So Much Straw

For the last few months, I've felt--as Thomas Aquinas is reported to have said three months before his death--that all I write is "so much straw."

Aquinas, a Medieval Catholic scholar best known for his Summa Theologica, was a prolific author who apparently experienced a vision or mystical revelation and suddenly ceased writing. When asked by his secretary for the reason behind this abrupt termination, he said, "All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me."

I don't know what was revealed to Aquinas, but I think he suddenly understood how little most of life's strivings and daily business matter in God's cosmic scheme. God granted him a glimpse of glory that totally eclipsed his life's work.

I share the feeling that all I've done is so much straw. Yet we are called to work while it is day. We know that right now counts forever. In some way we don't really understand, our paltry work matters to God.

While I share the sentiment of Aquinas and feel that my work is all straw, by God's grace I'll keep baling.