FEBRUARY 07, 2015
We all come to a point in our lives where we feel totally
helpless and hopeless. We find ourselves in circumstances beyond our control;
forced into calamity after calamity without any apparent avenue of escape.
There is only unhappiness with no hope to change course. This is an example of
life without God. It is our nature to separate God from his creation and try to
live our lives without him. This is when we enter an existence filled with
drudgery and false promise. The beauty of life is lost and the void is filled
with worldly desires that stimulate ourselves for the moment but fade away as
quickly as they came’ leaving us empty once again. This cycle can be repeated
constantly until we find ourselves in a state of utter ruin.
The only way to break this cycle is to give ownership
completely over to God; recognizing that he is indeed the creator of the entire
universe and master over us all. We were created out of love: for God to love
us and us to love God in a mutual relationship that, at one point in time, was
completely perfect. Through us and because of us, that relationship was broken
and cannot be completely repaired without a complete surrendering to him.
Even though this surrendering seems like the most obvious
solution to our problems we tend to resist it; refusing to give up that control
that we want even though it has led to our current state of affairs. We, in our
arrogance, still want to remain masters of our own destiny, causing ourselves
to be slaves to our own desires regardless of the consequences. It must be
understood that no one can be both master and slave at the same time. If we are
to be one it is so much better to be a slave to the one who created us. We
neither have the ability or wisdom to become the true master when that person
is the one who created us.
Imagine being a slave to God. If we were created for love
isn’t it obvious that our master would completely love us and ask only one
thing in return? That would be only to love him and be faithful to him. When
this occurs, shouldn’t it be obvious that we will be cared for, comforted and
loved in return? Oh how our ignorance and self-centeredness gets in our way. We
are our own obstacle to complete and utter happiness. What is even sadder is
the fact that we already know this and continue to drown ourselves in our
stupidity. Yet, we are not alone. God has taken pity on us and leaves the
doorway open for us to return any time we desire with open arms and a loving
embrace.
We must do what the Master requests. As long as we do that
then we will be rewarded as any slave would. To fully understand what the
Master wants we just need to live our lives by his example. We take his love
and immerse ourselves in it. We then let it transform us into a more perfect
being while reacting to this love with good works; spreading the message of the
Gospels to all who will listen and to those who do not. We must celebrate our
life of servitude and understand that it is a great privilege to have. Once
this is realized then we can gain the power to free ourselves from the
temptations and dark forces that threaten to pull ourselves down into the
darkness each day. Life becomes simpler and more obvious. We are the only ones
who complicate things. We are the only ones who are enabling ourselves to fail.
In the end, we need to get out of our own way and let God do his work.
He is capable of so many things.
Deacon Tom
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