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For Goodness Sake

Samuel had come to believe that he was somehow cursed. If one were to attempt to summarize his outlook on his life, it would read something like this. ‘If there was no such thing as bad luck, I’d have no luck at all’. There was no way for him to know that all that occurred was being orchestrated from above, and exclusively for his ultimate benefit.

Hidden from Samuel was the history of his soul, his many previous incarnations. He was evaluating his life from a grossly inaccurate perspective. How was he to know his true imperfections? By what means was he expected to detect the necessary experiences his soul would need to undergo in order for it to reach a level of perfection that would enable it to achieve eternal happiness and peace?

In one of his past lives, for instance, he was given the challenge of overcoming his privileged position of being a King of a nation that, at the time, for all practical purposes, ruled the entire world. He was, by Heavenly decree, to maintain his humility throughout this period. 

Now although he proved to be an extremely righteous and generous King, he had been a miserable failure at his assigned task. His soul was bursting with pride. And when he came before the Heavenly Court at the end of that earthly existence, the verdict passed was not a favorable one. 

I will not recount his past lives in any particular order. He had been a psychopathic killer, a well respected Man of God, a very poor day laborer, an ordinary family man. The list goes on and on.

Suffice it to say that unbeknown to him, this present go around would be Samuel’s last chance, his final incarnation. His mission, at distant glance, would seem to be a quite simple one. But in reality, it was the ultimate challenge. Let me explain a bit further. 

Whether we are conscious of it or not, each of our souls comes into this world with certain preconceived beliefs. The most basic of all is that of a just and loving Creator. Now, this notion will most certainly be put to a test. When we leave our earthly body, will this belief be maintained, or, for various reasons, discarded?

Samuel, truth be told, was in fact ‘cursed’. But not in the way he believed he was. There is another old adage that we could apply to his present life. Heaven had decided that for Samuel to reach the necessary degree of perfection, he would have to do ‘the good’ for goodness alone, without any expectation of reward. So the saying ‘no good deed ever goes unpunished’ certainly applied in full force to his present circumstances.

It seemed that the more righteous Samuel was, the worse off his life situation became. This was a constant reality that persisted throughout his concluding existence.

And although, not unlike Job, there were times of extreme complaint and anger toward Heaven above, Samuel did, in the end, prevail, fulfilling his final assignment.

He had done the good solely for goodness sake.

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