So, as I sit here on the couch and think about all of the
overwhelmingly amount of work I have to do. I think about all of the internal
things that are bringing me down and I think about all the things that I have
not done and should have.
And then it hits me. I am constantly thinking about me. The
thing about problems and hard times, is it makes me an extremely self-centered
person.
When times get tough, that is no excuse to make the world
revolve around you. Even as Christians, sometimes we can get into this thing
where it’s like, “I have so much to do. I need to take time with God. I need to
rest in Him. I just need to rest in general. I need to… I need to… I need to… “
And all of these things are extremely important but sometimes I think we can
take it over the top. Because the fact is, sometimes we are focused so much on
ourselves and our problems and trying to figure out how to “fix” these things,
that we forgot about loving others.
I mean, I’m studying Paul in one of my classes and I just
think about all of the hard times he went through and how selfless he still
was. In the midst of his pain and his trials, his thoughts were still on loving
others. Of course, he found times to rest and spend time with God and get the
work that he needed to do done. But he never lost sight of what was truly
important. He never lost sight of what God was calling him to do.
I sat in church today forced to think about what God has
done for me. The fact that Jesus suffered so much and shed His blood for me.
And then I changed my thinking to what God has done for us. Jesus suffered and shed His blood for us. We are a body. We are in this together. We all have trials. We are all suffering. We all have
problems. And we become so self-absorbed in our own, we forget to have
compassion for others who are going through the same things.
I can love others through my trials. I am called to have a
selfless love through my pain. And I can share these things with others and
they can share with me.
But just because I am going through a hard time, that does
not give me an excuse to throw a pity party. Hard times do not give me an
excuse to only find rest for myself and to keep crying to God. As I said, I
think truly crying out to God and finding rest in Him is very important. But I
think sometimes we miss the point. Hard times do not give us an excuse to stop
loving others.
We are called to continuously pour out Christ’s love into
other people no matter the circumstance. We are in this together. And the fact
is, I found that when I take the time to stop and show love to someone else, it
brings me a rest and a peace that I couldn’t have found by sleeping in an extra
hour or stressing over that homework assignment. It’s not only through the
quiet times that I find rest, but it’s through love.
God knows we are struggling. And we may not always know
where to go or what to do. But He has called us to have a desire to please Him,
and I don’t think there’s a certain way that we have to do this. I think if we
desire to do His will, His love will naturally flow out of us. No matter what
circumstances we find ourselves in, we can find joy and peace and this can flow
from our lives through love.
We said a prayer today in church that I thought was
beautiful. It’s the “Prayer of Thomas Merton.” He says:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am
going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it
will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the
fact that I think am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing
so.
But I believe that my desire to
please You does in fact please You.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this You
will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust You always,
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death…
I will not fear, for You are ever
with me and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.
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