The Will of God

   “Not to accept and love and do God’s will is to refuse the fullness of my existence.”  (Thomas Merton, “New Seeds of Contemplation”)

   God has a plan for me.  I was created in His image with a purpose determined by God from the beginning of time.  My task is to allow Him to show me His plan and follow it.  Only in this way can my life be what it was intended to be.

   I am no different from all others in this world.  I have my own wants and desires which may or may not agree with God’s will for me.  If I focus only on what I think is right for me I will miss the path to eternal life determined by God.  He knows where I should walk and what I should do.  If I understand and accept this I will ask for the discernment to know His way and the courage to follow it.

   To give up control is difficult.  Everyone likes to think that they know what is best for them, but reality proves them wrong.  Left to my own devices I will stray from God’s path.  I must seek the narrow gate that leads to salvation or risk the highway that leads to hell.

   My judgement of what is best for me is flawed due to sin.  If I look to earthly pleasures I can never obtain those pleasures God has prepared for me in heaven.  If I refuse to seek Him in all things I open my life ever more to the temptations of Satan.

   I seek God in prayer and contemplation.  Prayer for guidance and strength; contemplation to better know, love, and serve Him.  The more I look to Him the greater is His presence within me.  I’ve found that the more I can make my life a prayer the more I am aware of God’s will for me.  Whether it is formal prayer, spontaneous prayer or the offering of all that I do to God I can make my life full of prayer.  Whatever I’m doing can become prayer if offered to Him in faith and love.  If I offer all to God, He will bless my efforts and give me the strength to follow Him.

   Nothing I do is as important as my relationship with my God.  I live in a world that is corrupt and sinful; a world that will pass away in the blink of an eye at God’s command.  The world I seek is the heavenly world of God.  Only by lovingly and willingly accepting God’s will for my life can I hope to obtain that heavenly home.

“What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him…” (1 Cor 2: 9)