Recognizing Holiness

My son was the first to spot the goldfinches among the dandelions. Once he pointed them out to us, we were able to recognize them all over the yard. We wondered how long we had been oblivious to these beautiful birds because we didn’t know what to look for. What else were we missing?

C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, describes how to recognize a holy person: “They will not be very like the idea of ‘religious people’ which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than others do, but they need you less. (We must get over wanting to be needed: in some goodish people, especially women, that is the hardest of all temptations to resist.) They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from. When you have recognized one of them, you will recognize the next one much more easily.”

When I read the above traits, a few people came to mind. I have been blessed to know a few truly holy women. They are unassuming and tend to camouflage themselves among weeds. They always act like you are doing them a favor by hanging out with them. Their love is indiscriminatingly sincere. They aren’t needy of your validation, but at the same time, they don’t make you feel like you are their current ‘project’ either. They seem to readily make time for you, even though you can see that they are taking care of many others simultaneously. Once I learned how to spot holiness, I realized how blessed I am to have these angelic individuals in my life.