Every time we pray to Our Father, just as Jesus taught us to, we ask God that His Will be done. Curiously, these words are left out of Luke’s Gospel, but nonetheless they are there. Implied. Underneath and through it all.
Thy Will be done…
How many of us mean this when we say this? How many of us really mean it? How many of us accept it His Will? How many of us seek it in the midst of our own crumbling plans?
God’s Will is always what’s best for us. It’s what He wants us to do. But it’s not always the easiest path.
Mercy. Forgiveness. Acceptance for those who receive God’s graces, who we feel shouldn’t. Our enemies. Jonah couldn’t accept this. He couldn’t extend mercy and forgiveness, even though God was speaking directly to him, and had saved him from the belly of a whale.
How can we expect to do this? How can we expect to accept and even embrace His will, even when we don’t necessarily agree? Even when it doesn’t fit our plan and our own will and desires?
We ask God for His help. We pray. We simply spend time with Him asking for His guidance. We read His Word. We ask Him to forgive us, and help us to forgive others, and we ask Him for His Love and Grace so we can resist the temptation to not do all these things.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Over and over, with persistence, and perseverance.
But when we discern what His will is, or even when He flat out tells us, it is so hard to act on it and do it.
It’s scary. It gets us out of our comfort zone. It makes us vulnerable.
But ask yourself the following question:
Every time where I’ve actually trusted in God, where I have done what I believe His will was, when I have done what I thought He would have done, what He wanted me to do, even though it was hard and uncomfortable and vulnerable – was I disappointed? Was I let down?
I can confidently say that every time I have acted in a way that I felt was God’s will, where I put Him first and let His will be done, whether to me or through me, I was not disappointed. I was not let down. I was uplifted! It was better than I could have ever imagined. It was the best solution based upon the circumstances.
And so that is why I continue to pray to Him in thanksgiving, for His will to be done, that I can understand and that He will continue to guide me through those times and circumstances that I personally cannot do on my own. And I pray to Him so that I remember all the greatness that He has rained down on me, on all of you, and on this world, lest I forget and have to be reminded.
Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
