Giving Up 

   I think people often give up on themselves too easily; when they don’t immediately achieve their goals they simply settle for lesser goals rather than continuing to strive for success.

   In our spiritual life this creates a sense of complacency rather than a closer relationship with God.  We have tried and failed so we quit trying to grow and improve; we accept a lukewarm faith.  We forget that without God's help, we can do nothing.

   Our pride tells us that we should be able to become a saint by our own efforts.  But saints are made by God, not by man.  We must submit ourselves to His will and allow Him to lead us and guide us to sainthood.  We must also understand that the path to sainthood must go through the cross; it will not be an easy journey.

   Sometimes we think of saints as perfect; people who have never and will never sin; we decide that we simply aren’t made of the stuff that it takes to become a saint.  And we are right, we aren’t.  We suffer from human weakness and a propensity to sin.  The saints were no different, they too sinned and failed in their efforts at times.  The difference is that they never gave up.  They knew that sainthood wasn’t possible by their own efforts but only through the grace of God.

   We are all called to be saints, to spend eternity in God’s kingdom, but we can’t get there by ourselves.  Without God we are lost in the darkness and will never find our way home.  But rest assured there is help.  Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”