It’s been a crazy week around the RC home. We have family members coming in from the East Coast, and we’ve been busy trying to spruce things up in anticipation of their arrival. Thus I was unable to get in my planned after-work, 6-mile run on Wednesday. But that wasn’t a problem, I told myself, because I’d get up at 5 a.m. Thursday and run then! Tired after several late nights in a row, I even went to bed early Wednesday to make sure that I would wake up on time, bright and chipper.
Now, I’m an early bird by nature, so awaking at 5 isn’t really a hardship. But I’m also an early bird who despises the cold and dark, one who likes to take his runs — er, flights — in the warm afternoon sun, and who prefers to stay safely in the nest till sunrise. So when 5 a.m. rolled around, I was desperate for a reason to cancel the run.
And I found one! It turned out that my beloved wife, who can become rather single-minded about such things, stayed up till 2 a.m. painting the living room. (Yes, while I slept. Can we say “lousy husband”?) And at 5 a.m., it occurred to me: What if the kiddos wake up early while I’m on my run, thus forcing the missus out of bed when she desperately needs to catch up on sleep? Can’t risk that!
So, being the selfless servant that I am, I stayed in bed for an extra hour. A heroic act of self-sacrifice, I know, but that’s the kind of saint I am. Never mind that the kids didn’t actually wake up earlier than usual (indeed, they generally don’t), I was there, bravely manning the mattress, just in case.
See how easy that was? All it took was about 5 seconds’ worth of pre-dawn rationalizing, a noble-sounding pretext and — voila! — no run! (I am equally talented, by the way, at rationalizing away healthy spiritual practices, too, be it prayer, daily Mass, or frequent confession.)
Moral of the story: The intellect may be a gift from God, but in this fallen world, how easily it can be put to misuse! (Ditto for a warm bed.)
Will try again … tomorrow.
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