THE basic algebra teacher was showing her students how to solve an equation. “Now class, pay attention to what I’m about to teach.” She neatly scribbled a formula on the board.

“We have the following equation. We are supposed to solve for z. Now, in order to do this, we have the help of the following givens: x = 5 and y = 10.” She paused to see if her students we following her.

“With these known variables, we are going to solve for….”

“Excuse me, miss,” a student raised his hand.

“Yes, Arnold, what is it you don’t understand?” she adjusted her glasses.

“Miss, I’m wondering why are they called ‘givens’?”

“Because they’re constants,” she paused when she realized her definition was not fully grasped by the children’s wrinkled brows.

“I mean, they are fixed values, in other words, they don’t change. They are necessary to solve for the unknown variable or variables in an equation.”

“Okay,” Arnold said, “but who gives them?”

* * *

Life is also like an equation, though not tackled exactly in a mathematical way, which we have to solve. There are also givens and unknowns in life. The solution to life is finding these unknown variables with what we already have by converting them into occasions to grow more in our love for God and the others. Our life on earth has only one answer or final solution: going to Heaven.

The givens of life come in varying forms and degrees. They can either be positive or negative. They differ according to each person’s circumstances. They normally do not change overnight, and even for a lifetime. We are aware of them and we can either learn to grow through them or be bullied by their weight. For example, the temperament that God has given us or the particular family circumstances we were born into.

Added to this personal sphere of givens is another layer of fixed situations in the form of unique socio-cultural structures. There are, for example, the overwhelming trends of hyper-urbanization, maddening traffic behavior and conditions, the harmful levels of environmental pollutants, etc. These conditions also are not reversed or resolved in one go.

Now when these various constants engage a person, there comes to play in him a set of given attitudes, convictions and reactions. Let’s take the example of a personal negative constant called impatience or to be more positive, the effort to moderate our temper. Our patience is put to the test when we are beset by the many uncontrollable or unforeseen events around us. Thus, at the end of the day many of us would be personally fulfilled if we have on managed to greatly curb our impatience towards bad traffic or an incompetent colleague.

The constant struggle to maintain our patience through weeks, months and years is indeed something noteworthy. This continuous and sincere effort is also a kind of a given. There is, however, one small problem in this desire to improve: limiting ourselves only to this particular given. We end up thinking that this is all there is to struggle for in life and we overlook the gifts behind the givens.

Let’s further develop the example of patience. We might have the common complaint that the helper didn’t do as she was told, that the driver once again took the wrong route, that the class was superboring, or that the neighbor’s howling dog won’t just fold up and die. As we’ve previously pointed out, our effort to avoid giving in to our impatience is something valuable. Surely, however, this isn’t all that God wants me to work on for the rest of my life?

This is the moment to open our eyes and hearts to the gifts that God stores behind every given whether positive or negative. What else could we gain in living the virtue of patience? There is the motive behind for living this virtue: to consider how a son of God should not be easily perturbed by such small nuisances, the pious act of praying for the persons or situations that can try us, or the initiative to foresee such “undesirable events” and already propose a possible solution beforehand.

In seeking the deeper gifts behind the givens we actually grow not only in one aspect of our personality and spiritual life. We also grow in the other areas that we had previously neglected.

Some more example of these gifts are: discovering God’s Fatherly mercy and compassion expressed through our patience towards our neighbor, learning to discover and receive the true gifts that come from within various moments in life in the form of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (i.e. wisdom, understanding, fortitude, piety, etc), and deepening our love for the Eucharist when we use these daily givens to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus in a purer way in Holy Communion.

This constant attitude of finding the gifts behind the givens cannot be reduced to a simple optimistic attitude in life. Seeking to find the gift is not discovering something, but encountering and loving someone. It is being transformed in the process, when the givens allow us to be truly gifts of ourselves to God and the others.

WHEN I was getting married, I cried “Heeeeeeeeelp!” I wanted to call the Fire Brigade. The Marines! The SWAT team. Power Rangers! Batman and Robin. Lois and Clark! Jacky Chan. Anybody!

IF we can only give to our spiritual powers just a fraction of the attention we usually give to our physical faculties, I think we would be much better off. Our problem is that most of the time we ignore the needs of our soul while we pamper and spoil our body.

BOY and girl.

Sweet young things.   Around their late teens.