Right Away!

When the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, the angel delivered a nightmarish message: “Take the child and flee.” Joseph’s response: “He left that night.” I imagine his heart raced to wake Mary, urging her to pack a few provisions, while he got the donkey, a bag of grain and a skin of wine. Scooping up the bundled Infant, they looked around their little house one last time. Drawing a deep breath and a deeper prayer of trust, they set out.

How do we respond to inspirations, an idea for a kind act, an urge to perform a good deed, a spiritual tug to pray more, a pang of conscience to be reconciled? Is our response “right away” as was that of Joseph and Mary?