Praise be Jesus Christ! Praise be His Holy name. May God be praised now and always, for He is God and wonderful is He and worthy to be praised.
Thank You God for your providence. Thank You for your guidance and teachings. Thank You for your involvement in our lives. Thank You that You have not abandoned nor forsaken us.
I am so sorry, God, for the times I have failed to seek Your will. I am sorry for the time my heart has been hard. I am so sorry for placing my own plans before Your good and perfect plan. I am sorry for making myself, my desires, my will, and my plans more important than You, Your desires, Your will and Your plans.
Have you ever looked at a picture or studied a piece of art or watched a scene in a movie and could instantly relate that image to what God has to say about Himself or you or a situation playing out in your life. For example, witnessing a butterfly may reveal to you that God definitely loves color and pattern, or maybe you have noticed that the satsuma trees produce in the fall, right when we need more vitamin C? I had that happen to me recently. I was repotting a plant and had to deal with a broken clay pot.
In my imagination, I could almost see the pot being smashed by a hammer. It seemed like in just an instant, God revealed to me a lesson about my normally rigid ways.
He seemed to say in my heart, “You build as you see fit and then cry out when I must tear down so you can rebuild according to My plans — SURRENDER— build with WET clay, and it will not be so painful when I must redirect your plans. Say and think and plan ‘if God wills it’ on your lips and in your heart.”
This immediately brought me back to a discussion I was having with a priest as I was going through RCIA. He told me that God changes hearts. The priest said that my heart could be made of clay, and God will mold it, or my heart could be made of stone, and God will chisel it!” I knew then that I desired to be molded and not chiseled. I think God is reminding me of that lesson because, Sacred Heart family, I can be such a slow learner, a forgetful one too. Maybe it is just time for a reminder that not only does my heart need to be wet clay, so do my plans.
Thank You God for continuing to teach and guide us all! May we have hearts of clay and build our lives in a way that allows His holy and perfect plans to guide our lives.
