Tag Archives: alacrity

day 2950: Alacrity

“When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”

What a gift to work with people and companies who go about their work with alacrity.  If you don’t know the word, it means, “brisk and cheerful readiness”.  And yes, I want to be a person known for my own alacrity.  But, it’s not really that easy is it? Even readiness, right now, is hard to claim as we still aren’t sure what to be ready for next.  And then to be brisk about it?  And cheerful?  Without a doubt, it is hard to have alacrity, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to be so, for soon it might be that those with alacrity are the ones who are on the forefront of the opportunities soon to arise.

Jesus seems so serious in how the scriptures capture Him.  And without a doubt, He was.  But, I often try and read His words to hear something else in His tone.  And when I do so, sometimes, I smile.  Jesus attracted thousands, multitudes, of people when He spoke.  I guess we can imagine that He stood for hours being only serious and that caught the rapt attention of people who were sitting for the same hours outside on a hillside with no chairs or food.  Maybe only the Son of God could do that.  But is it possible that Jesus also had a sense of alacrity to Him?  As He would get up early daily, rustle up the Disciples (who seemed to love to sleep), I think on some days He might have gotten them going with the promise that it was going to be a great day and a cheerful encouragement!  I can even read the verse in Luke to be that after the Disciples woke Him with their cries of help that after a sharp rebuke to the winds and waves, He might have had a smile on His face towards them as he asked the question, “Where is your faith?”.  Now, I could have it all wrong too and that Jesus was all seriousness, all the time.  But if I am created in the image of The Father, then my appreciation for humor and alacrity had to come from someplace.  Let’s put it this way.  There are many ways for us to “be” so that we show the love of God to others.  Might not a little brisk and cheerful readiness towards others help today?

Reference:  Luke 8: 24-25 (New Living Translation)