.” Btfsplk means well, but he is the world’s worst jinx and brings disastrous misfortune. Does that mean we bring fearful things upon ourselves? In a manner of speaking, until we realize how “malnourished” we are, needy and clingy. Be a magnet for fear and watch nightmares unfold. Be a magnet for love and watch how easy it is.

Teddy Roosevelt said, “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” The transformation is always inward, and it’s hard to tell the difference from the outside. Just because you change your name to “Saint” Paul, it doesn’t change your history. Saul was a murderer – “Saint” Paul himself, the one who drug people out of their homes and imprisoned and tortured them. The change was inconspicuous from the outside, but real on the inside. A new label helps, but it’s more.

Iron filings stick, like opportunities, loving relationships, creative ideas, all gravitated to one’s own, attractive, loving inherency. You love light by opening the blinds. How do you love God? Something must give way. It’s the accentuated, separate “me,” that which appears like a magnet. True magnanimity is a direct result of someone who knows that love isn’t absent, not in the way the ego “sees” it, but in how the spirit completes it. Then, one is satisfied with everything, especially the annihilation of the ego. After that, your spirit is no longer a thirst to receive, but to give eternally in love.   Soli Deo Gloria!