Surrender

   “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!” (Psalm 142: 10)

   It’s hard to give up control of oneself.  It goes against what the world tells us.  We are taught from an early age to be independent and self-reliant.  To surrender control to another is seen as weak.  Yet that is exactly what God asks of us.

   In some ways we learn the value of surrendering to another.  Husbands and wives many times surrender themselves to their spouse.  In order to grow and deepen, love requires submission to another.  Each gives up a bit of their independence and rely upon each other.  In this way they are strengthened both in themselves and in their marriage.

   It can be much harder to surrender to God.  In marriage one may give up something to please or benefit the other.  In our relationship with God we are asked to give up all for Him.  Jesus gave up His life to open the door to heaven to us.  He gave all and we must do the same.  He reclaimed His glory and promises we too will be glorified if we follow Him.

   We must give up all that is us to God.  Our dreams, our plans, our hopes are to be in accord with His will for us.  We are to empty ourselves in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This doesn’t mean we become unwilling slaves to God; it means we willingly give up our earthly attachments and turn to Him in all things.

   Thomas Merton wrote, “All I want, Jesus, is more and more to abandon everything to You.  The more I go on, the more I realize I don’t know where I am going.  Lead me and take complete control of me.”  (“A Year with Thomas Merton”).  This is the attitude and even the prayer we need to have in our hearts.  We are lost and can’t find our way in a sinful world.  We are not of this world even though we are exiled to it in this life.  Only by surrendering to God can we overcome this world and find our way to the world our Lord has planned for us.

Lord, lead us always closer to You.

We pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us.

May we follow Your will in all we do.

Amen