May 18, 2022 It was a tough question. “What are the areas of your life you are trying to manage instead of letting God manage them?” That question was posed to me as a friend and I discussed our difficulties in surrendering our lives and wills to God. My response: “Yikes.” I’ve thought a lot about my attachment to my will as a generality, but I had never before stopped to consider the specifics in such a concrete way. Some answers came easily. I discovered there are some aspects of my life I considered too small or too insignificant to give to God. For example, I can’t say I’ve ever prayed or discerned about which products to add to my skincare routine or what to eat for breakfast. The deeper answers weren’t as easy. As I pondered over and prayed with the question over a period of several days, I found it helpful to reframe it slightly to “what are the things that keep me awake at night or dominate my thoughts in the silence? What do I worry about?” While I won’t get into my answers to those questions (those are between me and God), I will note that I thought about that question several times this week as I thought about the changing priest assignments (full story here), visited with deacons at their annual assembly (photos here) and interviewed Deacon Leagon Carlin, who is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood this week (story here). While I’m ridiculously attached to my will in certain areas of my life and apparently reluctant to give those aspects of my life to God completely, these men willingly give up control over large parts of their lives – the type of work they do and where they do it – in favor of following God and His call. It blows my mind even more when these men discuss how much peace and joy they’ve found in surrendering their wills and lives to God. Their example is a gift and blessing in my life. Their service is a gift to all of us here in the diocese, as they work to help all of us grow closer to the Lord and closer to salvation. They help us improve our answers to the tough questions. |
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