Wow! What a crazy last few weeks… Work has been super-busy and I’m on the eve of a Christ Renews His Parish retreat, of which I’m the Lay Director for the presenting team. This is not my first time playing this role, I did it 3 years ago, but I forgot how much energy it takes to put one of these weekends together, on top of regular work and family life. It is so easy to get caught up in all the chaos, and worry about all the little details, the big details, and everything in between.
It’s tempting, very tempting to be overcome by this, focusing on all the busyness that comes with it, overcome with anxiety, worry, and frustration when added onto stress from work. I must be honest, I didn’t know when I was going to be able to fit this reflection in, if I could. But then, amidst the flurry of the day, I’m finding time to slow down and simply, let the words fly.
Let it fly… That was the advice from our spiritual director to the team for this weekend tonight, to simply trust in the Holy Spirit, don’t get too worked up, and just “let it fly…” The Holy Spirit will be there for us, providing the special graces we need. It always happens this way. Every time. You get all worked up in the weeks leading up to it, it seems your work schedule gets a little busier, and family life gets a little crazier – all part of a test.
A test from Christ, saying, surrender to Me. You can either choose to worry, and get filled with anxiety, lose your temper over anything, or you can simply surrender to Christ, just say, “let it fly”, and rest in God alone. It’s funny, God came to me through three people today to remind me of this very fact. No coincidence. I don’t believe in coincidences. Every moment is a God moment, and he sent three men to me today to let me know that He was here, everything will fall into place, just relax and let it fly. He gave me this Gospel and this set of readings to write about. About resting in Him, and He alone, and about not worrying of the future, and simply trusting in Him. Coincidence? I think not.
And see, this isn’t just in the case of planning and directing a retreat weekend. This is life in general. We get so worked up over things, our schedules, our families schedule. Sports games, school, work commitments, and so on. It’s all really just a bunch of little things. And we get so worked up over them. It prevents us from noticing God in this world, and simply trusting that He will lead us down the right path and provide for us. We try to be everything to everyone, and faithful to Christ, and as He points out – we can’t serve two masters.
We worry, and we get anxious about things – things that haven’t even happened yet, and that’s the funny thing. I can just picture Jesus telling the people – Don’t worry about tomorrow; Tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
There’s enough stuff to do today. We can’t get caught up worrying and fretting about the future.
And so I think that’s the special gift of weeks like this, whether you’re planning a men’s retreat or a work event or a birthday party, or just dealing with added stress in general. God’s going to let periods like this happen from time to time to test us, and more so to build strength and discipline, and ultimate surrender and reliance on Him. We can either turn away and live in chaos, spiraling out of control, or we can simply look to Him, be surrounded by peace and Rest in Him Alone, trusting that He will provide for us, because, He knows what we need – even before we ask of Him.
We need reminders like this every now and then, to help us see again where He is in our life and ultimately remember that we are here because of Him, and that everything we have is through Him.
And even in times, when we seem swamped and that we can’t get our heads above water, and then things seem to happen at the worst possible time, Jesus comes to us. He comes to us, reminding us that He is there, that He will never forget us. We simply need to trust that He will provide, don’t worry about the future and the things we have no control over, and just… Let it fly…
IS 49:14-15; PS 62; 1 COR 4:1-5; MT 6:24-34
