I spent some time this past week reading about the life of Buddha.  According to the little book that I read, Buddha taught that one should never return evil for evil.  One day, after Buddha had taught a rather large crowd some of his principles, a man came up to speak to him. The man had decided to see if Buddha practiced what he preached. So, as soon as he came into Buddha's presence, the man began to spew out all kinds of insults, using foul language and calling Buddha many disrespectful names.

  The whole time the verbal attack was taking place; Buddha sat quietly and listened attentively to the man. When the man was finally exhausted and had nothing more to say, Buddha then spoke. "My son, I would like to ask you a simple question. If a man declines to accept a gift from another, to whom does the gift go?"  The man was quiet for a moment and then said, "Well, any fool knows that the gift would then remain with the giver. If it is not accepted it returns to him."

   "My son," said Buddha, "you have just given me much verbal abuse. I refuse to accept your gift."  The man made no reply.  Then Buddha went on, "A man who slanders a virtuous person is like a man who spits at the sky. The spit doesn't soil the sky - it returns to soil the face of the one who spat. Do no evil to another, speak no evil to another."

     The wisdom that Buddha was passing on to that man was a spiritual principle that is common to almost every major religion. The Desert Fathers knew that spiritual principle as "the Law of the Echo". Simply stated, the Law of the Echo says that whatever you send out will come back to you. It is rather important then for each of us to pay close attention to what we "send out". 

      One Desert Father taught his disciple to start each day with the realization that God has laid out the world in front of us. "As you enter into your daily walk in that world," he would say, "be careful of the response you will you make to it.  After all, the response you make will come back to you sooner or later."

     What response will you make this week to the world you walk through this week?  How will you speak to those you love?  What kind of response will you make to them? Remember that "Law of the Echo" and take care.