To conform our will to God’s will requires that we completely accept everything that comes into our lives. We must “accept the bitter and the sweet”, treating these two imposters the same, because if completely accepted they can not harm us in any way. We will remain undisturbed in the peace and joy of Christ as they came and go in our lives. Acceptance keeps us firmly in the heavenly world of the flower; but the moment we refuse to accept reality as it is right now, we immediately enter the painful world of the weed. This is why Brother Lawrence advocated both trust in God, and complete acceptance of whatever comes into our lives. This complete acceptance is the “detachment” that St. John of the Cross was talking about when he said, “In detachment the spirit finds peace and rest because it coverts nothing”. If God is willing to accept reality just as it is, flaws and all, even while God works hard to bring the Kingdom of God to full fruition by calling all persons to God’s Self, we too must accept reality just as it is. It is important to understand that acceptance does not require us to approve of all the obvious flaws, the abusive action, the lack of love that is widely prevalent throughout the world. Like Jesus, we can call a spade a spade, and call abusive action abusive. But we must accept it, or we will not be able to love. Acceptance allows us to continue loving in a world that is not completely loving. If we are unable to accept what is, we will get caught in fear and anger, which block our ability to love. If we stay in acceptance, we stay in the peace and love of Christ, and all of our actions will be loving actions. These loving actions, such as helping our neighbors in any way we can, help Jesus to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. As we noted earlier, Jesus first words of His public ministry were “This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel! “ (MK 1:15) the reign of God is at hand in the person, teachings, and saving mission of Jesus, but it still has not come to full fruition, and therefore flaws and abuse remain in the world. The reign of God will come in complete fullness when each and every person has re-formed their lives to con-form with Jesus. We cooperate with Jesus when we freely choose to con-form our will to His will. And His will is that we accept life as it is, so that we are able to obey His commandment to love.Once we have done that, “the time of fulfillment” will have arrived for us as we have in the joy of Christ. And in this state of “fulfillment”, the log will finally be removed from our eye, which will allow us to be a loving help to our neighbor in removing the speck in our neighbor’s eye.
While Teresa says “ Choosing the will of God is very hard to do”, it is also the most rewarding thing to do. Let’s hear more from St. Teresa of Avila.
One day I heard these words:
“During this life true gain consists
not in striving after greater joy in me,
but in doing my will”.
My brothers and sisters, let the will of God,
to whom we belong, be achieved in our lives.
This means surrendering our lives into the hands of God,
doing what is best with our gifts,
forgetting as far as possible all our self-interest,
and resigning ourselves entirely.
To truly serve God is to forget ourselves,
our advantages, our comfort,
and our apparent happiness.
The point is that we should make a gift
of our hearts
emptying them of ourselves
that they may be filled with God.
What power lies in this gift!
Our almighty Father becomes one with us
and transforms us,
uniting Creator and creature.
How desirable is this union!
to attain it is to live in this world and in the next
without care of any kind.
There is not secret, occult, or mysterious formula.
Our whole welfare consists solely
in doing the will of God.
But God will not force our wills.
God will take only what we give.
But God will not be ours entirely
until we yield ourselves entirely to God.
St. Teresa of Avila
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