All praise and all thanksgiving to Him who is, was, and always will be! Praise You, Lord, for Your constancy and goodness. Praise You for Your perfect justice and never-ending mercy. Praise You, Lord, the Gate, the Way, the Truth, the Light!
Thank You Almighty God for all that You provide: temporal and spiritual. Thank You for Your provision and discipline. Thank You for the reminders that You are still God and worthy to be praised! Thank You for all thy benefits.
I am so sorry, Lord, for the times I look inward instead of fixing my eyes upon You. I am sorry, Lord, for placing anything as an idol before You – my comfort, my family, my way. I am forgetful and short sighted, and I am so sorry when that means I have failed to console Your Sacred Heart.
Late July through mid-August is always a busy month. It’s a planning month. It’s filled with appointments, and last-minute efforts to enjoy the last days of “summer”. It can be rather overwhelming and tiring – even as I trust in Him who has called me to this way of life. I am a natural planner, but as the years have progressed and as my children’s different needs have dictated, I know plans can change, and as I wrote in my prayer journal on our first official day of school – “Lord, help me be driftwood in the current of Your will for us.” I do not pray to “go with the flow.” I pray to go in HIS flow! That means staying in a state of Grace and moving slowly.
Moving slowly is a challenge for me. My mind races often, and I am naturally a very reactive person – and not always the most Christian reactions tend to bubble up from me. So, moving slowly means, for me, thinking before I do and say. No – it means PRAYING before I do and say. See- that’s a challenge!
My practicing being driftwood and moving slowly was recently noticed by someone who knows that is not natural for me. It felt great to have this interior work noticed, but I know that is rare. Usually, our dying to self in order to form virtuous thoughts that lead to more virtuous actions seldom goes noticed. That interior work, though, is so important and necessary. I also know it is a never-ending work! I will always have to struggle to be driftwood and move slowly.
Maybe you have a constant struggle. Maybe you have a natural tendency that you desire God to remake as supernatural. Maybe you have some interior work with which you have been struggling for years. You are not alone, and even if no one has noticed that interior effort, God does. Let’s persevere and encourage each other to continue the good fight to always cooperate with our call to continually become more Christ-like in all we think, say, and do.
