There’s Not Room Enough in Here for the Two of Us!

By Michael Hagan ∞ with Monica Kemp

Old westerns often featured a showdown between the good guy and the bad guy at high noon. Each small town was pictured as having confrontations between a lawless past and a civilized future. It’s a little like us when our selfish ego confronts our emerging spiritual self, our soul.

I wish it were that simple. High noon confrontations with their built-in high drama between dramatically defined good and bad guys are patently obvious. The small "high noons" we actually face are much more subtle, even beguiling. The ego is sly, even mischievous and endearing. All too easily I can allow myself to be talked into a moral compromise.

Our typical day-to-day choices are more a personal series of small daily options between the right path or the diversion, the shortcut. The ego pleads, “C’mon, who’ll ever know. Give yourself a break. Just this once. The only problem with resisting temptation is, it may never come again."

It’s the rare event when one faces a huge moment of crisis clearly calling for a life defining decision. We usually confront penny-ante decisions. Life is a tapestry of such minor choices. And these little things add up quickly, become habits, are woven into the more enduring fabric of character.

Westerns were all about showdowns, with mortal life at risk. In our lives the stakes are much greater, eternal life. The daily choices we make for a God-centered life will build our soul, the core of our emerging spiritual life in eternity. The choices made in favor of an ego-centered self will only provide momentary pleasure going nowhere. Like junk food before a great meal, ego impulse only satisfies a momentary craving.

There’s a new sheriff in town and I cannot serve two masters, be loyal to both my ego desires and my Universal Father’s will for me. Now that I’m maturing, crossing the border from mortal ignorance to spiritual awareness, spiritual choice has assumed a high value. Having chosen a loving relationship with my Father, I choose to listen carefully for his still small voice.

I can’t whip out a revolver and forever vanquish the clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and indulgence. Like a movie villain, ego just keeps popping up again. I’m instead taking baby steps forward into an emerging spiritual life. My loyalty to that new life is challenged, tested over and over again by life’s recurring minor decisions. But Dad reassures me that I’m on the right path. One day he will say to me,

well done, My good and faithful son.