Today is the seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
I really like to work in the yard. Now that I’m retired I get a lot more time to do that. Some of the work is kind of mundane but some is great and allows me to see the result of the work Connie and I do. That interest in gardening causes me to read a couple of weekly articles in the papers. Earlier this week someone wrote in to the columnist, A guy in Atlanta who I’ve been listening to on the radio and reading in the AJC for many years, about some trouble he was having getting his grass to grow and spread. He was using a type of grass that isn’t well suited for his location and he was trying to force his will over that of Nature. The columnist told him to do whatever he wants to but to remember “Nature always bats last”. I think that’s a great line. I like it as a gardener as well as a baseball fan.
It reminded me of something an instructor in one of my Lay Ministry classes in Springfield said to us one day, that in the end “God is going to have His way.”
As we approach Lent it might be a good time for us to ask ourselves how well aligned are we with God’s plan for us. Are we trying to push the proverbial rock up the hill by insisting on having our way or are we letting God guide us with our own will being subservient to His. Fr. Mike Schmidt says that sin is saying “I know what you want God, but I want what I want.” I hope that doesn’t describe any of us.
So many times we try to align our image of God to our own will and view of the world when, in fact, it is just the opposite God wants for us.
So, a good Lenten project for us might be to pray earnestly that we will know God’s will for us and that we will have the courage to say yes to that. I know following God can be disruptive to us but it is rewarding in ways we have trouble seeing while we’re resisting Him. This would be a wonderful thing to take to Adoration and ask Him to reveal to you.
In the end I believe God is going to have His way, though He’s always a gentleman. Maybe our resistance excludes us from some graces we would receive had we said yes. We just can’t see it.
Jeff Cavins, the great Bible teacher from Ascension Press, likes to ask “can we trust God?” If we really believe we can trust Him we should be open to living as He wants us to, not just as we want to.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
This and That BLOG 